The Year on Stage

It was a checkered year in theater, this 2007-2008 season that is fast drawing to a close. It boasted some breathtaking feats and provided a few blows to the solar plexus. Weirdness and wackiness rubbed up against the magnificent and the sublime. Whatever the world has to offer, it found its reflection on stage this year.

Perhaps more than anything, this season reminded us that the enormous universe of Moscow theater -- there are, after all, more than 120 playhouses in this town -- is filthy rich in variety. For all the pressures put on artists to conform and produce an easily consumable product, most artists in this town remain iconoclasts in spirit and curmudgeons at heart. God bless them. This keeps glossy glamour and synthetic pop at bay.

So now, in the name of The Moscow Times -- if not for its glory and repute -- and for the 17th year running, I cast a brief, opinionated glance back over territory covered. Here are some people and events that caught my eye in Moscow theater this year.

Trend of the Year:The retreat of the contemporary playwright. What happened? New writing and new writers have been one of the biggest engines of theatrical innovation for most of this decade. This year there was not only a noticeable drop in new plays produced but, gulp, not one of those staged stood out in a positive way. Could this be an aberration? Could younger writers be taking the easy way out and merely imitating the innovators of the last decade? Have all but a handful of theaters lost the spirit for gambling on the unknown? Could "new drama" be old hat? It's something to keep an eye on when the new season fires up in the fall.

Best Debut: Arseny Epelbaum for his production of the delightful "Optimus Mundus" at the School of Dramatic Art. In nine different spaces, playing snippets of at least five different works, four actors literally kept a tiny audience of 12 on their toes -- and other parts of their bodies -- for an hour's time. My favorite moment was lying in bed, sandwiched between Othello and Desdemona during one of their nastier spats. Never have I laughed so hard over a marital meltdown.

Best Revival: Nikolai Roshchin's inventive rethinking of Vladimir Mayakovsky's "Mystery Bouffe." Mayakovsky, the bard of the Russian Revolution, wrote his famous play about the end of a bourgeois society and the coming of a new world of justice, honesty and wisdom. Bourgeois societies keep dying while just new worlds keep flickering like mirages in the future. Roshchin introduced Mayakovsky himself into his show, giving us a glimpse of that writer's tragedy, while reminding us of our own in the 21st century.

Best Reclamation Project: Mikhail Yefremov's production at the Sovremennik Theater of Andrei Platonov's "The Hurdy-Gurdy," a play written in 1930 and ignored ever since, except by some KGB agents who didn't like it and a few literary scholars who did. Platonov's prose is often adapted for the stage, but this is the first major staging of one of his nine unusual plays. Yefremov gave it a massive scale that was roomy enough to contain contemporary satire as well as historical references to the past.

Vladimir Lupovskoy / For MT Kama Ginkas' production of "Roberto Zucco" is bracing, challenging and hard-hitting

The Event: Alexei Borodin's production of Tom Stoppard's "Utopia" at the National Youth Theater. Now, I thought this was an underachiever. There just wasn't enough substance to justify telling the story of the Russian radical Alexander Herzen and his circle of friends over the course of three plays running ten hours. There were some fine acting jobs ?€“ especially Ilya Isayev as the wise Herzen and Nelli Uvarova as his fiery and unfaithful wife Natalie. But most of all this show was conceived, executed and received as an Event. As such, regardless of what I thought of the overall result, it added some welcome spice to the season.

Tiger Changing Stripes: Yury Lyubimov with his production of "Woe From Wit -- Woe to Wit -- Wit's Woe." Lyubimov is famous for his politically charged theater. But in this rendition of Griboyedov's 19th-century social and cultural satire, he almost looked like he was -- God forbid -- engaging in something so superfluous as "art for art's sake." Griboyedov's sarcasm and anger, as well as the socio-political allusions they evoke, were not overlooked. But they were subsumed in the splendor of the visual images Lyubimov created in tandem with designer Rustam Khamdamov.

