WE NEED VARIOUS THEATRES

Word of mouth is the best advertisement! And the word is about a play performed at one of the cafes in Baku. The name of the location is not as important as the event itself. It is about a new project, which harmoniously unites theatrical art with recreation over a cup of coffee or other drinks. Does not it sound interesting? Yet no one could clearly explain why the play was performed in a café, or tell us the name of the director and the unique features of the performance.

What is it? A ‘space-specific’ performance as an attempt to act inside an unconventional location or yet another kind of a site-specific theatre?

A very elegant staircase designed in conceptual art takes you to the third floor, where you meet polite bartenders informing you that you are in the waiting area and indicating to a door behind which you will be able to watch the performance. By the way, do not be surprised when you hear live classical music and see the musicians comfortably sitting on windowsills and stairs while you are ascending. This is part of the overall concept of the art-space.

Exit?

It turned out that there indeed was a theatre called Çıxış (Exit). In fact, it's a café-theatre: an independent association of actors and a director. The idea was to create an independent space for creativity that would keep the theatre alive (thoughts + feelings + emotions = life). The creators do not care much about the form of production rather than the essence and meaning of what is happening on stage; a nerve, a living and true emotion that enables both the actors and the audience to be in tune with ongoing events. It does not seem as something new – the status theatres of our city have been created and working on the same principle. The only difference is that one can no longer see the truth of life in these theatres, while young and bold directors are trying to find it on independent platforms free from routine theatrical clichés and academic boredom. They think that only they are able to build a theatre that the audience needs today. Is it good? Absolutely! Indeed, if not these young and rebellious people, there would be no progress. Remember Jacques Copeau’s Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier, which has long become a sort of division line for the French critics who rightfully admit two periods in the history of the theatre – before and after Copeau. Otherwise, there would be no Meyerhold, Mikhail Chekhov, Charlie Chaplin, Isadora Duncan, and Pina Bausch.

The search for authenticity, albeit not new, is a sign of individuality, a desire to be professional instead of muddling along on the fringes of art. Driven by the desire to "create their own art", our young people, protesting against the old theatrical forms, have created independent theatres such as ADO and ODA. Now meet our new contestant, Çıxış. The author of the concept is Imam Hasanov, who is well known for his work at ODA, as well as the international documentary film festival. Now he is back to theatre again. A room-theatre. What does Imam Hasanov want and search for with a theatre under such a symbolic name, Çıxış?

Does he want to go beyond the forms of the traditional Aristotelian theatre? It turned out that the idea was to create a multidimensional and multifaceted space that will combine various types of art: visual, theatrical, choreographic, and musical. Just any type of art! The only precondition is it must be interesting and intriguing while the professionally styled intellectual research expresses the originality of the professional view of the director, actor, artist, and choreographer. This may be any person obsessed with creativity, having his own view, professional position and the ways of self-expression. As a result, all these efforts should be a reason for meetings with the audience, informal communication, joint reflection, and creative search. It does not look like something new. That is how Vagif Hasanov’s alternative theatre Yuğ started. But after all, each artist follows his own path... And Imam Hasanov has yet to cover such a long path ahead...

Performance

Sınır (Frontier) is a play written by the Turkish playwright Muzaffer Izgu and directed by Imam Hasanov. It has only two characters, two actors - Niyaz Ilyasoglu and Qorqud Cafar. What has the director found interesting in the play? Its plot, of course!

This is a story of two young soldiers serving on opposite sides of the wired border. They represent two confronting parties at war. But they are both young; they love and want to live. What do the young boys usually talk about during quiet intervals? About food, sports, and women. And what do they do? They smoke, drink beer, eat, and chat like old buddies! But here comes an order from the commander – to kill the sentry on the opposite side. That is an order. This is where the most intense and most interesting moment comes into play: is one of the soldiers going to kill the other one with whom he has shared bread a moment ago? The director has masterfully pushed the problem of choice between a military duty and human feelings to the critical and emotional point. Incidentally, the ending of the performance is not based on a fixed mise-en-scène. According to the director, the actors-characters should go through different variants of possible endings: from dissociation to unification and vice versa. What for? This is a kind of test for both the audience and the actors in order to know what they feel at each particular moment and which ending they consider more just and convincing. "Last time, there was a boy who was crying and wiping his tears off when he watched the action on stage. That is the best appreciation of our efforts. It means we could achieve something in our search," said the director.

«Why did you choose war as the main theme of your performance?

Well, because war is always bad. Because our planet is big enough to accommodate everyone. Why should one kill another one who looks just like you? Only because the land on which he lives is better than the one on which you live? People must communicate to understand each other. And one day it will turn out that we are not so different: we all love sport, eating, drinking, and women. We are just people. We must remember this simple truth. Always!»

Do we need theatres? It is a strange question. Even the ancient Greeks needed the theatre as a factor of reflective mirror. We do need theatres now as well. Invented by humankind more than two and half thousand years ago, the theatre sometimes lacks originality, for the search of different forms, plots, and means of expressiveness has repeated so many times that it is simply impossible to talk about originality. But we must remember that the theatre, like movies, is a very powerful form of influence on the minds and hearts of people. We must understand that we need the theatre more than ever. It is the most alive and emotional of all arts! Why did the Bolsheviks consider both the theatrical art and movies so important? They understood that they were a powerful ideological tool that can educate the minds and hearts of thousands of people. Trying to erase the achievements of the Soviet theatre from our lives, we must nevertheless acknowledge that not all of this experience is worth throwing away. This replica is addressed not only to our readers but also to the professionals involved in theatrical art.

Today, when the issues of moral upbringing of the younger generation are so relevant, when the drug addiction takes an increasing number of lives away, including children and adolescents, we need to have as many of such small, even indoor theatres at the outskirts of huge cities, as possible taking into account the experience of our past. And it must be young and bold people who create such theatres. Free from routine patterns of existence, they can be in continuous dialogue with their peers because they will be able to talk about their problems on equal footing, trusting and listening to each other. We need this dialogue between the live theatre and the audience, yearning for an open and trust-based conversation, more than ever. Our young people, who gravitate toward communication, exchange of information, expression through art, need it. The adults, who have lost touch with the younger generation, also need it. As a creative space for various arts,Çıxış is apparently ready for such a dialogue with the audience and collaborative creation.

On problems...

Young and rebellious people leave the traditional theatre for cellars, attics, and apartments. Who does support them? It is very difficult to support such projects financially. Even if one produces minimalist plays keeping the ticket prices as low as possible (the students are not financially stable!), maintaining the premise, as well as making the costumes and decorations is not a cheap business. Usually such theatres do not last long, even if they manage to stay afloat for two or three years. Who does support such creative associations? Unfortunately, only the international cultural centres can do so. This seems strange, as there is a number of charitable projects implemented successfully in Azerbaijan. But for some reason the theatrical culture has not been able to attract serious attention and interest of those who could support the development of this type of art in our country practically. Alas…