From the Mighty - mighty

An unusual festival begins in St. Petersburg

From December 1 to December 10, a very unusual festival is expected in St. Petersburg, it is called “Andrey Moguchy’s Theater Space” and is dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the creation of the “Formal Theater”. The event is unusual not because it compactly shows all the performances of one director currently running in different theaters (we have special festivals, and in St. Petersburg, where special screenings of productions by Nyakrosius, Ginkas and others were held, they are especially loved), but because it the main part is not the theater.

The program is divided according to this principle. One part is “About the Theater”, there are seven performances in it, starting with “Izotov” - the last premiere of Mighty in Alexandrinka, and also Alexandrinsky’s “Ivanov”, which received the “Golden Mask” this year. Two performances from the “Comedian’s Shelter” - “Not Hamlet” and “Pro Turandot”, “The Play That Is Not” from the “Baltic House” and favorite performances of the “Formal Theater” - “Between a Dog and a Wolf” and “School for Fools” ", which has not been seen in St. Petersburg since 2003. The “Not About Theatre” program, which was decided to be the main one, will combine many exhibitions, master classes, video screenings, readings, lectures by those people who have ever worked or been friends with the Mighty.

This part centers around an exhibition of paintings by Alexander Shishkin, an artist with whom Moguchy has been working for many years, but who is known only as a set designer (by the way, immediately after the festival Shishkin will go to receive the prestigious Stanislavsky Prize). Next is a children's program, which will include “drawing lessons” (they will be conducted by the same Shishkin) and a master class on children’s clowning, which will be given by “actor” Anvar Libabov, who has played with Moguchy more than once.

Video screenings include three combined programs of the author’s “Atypical Animation” and a presentation of the giant video archive of “Formal Theater”. The performance of the poet Lev Rubinstein (“Card Index”) and “Selected Notes of Friends” by playwright Konstantin Uchitel is expected - a reading of the play, the text of which consists of notes from friends on the social network “Vkontakte”, among whom, in addition to professional writers, directors, musicians, artists, students and even schoolchildren.

As part of the “Sunday School” there is an intriguing series of lectures, the topics of which have not yet been announced, but it is known that one will be given by Sergei Shnurov. A special evening is reserved for a meeting of everyone who has ever worked at the Formal Theater (“20 years in suitcases”), and a concert for amateurs - a “shoegazing jam”, in which Moguchiy himself will participate in the company of the AXE group.

At the closing ceremony at the Baltic House, after the performance “Between a Dog and a Wolf,” they promise to show “an opera without rehearsals” by Alexander Manotskov “Egg!” - perhaps this will be a reincarnation of the large-scale epic about the chicken Ryaba, which, called “Golden”, closed the previous “Golden Mask”.

Dina GODER