Different Drummer: Vladimir Pankov, he of the self-proclaimed genre of soundrama. I may not be convinced that soundrama is as big an innovation as some hold it to be. In a show like "The Swain," produced at the Theater of Nations, it looked suspiciously like a very loud musical. But in the folklore-steeped "Gogol Evenings. Part I" at the Meyerhold Center, Pankov showed that, at his best, he is unlike any other director in town. He literally marches to a different drummer and that is something to celebrate.

Missing in Action: Rimas Tuminas, who began the season as the new artistic director of the Vakhtangov Theater. True, he mounted a challenging and richly rewarding production of Alexander Griboyedov's "Woe From Wit" at the Sovremennik Theater, but, a full season on, we are still waiting to see what he has in store for the Vakhtangov.

Gloves Off: Kama Ginkas' production of Bernard-Marie Koltes' "Roberto Zucco" at the Theater Yunogo Zritelya. Ginkas ranks as one of the most challenging, hard-hitting directors you can find. But the typical Ginkas production is usually a bracing exploration of eternal values. "Zucco," the tale of a mass murderer, is that, too. But unlike anything I have seen this director do, it also looked like a direct response to world events as reflected in the nightly news. This was Ginkas plugging into current events -- with his characteristic no-hold-barred style -- like never before.

Lenkom Oleg Yankovsky (left) gave a flawless performance in "The Marriage."

Town Eccentric: Boris Yukhananov (below left). Yukhananov is an institution in this town, and thank goodness! At the School of Dramatic Art his production of "LaboraTORIA: The Golem" defied description, taxed one's patience and inspired admiration. Running for 12 hours over three days, it pretended to be a rehearsal prior to a performance in Italy of a play based on an ancient Jewish legend, but in fact was a sprawling, semi-improvisational consideration of nothing less than the nature of theater and the structure of life. I saw a rabbi get up and leave halfway through the first show. I saw enthusiastic spectators hang on every word. That's Boris Yukhananov -- irritating some, mesmerizing others.

Fascinating Fowl: Alexander Usov as Lyonechka in "Ornithology" at the Drugoi Theater. Usov played a charismatically bizarre being who not only worships birds and their ability to break free of earth's bounds, but who exhibits birdlike mannerisms himself. He hopped about like a sparrow and showed no more concern for his victims than an eagle might for a mouse. A unique and compelling bit of acting.

Most Innovative Director: Andrii Zholdak for "Carmen: The Outcome" at the Theater of Nations. The premiere of this show angered many with its heavy reliance on cinema, its loud grunge rock, its uses of silence and violations of narrative unity. But as Stravinsky found when he premiered "The Rite of Spring," as James Joyce learned when he published "Ulysses," and as Bob Dylan discovered when he strapped on an electric guitar, irritating the public isn't always a bad thing. I don't know that this is a new "Rite of Spring," but Zholdak created a stunning visual hymn to lust, passion and their many correlates -- freedom, truth, wisdom, honesty and even love.

Best Production: Nikolai Gogol's "The Marriage," directed by Mark Zakharov at the Lenkom Theater. This may be the most perfect piece of star-studded theater I have seen in five years. This show was constructed beautifully according to all the rules that have governed theater for centuries -- exquisite characterizations, impeccable rhythm, flawless use of space and subtle use of lighting. A show like this sends you scrambling for superlatives. "Classic" and "great" come to mind immediately. For other reasons why this is, read on.

Best Actress: And that is with a capital A -- the sublime Inna Churikova as the rumpled matchmaker Fyokla in Lenkom's "The Marriage." You want to see an actress walk out on stage and grab an audience by the throat, the heart and the funny bone all at once? This is where it happens. Right here.

Vladimir Lupovskoy / For MT Dmitry Krymov's production of "The Cow" achieved something unexpected with minimal props and an empty stage.

Playing Against Type: Oleg Yankovsky in Lenkom's "The Marriage." Yankovsky has been one of Russian cinema's great leading men over the last 30 years -- handsome, enigmatic, cerebral. On stage at the Lenkom he has played such classic leads as Hamlet and Trigorin. And then comes this aggressively goofy take on the hapless suitor Zhevakin. Yankovsky gleefully and utterly demolished his own image, creating a character with floppy hair, eyes flitting from side to side and spittle drooling out his mouth. It was not only brave, it was uproariously funny and endlessly endearing.

