Death makes people

Today I was lucky enough to watch a new mini-performance, a sketch for a large, full-length performance of the Serov Drama Theater named after. A.P. Chekhov (Sverdlovsk region).

The literary basis of the performance is based on the story of the American writer Ed McBain "Your Turn!" from the series "Children of the Jungle". Following the author, production director Yulia Baturina (I won’t mention her titles and awards), against the backdrop of a showdown between two young people, leaders of two street gangs, who met in an abandoned house or basement (the place is not so important, what is important is that in a confined space ) in a kind of dialogue of dooms. In the play "Blind-man's-buff" ("Blindman's Bluff"), as in the author's work, young people try to match the strength of spirit and luck in "Russian roulette", spinning the drum of a revolver loaded with bullets, they put it to their heads queues, they begin to understand all the stupidity of the situation, all the superficial values ​​of the pack that push them to sort things out, all the imaginary friendships of people who stand behind the walls and are waiting for the result of the deadly game.

The deadly game evokes in the heroes a mutual understanding of the value of life and each other, as people who find themselves facing death for fictitious ideals, whose whole life with its new sensations, meetings, holidays and sorrows may be ahead, or may be cut short by chance. That our life is a game... The acting of actors Alexei Deev and Sergei Filkin did not seem ostentatious; with each shot, they were perceived closer and closer by the audience as real people, whom they did not feel sorry for, but who became closer. The Twilight Hall, the stage, the young boys who are playing too hard... Now, they are ready to stop, one more step, one more, the final challenge to death... Death has taken its toll, you can’t play with it, it’s used to winning...

One of the young men puts a bullet in his head... The story does not stop, the other, realizing the absurdity of both the situation and life, runs out to his “brothers”, not to share the joy of victory and superiority, but with the next shots that put an end to their lives and fate, but ellipses in the viewer’s understanding.

A mini-performance, a mini-spatial and artistic design of the performance do not make it mini-significant. The big one is seen from a distance, and the distance chosen is good. For big problems, a few phrases or glances are enough to identify them. This was achieved by the Serov Theater and its chief director Yulia Baturina, who once again, on the stage of the House of Actors in Yekaterinburg, showed that theater from the outback can pose deep philosophical and life problems to the viewer.