With each biannual running, the Chekhov International Theater Festival unfailingly brings a world of theatrical surprises to Moscow. This year, the focus has been on shows influenced by the circus and/or originating in Francophone cultures.
This in itself would provide the inspiration for reams of twitter talk. But it is something of a minifestival-within-the-festival that has caught my eye. One of Europe's most respected theater dynasties — the family of Jean-Baptiste Thierree and Victoria Chaplin ?€” took center stage in the early phase of the festival.
Thierree and Chaplin's "Le Cirque Invisible," a divine potpourri of magic tricks and strange physical transformations of a woman turning into a horse or a table into a rickshaw pulled by a dragon, has now come and gone. But the couple's children are still drawing full houses in two of the city's major venues. In all, the Thierree-Chaplin family will have held court in town for an entire month by the time that daughter Aurelie Thierree's "L'Oratorio d'Aurelie" closes at the Pushkin Theater on Saturday and son James Thierree's "Au Revoir Parapluie" closes at the Maly Theater on Tuesday.
It has been an extraordinary run for obvious reasons of quality, vision and talent. But there is an intangible quality that gave this month of performances an almost mystical quality. I don't want to overdo this, but ?€” pardon me while I pause ?€” the spiritual presence of Victoria's father and her children's grandfather, Charlie Chaplin, has been overwhelming.
Those gorgeous, huge dark eyes that Victoria and Aurelie share with Charlie are absolutely unmistakable. We have seen and admired them for what seems to be a million years. Or what about James when he steps to the edge of the stage, leans over and peers out into the audience with that famous open-mouthed smile with the parentheses-like creases in his cheeks?
At moments like this, time and space and the obstacles they constantly throw at us simply crumble in our minds. There stands before us the Tramp, the eternal Tramp, peering out at us as if he had never gone away.
What is most moving about it is the integrity with which these performers embrace their legacy. Each is unique and independent, and each develops his or her own style. Victoria constantly toys with a dark side that makes some of her exquisite, transformational skits quite unsettling. James cultivates an eclecticism that defies a linear or narrative interpretation of the fractured stories he tells. Aurelie brings a combination of whimsy, elegance and romanticism to her work.
Yet all of them draw inspiration from that old world of the music hall variety show from which Charlie himself emerged a century ago. And all of them have that extraordinary sense of timing that can turn a mere gesture into an essay on human nature.
As for the patriarch Jean-Baptiste Thierree, the connections go further and deeper. This magician seems to have sprung from a medieval world defined by a clarity and simplicity that is all but inaccessible to us now. In your mind's eye, you can seem him climbing down off a rattle-trap cart and setting up his threadbare, timeworn equipment on an ancient cobblestone street. His tricks are the classics of the trade ?€” pulling rabbits out of hats, eggs from cheeks and flowers from pockets. But as it became evident very quickly, Jean-Baptiste does not intend to impress us with technique, although he surely can do that ?€” he is a connoisseur of style, delivery and communication.
Communication, connecting with other human beings, is undoubtedly the real magic of which the elder Thierree is an absolute master. Through his gentle eyes, his graceful hands and his warm, engaging smile, he shares with us an entire way of life, a life spent on the road, a life spent on stage, a life of revealing himself to people.
These are things that cannot be reviewed or critiqued. This is a place, the territory of sincerity and commitment, where art becomes inextricably intertwined with a moral code.
The Thierree-Chaplin family literally has put on a show in Moscow these last few weeks. Catch what's left of it before it passes you by. If you do, it just may stay with you forever.
"L'Oratorio d'Aurelie," a production of Compagnie des Petites Heures, plays Thurs. to Sat. at 7 p.m. at the Pushkin Theater, located at 23 Tverskoi Bulvar. Metro Pushkinskaya. "Au Revoir Parapluie," a production of Compagnie du Hanneton, plays Thurs. to Tues. at 7 p.m. at the Maly Theater, located at 1/6 Teatralnaya Ploshchad. Metro Teatralnaya. Chekhov Festival information and tickets: Tel. 223-9651. Chekhovfest.ru.
