“THEATRE WITHOUT BORDERS”

The 3^rd International Festival Theatre without Borders was dedicated to the 95th anniversary of the national leader Heydar Aliyev, the 100^th anniversary of the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic and the 145^th anniversary of the National Professional Theatre. In the second half of May, theatre groups and experts from different countries gathered in Sheki to take part in this event.

The Sheki International Festival has neither geographical nor thematic boundaries. It does not impose any restrictions on the genre and style of theatrical art either. “The more alternative theatres, the better and more interesting. We tried to diversify this festival too. At the same time, all scenic performances are based on humanistic values. The search for moral principles that would help modern people to survive in the harsh reality of the 21^st century makes the essence of all the performances presented by both traditional and physical theatres”, Shaig Safarov, director of the festival, explained.

At the opening ceremony of the festival, Mr. Adalat Veliyev, Deputy Minister of Culture of Azerbaijan, highlighted the significance of creative forums conducted by his ministry. He said that Sheki is gradually turning into sort of an epicenter of cultural events because the Theatre without Borders is becoming a popular festival beyond the borders of Azerbaijan. Even the theatres from Mexico and Columbia, let alone the theatres of neighboring countries, are willing to visit Azerbaijan.

Macbeth the Iranian style

Macbeth-e-Zar is a production of the Titowak Theatre (Islamic Republic of Iran) based on Shakespeare's classic. This is a modern view on the structure of our world, as well as the problems that prevent us from finding harmony in life.

Macbeth-e-Zar is the retold story of Macbeth yearning for the crown, power, and wealth by leaving behind the piles of corpses and blood. Director and scriptwriter Ebrahim Poshtkuhi has just transferred his character to the sultry sands of Iran. In doing so, he exposes the soul of Macbeth’s reincarnation to harmful influence of spirits, for the Iranians believe that the spirits of winds live in the deserts, where they can cunningly worm themselves into a human soul. That's the moment when the man begins fighting with the spirit to regain his soul.

Macbeth-e-Zar is a role model for a new modern theatre, the search of which goes beyond the standards of a traditional Aristotelian theatre and superimposes upon the action a range of artistic and expressive techniques used in national rituals. Iranian theatres of the 21^st century make use of these techniques as an aesthetic basis for the means of theatrical expression. This is a vivid example of creating new modern forms that can organically fit into the well-established aesthetics of a traditional theatre.

A stand-up dervish from Shusha

Monsieur Jordan and dervish Mastali Shah by Mirza Fatali Akhundzadeh is a production of the Shusha State Musical and Drama Theatre written, directed, and designed by Loghman Kerimov.

The play of the classic Azerbaijani writer is an attempt to recreate a variety theatre of miniatures using the techniques of a street theatre as a widely recognised form of interaction with the audience. This form is not new, albeit thoroughly forgotten. It is quite a dynamic action including different styles of a variety theatre and a stand-up show where a dervish is a leading character.

Director's improvisation is just an attempt to find a shortcut to communicate with his audience. It seems he has managed to find it indeed. However, each theatre has its own audience! Perhaps this is what the theatre needs at this stage of its creative path.

The sound of the Sheki davul

The sound of the Sheki davul is a play by H. Sayin presented by the Sheki State Drama Theatre, where the main character, Pembe (Lala Mammad), is facing a problem of moral choice. Will she forgive her husband for a long-standing insult, when he left her with a daughter for another woman? This is an abuse that Pembe finds hard to forgive, forget, and accept. She hates all males and demands the same from her daughter performed by the young actress of the drama school Fidan Latifova, who has never passed through such a tragic experience. Rather, she has a good mind to live. Just live! And like a sound of her soul responding to life, we can hear an amazing female vocalise in mugham style performed by the graduate of the drama school Türkan Khalilova, which is in complete contrast to the ominous sound of davul[*]. Davul and Vocalise. Mother and Daughter. Revenge and Life. Hatred and Love. At some point, we can see that the davul, which develops to another character of the play, suddenly becomes torn. It could not stand the power of Pembe’s hatred. Her daughter could not bear with the constant pressure either. She wants to go to the one who loves her. Then… Pembe shoots at her daughter. In fact, she shoots at her husband’s insult to unburden her mind, to revenge for the broken life of hers. Then, she shoots herself.

The whole village has known about the life of this woman for years. Why there was not a single person who could help her get rid of the castaway complex? For the director, Mirbala Salimli, this is a typical situation of negligence, murderous indifference of others. Indifference is like a gun shot. It does not really matter if this is a gun, rifle or something else. That’s why the director asks his last question in the end of this story: who’s to blame? Who is responsible for this tragic incident? Pembe will pay with her madness... But what about the others? What does await them tomorrow?

The Tatar alphabet

Alef is a play produced by Tufan Imamutdinov and a group of creative youth from Kazan (Russia). Director concentrated his professional attention not on texts and words but on letters, on the alphabet of the dying Tatar language. More precisely - on its root basis. The ancient one that the Tatars used until 1927.

“It bothers me that the language, as an element of the sacred culture of the people, is disappearing and the wisdom written in ancient books remains unclaimed. No one can read them anymore. But this can’t be right...”, says Tufan Imamutdinov.

This fifty-minute action has no words but a constant motion, no play but a dynamic self-expression intertwined with emotional and plastic expressiveness. Three musicians and three vocalists accompany the actions of actor Nurbek Batullah. Rhythmic and ritual flow of music with each letter of the alphabet sung first as a separate sound then as a whole word, a bunch of which gradually shape into complete sentences. By the end of the action, all sounds (music, voices, words, expressive body plastic) merge and sound like a eulogy on the lost language.

This confirms the idea that the physical theatre is well worthy of being a competitor to the traditional theatre, where often the words pronounced by the actors lose their original meaning, turning into a formal reverberant illustration of the action.

