What is the cost of the lighthouse burning and who knows the secret of the Malchish-Kibalchish
Today the Ekiyat puppet theater will host the premiere of the performances "About the sea and about the lighthouse" and "Malchish-Kibalchish". Two half-hour tales - one poetic, the other heroic - are collected in one theatrical almanac. They were created by students of the puppet theater faculty of the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts (St. Petersburg), who participated in the first puppet laboratory "Ekiyat-LAB". More details about the "St. Petersburg underground", which will be presented to the citizens of Kazan, can be found in the material of Realnoe Vremya.
What was synthesized in the laboratory "Ekiyat-LAB"
The history of the creation of these unusual performances began last year during the puppet laboratory. Three directors and three production designers, fifth-year students of the puppet theater faculty of the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts, were offered three authors - Arkady Gaidar, Vladimir Mayakovsky and Musa Jalil. From their work, it was possible to independently choose a work, fill it with its own meaning and acquaint the young viewer and reader with the works on which their parents grew up.
Not all students passed the test by the laboratory - only two sketches were selected for the production: "Malchish-Kibalchish" and "About the Sea and About the Lighthouse". Unfortunately, the work of Korean students "Moabit Notebooks" did not reach the stage. However, what the audience will see on the Ekiyat stage today, the artistic director of the puppet theater Ilgiz Zainiev called the "St. Petersburg underground":
- Like any theater, a puppet show can and should be different. We are glad that now such a performance is present in our repertoire, because the audience also comes to us differently. Everyone has their own taste and opinion, but everyone comes to us to find something just for themselves. In the performances, the style of Ruslan Kudashov is felt, it is literally tangible, these works are an innovation in our theater.
Photo: Ilya Repin
Ilgiz Zayniev: "Like any theater, the puppet show can and should be different. We are glad that now such a performance is present in our repertoire, because the audience also comes to us differently."
"Children, be like a beacon"
The protagonist of the production "About the Sea and About the Lighthouse" is a little man, a lighthouse worker who rises every evening to light a guiding light. He has been waiting for ships for a long time, which for some reason do not come. Tired of waiting, the caretaker stops waiting, tired of the monotony and meaninglessness of his work. This is where the most interesting thing happens. The viewer will have to find out if he will have the courage to remain true to his work when a ship perishes in the middle of the raging sea.
Starting to work on Mayak, Marina Khomutova immediately set herself the task of showing not the poster Mayakovsky, but revealing him as a deep lyricist.
- Five days of the laboratory in Kazan seemed like heaven to me. There was a feeling that the whole theater was working only for us - all the shops, the specialists seemed to be waiting for us. At first I just started rereading poetry for Mayakovsky's children, but the theme of the sea and the lighthouse turned out to be the closest to me - maybe because we live in St. Petersburg, on the shores of the Gulf of Finland. This good material for me was more of a background from which I can build a plot. The story that takes place on the stage is not present in the text, but it was born out of this poem.
Perhaps that is why the final lines of Mayakovsky's poem became the epigraph to the production: "My little book is calling: - Children, be like a beacon!"
Rains, waves and Peter's music
St. Petersburg is visible and audible in every minute of the performance. Here in the first compartment, waves are splashing, the battle of flasks and ship horns sound.
In the second performance there is an interesting find, the endless rain of St. Petersburg, from which the mother of Kibalchish and his brothers awakens. She collects the threads of rain with her hands and washes with them in order to make the main decision in her life - to let her youngest son, baby, go to a terrible war.
In addition, there is a lot of music in the performances, including St. Petersburg - compositions by Murat Kabardokov and the voice of the leader of "AuktsYon" Leonid Fyodorov suddenly, at the most lyrical moment, overlaps with Anna German's lullaby. And then the mother of the children herself, played by the actress Yulia Vasilishina, sings heartfelt "We are a long echo of each other"
Not without Andrey Platonov
In this part of the almanac, the viewer will have to find out what kind of Secret that Malchish knows. The director of the second part of the play, Lydia Klirikova, considering her first experience of traveling to a laboratory in another city, considers the result of the work to be of sufficient quality:
- What we managed to do in a short time is cool, but in many respects this is the merit of the high organization within the theater, the willingness to work of artists and specialists of all departments. After the laboratory I left with gratitude. Now, leaving the ranks of the student body, I am just beginning to immerse myself deeply in the profession of a director, everything is new to me. As for the text, I myself would not have chosen Gaidar, of course. I myself am much closer to Andrei Platonov, whose texts still sound in my production.
By the way, Ilgiz Zainiev, for example, called "Malchish-Kibalchish" an upside-down performance. "If earlier it was believed that for the sake of the Motherland it was not a pity to send children to war, then here one reads the idea that there is no need to bring the situation to the point that children have to fight."
Photo: vk.com
Lydia Klirikova: "I am sure that" Malchish-Kibalchish "is relevant today as never before. The viewer will have to answer many questions: are we ready to defend the Motherland and family, but not because it is necessary, but with the understanding that all this and you are yourself"
Eight plus, or Adults are allowed to watch
The age category of the almanac performance is from eight years. However, its creators are sure that it is intended for family viewing: loved ones of different generations will have something to discuss.
- I am sure that "Malchish-Kibalchish" is relevant today more than ever. The viewer will have to answer many questions: are we ready to stand up to defend the Motherland and family, but not because it is necessary, but with the understanding that all this is you yourself. If our parents know this work almost by heart, then my peers know it little. We have no education on this work. Children will discover it for themselves, and their mothers and fathers will try to read and understand it again, even if it will be difficult, - says Lydia Klirikova.