• Posthumanist Tendencies in Modern Interpretations of Ostrovsky’s Plays on the Russian Stage

УДК: 821.161.1-2: 792.2(=161.1)

DOI: 10.35852/2588-0144-2024-1-82-97

EDN: GOOXDF

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Artem N. Zorin

Dr. Sc. in Philology, Professor, Editor-in-Chief of the Theatre. Fine Arts. Cinema. Music journal.
Saratov State University, Saratov State Conservatoire
Saratov, Russia
E-mail: art-zorin@yandex.ru

Posthumanist Tendencies in Modern Interpretations of Ostrovsky’s Plays on the Russian Stage

Abstract

The period between 2010 and 2020 became a time of bold experiments with the complex, socially significant content of Ostrovsky’s plays, which found resonance with cinematic expressions in the genre of transhumanist dystopia. Contemporary theatre versions demonstrate a complex metatext, which combines the tradition of interpreting Ostrovsky with preceding generations of directors with cinematic experience. In this context, the most promising form of engaging with the cinematic intertext within the plot structure of the plays becomes versions that offer a dystopian view on social relations, as captured in contemporary screen art. In the production doXXXod (2018) by the Saratov Drama Theatre named after I.A. Slonov, based on the play A Profitable Position, director Danil Chashin moves the action from the 19th century to an abstract future, which is represented in the sets and video projections with grim futuristic details. In the performance by Murat Abulkatinov on the stage of the Saratov Academic Youth Theatre named after Y. P. Kiselev, Katerina Kabanova’s life-changing moments are visually associated with episodes from science fiction movies. As a result, the proposed circumstances and characters of Ostrovsky’s classic play ideally fit into the aesthetic coordinates of cyberpunk or dystopia, where cinematic associations with cult films demand a recognizable realistic acting style of famous actors while forming meaningful references to the existential issues of popular movies and TV shows. The actualization of cinematic expressions arises in direct quotes from popular films of posthumanist aesthetics: Terminator, The Matrix, Altered Carbon, Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams, Melancholia, anime Metropolis. The increasing number of such productions actualizes the issues of the plays of the great Russian playwright in the consciousness of the younger generation and brings us closer to understanding of their relevance in a renewed system of ethical and aesthetic coordinates. As a result, the theatre's search on the eve of and during the celebration of Ostrovsky’s anniversary (2023) largely echoes the history of breakthrough interpretations during the celebration of Ostrovsky’s centenary, which defined the revolutionary character of his interpretations in the context of the dominant cinema culture of the 1920s.

Keywords

A.N. Ostrovsky, Russian theatre, transhumanism, actualization of classics, cinematic allusions.

For citation

Zorin A.N. Posthumanist Tendencies in Modern Interpretations of Ostrovsky’s Plays on the Russian Stage. Theatre. Fine Arts. Cinema. Music. 2024, no. 1, pp. 82–97.

DOI: 10.35852/2588-0144-2024-1-82-97

EDN GOOXDF

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Received: 25.11.2023

Revised: 12.02.2024

Accepted: 14.02.2024