Young theater activists from Ukraine and Russia together simplify theater for wider audience while searching for their niche in Ukraine.
Kyiv, May 20, 2016. Young artists association announced the creation of a new independent theater company “Theatre Misanthrope” “From the beginning, our intention was uncompromising – to do what we want, and the way the three of us want. So we decided that this title would reflect our intention to cut off the extra and find exclusively our audience whom we can speak clear, adequate, adult language to, without trying to simplify and set market conditions,” explained Dmytro Saratskyi, composer, co-founder of the theatre (Kyiv, Ukraine), at a press briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center. “None of the places where we have worked gave us the opportunity not to engage in market conditions, guide100% by our creative intentions and vision – a theater director or producer were always supervising us. So we decided to do a project that would be based only on our creative ideas,” added Illya Moschutskyi, stage director, co-founder of the theatre (St.-Petersburg, Russia).
The founders of “Theatre Misanthrope” began their collaboration with producing a dance drama “Three Sisters” based on Anton Chekhov’s play. While working on the show and touring, they developed an idea of joint multi-genre project that would become “a breath of fresh air” for the Ukrainian theatre. “To tell the truth, in Ukraine there are very few groups and artists that deal with contemporary theater. This is mainly either something archaic – Soviet or in the tradition of Theater Luminaries, which we all know and respect, but this is the nineteenth century,” said Mr. Saratskyi. Most modern productions are often of poor quality and use very primitive plots. At the same time, the Ukrainian society needs a high-quality modern theater. “It is so pleasant when people come up and say,” This is something very new, come more often, please” […] When we made a preview [of dance drama” Three Sisters] last year, inviting critics, whose opinions are important to us, we realized that what we do is very clear to Europeans and very new to the Ukrainians,” said Mykola Boychenko, choreographer, co-founder of the theatre” (Kyiv, Ukraine). “We hope that the appearance of the theater will somehow awaken theatrical business in Ukraine and help us move towards Europe and the world in general – in terms of trends, languages and technologies,” said Mr. Saratskyi.
Today, the company consists of 10 actors and technicians working on the light, sound and scenery. At first, they put more emphasis on choreography, but now they are planning to attract more drama actors and musicians. The most serious problem is lack of personal space and limited financial resources. However, say the actors, it is very important for them to remain independent in their work, so they will agree to sponsoring support only on condition that they do not interfere in the creative activity of the theater.
Currently, the company continues to run the drama “Three Sisters”, which premiered in December 2015 at Youth Theater. Tomorrow again the performance will be shown in Kyiv again – at the Russian Drama Theater named after Lesia Ukrayinka. In July “Theatre Misanthrope” will begin work on a new show; the presentation is planned for the autumn. “It will be a performance “Invitation to a Beheading “by Nabokov. It’s a very difficult play, and we are now trying to settle the creative idea,” said Mr. Boychenko.
The company has also filed about a hundred applications for theater festivals around the world and plans to tour in Europe.