This in itself would provide the inspiration for reams of twitter talk. But it is something of a minifestival-within-the-festival that has caught my eye. One of Europe's most respected theater dynasties — the family of Jean-Baptiste Thierree and Victoria Chaplin ?€” took center stage in the early phase of the festival.
Thierree and Chaplin's "Le Cirque Invisible," a divine potpourri of magic tricks and strange physical transformations of a woman turning into a horse or a table into a rickshaw pulled by a dragon, has now come and gone. But the couple's children are still drawing full houses in two of the city's major venues. In all, the Thierree-Chaplin family will have held court in town for an entire month by the time that daughter Aurelie Thierree's "L'Oratorio d'Aurelie" closes at the Pushkin Theater on Saturday and son James Thierree's "Au Revoir Parapluie" closes at the Maly Theater on Tuesday.
It has been an extraordinary run for obvious reasons of quality, vision and talent. But there is an intangible quality that gave this month of performances an almost mystical quality. I don't want to overdo this, but ?€” pardon me while I pause ?€” the spiritual presence of Victoria's father and her children's grandfather, Charlie Chaplin, has been overwhelming.
Those gorgeous, huge dark eyes that Victoria and Aurelie share with Charlie are absolutely unmistakable. We have seen and admired them for what seems to be a million years. Or what about James when he steps to the edge of the stage, leans over and peers out into the audience with that famous open-mouthed smile with the parentheses-like creases in his cheeks?
At moments like this, time and space and the obstacles they constantly throw at us simply crumble in our minds. There stands before us the Tramp, the eternal Tramp, peering out at us as if he had never gone away.
What is most moving about it is the integrity with which these performers embrace their legacy. Each is unique and independent, and each develops his or her own style. Victoria constantly toys with a dark side that makes some of her exquisite, transformational skits quite unsettling. James cultivates an eclecticism that defies a linear or narrative interpretation of the fractured stories he tells. Aurelie brings a combination of whimsy, elegance and romanticism to her work.
Yet all of them draw inspiration from that old world of the music hall variety show from which Charlie himself emerged a century ago. And all of them have that extraordinary sense of timing that can turn a mere gesture into an essay on human nature.
As for the patriarch Jean-Baptiste Thierree, the connections go further and deeper. This magician seems to have sprung from a medieval world defined by a clarity and simplicity that is all but inaccessible to us now. In your mind's eye, you can seem him climbing down off a rattle-trap cart and setting up his threadbare, timeworn equipment on an ancient cobblestone street. His tricks are the classics of the trade ?€” pulling rabbits out of hats, eggs from cheeks and flowers from pockets. But as it became evident very quickly, Jean-Baptiste does not intend to impress us with technique, although he surely can do that ?€” he is a connoisseur of style, delivery and communication.
Communication, connecting with other human beings, is undoubtedly the real magic of which the elder Thierree is an absolute master. Through his gentle eyes, his graceful hands and his warm, engaging smile, he shares with us an entire way of life, a life spent on the road, a life spent on stage, a life of revealing himself to people.
These are things that cannot be reviewed or critiqued. This is a place, the territory of sincerity and commitment, where art becomes inextricably intertwined with a moral code.
The Thierree-Chaplin family literally has put on a show in Moscow these last few weeks. Catch what's left of it before it passes you by. If you do, it just may stay with you forever.
"L'Oratorio d'Aurelie," a production of Compagnie des Petites Heures, plays Thurs. to Sat. at 7 p.m. at the Pushkin Theater, located at 23 Tverskoi Bulvar. Metro Pushkinskaya. "Au Revoir Parapluie," a production of Compagnie du Hanneton, plays Thurs. to Tues. at 7 p.m. at the Maly Theater, located at 1/6 Teatralnaya Ploshchad. Metro Teatralnaya. Chekhov Festival information and tickets: Tel. 223-9651. Chekhovfest.ru.
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