On dry academicism and freedom

The forum has existed for three years, during which it has gained international recognition and attracted participants from a growing number of countries. It has acquired admirers who now come to the Crimean coast not just to relax and soak in the sun, but also to learn about the news and trends in theater and modern arts. This year the stage of the Yalta Theater will feature renowned groups from Ukraine, Russia, Azerbaijan, Germany, Moldova, Lithuania, Israel, Italy, Spain, and Singapore. The forum will be launched by the Kyiv-based Ivan Franko Theater, which will present the production of Mykola Hohol’s Marriage (directed by Valentyn Kozmenko-Delinde, and starring Oleksii Bohdanovych, Bohdan Beniuk, Iryna Doroshenko, Vasyl Mazur et al.). It will be closed by the Muscovites with the comedy A Duel for Weak Creatures, based on Anton Chekhov’s stories. The performance will feature Moscow Art Theatre’s celebrities, such as Aristarkh Livanov, Ekaterina Vasilieva, Yevgeniy Kindinov and others.

The head of Yalta’s Chekhov Theater Mykola RUDNYK tells about the festival’s program, its specialties, the origins of various traditions, and its prospects in his interview with The Day.

When launching the first festival, you called the Yalta stage “an exhibit hall for the best theatric samples.” Please tell us how the new program has been shaped, what experts selected the plays and groups of participants?

“It is gratifying that the festival has not only become a regular event in Yalta, but that it has also gained momentum. The program was composed by the members of the organization committee and jury, headed by Nelli Kornienko, director of the Les Kurbas National Center of Theatric Art, Ph.D. in Philology. They all saw the recordings of the plays provided by the theaters. Our goal was to show the wide range of projects that the groups are currently working on — their creative explorations and findings, and present various schools of theater and national cultures. The audience will have the possibility to see not only the leading groups of Ukraine and Russia, but those from such remote countries as Singapore as well. We are also expecting artistes from Moldova, Azerbaijan, Lithuania, Israel, Spain, and Germany.”

Mr. Rudnyk, according to the program, you are trying to merge highbrow art and commerce. On one side you have the exotic Chinese opera Intrigues of the Qingdao Emperor Court (Singapore), on the other — a simple comedy by Zadornov, I Want to Buy a Husband (Azerbaijan), a student experiment, Emigrants (Germany and Ukraine), and Chekhov’s Fiancee (Spain). Do you consider it your task to attract as big an audience as possible? Should you not aim to please theater buffs instead?

“We do not position ourselves as an academic or aesthetic festival, attended by theater connoisseurs who discuss in all details what they see on stage. We want to present the participants, guests, and the public with a bright feast called ‘theater.’ Our forum is quite democratic, and the very aura of Yalta, the sun and the sea, is inseparable from smiles, a good mood, and joy. We have not called our festival a competition; it is a fiesta forum, i.e., a feast. Hence we selected a program appealing to the various tastes of the audience. I am sure that The Cherry Orchard by the Lviv Spiritual Voskresinnia Theater and Fiancee by the Madrid Chekhov Chamber Theater will both be big successes. It will also be interesting for our audience to see the Cantonese (Chinese) opera that is on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. For the second year in succession we have been inviting the State Youth Drama Theater ‘From the Street of Roses’ from Moldova. Last year the festival’s awards went to actress Olha Sofrykova for playing the role of Edith Piaf in the performance Padam, padam, and Yurii Kharmelin for his theater aesthetics. This time the group will present the production of Troikase Merkatuz based on the plot of Alexander Pushkin’s The Queen of Spades, which is interpreted in new way by dramatist Mykola Koliada. We befriended the Moldavian troop, so we made an exception and invited them to the forum for a second time. We are, so to speak, promoting this authentic theater. I am sure that their work will be highly assessed by the audience. As for the performance I Want to Buy a Husband, we found that the way the Azerbaijani artists from the Samud Vurgun Russian Drama Theater interpreted the play by the modern Russian writer Mikhail Zadornov is very interesting. Every group will present their best productions, and the audience is sure to appreciate this. I cannot say that our festival is a commercial one, as we have to subsidize it. We have appealed to sponsors, because we cannot pay the artists, and cover their room and board. The most expensive tickets cost 150 hryvnias, whereas organizing the festival requires a vast amount of money.”

Is your audience mainly made up of local residents, or tourists and visitors?

“Mainly people who love theater. It is not so important whether they are native residents of the Crimea, or just visitors. Allegedly only four percent of the people are regular theater-goers, interested in scenic art.”

In Kyiv, we have a theater boom.

