Theatre Festival “Voices of History” in Kirillo-Belozersky Museum-Reserve

From June 29 to July 3, 2016

The play of the National Theatre of the Republic of Karelia (Petrozavodsk) took place on the scene in the New Town on June 29. It was based on the legendary novel of Boris Vasiliev “The Dawns Here Are Quiet…” All “mercilessness of the war” was reflected in the main subject of the novel – women at war. Five girls who were antiaircraft gunners and foreman Vaskov went into combat with 16 German spies. The characters of the performance speak about unnaturalness of war, fortitude of people and personality at war.  

Andrey Dezhonov, director of the play “The Dawns Here Are Quiet…”, noted that their theater first performed in such a legendary and sacred place as the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. “It is the first play that we are presenting in the open air. The real events described in the novel directly touch our history. They took place in Karelia in 1942 and provided the basis for the performance. Young actors play parts in it. First we staged this story for the chamber scene. But after more than 50 performances there, we began to stage it on large scenes by popular request of the audience”, said the director.

The museum performance venue turned into a forest and a swamp, a bath-house and a yard of the house, an observation station of the women-antiaircraft gunners. The scenes of the military actions alternated with the scenes of rest and fun of the characters who forgot about fear of war and death.

The performance lasted for three hours and ended long past midnight. Neither annoying mosquitoes nor the chills of night could divert attention of the spectators captivated with the drama and professional acting.

At the end of the play, the audience gave standing ovation to the artists who received several curtain calls.

The performance “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” based on the historical poem was presented in the Kirillo-Belozersky Museum-Reserve on June 30, on the second day of the Theatrical Festival “Voices of History”.

Actors from St. Petersburg (Igor Lamba, Lyubov Mochalina, Maria Rogachyova, Dmitry Prussky) staged the play-funeral feast based on the Old Russian text. It was directed by Elena Kuzina.

This performance is about a failed raid of Igor Svyatoslavich against the Polovtsy (Cumans) in 1185.

The audience could see a funeral feast with the scenes of battles of Prince Igor and his brother Vsevolod, sorcery of Yaroslavna and vision of Svyatoslav, Prince of Kiev.

The original version of the archaic text of the famous Old Russian literary work was presented with the use of ancient folklore songs and spiritual poems, lamentations, battle cries, voice ritual equipment and sounds of totemic birds and animals.

The guests of the museum had a chance to listen to real chime of the belfry at the Church of St. Euthymius that accompanied some scenes of the performance.

The Festival “Voices of History” is going on. We invite residents and guests of Kirillov to the concert “Songs of Russia” on Sunday, July 3. It will begin at 15:00. The soloists and the Choir of the Mariinsky Theatre from St. Petersburg, one of the most famous music groups of the country and the world, will perform spiritual, lyrical and patriotic compositions about Russia and folk music.

We look forward to seeing you in the museum!