Two... Two... Two Days in One!

Thursday was another awesome morning of movement with Vladimir.  Of all the training we get here, his is by far the most unique – the stuff we’re least likely to be able to find back state-side.  And probably the hardest to replicate on our own.  There’s just something about having a giant Russian man yelling at you that makes all these crazy things possible.  We’re getting pretty far into a bunch of acrobatic stuff this time – lots of different lifts and partner stands and stuff.  Pretty bitchin’. 

At lunch, I was off as usual to score tickets to – of all things – Калека с Инишмана (The Cripple of Inishmaan).  The guy who played Cripple Billy at Wayne State a season ago is on the trip with us, so he’s pretty jazzed to see the show.  I’m personally fascinated to see how they approach this play.  First of all, it’s at the same place where we saw Marat/Sade and The Good Person of Setzuan, so I’m interested in seeing something that is more based in psychological realism.  Second – McDonaugh’s plays are so distinctly Irish in tone, I’m very curious to see how that will transfer.

After lunch we headed to acting class where our first day of observation etudes didn’t go super great.  We had sort of lost our sense of “the event” in favor of an accurate depiction of the person we had observed.  I had a pretty cool personal moment that taught me some things about me, but the etude itself needed much more.  I think this was actually pretty good for us as a group, since we’ve been trucking along pretty well – it’s good to be reminded of the basics and how much attention to detail is really necessary.

We had a nice long dinner break on Thursday, because we were seeing a student show at the MXAT – so no Metro for us!  The show itself was На дне(The Lower Depths).  Literally translated as “At the bottom,” It’s a famous Russian play about a bunch of people who live really hard lives, and then this guy Luka makes them think that life can get better… and then it doesn’t.  It was a project performed by the 3^rd year acting students (who are students of our acting teacher Sergei), and it was pretty impressive.  The language barrier remains a frustration, but the quality of the acting was undeniable.  There were certainly people who were better than others, but the overall sense of emotional truth on stage was pretty impressive.

Friday was another day of film history.  This time we watched The Man with the Movie Camera – which is basically a montage of images of modern life as of 1928.  It was an interesting little film. 

For lunch, it was back on the road to pick up tickets to the ballet.  Thanks to the very helpful young woman in line behind me who spoke some English and was able to translate for me with the surly box office woman, we will be seeing Жизель (Giselle) at the Stanislavsky/Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theatre.  It’s not the Bolshoi, but it’s absolutely on par with the Bolshoi. 

Then it was back for acting class during which our etudes went much much better.  There were some very cool portraits today.  I performed as my niece Anya and was told that it was a “delicate portrait.”  Hell yeah!  Go me!

Our show for Friday was another student production – this time by the 4^th years – of Трамвай <<Желание>> (A Streetcar Named Desire).  It was pretty fascinating to see them treat such an American classic.  It was a highly stylized production with a lot of dance/movement pieces strung throughout.  I liked a lot of things about it, but overall I found the production a little uneven, and the music included so many different styles and languages and nationalities, I wasn’t quite sure what it was trying to do.  There was one guy who put on a weird voice that I assume was his “jackass American” voice.  And poor Blanche suffered from the same problems that all 20-something Blanches do.  But it was still pretty damn impressive to see students doing that kind of work.

Phlegm

I should blog... I should write my paper... I should work on my job... I should do a lot of things... but I'm going to go become a puddle in bed and hope that a good night's sleep will turn things around for me.  So in the meanwhile, here's a picture of a giraffe made out of teacups.

O, Russia Day!

Today was a new experience for me, as it was the first time that I actually left the dorm on Russia Day.  Generally they cancel classes, and the city is just crowded with people celebrating what is essentially Russian Independence Day, but last year we were actually admonished to stay in our dorm and away from Red Square where there were likely to be anti-government demonstrations.  This year, however, we had classes – which meant leaving the cocoon.  On the way to school in the morning, they were in the process of setting up the floats for the Russia Day parade – so there were half-assembled floats in the middle of the street, and bus after bus of costumed performers waiting to be loaded on.  My personal favorites were a busload of Soviet-era soldiers, and two buses full of 18^th century royalty.  The royalty was great – all decked out in the fancy costumes and wigs, just slumped up against bus windows and such.  Very amusing.

Then we had our second ballet class… which was painful, but probably mostly in a good way… I think… This was followed by singing class, which got a little out of hand time-wise, so the last two of us to work with Marina didn’t really get much time, but even in the ten minutes we got with her, it was wonderful.  Each summer I remember how happy it makes me to sing… and each summer I come home and the reality hits me of who has time and money for voice lessons?  <sigh>  One of these days, I’ll get back to them.

Then it was a quick lunch before our theatre history lecture from Anatoly – always a delight! The magical Russian theatre history elf dropped more awesome knowledge on us!

