THEATRICAL INVESTIGATION

Rumours, and especially the greenroom talks, spread quickly. They grow in details, becoming a fantastic tangle made of exciting news and whetting gossips that provoke an irresistible desire to establish the truth. So, here it goes: the Russian Drama Theatre began rehearsing an off-schedule play. The People’s Artist of Azerbaijan Fahraddin Manafov will play a title role of the King. The rumour has it that this is not just a role, not just a play, but something quite unusual even for the Russian Drama. Because it breaks all the usual stereotypes. In addition, Manafov’s partner on the stage is a well-known national actress Mehriban Zeki. Other roles are distributed among the young but promising actors, who have never met both celebrities on stage. The most interesting part of the story is about the director. Someone says this is a graduation performance of one of the graduates of our university. Another one says the director is a young but audacious professional from Nakhchivan. But there are other versions of this story. According to one of them, he is from either Romania or Ukraine, and he stages his plays in the spirit of the early Vsevolod Meyerhold, a Russian and Soviet theatre director, actor, teacher, theorist and practitioner of theatrical grotesque, creator of a theatrical system known as the Biomechanics. His plays is a fusion of complex physical loads and other biomechanical tricks in the Meyerhold-style. All this would be quite acceptable, albeit strange these days if it were not for the playwright's name - Eugene Ionesco and a title of his play, The King Is Dying. An absurd drama, which enjoyed a stunning theatrical success back in the 80s, has nothing to do with Meyerhold's innovative style, even if a director is a little crazy. In order to dispel these rumours and get answers to our questions, let us go to the theatre and try to get reliable information. Our first question goes to the director of the theatre Adalet Hajiyev:

Where is your theatrical director from?

He is from Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Is it true that he stages Ionesco in the style of Meyerhold, using dramatic artists a little differently? And the King of Manafov will be almost a magician like Houdini? (American illusionist, philanthropist and actor famous for exposing quacks and complex tricks, R+).

Everything is possible. That is his right as a director.

But since our interviewee was smiling mysteriously trying to evade our questions, we went to the actors. We met Mehriban Zeki at the rehearsal hall, holding her part of the script with countless notes on the margin.

Tell me, is it true that you are playing the Queen?

It is.

Is it also true that the director stages your character in Meyerhold's style?

Meyerhold's style? Well, if you can call an absurd the Meyerhold's style, then yes.

Do you like playing your character?

I generally like being an actress. I have always liked. You cannot feel like an actress without playing in a theatre or in a movie. And playing means living your profession. Therefore, I always like to play, especially the Queen. Excuse me but I must go now.

The situation seemed even more intriguing. They obviously did keep something back. Then I decided to have an audience of the King himself.

Tell me, Fahraddin, is it true that your King is performing very complex physical movements on the stage and, like Houdini, he is slipping out of his royal attire to evade both queens, who claim his attention and love?

What are you talking about?

Well, the rumours have it...

Really? It is interesting. You know what, those who say this are not so wrong! Sometimes the directors create something that is far from being usual and contradicts our habitual way of understanding how something should look or feel like. We are all accustomed to watch traditional drama on the stage. It is absurd to combine Ionesco and Meyerhold or Ionesco and Stanislavsky, for example. But the situation itself is absurd as far as the play goes.

So, what about the director’s interpretation? Is it also absurd?

Well, his work is within the laws of the genre of absurd.

But in Ionesco’s particular play the absurdity confronts with existentialism! (an intuitive method of comprehending the reality, R+).

Right. Although they do not confront but quite logically flow into each other.

All right. Le’t call it a flow. But what are we going to see on the stage after all: an absurd, spectacular performance, or drama? What?

I like your impatience. It is quite natural. But you know what? I am superstitious. I am not going to tell you anything. I will only say that it is very interesting and very difficult to work. Such a professional experience is very important to me as an actor. It helps keeping myself fit professionally.

How?

Let us talk about this after the premiere. But for now I have to be on the scene, sorry. I already stepped back from the rules talking to you. You’d better talk to our young actors.

I thought I must be offended. The favourite national actor, symbol of a Caucasian macho, who does not want to answer simple questions... On the other hand, it is silly and ineffective to feel offended by a star. So, I’d better talk with the young. That is when I saw Hajar Aghayeva, who was going to the rehearsal hall in a long skirt with her head down.

What can you tell me about the performance, which is rehearsed by this mysterious director?

