By: ashaginian

ashaginian — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 00:11:38 +0000

The production of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” by Declan Donnellan was amazing. Having been told that the play was going to be in Russian with English subtitles (or in this case titles) I was extremely excited. I have been feeling home sick for the last couple of days and hearing my native language spoken so well and fluently was unbelievable. I don’t know why, but I had expected the actors to be Russians that moved to the states a long time ago and now spoke Russian with an accent. To my surprise I was familiar with some of the actors in the play.
Mikhail Dementiev (Curio) is a celebrated actor in Russia. I took a few courses of theatre history in the Russian Gerasimov State Cinema Institute (VGIK), which is where he graduated from. I was also familiar with his acting from a really famous movie in Russia “Khrustalev, the Car.”
Dmitry Dyuzhev (Sir Andrew Agurcheek) is a very well known actor in Russia. I’ve seen him in two films: “The Ark” and “Brigade.”
Finally, Dmitry Shcherbina (Malvolio)-an actor that I personally know and have already adored from many plays in Moscow. I’ve seen him at the Mossovet Theatre in King Lear, Madame Bovary and as ironic as it is in Twelfth Night. All of which he played in spectacularly. After the play was over at BAM a few friends of mine and I came up to him and congratulated him on his great performance.
Having read the play and seen it twice in Russia I didn’t expect it to be much different, nor more fascinating. However I was extremely wrong. The entire cast was comprised of men, something I don’t remember witnessing before.
Considering the fact that Russian is my native language and English is my second language I didn’t have to look at the titles. At one point I looked up and realized that the titles were very brief and simple, unlike the language spoken by the actors. I looked around worried that my friends wouldn’t understand the play, but the actor’s performance was so good that at times it wasn’t even necessary to read the titles. All of my friends seemed to enjoy the play very much.
I had a great time and the chance to feel like I was back home in Russia for a few hours. Priceless.
Now, I’m excited about the future plays.

By: smoskowitz

smoskowitz — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 15:11:06 +0000

The production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night was fascinating. I had never read this play or seen any productions of it before, so I was excited about being exposed to something new, but when I found out that it was in Russian with English subtitles, my heart dropped. I wondered if it would be any good because the actors were not speaking English. This version of Twelfth Night, however, proved that Shakespeare is universal if presented properly. These actors were able to engage the audience, and maintain my attention, for the most part, although they were speaking Russian and had few props. The actors’ tone, emotions, movements and facial expressions among other things were sometimes more important in helping me comprehend the play than the subtitles. Nevertheless, the subtitles were a necessary component of the play. Ultimately, I understood the plot and found myself laughing constantly at the various scenes of comic relief featuring Sir Toby, which were my favorite parts. I also loved the singing clown. He was hilarious. I was curious as to why the men who were playing women did not attempt to sound like women with more of a high pitched voice. I also liked the modern feel of the play. For example in the scene when Sir Andrew Aguecheek (I loved how the characters pronounced his name in a comical fashion) fought Sebastian, who he thought was Cesario/Viola, he had boxing clothing on. I don’t think there was a boxing match in Shakespeare’s version, but that scene worked.
I thought the attire of the cast was beautiful and unique and I was especially interested in the transition from wearing black clothing to ight colored clothing. This device was symbolic of the characters going from darkness or ignorance to lightness or knowledge, and also hinted that the truth would be revealed. I also felt that the lighting was able to set the mood. In addition, the use of the curtains was important. By the end, we learned that Cesario or Viola and Sebastian were twin siblings. It took me a while to realize that the character Viola was a girl disguised as a man since it was an all male cast. Sometimes, I found myself caring more about reading the subtitles than watching the acting. Sometimes, I was so enthralled by the acting that I forgot to read the subtitles so I missed a few important lines. Sometimes, I was frustrated because a simple three or four word phrase took a long time for the actor to say in Russian. Other than that, I enjoyed the play and this Russian production proved that Shakespeare’s magic could transcend across various languages with out his crafty English rhetoric.

Comments on: Twelfth Night Translated

By: ashaginian

By: smoskowitz