On the night of August 11th, the Chekhov International Theatre Festival production Twelfth Night adapted from Shakespeare’s dramatic work was performed in Russian at NCPA Theatre. The performance featuring only “male actors” gave a new interpretation of Shakespeare’s masterpiece Twelfth Night. It not only kept the original humor of Shakespeare’s comedy, but also made innovations in the performance and set design.
Twelfth Night was presented on NCPA stage
On the stage, Andrey Kuzichev, Eugene Samarin, Ian Ilves and other outstanding Russian actors vividly presented the classic roles in the work of Shakespeare such as Viola, Olivia and Duke Orsino. A shipwreck breaks Viola and her twin brother Sebastian apart. Then Viola comes to Illyria, Italy, where she “disguises herself as a man”, and works as a servant of Duke Orsino. The actor Andrey Kuzichev, who played Viola, graduated from the Russia Theatre Academy. He has acted in dramas like West Side Story, Three Sisters and in the film Doctor Zhivago (Доктор Живаго)(2006). Not only did Andrey Kuzichev show how cute and lovely Viola is, but he perfectly revealed her complex feelings when she served as a male servant of the Duke and was admired by her “rival in love”. Just as the “love triangle” falls into an inextricable situation, Viola’s twin brother Sebastian turns up, and the female earl, who mistakes Sebastian for Viola, pays court to Sebastian in a rush. The duke, who has been frustrated too many times, now comes to his sweetheart’s house together with his “male” servant, in an attempt to turn the table on. The four people do not get to the bottom of the confusing romantic entanglement until all of them meet, and finally two couples are tied to each other in bonds of matrimony. On the stage, the actors gave full play to the characters’ emotions, thus “recreating” this classic comedy in their own way.
All-male actors interpreted Shakespeare’s comedy with Russian style
Twelfth Night produced by the Chekhov International Theatre Festival is featured with strong Russian cultural elements throughout. On the afternoon before the performance, a dialogue on “Russian Drama in China” was held at the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Bookstore at Beijing Foreign Studies University, where Chinese famous actor PU Cunxin and the renowned director ZHA Mingzhe communicated with
Twelfth Night’s production team and main performers. The dialogue was hosted by young director YANG Shen. Director ZHA Mingzhe recalled the days when he studied in Russia, and still remembered how much the Russian people liked drama. He said, “A theatre is where people talk to the soul and audience gains strength for their life. Drama is inseparable from all the best things, such as belief, idea, goodness, compassion, sympathy, love and peace.” Valery Shedlin, Artistic Director of the Chekhov International Theatre Festival, also looked forward to deeper exchanges and cooperation with outstanding Chinese drama producers, and to introducing excellent Chinese dramas into Russia. About the performance,
Twelfth Night’s assistant director Evgeny Pisarev said, “The director did not give any guidance at the beginning of the rehearsal. Instead, he asked the actors to try to interprete the drama according to their own understanding. The actors were free to act in the rehearsal. They could play the part as they pleased, and that’s how we made every attempt to optimize the stage performance. The director often says to the actors, “You are more than a performer, so you need to put your heart and soul into every role you are playing, to make yourself part of the production.”
A dialogue on “Russian Drama in China” was held at Beijing Foreign Studies University
This drama will last until August 13
th. Then,
Dorogaya Yelena Sergeevna directed by ZHA Mingzhe and
Uncle Vanya starring PU Cunxin will be presented as part of NCPA International Theatre Festival 2017.
(Photos by LIU Fang)