FAITH IN VIRTUAL REALITY

The object of delight was a London theatre show. About five years ago it was impossible to imagine a performance being staged at the British Old Vic Theatre, while sitting comfortably in the auditorium of the Nizami cinema in Baku. But today you can, which is great. And so one would like to say thank-you to those people who conceived this project. The British Council is behind the Theatre HD project whereby once a week a direct relay of shows from Britain is staged at the Nizami film centre. This week there is a relay of a performance of the Old Vic Theatre of the Charlotte Bronte novel, Jane Eyre. This is an excellent opportunity for those who love the theatre as an art form and who are interested in its modern development.

"It's a girl!"

The play gets off to a rapid start. Against a white background there are wooden platforms, stairs, ladders and steps on various levels. First it's a maternity home, then a house of an uncle sheltering an orphan, a boarding school for orphan girls, Rochester's estate and the house of St. John. It's a place where everything happens, from the birth of the girl called Jane, to her marriage and the birth of her own daughter who enters the world just like her mother Jane to her father's cry of "It's a girl!"

Charlotte Bronte's novel, which has enthralled readers for centuries, is played out on the stage of the Old Vic in three hours and five minutes, plus a 15-minute interval - a total of 3 hours, 20 minutes. It is a running time unknown in our theatres. Here, we are afraid the audience will get bored. No-one would even dream of anything like that. There is no question: whether it is a play or a novel, the subject matter must be treated with great care and attention before it is translated into action. Sally Cookson's production of Jane Eyre is an endorsement of that. Nothing has escaped her attention, not even the dog Pilot who is devoted to Rochester (Felix Hayes)! This part is played by an actor of the second generation. He wears black pants and a shirt. But as you watch the actor performing you never stop to wonder why a novice actor is not playing the role. You don't see an actor of indeterminate age, you see a dog who is devoted to Edward Rochester: first, lying down at his master's feet, then scampering around him, unable to hide his joy at being with him again after so long apart. You are not even surprised that the actress Madeleine Worrall, who plays Jane, is certainly not 20! Incidentally, you won't even think about that for a moment! Because on stage the actors live a life which in Stanislavski's system was accepted as realistic. And you start to believe that this is the belief with which the actors submerge their heroes into the circumstances suggested by the writer and the director. This new theatrical art form, completely forgotten since Soviet times, provides the audience not just with intellectual and aesthetic but emotional satisfaction. Because, on stage the actors live the lives of their heroes. That is why the actress plays Jane at the ages of six, ten and twenty with such staggering belief and integrity. As you see her acting it never crosses your mind that she is anything but six, ten and 20!

The Old Vic is an amazing and a beautiful theatre. The actors, with their staggering faith in virtual reality, and the heroes - characters with precise gestures and fine characterization - create a production that is splendid in its artistic authenticity. And as you leave the cinema you take this production away with you - in your heart and in your mind. You don't wish to part with it and it will stay with you for a few more days. You will remember it in its details and as a whole. You will feel the atmosphere which the actors of this British theatre have created, and you won't remember having seen anything like it before.

Intermission

During the intermission, thanks to a camera that plays around the Old Vic, you get the chance to see the famous theatre from the inside: the auditorium and the audience. Then you go behind the scenes and meet the director-producer. She is there with the cast playing the leading parts. They are chatting about something important…

Here is the director, Sally Cookson: "The most important thing in the novel is the girl's desire to become independent, to become an equal in society where men hold the key positions. Even when she is little Jane understands this, and then her whole life is about gaining this freedom. A desire for freedom - that's the main thing!"

The actress Madeleine Worrall: "Jane has character. That's very important for anyone. But Jane is a little girl and she already has her own views, her own opinions. She is a strong girl, and so she can survive in a world where there is much cruelty."

The actor Felix Hayes: "Edward Rochester fell in love with Jane because she was independent. She wasn't like the other women he knew. But they didn't interest him. It was the strength of this little girl that attracted him."

It's interesting to hear these thoughts and to observe and listen to the audience. You get the feeling that you are in a theatre, especially in places where an audience reacts to the actors during a performance! You also start to applaud involuntarily. And at the end, when everyone is shouting "bravo!" you want to join in!

Naturally, one has to ask: how and where do the actors for the Old Vic train? There is a theatrical school in Bristol, where attention is focused mainly on stage movement. Future actors are also taught correct posture! As in many European theatre schools, they teach the skills of acting, speech training, gymnastics, acrobatics, fencing, equestrian sports and make-up. This system is pretty much like ours. But I don't recall ever seeing an adult actor happily and flawlessly playing the part of a dog (except in shows for children - author's note). But what about Kholstomer [Tolstoy's story about a horse], I hear you cry? Well, that's another story…

THE THEATRE 

The Old Vic Theatre is situated in London (and in Bristol). When it opened in 1818 it was called the Royal Coburg in honour of Prince Coburg. But in 1833, after a visit by Princess Victoria, it was jokingly called the Old Victoria. Plays by William Shakespeare were staged here from 1914. In 1976 the theatrical company was divided into two parts: old and young. The American actor Kevin Spacey, one of the leading actors in the company, became artistic director of the Old Vic in 2014. In 2000 the Young Vic moved to another building at the South Bank and the playwright David Lan was its artistic director.