Georgian miracle did not happen

The Movement Theatre (Tbilisi, Georgia). The Tempest by William Shakespeare. Directed by Joseb Bakuradze, original music by Sandra Nikoladze, choreography by Lasha Robakidze.

The plot revolves around a well-known Shakespearean story of Prospero, Duke of Milan, who ends up on an island together with his young daughter and becomes a magician after his brother forcibly (with the support of the King of Naples) deprived him of power. Twelve years later, he divines that his brother is on a nearby ship with all the conspirators aboard and uses his magic powers to cause a shipwreck. After some time, one of the surviving passengers, the Prince of Naples, falls in love with Prospero’s daughter, Miranda. As you might have guessed, the story ends with the reconciliation of the parties and the wedding of the lovers. This Medieval classic is presented in the style of the physical theatre. The Georgian version of the story is based on eurhythmy*. However, it did not become an aesthetic shock similar to the one experienced by the hosts and guests of the festival in 2016 after they watched Vazha Pshavela’s Host and Guest staged by the Sandro Akhmeteli Theatre. We have become used to amazing and delightful theatrical discoveries of our Georgian neighbours. This time however, we did not see a miracle, although everything was made on a fairly professional level.

Sior Todero from Baku

The Samed Vurgun Russian Drama Theatre, Baku. Sior Todero Brontolon (Grumpy Mr. Todero) by Carlo Goldoni. Director – Alexander Sharovsky, production designer – Olga Abbasova.

The performance is interesting because the story of a grumpy and greedy miser named Todero is performed in the Commedia dell'arte style. Staged as a tribute to the People’s Artist Mabud Maharramov (Todero) to honour his sixtieth anniversary, the performance represents a vivid action, almost a slapstick, which the director successfully uses to reveal the new facets of artistic talent. After all, Mabud Maharramov has long been recognised as a master of the Commedia dell'arte but the other actors are still mastering this acting style. A real breakthrough was the performance of Fuad Osmanov as Pellegrin, who confirmed that his professional abilities were not limited to playing emotional characters only. His partner Melek Abaszadeh (Marcolina) brilliantly created her character, who is a little slaphappy but has a certain degree of pragmatism. Natalia Sharovskaya, mostly known for her lyrical roles, surprised everyone by creating a buffoonish image of Mrs. Fortunata. It is she who finds a way to influence Mr. Todero and it turns out that his “grumpiness” is due to lack of love. The story ends quite logically, when all the characters get married. Last but not least, the production design by Olga Abbasova added an extra volume and stylistic touch to the buffoonery of the street theatre, which A. Sharovsky has been staging quite often in recent years.

In Wonderland with Vovka from Vladikavkaz

In Wonderland by Vadim Korostylev. Directed by Diana Cherkesova, music by Ruslan Daurov. The performance of the Vladimir Tkhapsaev National Academic Theatre (Vladikavkaz, Russia) was presented in the Russian language so that child spectators understand what was going on stage with Vovka (Kazbek Kochiev), who constantly gets into trouble while traveling in a wonderland full of surprises. To the excitement of Azerbaijani children, it was possible not only answer the questions of the characters but also join them interactively when they were stepping down from stage to hall. It was even also possible to play ball with Vovka during an improvised break!

This popular form of interaction with audience supported by impromptu acting style, albeit very controversial for a professional theatre, was very successful – not only did the children have fun, but they could also think, make decisions and give Vovka the right advice.

A “naive” theatre from Colombia

Innocent Eréndira is a play based on G. G. Márquez’s novella The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Eréndira and Her Heartless Grandmother and staged by Teatro Acto (Bogota, Columbia).

The theatre houses a truly international company of performers from different countries, including Spain. The repertoire is devoid of entertaining performances that would lure the audience with cheap advertising, intrigue or choreography. Rather, Teatro Acto frequently presents serious dialogues on embarrassing subjects. Director John Mario Rivera gradually reveals a tragic story of a fourteen-year-old girl forced by her grandmother to become a prostitute. At the most criminal moment of the action, when a young man in love with Eréndira tries to poison her grandmother with arsenic (an act crying for moral censure and civil condemnation) in order to free the girl from sexual slavery, the audience explodes with encouraging applause!

Here it is, the power of true art. No need to be smart to involve the audience in constant dialogue and to fill the theatre halls. The only thing one needs is to “talk” with the audience in the language of art. That’s what the Colombians did by presenting us an example of naive but sincere theatre.

“Our repertoire mostly includes serious drama. This is our attempt to combat the commercialisation of theatrical art. We stage the works that reflect the contemporary problems of life in Colombia and in other countries,” says J. M. Rivera.

Critics about the festival

A group of theatre experts working at the festival was following its progress and the different types and genres of the theatres with great interest.

Prof. PhD. Aydin Talibzadeh, theatre theorist:

“For me, the festival was a significant event because I had a chance to see the action, to feel the vibration of modern theatrical thought in several countries of the world and to make sure that the art of theatre does not recognise any boundaries, for it has a magical power that unites people.”

Assoc. Prof. PhD. Vidadi Gafarov, theatre theorist:

“Such festivals are important and necessary for our country. This is an effective way to integrate into the world theatre culture. Festival is a holiday. It was a successful event, where we discovered the Iranian theatre Titowak and the Kazan theatre Alef.

Epilogue

The 3^rd International Theatre Festival in Sheki (Azerbaijan) ended with a humanitarian thought: we are people and the moral values are just as important and necessary as peace in the world. The groups of theatres returned to their countries taking with them impressions about the festival, the city of the masters (Sheki), the city of the winds (Baku), and the hospitable Azerbaijan. See you in Azerbaijan next time!