Chekhov Fest Goes Chekhovian for Anniversary

It is hard to imagine what Moscow was like before the Chekhov International Theater Festival came into being in 1992. Here are just a few of the world-class theater artists that Russian audiences might never have seen without it: Giorgio Strehler, Robert Wilson, Robert Lepage, Christoph Marthaler, Heiner Goebbels, Ariane Mnouchkine, Bartabas, the Thierree-Chaplin clan, Philippe Genty and many others.

Customarily running once every two years, everything about the current 9th Chekhov Festival, which opens Tuesday, is unusual.

For the first time ever, the event is being held for the second year in a row. And for the first time ever, its unifying theme is Russian. Specifically, all of the shows were chosen to honor the legacy of Anton Chekhov, the playwright who was born in the sleepy southern Russian city of Taganrog 150 years ago and whose name the festival borrows as a sign of quality and status.

One thing has not changed, however. Throughout the festival’s two months, audiences will have the opportunity to become acquainted with works by directors, choreographers and composers from all over the world.

Frank Castorf, the one-time bad boy now classic of German theater, opens the festivities Tuesday at the Mossoviet Theater with the first of three performances of “To Moscow! To Moscow!” a production based on Chekhov’s play “Three Sisters” and his story “Peasants” for Berlin’s Volksbuhne Theater.

The following night, Argentine director Daniel Veronese unveils the first of seven performances of his production of Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” at the Meyerhold Center. This piece bears the intriguing subtitle of “Watching a Woman Kill Herself.”

By the time the festival closes on July 30 with productions by Russian director Yevgeny Kamenkovich at the Fomenko Studio and Spanish choreographer Nacho Duato at the Bolshoi, 92 performances of 25 shows representing 13 countries will have come and gone on Moscow’s stages.

The second wave of shows, running from late May to early June, will mostly be productions created in Russia. These will include Yury Butusov’s “Ivanov” at the Moscow Art Theater (May 26 and June 8), Dmitry Krymov’s “Tararabumbia” at the School of Dramatic Art (May 28 to 30), Alexander Galibin’s “The Brothers Ch,” a new play by Yelena Gremina at the Stanislavsky Theater (various dates through mid-June), and Mark Zakharov’s “The Cherry Orchard,” a show that opened at the Lenkom Theater last fall (various dates in May and June).

The early days of June will bring on a fascinating variety of works, all of them based only loosely on themes drawn from the life and works of Chekhov.

Perhaps straying the farthest from the central theme is Guillermo Calderon’s production of “Neva” for the Teatro en el Blanco of Santiago, Chile. This brief piece for three actors explores a moment in the life of Chekhov’s widow, the actress Olga Knipper-Chekhova, when, in 1905, there is revolution on the streets of St. Petersburg and Knipper-Chekhova has lost her will to create. “Neva” plays June 2 to 6 at the Meyerhold Center.

Some of the most spectacular shows that the Chekhov Festival has presented over the years are dance pieces, and that tradition will not change this year.

Mats Ek, the renowned choreographer and director from Sweden, will present an unorthodox interpretation of “The Cherry Orchard,” mounted at the Royal Dramatic Theater in Stockholm, but set for its world premiere in Moscow at the Mossoviet Theater from June 3 to 5. This production will engage dramatic actors, although it will involve elements of dance.

Japanese wunderkind Jo Kanamori offers his production of “Nameless Poison — Black Monk” at the Fomenko Studio from June 4 to 6. Originally staged for the Noism Theater in Niigata, Japan, this is, in the choreographer’s own words, an attempt to stage “Chekhov’s pain” rather than Chekhov’s story about a talented man who slowly loses touch with the world around him.

Taiwanese choreographer Lin Hwai-min arrives in June with “Whisper of Flowers,” a dance piece he created for his Cloud Gate Theater. Leaning heavily on the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, “Whisper” is inspired partly by Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard” and partly by “The Dream of the Red Chamber,” an 18th-century chronicle of a house in decline, written by Tsao Hsueh-chin. It plays June 10 to 13 at the Mossoviet Theater.

“Donka,” playing at the Pushkin Theater from June 15 to 26, is a multidisciplinary piece involving drama, circus and dance, created by Daniele Finzi Pasca of the Teatro Sunil of Switzerland. Like “Tararabumbia,” Mats Ek’s “The Cherry Orchard,” Alexei Borodin’s “Chekhov Gala” at the National Youth Theater and other titles in this festival, “Donka” is a co-production of the Chekhov Festival itself.

But not only has the festival co-produced more shows this year than at any time in the past, it is also reaching out beyond Moscow for the first time.

Several productions have already played in the Russian cities of Voronezh, Lipetsk, Ryazan, Samara and Yekaterinburg. A shortened schedule of six shows began in St. Petersburg in April, will continue through July and will be revived for two performances by the Comedie Francaise in October.

One of the shows playing in both Moscow and St. Petersburg is Joseph Nadj’s “Sherry-Brandy (Creation),” an interpretation of several of Chekhov’s short works, including the story “Swan Song,” about an old actor who suddenly realizes that the physical plant of the theater he works in resembles a coffin. “Sherry-Brandy” plays at the Fomenko Studio in Moscow from July 5 to 7 and at the Music Hall in St. Petersburg from July 11 to 13.

The final days of June and the month of July will feature productions by the Armenian director Akop Kazanchyan, Wajdi Mouawad from Canada and Gerardo Vera from Spain.

One of the most interesting Russian productions promises to be Dmitry Chernyakov’s “Composition on an Occasion” at the Pushkin Theater. Chernyakov, an accomplished opera director, has rarely worked in the field of drama but has had significant impact when he does. Still another co-production of the Chekhov Festival, “Composition,” is scheduled to play July 19 to 21.