Tue 17 – Fri 20 Feb 8pm, Chapter Theatre, Market Rd, Canton, CardiffThe award-winning Russian puppet company Potudan Theatre from St Petersburg present the only UK performances of their acclaimed show Nevsky Prospekt at Chapter on Tuesday 17th to Friday 20th February. The show uses marionettes and glove puppets to re-tell Gogol’s Nevsky Prospekt, a dark and surreal story of St Petersburg’s main street and the people who inhabit it. Potudan Theatre have performed all over the world in countries as diverse as Russia, the Czech Republic and South Korea. This is their first visit to the UK. The show follows the characters who inhabit Nevsky Prospekt, among them an artist, a soldier, a shoemaker, a prostitute and a giant walking, talking nose. The characters are borrowed from many of Gogol’s novels and present a satirical and dark look at life in nineteenth century Russia. A marionette of Gogol narrates the whole event and puts thoughts into the mind of his characters. The show is played out on a two-tiered stage with the spiritual love the story of the artist on the top layer and the base, lusty story of the soldier on the bottom. Two different types of puppets act out the stories - on the top floor marionettes, and on the lower one glove puppets. In Nevsky Prospekt director Ruslan Kudashov reflects on the philosophical prose of Russian classics and the theme of the artist in the city, translating text into visual images and using different scales, dimensions and puppet techniques to create meaning. The shadow puppets play with their fleshlessness, the glove puppets inhabit hell and the marionettes are torn from their threads to vanish in abyss of Petersburg's gloom. James Tyson, Chapter’s Theatre Programmer said: "Russian puppetry is one of the most famous in the world and this is a unique opportunity to see an award-winning company from St Petersburg make their UK debut." Potudan Theatre was formed in April 2002 by a group of graduates from the puppeteering course at Saint Petersburg Academy of Theatrical Art. The company took their name from the title of their first show "Potudan", an adaptation of The Potudan River by Andrey Platonov. Nevsky Prospekt has won Best Performance and Best Director’s Work at the Golden Mask 2003, Russia’s highest national award, Best Performance and Best Director’s Work at the VII World Festival Of Puppet Art in Prague (June 2003), and Best Performance award at the Belaya Vezha Festival in Brest, Belarus, (September 2003). It was also nominated for the Golden Sophit 2002, the highest St. Petersburg award. Nevsky Prospekt had it’s world premiere in the official program celebrating the 300 years anniversary of Saint Petersburg. For more information on all Chapter events or to book tickets call the chapter box office one 029 2030 4400. |
| Chapter Arts Centre web site: www.chapter.org |
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Thursday, February 5, 2004 |
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