Teatralnaya laboratoriya

Teatralnaya Laboratoriya of Vadim Maksimov (Theatre Laboratory of Vadim Maksimov) is the only theatre in Russia that works with using of Antonin Artaud's system. The theatre exists in St. Petersburg more than 20 years. The director is professor of St. Petersburg Academy of Theatre Arts Vadim Maksimov doctor in Arts.

Teatralnaya Laboratoriya is permanent participant of different national and international festivals [http://www.teatr-labor.info/eng/info/fest.html List of festivals] .

History

Teatralnaya Laboratoriya was found in Saint-Petersburg, Russia in 1984. Nowadays the object of the Teatralnaya Laboratoriya's activity is experimental research in the dramatic field: in particular, Antonin Artaud's Theatre of Cruelty.

The Teatralnaya Laboratoriya's actors undergo a specialized training which has been developed over the past 8 years. It includes the Oriental practice of psychological self-regulation. The training is based on Artaud's idea of the human body's "energy centers". Each center contains a set of senses and can find expression in the form of plastic motion and voice. The training helps the actor escape from the masks imposed by everyday life.

The main principle of the Teatralnaya Laboratoriya's performances is a rhythmic and psychoenergetic act of organization, an integration of voice, gesture and word into a unified impulse, which has a profound affect on the audience's perceptions.To the present the Theater Laboratory has produced some twenty plays, including world classics (Sophocles' Antigone, Oscar Wilde's Salome, August Strindberg's A Dream Play, Euripides'/I. Brodsky's Medea), as well as modern European dramaturgical efforts (Fosse/Frostenson/Fragments, Milorad Pavic's Party).

Some of the plays have never been performed in Russia before (Igor Terentiev's Iordano Bruno, Antonin Artaud's Samurai or ..., Dzeami Motokie's Kagekie, Jean Genet's Elle and William Butler Yeats' The Only Jealousy of Emer).

Vadim Maksimov

Vadim Maksimov, with a doctorate in art, is a founder and the dramatic director of the Teatralnaya Laboratoriya. He is professor at St. Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy, expert in French theater, especially Artaud, the French theoretician, philosopher and playwright of the 1920s and 1930s. He wrote several books a number of articles dedicated to European and Orient theatre.

Books:
Introduction into the system of Antonin Artaud. St. Petersburg, 1998. ISBN 5-89332-011-5.
The century of Antonin Artaud. St. Petersburg, 2005. ISBN 5-87417-191-6.
The aesthetic phenomena of Antonin Artaud. St. Petersburg, 2007. ISBN 5-87417-191-6.

Actors of Teatralnaya Laboratoriya

Oxana Svoyskaya — since 1999.
Pavel Lugovskoy — since 2006.
Andrey Kharitonov — since 2007.
Ekaterina Bulatova — since 2008.

Asya Shirshina — actress of Teatr na Liteynom, invited actress since 2006.
Inna Levintan — actress of Teatr Dojdey, invited actress since 2008.
Anna Derugina — invited actress since 2008 .

Alexandra Varenikova — project manager and PR-manager since 2006.

Current repertoire (2008)

Travesty Dance - based on the play of Zinaida Bitarova [http://www.teatr-labor.info/eng/info/current.html#travesti Travesty Dance]

Voluspa (monodrama)- based on the Norse epos (the Poetic and the Prose Eddas) [http://www.teatr-labor.info/eng/info/current.html#voluspa-mono Voluspa]

Sand-box - based on the play of Mikhal Valchak [http://www.teatr-labor.info/eng/info/current.html#peso4nica Sand-box]

My Name is a Name - based on play "Hall P" of Katarina Frostenson [http://www.teatr-labor.info/eng/info/current.html#name My Name is a Name]

Salome (monodrama) - based on the play of Oscar Wilde [http://www.teatr-labor.info/eng/info/current.html#salome Salome]

Notes

Links

* [http://www.teatr-labor.info/eng/index.html Teatralnaya Laboratoriya. Notebook. (News).]
* [http://www.teatr-labor.ru/cover.php?id=eng The official home page.]
* [http://community.livejournal.com/teatr_labor/ Teatralnaya Laboratoriya in Live Journal.]

The article is based on the materials from [http://www.teatr-labor.info/eng/index.html Teatralnaya Laboratoriya. Notebook.]