The heroes of "Electra" directed by Timofei Kulyabin became our contemporaries

MOSCOW. The opening of a new stage space at the Theater of Nations - the Small Stage became for theater-goers not only the appearance of a high-tech transformer hall, but also a new interpretation of the tragedy of Euripides Electra, which was included in the theater’s repertoire.

The premiere of the play directed by the young director Timofei Kulyabin became a very unusual performance, although it is based on the classic translation of Greek myth made by the poet Innokenty Annensky in the 19th century. It is quite clear that the text is adapted for the modern viewer, and out of the many characters present in the story, only the main characters of the tragedy remained on the stage.

Only the place where the problems of ancient Greek heroes are solved, the director chose the unusual. Considering that a similar situation can happen at any time, he chooses the symbolic space of the modern world as a place of action, a place where completely different people can meet, with a different fate - the airport. According to Timofei Kulyabin, it is this universal space that allows us to talk about the connection of fate, the personal choice of heroes and the consequences of this choice.

The main question posed in the play to the audience, does the will of the gods justify the killing of a person? The images of the heroes are interpreted by the director unambiguously - no external circumstances can justify the murder. When discussing the play, Timofei Kulyabin noted that among the Greek playwrights, Euripides was the first to attempt to blame the events on a person by removing him from the gods. Elektra, who made her brother become the killer of her own mother, becomes exactly the same killer, while dying spiritually. This is not the fulfillment of the task assigned to the heroes by the Gods, but their own choice.

Ludmila Trautmane