The gathering of folk theaters in Khimki began with the appearance of Woland

14 teams gathered at the Open Space festival, including from Donbass

The first all-Russian festival of folk theaters “Open Space” started in Khimki near Moscow. Among the participants is the Nikolai Ostrovsky People’s Theater from the city of Ilovaisk, Donetsk People’s Republic, which arrived in an exclusively female composition, the male part of the troupe remained at the combat post. In total, 14 amateur groups take part in the review – from Moscow, Makhachkala, Smolensk, Obninsk, Kolomna, Krasnoznamensk, Khimki. The festival kicked off with excerpts from The Master and Margarita directed by Nikita Vysotsky.

Last Monday at the Moscow Institute of Culture started the festival “Open Space”, which brought together unusual theatrical groups – folk. Since the middle of the 19th century, the title of “People’s Theater” has been awarded to amateur theaters with a permanent troupe and a full-fledged repertoire. Amateur actors work in such troupes, in which there is another profession, but their amateur performance has reached such a high level that they have been awarded a special title.

– This festival is a great opportunity to look at the cultural cross-section of people of various professions who unite in their work for the sake of the theater, and do it masterfully. And most importantly, this is an opportunity to look into each other’s eyes, to communicate, because live communication, as isolation during the days of the pandemic has shown, cannot be replaced by anything, – said the author and ideological inspirer of the project – head of the department of directing and skill of the actor of the Moscow State Institute of Cinematography, professor, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation Nikolai Skorik.

“Open Space” brought together artists of folk theaters from different cities of Russia: the youngest artist is 7 years old, the oldest is 80. All of them are not professional actors, but they found their calling in serving art and theater in their free time from their main work or study. Participants include museum staff, office managers, factory workers, students, schoolchildren and pensioners.

Most of all, the arrival of a team from Donbass was expected at the festival. Only the female part was able to come, so the male roles in the productions of the Nikolai Ostrovsky National Theater will be performed by students of the Moscow State Institute of Cinematography. Thus, the festival will become a kind of theatrical laboratory.

The festival opened with a production of The Master and Margarita, staged by Nikita Vysotsky with students. However, only some fragments were shown, which, according to the actor and director, illustrate the search for “entrance into a closed space and turning it into an open one.”

– Such a space of Bulgakov’s novel – much in it seems random, but in fact it is all natural, – said Nikita Vysotsky. – The novel, of course, is mystical and is even considered cursed – something always happens when it is played on stage or in the cinema. During rehearsals, the roof leaked and we had to move the production to another hall. The novel was written at a time when our vast country abandoned religion and culture began to perform some of its functions – to deal with the human soul. Now is also the time when it is important to deal with such issues, so the statement is timely. This is especially important now, in a series of endless events of our daily life.

The festival program includes performances in various genres – drama, opera, ballet performances, puppet performances, etc. These include classical productions based on the works of Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Sholokhov, Oster, and plays by contemporary playwrights – Viktor Ponizov, Yasmina Reza, Anastasia Bukreeva.