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The
KnAM
Theatre
pr.Piervostroiteli, 15, Komsomolsk-na-Amure, 681003, Russia.
Tel. (7) 42172 370 88 mailto:E-mail:knam@theatre.ru
The history of Creation
The KnAM theatre
(Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Khabarovsk region, Russian federation) was founded
in 1985
by the director and the head Tatiyana Frolova with a group of
like-minded
people. The Theatre started as an
independent group although it was difficult to do that during “soviet”
time. In 1986 the Theatre settled in a small lodgment
on one of the renewed town avenues. Sensible local
authorities assisted in it and of course Gorbachev’s
“Perestroika” had already been on the way.
Having no financial support
from the government and sponsors the troupe using their own financial
means and
relying on only their own powers equipped the Theatre. Even the
lighting
equipment was made with their own hands by the engineers and
technicians from
defense plants who were whether a part of the troupe or sympathized it.
In 1987 with the issue of the
first laws allowing the private forms of juridical persons and private
production forms the Theatre was registered as one of the first town
cooperative societies – it was the only non-state juridical forms of an
enterprise. As appeared later (and it was confirmed at the Russian
Theatre
Figures Union) the Theatre happened to be the first cooperative theatre
since
1927. And the last one. In July, 1999 the Theatre obtained more
contemporary
and meeting all what the Law demanded form. At present it is a
non-commercial
partnership “The Tatiana Frolova Theatre”. Bat the Theatre still
carries its “historical name” – The KnAM Theatre.
The theatre never by nobody
was financed and exists only at the expense of the earned means and
charitable
payments. The survival of theatre is promoted by that under the
decision of
collective, the wages are not paid to the workers of theatre, all means
go on
development of theatre. Means for existence everyone earns by own
forces in
free from work time.
At the moment there are 9
participants in the troupe, from 30 up to 39 years old. The theatre is
private
property of its participants. Stage size – 8x6 meters, the auditorium
for
26 seats.
What
we consider to be important
“The KnAM Theatre is a
small “family” where we have been working together from 7 to 14
years.”
The KnAM Theatre is always
balancing on the edge of strict
order and freedom, discipline and inspiration, system and spontaneity.
It is very important for Theater’s creative work to
have the basis that is qualitative literature and dramatic art. We are
interested in authors who are being tortured by a question: “ What is a
human being?” We are not involved in politics or social problems trying
to find all the answers to the questions in a man, his motivation to do
this or
that, in his psychology, in his confusion.
All the performances differ
from each other because at first
we study author’s style, his rhythm, the way he feels the world that
surrounds him. In a process of work “author’s line” comes to
light and the unique style of a whole play is given birth.
A word, speech are just what
is simply seen. It is more important for us to work on the language of
the
body, rhythm, motion in space, a pause, an exact ,“speaking” stage
setting, selected ,not domestic or everyday decisions.
We are not afraid to refuse in
what we are skilled or what is pleasant for us. We may refuse the
dramatic art,
the author ,creating our performances collectively, thinking them up right on the stage.
We work with simple technical
means finding the most exact decisions in simple decorations and stage
setting,
in useage of different technical adaptations. We lack serious financial
ground
so that forces us to use our brains while searching for a sharp and
“strong” scenographic trick without expensive and difficult
structures.
We work in small halls with a
small stage and a little audience(
whatever possible a stage must not be bigger than 10х9 meters, spectators amount - not more than 120-130 people).
It is needed so to achieve the
energetic contact with every spectator, it is needed for to hear
whispering and
breathing, to see actor`s eyes, the way his face changes.
Our creative creed is not
to go on a compromise with a
spectator, not to work for him and to stand against
massive
popular culture which makes a human being faceless, steals his
personality.
Tatiyana Frolova
“Director Tatiyana
Frolova is exclusively occupied with the search of new forms. The
principle of
performances is unified: a search of synthesis of a Russian
psychological
theatre with contemporary achievements of foreign theatres in the
sphere of
from, variety of genres and styles. Frolova’s erudition and ingenuity
amaze
and shock. As if is she lives not on the edge of the Earth bat
somewhere in the
center of Europe.”
I. Myagkova
“Theatre Life”
About the culture of the future.
