4th “Monobaltija”: Attention Span Shrinking 0

Lina Klusaitė
www.kamane.lt, 2014-05-20

In brief:

Overview of Kaunas biannual “Monobaltija” theater festival. This year the festival honored the memory of its founder, Stanislav Rubinov (1913-2013).

The author discusses what a festival of one-actor theater performances should be and how this year it lacks ambition altogether, shrinking its span and becoming more like a private club.

The author shares her thoughts (mostly skeptical) on festival performances. “Into the Dark” by Vidmantas Fijalkauskas she considers too flat and straightforward; “Sasha Chorny's Concert for Piano and Actor” by Alexei Devotchenko rather naïve yet refreshing; “The Question of Dostoevsky” by Valery Shushkevich – too conservative and obvious; “Reiner's Morning” by Indrek Taalmaa – humorous with hints of sadness; “I Address You...” by Robert Akopian – highschool-like performance only saved by actor's honesty; “Koba” by Aleksandras Rubinovas – oddly (and Soviet propaganda-like) portraying the friendship of Stalin and Fudzi; most awaited yet disappointing fruit of collaboration between Juozas Budraitis and Oskaras Koršunovas “Krapp's Last Tape” (which probably should have been projected on a screen); Pip Utton's eccentric “Chaplin”; “On These Wheels” by Pekka Heikkinen – authentic and paradoxical; physical theater in Wioleta Komar's “Diva” (which won Public's Prize); conceptual and also rather physical Janusz Stolarski's “Job, My Friend”; Gabrielle Neuhaus and her “The Woman Who Didn't Want to Come Down to Earth” – a woman's life study without words; inventive and ironical “A Discussion in the Stein Home About the Absent Mr Goethe” by Jurij Nevgamonnyj. 


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