From Hemingway to Chekhov. Productions being prepared by the Pyotr Fomenko Workshop Theater in the new season
The Pyotr Fomenko Workshop Theater began its 33rd season with the traditional gathering of the company, in which where Artistic Director Yevgeny Kamenkovich told the members what awaits the artists and the audience. Among the guests of the event were Alexei Fursin, Minister of the Moscow Government, Head of the Moscow City Department of Culture, and Alexander Fokin, Head of the Theaters Department of the Department of Culture.
Premieres
The first premiere of the season took place on September 18: Four Days in the 25th Frame, directed by Evgeny Kamenkovich. The play, written by contemporary playwright Olga Mukhina especially for the Pyotr Fomenko Workshop Theater, consists of 25 scenes. Costumes for the performance were designed by artist Maria Borovskaya.
A production based on Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea is scheduled for October. Ivan Shalaev, a young director and a graduate of Yuri Butusov’s workshop, will turn to the story by the great American writer. The premiere will take place on the theater’s old stage.
In February, audiences will be able to attend a play based on works of Anton Chekhov. Actress and director Polina Agureyeva will bring them to the stage, combining them into a single story. The Moscow Soloists chamber ensemble under the baton of conductor Yuri Bashmet will take part in the production.
After the New Year director Ivan Popovski will start rehearsals of the play The Village of Stepanchikovo and its Inhabitants based on the novel of the same name by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Details have not yet been disclosed, but it is known that several generations of actors of the Pyotr Fomenko Workshop Theater. The premiere will be in May.
And in the summer Evgeny Kamenkovich and Fyodor Malyshev will prepare a joint production. Details are being kept under wraps for now.
Tour
A rich touring program has been organized for the artists. On October 10, in Yaroslavl, they will present the play Mayakovsky. Listen based on the poet’s autobiography, letters, songs and poems. The show will be held as part of the program of the 25th International Volkov Theatre Festival.
As part of the All-Russian program Big Tour one of the most popular plays of the theater, Bespridannitsa, will be shown in Yekaterinburg (October 14 and 15) and Chelyabinsk (October 17 and 18).
In November, the troupe will travel to Minsk. There the audience will see the theater’s trademark production, Wolves and Sheep based on a play by Alexander Ostrovsky. In addition, the artists will perform Mayakovsky. Listen and Last Dates, as well as the performance-concert My Brel, the story of the French singer of Belgian descent Jacques Brel.
Exhibitions, concerts, lectures
During the tour to Minsk, Anastasia Sergeeva, head of the company’s press service, theater specialist and historian, will describe how the Pyotr Fomenko Workshop Theater came into being, and talk about its past, present and plans for the near future. Young theatergoers will be able to enjoy Journey into Theatrical History, in which Anastasia Sergeeva will introduce them to the history of world theater from Ancient Greece to the present day.
Exhibition activities will also continue in the new season. The first exhibition, Theatrical Consilium, will open on Oct. 17. On display will be shown works from the collection of a friend of the theater, doctor and collector Mark Kurtzer, including sketches by Natan Altman and Nikolai Sapunov, illustrations by Ilya Glazunov and works by Anatoly Zverev, Ilya Kabakov, Valery Koshlyakov and Alexander Labas, among others.
There will also be concerts. Plans for upcoming events include a jazz evening by Valery Syutkin and the Light Jazz band, and an evening of work selected and performed by singer Varvara Vizbor.
Artistic director Evgeny Kamenkovich stressed that these are just a few of the theater’s plans.