Act 1. “The Seagull”
The works of more than a hundred artists are likened to actors whose roles change depending on the script.
Putting on The Seagull outside the setting of a theatre is something entertaining in itself. This great classic of the Russian stage is placed in an ill-suited environment — a museum space. This new situation therefore plays host to a reconsideration of the dramatic genre. Moreover, works of art also find themselves in unusual circumstances, playing the role of actors.
Chekhov intuitively foresaw thatin future his plays might be adapted under a wide variety of “new forms,” and loaded them with a potential for a huge number of interpretations. The canonical text becomes a source for its own potential distortions. The author grants this freedom, and the Theatre of Mutual Operations elegantly takes advantage of this. Their The Seagull is an attempt to restore the initial originality of the play overgrown with clichés. Fragments, episodes, incomplete plots and paradoxes thereby become an arsenal with which the artists can create a visual work of their own.
The Theatre of Mutual Actions is an open association of three artists and a producer who jointly create independent theatrical and contemporary art projects. A special aspect of their creative method is their focus on process and the absence of the authoritarian figure of director.
Participating Artists:
Shifra Kazhdan is an artist and an art director, She has held exhibitions both in Russia and abroad, and has been nominated for the Innovation Prize, Golden Mask Prize and Kandinsky Prize.
Lyosha Lobanov is an art director, a costume designer. Nominated for the Golden Mask Prize and Innovation Prize.
Alexandra Moon is a producer, a manager, a pioneer of independent film and theatre projects. He has been nominated for the Golden Mask Prize and Innovation Prize.
Ksenia Peretrukhina is an artist and performance artist. Nominee for the Black Square Prize, Innovation Prize, Kandinsky Prize, winner of the Golden Mask Award.