He is not mysterious. He is talented. It is interesting to work with him at rehearsals. He somehow manages to keep us under a constant pressure. I feel my character and other characters every minute.

What is your play about? Is it true that the actors of your play perform similar to the ones in Meyerhold’s times?

You’d better ask somebody else about the play. As for the actors’ performance, I am not sure about Meyerhold's cast, but it is really unusual for us. Excuse me, I cannot talk with you longer, here comes Dubovitskaya. You can talk to her.

Maria Dubovitskaya approached us with confidence. She looked energetic and busy at the same time.

You are playing the second wife of the King, the younger one. Is this play about love and jealousy?

His wife? Oh no, my Queen Mary is much more for the King than a wife, especially the second wife. It would be too simple, too trivial. Everything is unusual for us in this play! Everything is difficult. But I really like the process...

What is this play all about?

At least it is not about a banal jealousy, that is for sure!

Then what about it? About a life that is like a dream?

A dream? This is an interesting assumption. Perhaps it has some truth in it... I do not know. I will think about it. You’d better talk with Oleg Amirbayov. He is very smart and knows everything about the concept.

Apologizing, the actress quickly left me, and I thought that Amirbayov was so famous that he would hardly be willing to talk about the concept. I was mistaken. He was not arrogant, but very sweet, friendly, erudite and ironic.

Oleg, what can you tell me about your current work?

Why should I? I can tell you about my work on the role, but I better not. Firstly, I am currently investigating my character. Secondly, it is better to talk about it after the premiere. And finally, only the director can describe you the performance. He certainly knows exactly what this story is about. He knows its history. Excuse me but let us talk after the premiere in September.

No, there must be something wrong here. Why does everybody keep silence? Mehriban Zeki responded very evasively, Manafov philosophized, young artists also somehow avoided direct answers... But what was going on here? Again, I met the director Adalat Hajiyev.

Sorry my importunity, but maybe you can tell me more about the director: who is he, what is he staging? You know, the city is full of rumours while your actors evade the answers. I think it is time to tell us something about these mysterious rehearsals!

I can see that you our director's image has already mesmerized you. But do not worry. You also feel that mystery, unjustified secrecy? Well, it is good then. The play is a magic of action, a living thought embodied in action. Like our actors, I will not tell you what the performance is about. I will only say that it is very unusual. An absurdist play has never been staged in our theatre. Absurdity is one of the variants of a human’s attitude towards the world. It is something that lies beyond our everyday reality; something that has no rational explanation. I am also curious to see what Arshad Alakbarov can make of Ionesco’s story. Arshad is our theatrical director. He was born in Nakhchivan but grew up in Baku. He is a graduate of the St. Petersburg Academy of Theatre Arts, student of the popular Russian director Semion Spivak. He lives and works in St. Petersburg. This is not his first production in Baku. Two years ago, at the National Theatre, he staged Monsieur Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Quran with Fuad Poladov playing the lead role. The King Is Dying is his second work. We have rehearsals every day. And every day adds a degree of mystery to these rehearsals. The theatre is full of legends about them. Our on-duty prop masters tell "terrible" stories about how everything in this performance is different to what they are used to! And what a strange plot! It is completely different than one can see in a traditional, not absurdist play. Such talks are a good incentive for common work, for creativity, and for self-education. The actors told me that some of the employees began wondering about the expression of ideas in the absurd literature of the 20^th century. And why it is connected with an idea of ​​existentialism. I think it is good. Perhaps, our spectators will do the same. Those who reproach us for being too addicted to the traditional theatre and drama, we can now offer an alternative.

I am in the rehearsal hall again, where I could find something and even took a few photos. Alas, I could not talk with the director. He was so immersed in the rehearsal process that he did not even notice the presence of a journalist. Same like the actors. They all were living a different life. A life that was understandable to them. It was a fascinating process: what in reality looks tragic, looked ridiculous here, almost an extravaganza. Something that in ordinary life is perceived as a drama or tragedy was a witty joke and fun here. I tried to talk with the director at one of the breaks but he asked me with a pleading expression on his face: "Can we talk about the performance later? Currently we are in the most active phase of rehearsals looking deep into our characters, attitudes, assessments, expressions... I think it is pointless to tell you what exactly we are looking for. It is better seen on the stage...".

I thought he was probably right. After all, the process is very personal and will take more than a couple of days. Let us wait for the premiere then.