“Kyiv is a capital, life is swirling there. But six million people live there, out of which a mere 240,000 are regular theater-goers — four percent of the total population. I think that one cannot compare the stormy theater-concert life of a capital with that of a health resort. Kyiv, as any megalopolis, will ‘churn out’ anything, as it has a huge market. We live in our own world, and it is good that our city has the Yalta Theater, now with modern technical equipment. In this, I should specially thank businessman Aleksandr Lebedev, who helped us to practically bring the theater back from the ruins, as it had not been repaired or run for ten years. Our audience is varied, but it is mostly made up of people with medium incomes. Many Yalta residents are wealthy people, the owners of luxurious villas, but if a person takes no interest in theater, s/he will not go to a performance, so money is not the main problem. Since the theater started working on a regular basis, some kind of democracy has emerged — we have permanent audience, but they only come to see the specific plays that interest them, and our task is to create a repertoire that would intrigue the audience, both local residents and visitors, and the variegated festival program is an efficient way of doing so. The participating theaters do not compete but rather communicate, make acquaintances, and our discussions of the performances are informal.”

Nelli Kornienko told The Day in an interview that the second festival did not quite meet the high standards of the first festival, held in 2009. The head of jury also criticized the variegated program and several groups presented at the Yalta Forum. What were your conclusions?

“I respect Ms. Kornienko as an art and theater expert, but I cannot agree with her opinion that the festival was weak. Ms. Kornienko’s opinion is not shared by her fellow jurors. We did not set ourselves a task to act as aesthetes. Allow me to reiterate: we are not running a competition, but a festival, and groups from various countries are invited to take part in it. They do not compete, rather, they present stirring productions for the jury and the audience. For us it is important to create a warm and friendly atmosphere, prepare an entertainment program and excursions for the guests. This is not a dry scholastic competition, but a bright international festival, where the audience has an opportunity to see art from different countries, and Ukraine’s different regions. This year our country’s east will be represented by the Donetsk Oblast Russian Theater of Young Spectator (Makiivka), Kyiv’s Franko Theater will speak on behalf of the center, the west has the Spiritual Voskresinnia Theater (Lviv), and the south — Odesa’s Langeron Theater. Our billboard also mentions renowned Russian groups: Moscow’s Hermitage Theater will stage Secret Notes of Secret Advisor (main role played by Mikhail Filippov), the company Ametist – the performance A Duel for Weak Creatures (featuring celebrities from the Moscow Art Theater), and the St. Petersburg Drama Theater Ostrov will show the production As Sun in the Evening Time based on the correspondence between Knipper and Chekhov.”

In the Year of Chekhov your billboard features seven plays based on the master’s works, or about him. Should not the entire festival Theater. Chekhov. Yalta be dedicated to the writer’s oeuvre, in order to commemorate his anniversary?

“We do not restrict ourselves to Chekhov. It is gratifying for us that he is a popular dramatist and his works will never be out of date, and that various directors try to interpret his works in their own ways. If a theater offers a production of Chekhov’s work, we will support it, but we do not have any rigid requirements that the shows must be based on his works. The Armata Brancaleone Academy (Massa, Italy) will conduct a master class ‘Rehearsal of Chekhov’s Works.’ We took special interest in the Madrid-based troop. How will the Spaniards stage Fiancee? Chekhov is a special aspect of our forum, but this is not a compulsory part. We want to show the productions of other authors’ works, performed in a modern, original manner. Therefore, we are very glad that the groups from Italy, Germany, Israel, Singapore, Lithuania, Moldova and other countries have agreed to perform on Yalta’s stage. The international festival of theatric art Theater. Chekhov. Yalta-2010 is a modern parade of theaters, bright gala performances, creative meetings, and discussions with renowned actors, workers of theatric arts, and critics. There will be creative workshops, press conferences, and original acting master classes. In the end we will hold a Kapustnik [a comical medley of song, theater and cabaret], which has already become a tradition.”

Three years is not a long time, but you have managed to build a solid festival. What are your accomplishments, and what do you still dream of?

“We have managed to merge professional theaters from many countries into an international society of theaters, to broaden the festival’s geographical reach, and to draw the attention of the international theatrical community to Ukraine — indisputably strengthening the image of Ukraine and the Crimea as a center of culture and arts. But there is one problem. We have sent letters to Ukraine’s wealthiest people asking for support, but none of them has showed any desire to become a sponsor or patron. There is no hint of any contemporary Morozovs, Khanenkos, or Tereshchenkos. We are greatly supported by Russian businessman Aleksandr Lebedev, who has become our honorary patron, and first deputy Prominvestbank CEO in Ukraine Viacheslav Yutkin. We highly appreciate this attention, support, care and efficient assistance. Owing to this financial support the Yalta forum not only exists, but can also afford to invite leading theater groups, celebrities of stage and cinema, theater experts, dramatists, representatives of political and civic organizations. The festival will come to an end on September 18. On September 20 our stage will feature the St. Petersburg Small Drama Theater (The Theater of Europe), which will show Lev Dodin’s production of Uncle Vania, which means that the forum Theater. Chekhov. Yalta. will go on.”