VIII Festival “Theatre Begins…” was held with support of the Administration of St. Petersburg within the framework of implementing the policy of the Russian Federation pertaining to compatriots residing abroad. kvs.gov.spb.ru.
VIII Festival “Theatre Begins…” was held with support of the Administration of St. Petersburg within the framework of implementing the policy of the Russian Federation pertaining to compatriots residing abroad. The festival was organized by Non-profit Partnership “International Festival of Amateur Theatres "Theatre Begins…” with assistance of the Committee for External Relations of St. Petersburg.
Following the results of the four eventful days and the viewings of 9 performances, the jury headed by Georgi Taratorkin arrived at the following verdict:
The Gran-prix was awarded to Creative Laboratory “Ptakh” from Perm, Russia for their performance “Something’s happened to my memory” based on the book “War's Unwomanly Face” by S.A. Alexievich.
Theatre Studio “Tishina” (Silence) from Tyumen, Russia won the first place of the Festival with its performance “The Government Inspector” based on a book by N. Gogol.
The honorary second place was taken by Theatre Studio “Yorik”, Russian compatriots from Rēzekne in Latvia, with their performance “Black Monk”.
Amateur Theatre “mArt” from St. Petersburg came third with the performance of “Go” by N. Sadur.
The members of the jury remarked on the high level of theatre culture of each theatre company.
Apart from the competing theatres the festival featured ten theatre companies from abroad which had not participated in the competitive selection. We hope that the four-day long viewings and discussions of the performances as well as the master classes with the jury members will be beneficial for the further creative activity of the Russian-speaking amateur theatres.
On the sidelines of the Festival the participants had an opportunity to enjoy concerts of the St. Petersburg actor, musician and director Anton Dukhovskoy, and a tournament of “What? Where? When?” game featuring Boris Burda. One of the high points of the program was a lecture devoted to the life and work of Great Russian writers delivered by a prominent literary scholar Boris Averin.
The closing ceremony of VIII International Festival of Amateur Theatres “Theatre Begins…” was held at 12.00 on September 27, 2015 on the stage of the “Na Mokhovoy” Educational Theatre.
All the participants expressed their gratitude for the heartwarming creative atmosphere of the Festival, and for the opportunity to perform on the legendary stage of the legendary city. Members of the Lithuanian theatre company remarked “We have felt at home. Everything has become very dear to us. Every word has resonated in us”.
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Background information:
The main goals and objectives of the Festival are to give talented directors and scriptwriters of amateur theatres an opportunity to show their high level of excellence, to discover new talented performers, to facilitate the revival of the best Russian theatre traditions as well as various genres and schools along with an increase in the artistic level of performances. The Festival aims at creating an environment for professional communication and the development of partner relationships as well as new joint creative projects.
The Committee for External Relations of St. Petersburg provided publicity for the Festival and rendered assistance to the Russian-speaking theatres from abroad in attending the event.
For further information contact the Festival Organizing Committee: Irina Yakovleva, festveshalka@gmail.com; in the Committee for External Relations of St. Petersburg: Darya Romanovna Ilyinskaya, +7 (812) 576-75-02, ilinskaya@kvs.gov.spb.ru.