I was a tad concerned when I heard we were going to see a Beckett play in Russian. After all, there have been times Beckett in English made me nod off. But since we were seeing Happy Days, I was hopeful. After all, this is the play that made me a Beckett convert. I saw an outstanding production at the National in London, featuring Fiona Shaw as Winnie and directed by Deborah Warner. Watching that production, I finally understood the humor in Beckett.
So despite the language barrier, I thought perhaps there could still be some laughter. After all, Beckett is about the rhythm and music in his language, which can often transcend language barriers (or so I had heard from a former college professor who said that the funniest play he ever saw was Waiting for Godot in German, which he doesn’t speak). Unfortunately this was not quite the case at the Pushkin’s production.
Waiting in the lobby, it was clear we were the youngest people there by about 30 years at the least. Once they opened the doors to the small theatre, we had to push by a crowd of old lady pensioners waiting for an unclaimed seat. Laura and I happened to be seated by a few who whispered through the opening, and upon finally realizing that a woman buried in a mound of dirt was probably not for them, left. The majority of these pensioners rudely walked out. My favorite time was when Winnie screamed suddenly, scaring a few who promptly scurried out.
Not that I would have left myself, but I was also a bit put off by the production. The frequent musical underscoring irked me. First, I think the anal Beckett estate would probably sue since I’m about 99% sure it’s not in the script. But the reason it’s not there is because the music ruins the rhythm that Beckett so delicately constructs within his language. Which is probably why much of the humor was ruined. Of course I don’t know what was lost in translation, but I do think this was a large part of the reason that none of the Russians were laughing.
At least some pensioners were exposed to some Absurdism, right?
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
First Week (and then some)
My first week in Moscow feels both incredibly long and short simultaneously. Probably because I was in a combination of class and rehearsals for around 10-12 hours a day, leaving little time to explore beyond the grocery stores. I felt like I spent my first week in Russia going up and down Tverskaya Street, Moscow’s main street two times a day: dorm to school, school to dorm, approx. a 30 minute walk. Maybe a detour to the bank or store for food, just to mix it up a little. Tverskaya Street is not what I pictured Moscow to be like at all. There are flashing signs and billboards everywhere you turn, and it wasn’t until I started exploring side streets and venturing beyond Tverskaya that I was finally able to admire the architecture and get more of a feel for the city.
Despite my exhausting first week, it was interesting. Getting oriented at MXAT meant getting to go on the stage where Stanislavsky performed (pictures will go up soon, but I have limited band width internet in the dorm!). The Red Square is about a five-minute walk from school, and so I finally gazed in awe at St. Basil’s in person. It wasn’t until after Alice vs. Wonderland opened last Sunday night that things finally began to calm down. But I still don’t really feel settled. We had a bus tour of the city (pictures to come soon, I promise!) and so far I really like my classes. I feel so well taken care of here. I realized I also forgot to mention Tanya in my first post, who is amazing and maybe inspired that line about dead-pan faces in my Ode. She should have her own comedy show. But will have to share more on this later as it is almost 1am and I need to leave for school around 10am!
I’m going to try really hard to comment a bit on each show I see here. But I have a lot of other things I’m dying to write about…yet have so little time! However, I just discovered this wonderful feature on blogspot, and can have my blog emailed to up to 10 people whenever I post. I already put my parents on there (since I know they are probably the only ones who read this thing religiously), but if you’re interested there are 8 spots left!
Paka!
Over The Top Alienation: Threepenny Opera at MXAT
By the time a four-story human skeleton on skeleton horseback appeared with blazing eyes in the last act of Brecht/Weill’s Threepenny Opera, I was sold. This spectacle would soon be followed by two women flying up in the air, followed by Mack stealing a move from Trisha Brown and walking straight up a wall.
The director, Kiril Cereibrenikov (don’t know if I transliterated that from the Cyrillic correctly…this is probably going to be a common problem) is apparently known for his unique style and take, but I’m not sure that begins to describe what I just saw. The show was four hours long with two intermissions, but it really didn’t feel that bad to me. By the time the first intermission rolled around I was still on the fence: although I was enjoying the staging and his aesthetic, not knowing the play as well or the language kind of made Brecht’s whole alienation effect concept pointless. But I reminded myself that this was my first time seeing a show all in Russian that I was less familiar with, something that I will be doing a lot of in the next 3 months and need to get used to.
By the time the last act started I had come around. This is probably due in large part to how they ended the intermission and began the final act. In the play, Mr. Peachum is the boss of the city’s beggars, so practically every member of the 23-person cast appeared onstage or in the audience as beggars—and each with their own unique shtick. All of them were based on Russian beggars and I’ve seen many of them myself: the Orthodox Christian man, the old woman sitting with a hat in front of her, the musicians, etc. It was hilarious, and went on for a long time.