From there, things got pretty bitchin’, when we were led down the street to an exhibition hall where Dmitry Krymov – the director who created Auction and As You Like It, as well as a number of other amazing shows that I’ve seen in past years, and a number of others that I haven’t seen – has worked with his students to create an installation inspired by about sixteen of his performance pieces.  The title of the exhibit is “Камень. Ножницы. Бумага” (Rock. Scissors. Paper.), and the whole thing is conceived to feel like the inside of a workshop – the floors are layered with unfinished wood, there are toolboxes around, but there are also these amazing art pieces.  None of them cry out “look at this artifact from this play they made.”  The exhibits are standalone artworks in and of themselves…they just happen to share a sort of soulful connection with the shows they represent.  And they were all interactive and tactile and auditory and amazing... It was so freakin’ cool!  We were originally supposed to be escorted around by Krymov himself, but he got stuck in rehearsal, so instead his right-hand lady – Vera – showed us around.  She was so excited about and attached to the work, it was wonderful to hear her perspectives on this director about whom I have heard so much (since my professor is the foremost American researcher on his work). 

In the foreground, this exhibit depicts a moment from one of the performances in which a character cuts a banquet table in half - food flying everywhere!  Amazing!  In the background, you can just make out the legs of a giraffe built out of teacups.   

From there, it was a brisk walk home through a much more crowded street than usual.  Though the barricades from the parade had all been cleared, there were definitely still extra people around.  Way too many for my taste! 

And now… as is my daily refrain… I will try to go work on my @&%*(@&%)!&$*&@(& conference paper…because there are so many things I would rather work on that I’m not allowed to touch until I finish this @%(**$)!%&@ paper!

Zizi the Chicken Saves the Day

Today was kind of a weird day from the get-go.  We started out with a shortened movement class because the entire staff of the MXAT school was having a giant meeting today.  And even though we had 30 minutes less than usual, we rocked big time!  Vladimir is taking us to very cool places in our partner work – we’re climbing all over each other and doing all kinds of crazy balancing!  It’s pretty damn cool, if I do say so myself… and I do.

Then, because of the giant meeting, we had a three hour lunch…which for some people meant lounging or sightseeing or whatever.  For me, it meant booking it over to the Фоменко (Fomenko) Theatre to pick up tickets for productions of Носорог (Rhinoceros) and Три Сеcтри (Three Sisters) later in the month.  There were some hiccups, but I got to meet the woman I’ve been emailing, and I ended up with the right tickets for the right price, so I felt pretty good about the whole thing.  Then I headed back for the end of our lunch break and then our good ol’ acting class, which was really strong today.  Ilja pushed us hard on the concentration games… and we discovered that none of us knows any athletes’ names.  We also did a few more animal etudes – the highlight of which for me was Annie’s hen, who was both hilarious and tragic.  Delightful.

From there, things got complicated again.  Five of our group had tickets to see The Cherry Orchard at the MXAT for tonight at 7:00, so they had time to hang around, eat, do whatever the heck they did.  The other eleven of us, however, had to book it to the puppet theatre to see the 6:00 showing of Необыкновенный Концерт (Extraordinary Concert).  This is a show that opened in 1946… which is kind of mind-boggling.  It was charming, but I have to admit, it was a little boring.  There was a little poorly translated English in the program, so I could follow things from act to act, but it was basically a puppet variety show… the first act in particular was pretty boring.  The second act picked up with trained animals and magic and lion tamers and such.  Zizi the Chicken – who sang “pizzicato” along with her trainer’s accordion – was definitely the highlight for many of us.  And the lion named either Snickers or Sneakers was pretty awesome too.  The puppets were lovely, but the show was very much a product of another time.  I’m glad I saw it, but I’m also glad I didn’t pay any more for it than I did (400 rubles – or about $12).

In the lobby of the puppet theatre - super cool!

After that, we just headed home, and that was that.  The rest of the evening was mostly spent with a lot of laughing with the group – it’s nice that, about a week and a half in, we still seem to find each other amusing.  

A Light Day?

Today was sort of a low-key day with no show in the evening, and only half of the group having singing class, so I had the morning to myself… which meant that, instead of doing something like sleeping in or working on my paper, I ran around in circles getting tickets for the rest of the group.  I was able to pick up 11 tickets for a puppet show for Tuesday (5 folks will be seeing Вишневый Сад [The Cherry Orchard] at the MXAT, so I wanted to find something else for the group.  The lady at the counter was adorable – I was very effective in communicating what I wanted – the number of tickets, the price, etc.  But I think that I may have been too agreeable, and she was worried that I was just saying “yes” to everything, so before she printed the tickets, she wrote down the number and the price and held them up to me – yes… it was exactly what I had asked for.  We’re communicating, adorable box office lady, don’t be afraid!  Then I headed over to a different theatre to get 8 tickets to Смерть Жирафа (Death of Giraffe) on Saturday – another piece by Dmitry Krymov – the director who did Auction and As You Like It that we’ve already seen.  It’s a weird little piece that I saw two years ago…I’m looking forward to seeing if I understand any more of it this time around!  On Saturday the other half of the group will be attending Синее Чудовище (Blue Monster) at the Satirikon, so we’re all pretty busy!  I also grabbed myself a ticket to a new production of Кориолан (Coriolanus) which is playing on a night when everyone else is seeing something I've already seen twice.  I do like the show they're seeing, but I'm really curious about this production, so I figure I will deliver them to the theatre that night, and then head off to my own weird little Russian theatre experience.  I'm really looking forward to that little treat for myself!

