THE CIRCUS

The premiere will take part on 11 May 2017 (The Theatre of Nations, Moscow)

Maxim Didenko, one of the most in-demand directors of the new generation who released a whole row of theatrical sensations last year, has taken over the theatre’s Main Scene staging a musical show based on the legendary Soviet comedy film called “The Circus”. The title role is performed by Ingeborga Dapkunaite. According to the plot of the film written by Grigory Alexandrov and released in 1936, the USSR hosts the star of American circus Marion Dickson with a gig representing the flight to the Moon. The gig turned out a great success, but its author, a German named von Kneischitz blackmails Marion threatening to disclose certain details of her private life.

In The Circus, Ingeborga Dapkunaite is not only going to perform Marion Dickson, a clear  reference to famous Marlen Dietrich, but also the “Russian Dietrich”, Liubov Orlova, the star of the Soviet cinematography who performed the title role in Alexandrov’s version of the same movie.

Maxim Didenko defined the style of his show as retro futurism: “The plot takes place in conventional future invented in the distant past”. Composer Ivan Kushnir is going to re-think the soundtrack to the original movie, “Song of the Motherland” by Vasily Lebedev-Kumach and Isaak Dunayevsky: the famous line “Wide is my Motherland” will get a new sound. Maria Tregubova is in charge for the artistic design of the show, she is a winner of the Grand-Prix at the Prague Quadrennial, as well as of the Golden Mask, Crystal Turandot and other theatre awards.

The show will feature clowns, real circus tricks and orchestra. As the director says, the circus may sometimes take one’s breath away, but it for sure must be amusing.

The premiere of “The Circus” will be held within the program of the 17th Chereshneviy Les (Cherry-Tree Forest) Open Arts Festival.

Photos by Ira Polyarnaya

To learn more about the performance in the MEDIA section of the site under the link – http://maximdidenko.org/цирк-2/

DIRECTOR

Maxim Didenko

STAGING TEAM

Libretto by:

Maxim Didenko, Konstantin Fedorov

Staging Designer, Costume Designer:

Maria Tregubova

Composer:

Ivan Kushnir

Video Designer:

Ilya Starilov

Choreographer:

Vladimir Varnava

Lighting Designer:

Ivan Vinogradov

CAST

Marion Dickson

Ingeborga Dapkunaite

Ivan Petrovich Martynov

Pavel Akimkin / Stanislav Belyayev

Franz von Kneischitz

Sergey Yepishev / Gurgen Tsaturyan

Ludvig Osipovich, Director of the Circus

Andrey Fomin / Vladimir Yeryomin

Black Child Jimmy, Marion’s son

Makhib Gladston

Raiechka, Director’s daughter

Elena Nikolaeva / Natalia Nozdrina

Skameykin, Amateur Draftsman

Roman Shaliapin

Clowns

Anton Yeskin

Daniil Rassomakhin

Pavel Rassomakhin

Alexey Miranov

Vano Miranyan

Piano

Mikhail Spasibo

Armen Pogosyan

Violins

Sergey Pospelov

Semyon Denisov

Ilya Movchan

Polina Shupilova

Alto

Vartan Darackchan

Cello

Anton Bulkin

Yaroslavl Srodnikh