But this time the alienation was not lost on me. Even through my own laughter, I was unsettled that around 1,000 audience members were laughing at the mocking of a very real problem. When an actor playing a drunk threw something at one of the actors playing an old beggar woman, there was a moment of pause—everyone else felt the way I did.
It’s a common misconception of Brecht that he doesn’t want to be entertaining. Really, spectacle can be the best way to catch the masses’ attention and then do something to make them think about the message. Threepenny Opera’s director didn’t really know how to edit himself throughout the spectacle, but it somehow worked.
On the metro home after the show, two guitar players entered our car, singing. A man preceded them as they walked down the car…holding out his cap.
The director, Kiril Cereibrenikov (don’t know if I transliterated that from the Cyrillic correctly…this is probably going to be a common problem) is apparently known for his unique style and take, but I’m not sure that begins to describe what I just saw. The show was four hours long with two intermissions, but it really didn’t feel that bad to me. By the time the first intermission rolled around I was still on the fence: although I was enjoying the staging and his aesthetic, not knowing the play as well or the language kind of made Brecht’s whole alienation effect concept pointless. But I reminded myself that this was my first time seeing a show all in Russian that I was less familiar with, something that I will be doing a lot of in the next 3 months and need to get used to.
By the time the last act started I had come around. This is probably due in large part to how they ended the intermission and began the final act. In the play, Mr. Peachum is the boss of the city’s beggars, so practically every member of the 23-person cast appeared onstage or in the audience as beggars—and each with their own unique shtick. All of them were based on Russian beggars and I’ve seen many of them myself: the Orthodox Christian man, the old woman sitting with a hat in front of her, the musicians, etc. It was hilarious, and went on for a long time.
But this time the alienation was not lost on me. Even through my own laughter, I was unsettled that around 1,000 audience members were laughing at the mocking of a very real problem. When an actor playing a drunk threw something at one of the actors playing an old beggar woman, there was a moment of pause—everyone else felt the way I did.
It’s a common misconception of Brecht that he doesn’t want to be entertaining. Really, spectacle can be the best way to catch the masses’ attention and then do something to make them think about the message. Threepenny Opera’s director didn’t really know how to edit himself throughout the spectacle, but it somehow worked.
On the metro home after the show, two guitar players entered our car, singing. A man preceded them as they walked down the car…holding out his cap.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Richard III at the Satiricon
I’m about to make the shallowest comment ever. It probably means I should not be a dramaturg. So prepare yourself.
Seeing Shakespeare in Russian and not having to worry about the language was both liberating and kind of awesome. It totally took the pressure off of trying to decode the Elizabethan way of speaking and his wordplay. I think I may have gotten more out of Richard III in Russian than I have from any other Shakespearean production I’ve ever seen.
After spending all day every day working on theatre, on Tuesday night I was amped to finally go watch theatre. While my classmates had already seen three productions, Richard III was my first show in Moscow (other than Alice, of course). Because of the repertory system, productions will often run for years at a time, with as much as a month between performances. However, this all means that certain shows were seen by friends in the program three years ago, and Richard III came with universal high praise. I was a bit nervous about going to see a show with such high expectations, but I was not disappointed.
The most intriguing aspect of the production for me was how they interpreted the different killings. It was a visually stunning and creative piece, never literal. For instance, instead of drowning Clarence in a vat of wine, the two murderers take turns pouring wine into their respective glasses and then violently tossing it on him. This was set to an intense, swelling score, and interesting music choices enhanced many sections of the play. Later, the two princes have a pillow fight and when their killers come in, the pillow fight turns into them being killed via the pillows thrown repeatedly.
There was a recurring physical motif after each murder. The killer would somehow wrap up the body and then drag it offstage. At one point Richard himself took the sheet-like material covering the entirety of the large stage, and rolling it up dragged it himself offstage. It was as if this action symbolized how he was the one really killing all of those people, even though it wasn’t by his own hand.
The actor playing Richard, Konstantin Rhaikin, is truly amazing. It may be cliché to say he was completely transformed, but he was. He managed to bring humor and illustrate the comedic, if horrific, elements of his character’s actions.
I think we’re going to see at least two or three more shows directed by Richard III’s director, Yuri Butusov, and I’m really excited. Yesterday in the cafeteria at MXAT Joe and I ran into Tolya (Anatoly Smeliansky, dean of the MXAT school and associate artistic director of MXAT) and wound up sitting with him for lunch. He pointed at a man sitting by himself nearby. “That’s Yuri Butusov, the director of Richard III,” he said. A little in awe, we sat there as Tolya called out to him and chatted with him a bit. We figured out that he was telling him who we were and that we just saw his show. It was one of those times I really regretted not knowing the Russian language better so I could do more than smile and nod.