Then we had acting class wherein we spent a good thirty minutes gushing to Sergei about the Seagull we had seen the night before, before getting into training and etudes.  There were some pretty good ones today.  A koala and a peacock made particularly good showings today!

Then we headed back to the dorm for our potluck/group meeting/me taking everyone’s money to go get more tickets tomorrow.  I’m definitely earning my keep this time around!

The evening culminated in chatting instead of working (oops) and then sitting in the stairwell so I could get enough internet to send an email to a theatre with which I have been corresponding entirely in Russian (GO ME!).  Apparently this was the time that all the Russian students were coming home, so it was a little awkward… but whatcha gonna do?  Our internets are behaving badly… I will do what must be done!

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD... Я Чайка!

Today started out with a little skype back to home base in Ypsi… for which I am so very homesick!  But I got to skype with both Brian and Chloe, so it was a pretty good call.  Then the rest of the day was fairly low impact with a little headway being made on my conference paper (ever so little, but I’ll take what I can get).  Then… the big finish to our Chekhov-palooza weekend.  Yes, tonight we got to go see my favorite thing in the entire world – The Сатирикон’s production of Чайка (The Seagull).  It is four and a half hours (including the three intermissions), and it is the most exciting, breathtaking, inventive, heart-wrenching thing I have ever experienced ever.  I was enraptured the whole time, leaning forward in my seat, scribbling notes, weeping openly… I can’t believe how lucky I am to have seen this show at all, let alone THREE TIMES!  There were things that had changed, things that had been refined, things that had grown deeper… it was such a rewarding evening at the theatre!  I could hardly stop crying at the end of the show – and I think I started to see more glimpses of Dead Man’s Cell Phone (the show I’ll be directing in the fall) in this play, which gets me really excited to work on my script.  I do have my script with me, and I will work on it, but part of me feels like I’m not allowed to until I do my conference paper.  But still… I am starting to really feel the creative atmosphere of Moscow seep into me, and I can’t wait to unleash it on this script!

From our deliciously devastating evening we headed back to the dorm where I was able to do a quick skype with my parents before another etude meeting and some work for class tomorrow.  Really, all I want to do is to stay up all night writing my thoughts about the play… but that would be a little irresponsible.  So for now, I will post a photo… and I will think happy thoughts… and look through youtube for an idea for my second animal etude.

All the Chekhov

Today was a very Chekhov sort of day.  And I don’t mean that we sat around drinking vodka and pondering our unrealized dreams.  Nope.  Today at 10:00 we boarded a little bus out to the country town of Мелихово (Melikhovo) where Chekhov had a little country estate.  In the seven years he lived there, he kept himself busy with 1) being the doctor for 25 towns, 4 factories and a monastery; 2) taking care of his large extended family; 3) taking the census for an island of mostly prisoners that had never been counted before; and 4) writing little trifles like The Seagull and Uncle Vanya.  It was a lovely day, and really did a lot to put his plays in their proper context, but I think most of us would have enjoyed ourselves more had it not been for the extreme volume of mosquitos following us and ravaging us at every opportunity.

After the tour, we hopped back on the bus and Annie and I strolled down to the Ленком (Lenkom) Theatre to see if I could get a few tickets for tonight’s production of Вишнёвый Сад (The Cherry Orchard).  Turns out I could… so ten of us headed back down to the theatre later on to see the production.  It’s certainly not the best production I’ve seen, nor the best production of this particular show, but it was very interesting stylistically, and left me with a lot of questions about their approach to the text.  The play was heavily underscored, and sometimes we weren’t sure where specific music choices had come from (I dubbed the recurrence of some strangely electronic, pounding music “Chechno”).  But regardless of the specific acting and directing choices, the set was a force to be reckoned with.  It was highly mechanized – the glass walls moved all over the stage and rearranged themselves throughout, there was a sort of broken cyc created along the back with what seemed like reeds or metal poles or something to that effect… and in the end… well… the set earned its paycheck in a big way when, after Firs is left alone in the house, the house (in the words of Kassy) “ate him, fell over, and exploded.”  The spectacle of it was pretty impressive.  Really… there were more than a few times when we audibly reacted to the set alone.

After that, aside from a quick detour into the grocery store to get some ice cream, the night was pretty much over, and I sat down to try to convince myself to get some work done.  So we’ll see how that goes.  Tomorrow we will continue the Chekhov-palooza with a trip to the Satirikon for my favorite thing in the world… their production of The Seagull.  Be still, my heart!