Punk Hero: Donatas Grudovich as Baal in Bertolt Brecht's "Baal" at the Playwright and Director Center. Playing a rude, dismissive, off-putting, covetous, self-serving and greedy anti-hero, Grudovich always maintained a sense of humanity lurking in the back of his soul. This was no mean feat.

The Way Young Lovers Do: Alisa Estrina and Pavel Akimkin as the awkward and touching lovers Hanna and Levko in "Gogol Evenings. Part I." Fresh, vulnerable and deeply sensitive, they beautifully conveyed the sense of innocence, desire and discovery that moved their characters.

Nastiest Hangover: "Pub," written and directed by the Presnyakov brothers. These poster-bearers of what is called the new drama movement came out of this debacle looking like emperors with no clothes. Their play about God and the devil summoning the leaders of Russia, England and the United States to destroy the world was depressingly hollow. The direction was grimly inept. Every person deserves the right to fall on his face now and then. For these two, consider this two flops and let's look to the future.

Bankrupt: Vladimir Sorokin's "Kapital" at Praktika. Sorokin is one of our era's most interesting writers. His novels are translated into all major and many minor languages. His libretto for the opera "The Children of Rosenthal" a few years back was superb. His plays, such as "Dostoyevsky Trip," "Cabbage Soup" and others, are among the most interesting dramas of the 1990s. In "Kapital" you get the feeling Sorokin was busy writing two novels, a libretto, a filmscript and a trio of essays at the same time and could only devote a few minutes a day to it. The story of a bank president who mutilates himself for the good of the company was no story at all, and it went nowhere.

Something from Nothing: Dmitry Krymov's production of "The Cow" at the School of Dramatic Art. Krymov has a way of putting a few actors on an empty stage, putting some props and utensils in their hands, and achieving something entirely unexpected. This tale of a boy recalling his childhood love for the family cow is vintage Krymov. It gives the impression of springing forth full-blown from a void before our eyes and then disappearing again, like a wisp of memory.

Out of the Blue: Nikita Vysotsky. Vysotsky is now best known now as the founder and keeper of the Vysotsky Center, a museum and performing arts center honoring his father, the great actor Vladimir Vysotsky. But Nikita's wickedly deadpan performance of the epically corrupt factory manager Shchoyev in "The Hurdy-Gurdy" at the Sovremennik, was nothing less than a revelation. Give this man more roles.

Workplace Blues: Roman Kozak's production of "Office," a play by Ingrid Lausund at the Pushkin Theater. This was a modest show by any standard, but it hit its mark. Russian youth culture has been overrun by images of the prosperous, happy, upwardly mobile office worker -- the lowly employee on the road to management heaven. In a humorous, honest and energetic way, this show displayed the incongruities and dangers of that myth.

Man of the Year: The theater architect. There were two, count 'em, two stunning new venues unveiled this season. Pyotr Fomenko, working with architect Sergei Gnedovsky, finally delivered the long-awaited new building for the Fomenko Studio in January. They presented us with a gorgeous and versatile piece of modern theatrical architecture with glass walls providing breathtaking views of the Moscow River and multi-tiered foyers that can be converted into various performance spaces. Sergei Zhenovach, collaborating with designer Alexander Borovsky, opened his new space for the Studio of Theatrical Art in May. This is a remarkable job of preservation and transformation, reclaiming an old factory for a modern performance space. This project was doubly impressive for its historical links -- this factory in the 19th century belonged to the Alekseyev family, whose most famous son was an actor and director who worked under the pseudonym of Konstantin Stanislavsky. Both of these playhouses promise to be theatrical meccas for decades to come.

Farewell: The death of Alexei Kazantsev at the age of 61 in September was a devastating blow to Russian theater. He founded the Playwright and Director Center, arguably the most influential theater of the last decade. He was mentor to more major new playwrights, directors and actors than I can count. He was a unique personality, a risk-taker who knew the importance of foresight and planning. He was a reliable and steadfast dissenter in an age that increasingly manufactures success and fame through media manipulation and formulaic imitations. Moscow feels emptier without him.