Seeing Shakespeare in Russian and not having to worry about the language was both liberating and kind of awesome. It totally took the pressure off of trying to decode the Elizabethan way of speaking and his wordplay. I think I may have gotten more out of Richard III in Russian than I have from any other Shakespearean production I’ve ever seen.
After spending all day every day working on theatre, on Tuesday night I was amped to finally go watch theatre. While my classmates had already seen three productions, Richard III was my first show in Moscow (other than Alice, of course). Because of the repertory system, productions will often run for years at a time, with as much as a month between performances. However, this all means that certain shows were seen by friends in the program three years ago, and Richard III came with universal high praise. I was a bit nervous about going to see a show with such high expectations, but I was not disappointed.
The most intriguing aspect of the production for me was how they interpreted the different killings. It was a visually stunning and creative piece, never literal. For instance, instead of drowning Clarence in a vat of wine, the two murderers take turns pouring wine into their respective glasses and then violently tossing it on him. This was set to an intense, swelling score, and interesting music choices enhanced many sections of the play. Later, the two princes have a pillow fight and when their killers come in, the pillow fight turns into them being killed via the pillows thrown repeatedly.
There was a recurring physical motif after each murder. The killer would somehow wrap up the body and then drag it offstage. At one point Richard himself took the sheet-like material covering the entirety of the large stage, and rolling it up dragged it himself offstage. It was as if this action symbolized how he was the one really killing all of those people, even though it wasn’t by his own hand.
The actor playing Richard, Konstantin Rhaikin, is truly amazing. It may be cliché to say he was completely transformed, but he was. He managed to bring humor and illustrate the comedic, if horrific, elements of his character’s actions.
I think we’re going to see at least two or three more shows directed by Richard III’s director, Yuri Butusov, and I’m really excited. Yesterday in the cafeteria at MXAT Joe and I ran into Tolya (Anatoly Smeliansky, dean of the MXAT school and associate artistic director of MXAT) and wound up sitting with him for lunch. He pointed at a man sitting by himself nearby. “That’s Yuri Butusov, the director of Richard III,” he said. A little in awe, we sat there as Tolya called out to him and chatted with him a bit. We figured out that he was telling him who we were and that we just saw his show. It was one of those times I really regretted not knowing the Russian language better so I could do more than smile and nod.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Ode to the Middle-Aged Russian Woman
By Sara Bookin-Weiner, with Laura Henry
Oh Babushka-to-be,
How I admire thee.
With your face so dead-pan,
No one makes me laugh like you can.
Sees the Americans in fright,
Makes kasha late at night.
Cries “who wants jet-lag kasha?”
And it’s every student in the casa.
She can prove that she’s hip,
Not just by the vodka she sips.
A hip hop clubbing gem,
But only at 6 p.m.
Knows the Russian winters are “brrr!”
And so she wears her fine fur.
Feels bad for animals killed and sold,
But worse for herself when she’s cold.
Hails gypsy cabs for commutin’
From Khrushchev to Putin.
But if it were up to me,
I’d become a Babushka-to-be.
Oh Babushka-to-be,
How I admire thee.
With your face so dead-pan,
No one makes me laugh like you can.
Sees the Americans in fright,
Makes kasha late at night.
Cries “who wants jet-lag kasha?”
And it’s every student in the casa.
She can prove that she’s hip,
Not just by the vodka she sips.
A hip hop clubbing gem,
But only at 6 p.m.
Knows the Russian winters are “brrr!”
And so she wears her fine fur.
Feels bad for animals killed and sold,
But worse for herself when she’s cold.
Hails gypsy cabs for commutin’
From Khrushchev to Putin.
But if it were up to me,
I’d become a Babushka-to-be.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Made it to the Motherland!
It's hard to believe I've only been in Moscow a little over 24 hours. Just wanted to let everyone know that I made it here safely after a fairly uneventful trip (although I did make friends with both my Polish seatmate who was a theatre person herself, and the flight attendant who saw I was reading a Moscow guidebook and made sure to stop by at the end and wish me well during my time here).
I feel very well taken care of here so far. Mariana is sort of like the house mother on our floor (dramaturgs and voice student Jane, plus a couple of other American students who have been here for a long time), and I already like her a lot. We bonded over how much we love Heidi, and she was nice enough to take the 5 of us out to get cell phones on our first night at like 10:30pm (the place is 24 hours), and to the grocery store. We also have a couple of Russians around our age, Nastia and Polina, who look after us and are really nice. It's wonderful to have Jane around, since she did an undergrad program here 9 years ago and also spent a year in St. Petersburg...her Russian is pretty good and I've been sticking close by!
