A Little Wine…, candles and ovations

As part of the Theatrical Divertissement festival, audiences in the cities of Maalot, Rishon LeZion, and Ashdod had an opportunity to see and appreciate the production of A Little Wine… or 70 Turns based on Luigi Pirandello’s novellas, with participation of the popular Ukrainian actors Vitalii Linetsky, Oleksandr Hannochenko, and Volodymyr Tsyvinsky. This comic trio is battling over the puzzles of the “accursed questions” of existence. What is the truth and what is illusion in this world? Is death the end or the beginning of a journey? A little wine will not, of course, help find the answer, but, maybe, life itself will be more cheerful and the illusion of the truth will shimmer in the distance… Incidentally, the play staged by Dmytro Bohomazov in 1996 drew applause at many festivals, in Paris and Nancy, and Kyiv theatergoers are still showing unflagging interest in this production. And after the tour of Israel, that country’s audiences also filled the ranks of the theater’s aficionados.

“Improvisation and high technique, clownery, and radiance of intellect – this is how we can sum up the richness of styles and shades and the riot of theatrical colors in this theatrical fantasy,” said the Israeli journalist Shlomo Blitz, sharing his impressions of the Kyivites’ stage production.

And his colleague Inna Scheichatovitz added: “The Kyiv Drama and Comedy Theater on the Dnipro’s Left Bank is a fortress which does not surrender to the hordes of expediency and low taste – instead, it is putting up a defense as befits a true theater! Thank you for showing good art in the present-day ocean of cynicism. A marvelous theater that will never let the soul go numb!”