By Tatiana Nemolyaeva
“We’re really enjoying being here!” exclaimed actors from the Russian Folk New Stage Theatre-Studio, after winning the Grand Prix of the Open Parallel Worlds Festival of Children and Youth Theatres. The cheerful, expressive New Stage Theatre from a small Russian town gave a performance based on Zoshchenko’s works, and jokingly outstripped colleagues from Belarus and Ukraine by winning the greatest number of awards. Among these were ‘best supporting female role’, bestowed to actress Lora Gorshkova, and ‘best male role’, awarded to Anatoly Kuznetsov.
Acting companies from Minsk, Molodechno, Kiev, Lvov and Nizhny Novgorod took part in the five day theatrical event, although those from Nizhny Novgorod arrived a little late. However, they managed to ‘blend’ into the event, with their N 3 performance, based on Dmitry Sukhoterin’s Lift play, seeing a full house.
“We’re a young theatre — just six months old,” notes Mr. Sukhoterin. “We visit festivals with great pleasure, giving our own interpretations. We are called NeTeatr (Not Theatre), as we combine acting, KVN (Club for the Lightheaded and Quick-witted), songs, buffoonery and, even, video clips during our performances. We’re greatly impressed with the festival. Belarus has also impressed us with its neatness and purity and the benevolence of spectators.”