Discussing the problem where
modern culture is heading to we have to understand where a man is
heading
nowadays. And he is moving towards primitiveness, minimization, towards
his
primordial animal nature. Modern culture is a very simple figure, “a
brick” you play with without any tension or waste of energy. Such
lulling, relaxing, “way-of-spending time” culture. All forms of art
are striving for this very “brick” because it can be bought. A man
is in need of exactly this “brick”! To my mind such culture is
self-destructing – it does not develop a man, does not give him any
space
for search, kills his creative impulses. Such man is simply controlled
and
manipulated.
I want to stand against it. I
adore people who make not “bricks” bat more complex figures and I
hope that I belong to such people. I am sure that our destiny is to
make these
intricate figures, developing man’s imagination.
The Theatre of 21- st century
to me is a theatre with all expressive means. Light, sound, picturesque
stage
setting become very valuable, but the major thing is a thinking actor,
actor-personality who is opposed to primitive culture in real life.
The Art of 21 – st
century can be compared with an alarm-clock which will wake a man up,
reminding
him of the fact that Life is a greatest chance and that it ends up too
quickly.
Tatiyana Frolova
“Cultural
Heroes of the21 – st century”
GIF Publishing
House, 1999
Repertoire
Throughout the Theater
existence there were different performances staged:
·
“Froken
Guli”, August Stringdberg
·
“Behind
the
locked doors”, J-P. Sartre
·
“Here
people
live”, Atol Phugard
·
“Glass
menagerie”, Tennessy Williams
·
“Commision”,
Heiner Muller
·
“The
Insane
notes”, N. V. Gogol
·
“The
King
dies”, Agen Ionesco
·
“Black
dog”, Dmitriy Prigov
·
“Aglavetta
and Selizetta”, M. Metterlink
·
“Play”
( “We play Strindberg”), F. Durrenmatt
·
“Western
quay”, Bernard-Mary Coltes
·
and
others.
Now in repertoir of theatre
the performances:
·
“Metamorphoses”,
Franz Kafka
·
“The
reanimation of dadaizm”
·
“Space
for a
dream”
·
“Trupoy is alive”, Alex Shipenko
·
“The
diagnosis “Happy Birthday”(102 series)”, Konstantin Kostenko
·
“Influence
of
gamma rays on pale yellow calendula.”, Paul Zindel
The summary about performances
“
Metamorphosis”
The innovation of the
performance: The Insect is never shown to the spectator, so the
spectator only
has the image of the bug in his imagination. All attention is paid to
Gregor’s family: it is the family itself that experiences
metamorphosis.
Their faces change from
soft-colored, drowsy and
defenseless to crudely painted masks of live corpses. In this
performance, we
have found the theatrical embodiment of stopped time: within 8 minutes
the
actors move very slowly in a definite plastic drawing , the spectator
is
absorbed in this dragged time, and his “point of concentrating
the perception”
changes. The actress is pausing in the final scene for two minutes, and
during
this time no spectator moves, no one’s breath is heard!
The performance is very spectacular:
the mis-en-scenes are like pictures, the work with the light is highly
creative, the sound shifts imperceptibly from live (the violin, the
saw) to recorded
(composed by A.Suponin). The performance was highly praised by the
foreign
critics, was invited to the festivals in France, Portugal, Germany.
“The Reanimation of
Dadaism”
The innovation of the
performance: the text pronounced in the performance is not written. It
is the
stories told by actors themselves. In each performance the stories
sound in a
different manner. There are many plastic moments produced in the style
of the
“live body”. We made an effort to make this performance from “rubbish”,
the way it was done by dadaists themselves. The result is a very
unusual
performance.
“Space For a
Dream”
The innovation of the
performance: it is the first ballet on
our stage (6x6 meters). The style is “contemporary”, there
is a mixture of every-day and surrealistic plastics. The sound track is most complicated, there were
selected and worked over more than 150 every-day sounds.
“Trupoy is
Alive”
The main idea is destroying of
taboos. In the performance, the problem of death and increased entropy
is
investigated. For the production of the performance, it was necessary
to study
medical aspects of death, to take more than 20 pictures with the images
of
corpses and post-mortal procedures with dead bodies. However, the
performance
is very beautiful, video projections add much to spectators’
impression.
The real stream of sand as well as the scene where the main character
is really
taking a real bath, make the spectator
have a strongest emotional impression.
“Diagnosis:
“Happy Birthday” (part 102)”
The play of a young author
living in Khabarovsk. The first staging in Russia.
