Les Podervyansky

Les Podervyansky ( _ua. Олександр [Лесь] Сергійович Подерв’янський, "Oleksandr [Les’] Serhiiovych Poderv”ians’kyi", born 1952 in Kyiv, Ukraine) is a Ukrainian painter, poet, playwright and performer. He is most famous (or infamous) for his absurd, highly satirical, and at times politically incorrect and obscene short plays. Their average duration is five to fifteen minutes, with one exception.

Cultural background

Podervianskiy wrote most of his works in the USSR from the in the mid to late 1980s, a time of rapid change. He studied how people reacted to those changes and, more specifically, how those who didn't want or care about the changes reacted. To highlight his idea, the author places common people in grotesque situations and shows how they would act much the same regardless of what happens.

Podervianskiy's works are highly regarded owing to his attention to detail. Many behavioural modes are easily recognizable, and people are able to recognize themselves in the plays. The general absurdity of a situation makes the characters' absurd actions more acceptable, and although certain phrases the author uses are politically incorrect, his humour is generally neutral.

Language

Podervianskiy's works have often been criticized because of his use of vulgar language. They are written mostly in Surzhyk and include much swearing and obscenities, which make them appear as if they were composed by an uneducated person. Often it seems that the only reason one would read the works is for their comic impact and to hear creative swearing. But this is not the case. Although a number of Podervianskiy's expressions have entered Ukrainian slang, he uses crude language to show the flaws and grotesqueness of his characters. Podervianskiy carefully matches up language with his characters. Thus a self-made intellectual spouts scientific-sounding nonsense, while more "straightforward" characters use simple words to express complex things.

Because Podervianskiy's works are known primarily in the form of audio recordings of the author's recitals, his voice adds extra dramatic effect to the text.

Works of Les

* "Hamlet"
* "Pavlik Morozov"
* "Pizdets"
* "Katsapy"
* "Danko"
* "Tsikavi Doslidy"
* "Patsavata Istoriya"
* "Geroy Nashogo Chasu"
* "Vasilisa Yegorovna i Muzgichki"
* "Mesto vstrechi izmenity nizzya, blyad !!!"
* "Ostanovis' Mgnovenie"
* "Utopiya"
* "Snoby"
* "Hvoroba Ivasyka"
* "Koroli Litr"
* "Nirvana"
* "Yogi"
* "Svoboda"
* "Kazka pro repku"
* "Vostok"
* "Do Huya Masla"
* "Pyat' Hvilin Na Rozdumy"
* "Yoko ta Samurai"
* "Dinamo"
* "Zgan Mare ta Yogo Druzi"
* "Dohtory"
* "Kamyanyi Dovboyob"
* "Irzgik"
* "Den' Kolhospnyka"
* "Mnozhennya v Umi, abo ... "
* "Triasovyi Period"
* "Diana"
* "Blesk i Nishcheta Gumanistov"

Major works

"Hamlet"

Podervianskiy's "Hamlet" is a short, satiric retelling of "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare, set in an imaginary Denmark that closely resembles the USSR of the 1980s. The bored and indifferent hero doesn't care about religion, revenge, truth, or politics; all he wants is to get drunk. In the end he kills everyone, including his father, and is taken to an asylum.

"Pavlik Morozov"

A longer (one-hour) play set in the Siberian taiga, where a group of members of the Soviet youth Pioneer Movement is led by a Communist official in search of God in order to prove (by not finding God) that God does not exist. Things rapidly change when God's messenger "Nikolai Ostrovsky" (a reference to Soviet writer Nikolai Ostrovsky), is found in the process. The result of rapid change from atheism to Paganism is minimal in terms of human behaviour. The name of the play refers to pioneer Pavlik Morozov, a young Soviet communist "martyr".

"Pizdets"

"(Devoted to [http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D0%BE%D1%8E%D0%B7_%D0%BF%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B9 artists unions] )"

A group of passive art-men live in a freight car, eat state-supplied noodles every day, and do absolutely nothing except pseudo-intellectual chat. They are completely happy inside because they are guaranteed their supply of noodles. They are too scared to leave the car for fear of losing their daily meal. On the contrary, local passers-by (non-art-men) are extremely intrigued by what is happening inside, and seek whatever ways to get into the community. In the end, car brakes are removed, it rolls and crashes offscene.

"Katsapy"

Four Russian tourists enjoy the seaside in cheap resort city resembling Berdyansk, speaking with heavy Moscovite pronunciation (i.e. with akanye). Four Ukrainian natives are approaching the city by train, speaking in Surzhyk and discussing various things, events and nations with equal enmity. As train arrives to the destination in the last act, Ukrainians meet Russians and kick their asses.

"Katsapy" (sing. "Katsap") is a Ukrainian pejorative name for ethnic Russians.

External links

* [http://www.ultima.te.ua/hamletua/index1.html Official site including texts and audio plays]
* [http://www.artofukraine.com/artists/lespodervianskiy?artist_id=lespodervianskiy&lang=en Les Podervianskiy] at artofukraine.com
* [http://www.doslidy.kiev.ua/ "Tsikavi Doslidy"] , unofficial web site (Ukrainian language)