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Shock from Zholdak

First-ever premiere of three Ukrainian plays at Berlin drama festival

Photo by Anatoly MEDZYK ANDRIY ZHOLDAK IGNORES THE PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA

The Taras Shevchenko Drama Theater of Kharkiv recently showcased three productions by Andriy Zholdak, the legendary extremist and bad-boy stage director, who until recently was the company’s artistic director. A month ago Zholdak tendered his resignation, breaking his contract that was valid until 2007. The reason for his resignation was that he had received an invitation to work in Europe.

For German audiences Zholdak has prepared “a show for theater connoisseurs.” That’s how he describes his stage experimentations. During the festival he will produce two plays that have already rocked the theater world: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, based on Solzhenitsyn’s novel, and A Month of Love, based on Turgenev’s A Month in the Country. On Oct. 22 the Volksbuhne in Berlin will host the world premiere of Romeo and Juliet: An Excerpt, which may flop and turn into a real “bomb.” This production has traditionally sparked the most contradictory opinions ranging from praise to condemnation. Zholdak held a dress rehearsal in Kharkiv in early September. Although tickets were available, no critics or media people were invited, contrary to his rule of promoting every work in the noisiest possible fashion. Few people saw the play, but everyone said it was a “shocker,” whether they liked Zholdak’s version of Shakespeare’s tragedy or hated it. The stage director made the cast of Romeo act stark naked, on toilet seats. During the performance the actors smear themselves with muck resembling feces, and in the final scene the actors turn into statues. Zholdak says that every actor is “a hunter and every viewer is a fox falling into the stage director’s trap.”

Zholdak has staged provocative performances before, smashing the principles of academic theater. He is frequently criticized for his scandalous displays, but his creative endeavors leave no one indifferent. Critics believe that he has stirred up Kharkiv’s stagnant theatrical life and that Ukraine will be saddened when he leaves to work in Europe. In the nearest future German critics will tell us whether his Romeo and Juliet: An Excerpt is a success.

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Andriy Zholdak was born in 1962. A graduate of the Russian Academy of Theatrical Art, he has staged plays in Ukraine and abroad. His productions have won prizes at various international drama festivals: BITEF (Belgrade), Kontakt (Poland), Sibiu (Romania), Noorderzon (Holland), and Mystetske Berezillia (Ukraine). He is the recipient of the UNESCO Prize for the Promotion of the Arts. His actress-wife Viktoria Spesivtseva plays in nearly all of his productions. They have two sons.

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