Weather isn't too cold, but the slush is plentiful and disgusting. I'm incredibly jet lagged and gonna go pass out now...better/more coherent/more interesting post in the future, I promise!
I feel very well taken care of here so far. Mariana is sort of like the house mother on our floor (dramaturgs and voice student Jane, plus a couple of other American students who have been here for a long time), and I already like her a lot. We bonded over how much we love Heidi, and she was nice enough to take the 5 of us out to get cell phones on our first night at like 10:30pm (the place is 24 hours), and to the grocery store. We also have a couple of Russians around our age, Nastia and Polina, who look after us and are really nice. It's wonderful to have Jane around, since she did an undergrad program here 9 years ago and also spent a year in St. Petersburg...her Russian is pretty good and I've been sticking close by!
Weather isn't too cold, but the slush is plentiful and disgusting. I'm incredibly jet lagged and gonna go pass out now...better/more coherent/more interesting post in the future, I promise!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
And I'm off to see the world...
Fur. Cigarette smoke. Killer high heels. Borscht.
What do these things have in common? Well, they are all about to become part of my daily surroundings. Yes, that's right folks...I'm leaving for THE RUSSIA. Or to be more specific, THE MOSCOW.
As part of my graduate school program in dramaturgy at the (get ready for it) American Repertory Theater/Moscow Art Theatre School Institute for Advanced Training at Harvard University we spend three months in residency at the Moscow Art Theatre School during our first year. This MFA program is two years, five semesters…aka I’ve been in classes since the beginning of July in Cambridge. After the summer we’ll return to finish our second year here in Cambridge.
But I must admit, in this rigorous program full of classes, Teaching Fellowship work, article writing, and production assignments, studying the Russian language always fell low on my priority list. I was pretty terrified of the Moscow portion for the first five or six months of the program because of my language incompetency. But then it hit me…other people have gone to Russia before knowing even LESS Russian than me and survived. In fact, they’ve even ENJOYED themselves. I’m going to be okay.
Well, I can say that now, but who knows. In addition to the wonderful second-year class of actors and dramaturgs, I have my own amazing support network of Russia-related friends: Erica (who studied there junior year and just completed her Fulbright there), Caitlin (also studied abroad in Moscow), Anya and her sister Lena (Russian friends turned Americans), and Heidi (ART grad from 2009). I feel like I’ve been stuffed to the gills with Russia advice. "Beware the ever-present Moscowl." "Your clothes will smell like smoke the whole time." "Don’t look police in the eyes and avoid them at all costs." The list goes on.
Adjustment periods are always a bit rough, and I wish I could jump to week three, when I know my way around, feel comfortable enough going out to explore, and my Russian skills have even improved. But until that time, I’m blessed to have these people in my life who send me lists, put me in touch with friends in Moscow, show me photos, talk to me for hours, and answer all my questions. I’m going to miss them and my other unbelievably supportive, wonderful friends and family in Cambridge so much.
I leave on Sunday night February 28th for the Motherland. But the dramatrekking won’t end there, oh no. On May 25th we depart Moscow, but I will be traveling for another month. The itinerary looks a little something like this:
May 25th: possibly spend the day in Zurich (our layover) and make a pilgrimage to the Cabaret Voltaire, the birthplace of Dada! Then fly to London with my friend and classmate Laura to drop our luggage at the flat of the amazing and oh-so accommodating former-flat mate and lifelong friend Emily Whitebread.
May 26th—June 1st: Delhi, India with Laura. She has family friends there who are graciously hosting us, and we’ll also take a trip to see the Taj Mahal. There’s a drama festival going on then so fingers crossed we can see shows.
June 1st—June 8th: Athens and Santorini with Laura, including a pilgrimage to Epidaurus.
June 8th—June 19th: London for the first visit since I studied abroad there in 2006-2007. Spending quality time with Emily and other British friends, filling my heart’s content with free museums, outdoor markets, pub grub, and of course the theatre. I will most likely make a little trip to Paris in there (hopefully with a friend from home who is trying to make a trip happen!), where I can spend hours in the Centre Pompidou, eat croissants, and dust off my French.
June 19th—June 27th: Rome and Florence with Emily where we will look at art and eat gelato all day long.
June 27th—June 29th: London to repack and probably cry because nothing will fit in my luggage anymore.
June 29th: Zurich then back to BOSTON.
I hope you’ll enjoy my four months of cultural mishaps, mistakes, and misadventures. You can also chart my progress as I try to implement my critical writing professor Arthur Holmberg’s advice: Economy of language. Active verbs. Compelling hooks and thesis statements…
I also tend to overuse ellipses, so I’ll be working on that too…next time.
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