Photo by Nikolay Pushilin.
The premiere of the play based on Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel “Heart of a Dog” took place at the Kurgan Drama Theater. Produced by Anton Butakov – director and chief director of the Center for Contemporary Drama in Yekaterinburg.
— The premiere is not “the path has been completed”; it is not the final point. It happens that this is just the beginning. In our particular case, I think the performance will reveal itself in all its glory when it is played a little, when the audience sees it – commented the stage director, director and chief director of the Center for Contemporary Drama (Ekaterinburg) Anton Butakov .
The production features a live dog named Athena: a purebred German Shepherd, very smart and easy to train with precision. Despite the technical difficulties, the beauty performed her role perfectly. The theater troupe became very good friends with their tailed friend, the artist Ivan Sergeev notes that many have noticed how similar he and Athena are in the role of Sharikov.
Artist Ivan Sergeev and Athena.
Interactive LED decorations were used on stage to highlight special moments of the performance and set the tone and mood.
Members of a theater troupe on stage.
— The theater is great. His employees implemented everything that was planned. There are always difficulties, the worst day is always the first installation. So you come in the morning, and today you will assemble the decorations. We survived this day: everyone is alive, the decorations are standing – well done everyone — said the artist-set designer (city of St. Petersburg) Oksana Stolbinskaya .
Also, the large interactive set was harmoniously combined with laconic, black and white costumes with bright accents that emphasized the characteristics of each character on stage.
The artists played in bright but laconic costumes.
— There was no task here to make some kind of historical costumes – this is, after all, a timeless story. The task was set: to make plus or minus classic, and here I tried to remove some unnecessary details, leaving the most important thing and the silhouette. Because they work against a glowing background – noted the costume designer (city of St. Petersburg) Maria Gross .
The artists and the director note: working with Mikhail Bulgakov’s prose is a great happiness. His eternal work “dog’s heart“, despite the fantastic part, talks primarily about loneliness and sadness, which the actors emphasize and express on stage.
Ilya Maisadze and Sergei Radkov on stage.
— This theme of man, the theme of loneliness, is about the meaning of life: who are we? Who is our creator? Do we create ourselves or who influences this? Where are we from, what are we for? Such philosophical questions are eternal, and Bulgakov, from his point of view, gave some kind of prism of understanding this philosophy and life experience. We haven’t moved an iota away from him ,” noted Honored Artist of the Russian Federation Sergei Radkov.
For the implementation of the project, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation allocated about 2 million rubles . In just two months there will be 7 performances of the play, tickets for which are almost all sold out.
Photo by Nikolay Pushilin.