The innovation of the
performance: the video is combined with real actors’ work. On the video
are the same characters, but in very real living conditions. All the
details of
every-day life are displayed thoroughly; like in movies, the personages
eat and
drink, and at the same time we can see the same characters, but in
uniforms.
Discovery of Kostenko’s theatrical style.
“The Influence of
Gamma-Rays on Pale-Yellow Calendula”
The first joint project of the
KnAM Theatre and the Drama theatre actors. Expressive acting combined
with
exact, hard plastics and vanguard scenery make the spectator to plunge
into the
performance since the very first moments.
Very imaginative theatrical language produces a very strong
emotional
impression upon the spectator.
Projects and social work of the theater
Today the theater KnAM is the
center and the inspirer of informal culture not only in Komsomolsk but
also in
the whole region including Khabarovsk – the capital of the Far East.
We “burst”
theatrical forms, making our own theatrical language, cause people to
watch
plays not as stories but as separate whole works of art. Each
performance is a
great event for us as well as for the audience. These plays destroy the
human
stereotypes. We are proud to state that we have brought up our own
public. We
influence people and space around us. Our audience is ready to percept
not only
the best up to date theatrical forms (and art in general) of Russia but
also of
the world.
The KnAM has acquired a great
experience of work with creative people for the years of its existence.
Theatrical halls, which gather talented in different spheres people and
introduce them to the Komsomolsk residents, have been in the theatre
for 16 years.
14 years is the age of
attached to the theatre drama school for children, that has granted
school
leaving certificates to hundreds of children. Here they are introduced
to the
history of the dramatic art, trained to the actor’s skills and helped
to
develop creativity.
The theater (together with the
culture department of the town Administration) was carrying out the
theater
groups’ festival the “Theatrical spring” from 1994 till
1998. This festival developed into
another one entitled the “Room perspective”, which within four
years was organized mostly at the expense of the theater.
In 1997
we arranged in Khabarovsk the regional “modern
play Festival” supported by the regional mass media.
From 1998 till 2002 the
theater has been organizing the festival “Room perspective”
(information about it included). In 1999 our festival participated in
the final
part of the Russian festival “The XXI century heroes of culture” in
Moscow.
In 2000 the theater started
working with great deal of youth and attracted lots of gifted young
people for
their participation in mass events.
The “Merry even”
(2001, 2002). There was revealed a young potential in the world of
music, made
a great spade-work, as a result of which many young people joined the
youth
culture of the town, krai and region (e. g., the brakers).
The Entrepreneurs’ Board
of the town, radio stations, newspapers, and lots of volunteers among
youth
were attracted to support this event. In the end there was a whole day
long
concert at the big stage of the quay. All the work was done free of
charge.
“The town of
childhood” (2001) – the first event of this kind in the town. The
performance lasted for 13 hours. The entertainments were carried out in
9
places at the same time. All possible sources of Komsomolsk
were used – from the zoo at a lawn, where
one could flatter a deer, up to the first disco the “Open Air”
directed by deejays on the air (these days they blend different music).
“Colour your town”
(2001). After a spade-work several dozens of children, teenagers, young
people
and parents within a day painted some long gray fences with fancy
drawings of
Graffiti style (that is a youth trend of informal art). We decided to
make this
event annual.
Some part of the population
living in our town is interested in the best samples of the world
non-profitable movie but have no real opportunity to watch it (there is
no such
movie on TV or in the cinema) or lack the experience of getting
information
about it. That is why in 1999 we created the Club of Conceptual Movie
(first in
the cinema “Yunost” and in 2001 after purchase of the video project
equipment – in a separate room).
Such work and mentioned
projects were sure to claim like-minded people. For these years we have
developed partnership with the mass media (newspapers, radio, internet)
and
attracted volunteers among youth. We want to create the volunteers’
union
and have already started working in this field.
Our activities attract people;
it is interesting for them to make it with us. We work free of charge
and that
makes our work great value.
Theatre`s international relationship
1992 The Theatre KnAM took
part in the international theatrical festival in Glasov(Russia)
1994 We started working in
collaboration with a German director
Kai Vushek ( Freie Kammerrsspiele Magdeburg - The Free Theatre,
Magdeburg, Germany) on a
performance “The Mission” by Heiner Muller`s play.
