The premiere of the play "Man" staged by Slovenian director Tomi Yanezhich took place at the Bolshoi Drama Theater

ST. PETERSBURG. Last weekend, on the main stage of BDT, the premiere of the play “The Man”, staged by Slovenian director Tomi Janežić based on a book written by Viktor Frankl, a man who survived imprisonment in several concentration camps, including Auschwitz and Dachau, took place.

This year marks 70 years since the liberation of Auschwitz, and 110 years have passed since the birth of the author of the book. The premiere performance is dedicated to these dates. The book, published under the title Say Yes, was written by Frankl after his release from prison in the last camp. It has been reprinted many times, it is considered one of the most important studies of human psychology from works written in the twentieth century.

The main question asked by Frankl in his book is what is a person? The main answer to this question, passing through the entire book, the author believes that each of the people in any situation has the opportunity to choose. Ekaterina Legin, author of the staging of the book for the play “The Man,” says that freedom is implied in this choice.

The performance, staged by Tomi Yanezhich, employs twenty theater artists representing different generations of the troupe. Although the basis of the play was the material of the book related to a specific period of history, the director also uses the actual context. The stage discusses topics so important that they continue to excite humanity today, although after the events described in the book, 70 years have passed.

People want to know what is meant by the words “human dignity” and “freedom”, is it possible not to lose the meaning of life, finding itself in circumstances unbearable for a person. With the help of the director, a space is created on the stage where the artists, together with the audience, try to answer the questions raised in the performance.

Ludmila Trautmane © Gallerix.ru