Opinions & Interviews

MOGILEV, 9 January (BelTA) – The 13^th installment of the international youth theater forum M.@art.kontakt will take place in Mogilev on 21-27 March. This year, the forum will put a focus on experiments, Director of the Mogilev Oblast Drama Theater Andrei Novikov told a press conference on 9 January, BelTA informs.

“Classical works made up 50% of the program last year. In 2018, only 3 out of 23 shows will be based on classics. The rest will be about avant-guarde theater and sometimes music and plastic arts. For instance, the viewers will see the punk opera “Medea. Episodes” by Teatro Di Capua from St Petersburg. It will feature the PTVP band, poems by punk poet Lekha Nikonov, and will star Ilona Markarova as Medea,” Andrei Novikov said.

The 2018 edition will feature all kinds of genres, he pointed out. “Our dream to welcome a world-class theater came true this time. The Meno Fortas theater from Vilnius will bring us the show “A Hunger Artist” based on the eponymous novel by Franz Kafka and directed by the legendary Eimuntas Nekrosius," Andrei Novikov added. He is also looking forward to seeing “Scream of a Lobster” directed by Mikhail Tsytrinyak from the Vakhtangov State Academic Theatre, a play about the great actress Sarah Bernhardt.

According to Mogilev Oblast Deputy Governor Andrei Kuntsevich, chairman of the forum’s organizing committee, the festival is expected to see 23 shows by 22 theaters from 9 countries: Belarus, Germany, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, and Ukraine. “We have invited the teams which did a great job at the previous festivals along with new theaters and art groups. For the first time ever, the line-up of acts will feature the Moscow Gubernsky Theater with the stage production “Harvest”, the art group Med a Prach (Honey and Dust) from Slovakia with “Beauty and Ugliness”, and Moscow's Theater Near the Stanislavsky House with the catchy show “Magadan/Cabaret” directed by Yuri Pogrebnichko.

The Mogilev Oblast Drama Theater will show "The Lady from the Sea" by the theater’s principal director Saulius Varnas who has won Belarus’ National Theater Award.

The special program traditionally includes master classes for young actors. A master class in acting will be given by Russian stage director Gennady Trostyanetsky, professor, winner of Russia’s State Stanislavsky Award, Russian and international theater festivals, Golden Soffit and Golden Mask awards.

The organizers plan to invite young critics and Mogilev students to discuss the performances. They will try to see the whole program, communicate with the audience, participants and guests of the forum, take opinion polls, and prepare publications for printed and online media. Traditional press conferences and discussions of stage productions will take place every day in the form of art meetings to enable a real-time dialogue between the participants and guests of the forum, young critics, viewers, and journalists.

Since the M.@art.kontakt project was set in motion in 2006, it has become one of the biggest and most expected cultural events in Mogilev and Belarus’ theatrical space, in general. The forum has seen 190 performances by artists from 20 countries and welcomed over 40,000 visitors.

The event is organized by the Mogilev Oblast Executive Committee, its Main Office for Ideology, Culture, and Youth Affairs, and the Mogilev Oblast Drama Theater.