In June 1998 a reporter
Jean-Piere Timoda from a Parisian
newspaper “Liberation” comes to us in order to get acquainted with
our repertoire. An article was
published as a result of his trip that attracted attention of
organizers of
many theatrical festivals to the Theatre`s creative work.
1999 A performance
“Metamorphoses” by Franz Kafka`s short novel took part in the
international theatrical festival “Passage”( Nancy, France) as one
of the best performances of the year, in French press opinion. The
performance
was praised by the public and valued at its highest by press.
2000 The Theatre took part in
the festivals: “Culture guest” (“Culturgest”, Lisbon,
Portugal), “UNIDRAM” ( Potsdam, Germany)
From June,2000 to
September,2001 the Theatre had been working on a joint project with a
French
theatrical company “Graffiti” ( Volance, France). It was a
performance by Bernard-Mary Coltes`s play “Western quay”.
In May 2001 director Tatiyana
Frolova took part in the international project “Mirror:East-West”.
Its purpose was to introduce Russian modern dramatic art to European
and World
audience. A selection of plays of Russian modern dramatists was
published by the
patronage of this festival. At the festival “Passage” (Nancy,
France, 2001) Russian and French directors were putting these plays on
the
stage. Tatiyana Frolova presented a play “Diagnosis: Happy Birthday
(102-d episode)” by Konstantin Kostenko (Khabarovsk, Russia).
In March 2002 The Rockefeller
Foundation (NY, USA) gave an opportunity to the Theatre to work in
Italy on the
territory of a scientific and cultural center which is the property of
the
Foundation. The Theatre was working on the creation of a new theatrical
project
by Franz Kafka`s diaries. The Council of experts of the Foundation
considered
the ideas and creative work of the Knam Theatre to be important for the
cultural process of the world union.
We have developed ant support
successful partnership with: the German Embassy in Russia and the
Center of
Goethe, spreading German culture and art around the world; Pushkin
cultural
center in France; consulate general of Japan in Khabarovsk.
Festival of theatre KnAM
The Creative Festival
“Prospect of A Room”
Theatre,
Modern Dance,
Music, Fine Arts, Cinema, Photography, Conferences, Seminars, Video,
Art-Performance.
The idea of creation of the
festival “Prospect of A Room” was given birth on the basis of the
concept of The KnAM Theatre existence. The Theatre was founded and has
been
working for 16 years already having occupied several rooms without any
support
from the local and state authorities. Under such conditions The Theatre
and its
creative leader Tatiyana Frolova make performances and give life to
their
creative projects ( including international ones) which are considered
by many
russian and foreign authorities ( and also by audience what is of most
importance) to be unique cultural achievements. What is more, the
Theatre is an
unofficial cultural center of our town that attracts people who are
interested
in contemporary culture and who propagate innovative ideas. We have
always
supported all new non-standard cultural projects and individual
creative
personalities who ask for help. That is why our festival is the showing
of the
fact that new creative powers may be born and may develop in small
towns and
communities under conditions of the remoteness from “cultural
centers”.
We feel that our creative
potential is not called for and this is the problem. That is why we
understand
how difficult it is for beginners and young artists in different art
spheres.
Because of the remoteness of our region from cultural centers of
Russian
Federation and of the whole world we have difficulties in getting
information
about the development of modern culture.
The only way out of this
problem is Internet and so special seminars have appeared in our
program on
this very basis. Their purpose is to make people of art use Internet
with
maximum benefit.
Because of the Internet our
previous year festival overstepped the bounds of the town and of the
region;
the information was published on the major Internet cultural-portals
and it
became available for a lot of people and mass-media.
But the main thing is that the
Festival was created for the public who could see and listen to those
artists
who did not have an opportunity to get access to the audience.
We try to find new names, to
inform people about new cultural achievements and to demonstrate best
examples
of modern art.
The supreme task of the
festival is to stand against routine and inertia in society to become
an
impulse and give an emotional stimulus for the sake of “cultural
splash” in the Far-Eastern region and what is more to be of great use
to
a lot of people who widen the limits of their consciousness.
The contact information:
The KnAM Theatre
Pr. Pervostroiteli, 15
Komsomolsk-na-Amure, 681003, Russia.
Tel. (7) 42172–370-88;
(7) 095-7847892-*-2123
E-mail: knam@theatre.ru
www.knam.theatre.ru