From 23 November to 3 December, the Maxim Gorky Rostov Academic Drama Theatre hosted the international theatre masterclasses for young European stage directors and set designers and Russian actors.
The workshops in Rostov-on-Don are a collaborative and co-financed project between the Union des Théâtres de l'Europe, The State Academic Maly Theatre of Moscow and The State Academic Gorky Drama Theatre that was carried out with the support of the Ministry of Culture of Russia. The event is organized in context of the CONFLICT ZONES | ZONES DE CONFLIT network programme of the UTE with the support of the "Creative Europe" programme of the European Union."
The masterclass was led by stage director Alexandru Darie, who is also the general manager at the Bulandra Theatre in Bucharest (member of the Union des Théâtres de l'Europe) and dramaturge Christine Hamon-Sirejols, who is also a professor emeritus at the department of theatre studies at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle/Paris3. Christine Hamon-Sirejols gave a series of lectures dedicated to historical chronicles of William Shakespeare, the analysis of the text of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, and gave a brilliant perspective on the history of different productions of the tragedy.
The masterclass was opened with a press conference on November 24th with the participation of Alexander Pudin, artistic director of the Rostov Drama Theatre, stage director of the Maly Theatre and the honored artist of Russia Vladimir Dragunov, and masters of the class, Alexandru Darie and Christine Hamon-Sirejols.
Set designers and stage directors from Athens (National Theatre of Greece), Thessaloniki (National Theatre of Northern Greece), Portugal (Teatro Nacional São João) and Rome (Teatro di Roma), and also actors from the Maly Theatre and the Rostov Academic Drama theater of M. Gorky took part in the masterclass which lasted 10 days. During this period, four couples of young stage directors and set designers from Greece, Portugal and Italy with seven Russian actors (from the Maly Theatre and Gorky's theatre) worked on the production of Shakespeare’s tragedy Coriolanus. Students of the Rostov College of Arts also took part in the series of events – from attending lectures to participating in trainings and rehearsals with creative groups from Europe, and were also involved in the final presentation.
The final presentation of Coriolanus took place on December 2nd. The result of the collaboration was an excursion through the pages of Shakespeare’s tragedy. During the performance the audience was engaged in the interactive performance, they followed the protagonists’ path and tried to understand, together with main characters, the reasoning behind human nature; the problems of moral choice; and questions of war and peace; all vital subjects nowadays.
The masterclass in Rostov-on-Don was a unique project, a "dialogue of cultures". In addition to forwarding the creative exchange of actors, directors and set designers from Europe and Asia and strengthening social and artistic ties between continents, promoting European theatre culture in the regions of the Russian Federation and enriching the theatrical space of the world, the masterclass was also a search for mutual understanding and respect, overcoming contradictions and search for compromise.
CAST FROM THE MALY THEATRE
Daria Novoseltseva Aleksandr Naumov Evgeniy Sorokin Ekaterina Vasilieva
CAST FROM ROSTOV DRAMA THEATRE
Denis Kuznetsov Yulia Grebenik Alyona Gudkova
- Students from Rostov College of Arts (5 people)
NATIONAL THEATRE OF GREECE
Stamatina Tzoka | set designer Christos Theodoridis | stage director
NATIONAL THEATRE OF NORTHERN GREECE
Οlga Chatziiakovou | set and costume designer Dr. Christina Chatzivasileiou | stage director
TEATRO NACIONAL SÃO JOÃO
Luís Manuel Dos Santos De Almeida Araújo | director Tiago Manuel Pinhal Costa | designer
TEATRO DI ROMA
Tiziano Panici | stage director Katia Titolo | set designer
An event organised by the the Union des Théâtres de l'Europe and the Maly Drama Theatre in Moscow In context of the CONFLICT ZONES network programme of the UTE With the support of the Creative Europe programme of the European Union
More photos here
Photo credits: Ekaterina Serebryakova
