LEV DODIN / MALY TEATR

“We wanted to speak not only of the lowest level, the depths to which men can sink, but also of the possibilities inherent, the potential, the positive essence of man. It’s not enough to display the filth, one must allow the audience to feel horror at the sight, to feel compassion for those who live in this state. From this was born the language of the work, moving from dance to music to song to fulfill that objective.”

Based on a short story by Sergej Kaledin about life in the Russian army in the 1980’s, the play was adapted by Lev Dodin working with some of the 20 actors of his Maly Teatr in a workshop process that took two years. It presents the story in 19 scenes of a group of young draftees arriving to begin their two-year service in the basic, lowest level unit of the army of the Soviet Republic.

The play, like the story, gives a clear view of what that life was like – given that the soldiers were essentially treated as slaves, loaned out for manual labor, and paid less than almost any work found in civil life, these companies were made up often of ex-criminals, societal “wrong-doers” i.e. homosexuals, gypsies, men from the far-away Asian provinces, who often didn’t even speak Russian. In this environment acts of violence flourished.

Looking at this truth, and at the same time portraying the recruits, the more experienced old hands and their women as people looking for ways to survive in the world, Mr. Dodin and his company use a great deal of humor, of a rather dark sort, and an environment filled with music and dance to create a show that has been described as “Filled with life, and almost with happiness, certainly with great energy.”



PRODUCTION DATES
St. Petersburg, Russia
July 1990
TOUR 1991–1992:
London, England - Festival Lift
11 – 15 July 1991
Helsinki, Finnland – National Theatre
20 – 25 September 1991
Nice, France
13 – 16 November 1991
Strasburg, Austria
19 – 23 November 1991
Villeurbanne, France – TNP
27 – 30 November 1991
Geneva, Switzerland
3 – 7 December

Barcelona, Spain – Festival grec
28 January – 1 February 1992
Marseille, France
4 – 8 February 1992
Paris, France – MC93 Bobigny
11 February – 8 March 1992
Madrid, Spain
11 – 15 March

ITALIAN TOUR 1998–1999:
Udine
Brescia
Ferrara
Milan
Florence
Torino
Perugia