Kaluga hosts festival of oldest Russian theaters

KALUGA. Kaluga spectators for the fifth time met a theater festival where the oldest theaters of the country present their works. Most of the theaters assembled in Kaluga were founded back in the 18th century, initially being serf theaters, or grew out of amateur troupes.

Each of these groups carefully preserves the traditions of the academic theater, but at the same time they are open to experiments, actively involved in the search for new forms. The Kaluga festival was created to show - the theater is not a museum, but is able to combine traditions and modern reading of the plays of classical playwrights.

The capital is represented only by one theater - named after E. Vakhtangov, who has prepared for the festival program the play “Dedication to Eve”, which the audience will see on the last day of the theater forum on September 15th. All other groups came from Russian provincial cities.

Theaters from Nizhny Novgorod and Vladimir, Penza and Voronezh, Ulyanovsk and Saratov, Tula and, of course, Kaluga itself will present their works. The first festival performance was the play "Zoykina apartment", performed by a theater from Yaroslavl. Drama Theater Volkova showed the work of real professionals. The jury was struck by the amazing coherence of the actors. “Zoykina apartment”, in a stage reading by director Evgeni Marcelli, turned into a real show with the participation of Bulgakov characters.

The festival’s repertoire is based on plays by classical playwrights, however, the forum provides for readings of seven plays selected from two hundred sent to the competition. These pieces are recommended for staging on the old, academic stage.

Prizes await the winners, and each troupe will be handed the forward-looking angel - a work by Sergey Bychkov.

Ludmila Trautmane © Gallerix.ru