Opus № 7 1. Genealogy 2. Shostakovich

The Russian theatre at the turn of millennia is characterized by searching for new aesthetics. Among the strong yet traditional psycho-realistic theatre and the flood of light genres and commercial tabloid style typical for the 1990s, new voices started to create, mainly in the sphere of original dramatic writing. The voice of the so-called new drama brought into theatre in Russia original formal approaches, an open discussion about taboo themes and the tendency toward the documentary authenticity. Many contemporary Russian playwrights and their texts achieved success and they are considered noteworthy within the context of today world’s theatre (Olya Mukhina, Ivan Vyrypaev, Vasily Sigarev or the Presnyakov brothers).

Among these distinctive personalities of contemporary drama there is the authorial theatre developing, based on the principle of collective creating. While the boom of new drama surprised theatre people and audiences a few years ago, there is quite a different confrontation expected of them now. The new theatrical voice from Russia for the new millennium is considered also the work by the laboratory of Dmitry Krymov. This visual artist and director and his collective of young actors have for several seasons affected the theatre scene by their original work, based on the best traditions of Russian visual art and theatre. In 2006 they presented the production called The Demon. A view from Above, based on a poem by M. Lermontov with a surprising stage design (the audience watched the production and the creative process from above, the stage was in the pit). Then followed other outstanding productions – A Cow, based on the short story by A. Platonov or The Death of a Giraffe, inspired by the theatre of the absurd. The last production, Tarambumbiya, commemorating Chekhov’s 150^th birthday anniversary, is a real masterpiece – there are 80 artists, dancers, singers, circus artists and musicians performing in it in 300 costumes.

Krymov’s formal theatre of colourful theatricality and high aesthetics is deeply emotive in painful hits on the conscience and the ethic of society. Krymov and his young collective do not fear to speak openly about the communist past, the Stalinist era, the final solutions of certain issues, the cruel “gulping” of Revolution’s or Homeland’s own children … When watching the Opus No. 7 there appear some existential questions in our minds - Who are we? Where from and where to are we heading? Who was here before us and what did he leave to us? What does the message of those before us mean today? But even the effect of the questions to our intellectual and emotional inner world will not break the basic feeling – the experience of the primal magic of the theatre. Behind this magic there stand the outstanding stage-design tandem, collective of talented performers working with great meekness and discipline, excellent performance of Ana Sinyakina playing Shostakovich, great poetry by Lev Rubinstein and perfectly minimalist music by Alexander Bakshi.
Romana Maliti

“The genre of all Krymov’s productions is a tragic comic strip. They are also connected by their theme: the artist and society, me and them… In ´The Genealogy´ this theme is transformed into ´we and them´. We – a diverse group of comedians whose lives are suddenly broken into by them – the shadows of forgotten ancestors, the Jews after whom remained only strangely sounding names and fascinating photographs.”
Alla Schenderova, Kommersant, 2008