Third Evidence
Improvisation by Anton Adasinsky (Body) & Nikolay Gusev (Music).

Festival “Georges Pompidou Centre at the Hermitage”, St. Petersburg
Nikolayevsky Hall
October 10, 2010, 12:15

…just wake up early and run along the beach to the rising sun. The rustling breath sound quite like the hissing surf and you’re feeling happy because of your wet ankles…

Then the sun shines in the drops of sweat on your belly. You smile and you swim, and when you look back you see the lump of clothes on the shore…

When shall I marry? // This year, next year, sometime, never. // What will my husband be? // Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich-man, poor-man, beggar-man, thief.

…Do not swear, please! All of you are under suspicion!…

Conversation with one of spectators

“I know why ‘Harlequin’, it’s for the help of his spirit. You could call the play in any other way, couldn’t you? And the costume is not that of Harlequin. It’s of The Poet! Pierette is his Muse. That’s so right! The Monkey is his inner demon, his sick and run-away heart! Isn’t it just like from Mayakovsky?”

And right there amidst roaring buses he started to read it out in Russian:

Situation that might have happened

One of Harlequin’s biographies

400 years ago some actor asked to join a wandering minstrels company.

His appearance was rather interesting: ragged and patched robe, blackened face…

“Has he never washed himself?”, asked the ‘Father’ of the actors family
“No, he has burned”
“How comes that?”
“He had to fall from a great heights”
“What’s that on his forehead?”
“A horn shiver”

Actors cracked up together.
‘Father’ raised his voice and they fell silent.

“Thine eyes are sharp. Go thou on stage to-day and to-morrow. It is for spectators to decide.”

Spectators decided. The new actor was accepted in the company

“How must we call thee, horned creature?”
“Alichino”

Who have you been? What was your name, a wandering actor? And why, just why you chose a devil’s name?..

Text: Anton Adasinsky
English text editor: Daniel Williams
Drawings: Frances Drewery
Photos: Elena Yarovaya, D. Adasinsky
Photo design: Elena Yarovaya

DEREVO is still fighting at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. That’s really not easy.

For those who doesn’t know what it is: for instance, there’s seven to ten different companies performing on the same stage at the same venue. There are 200 of such venues. Time for set-up, minimal changes for light, sounds, for make-up and warm-up - 30 minutes precisely. Just as much time for break down and cleaning after the show.

Currently DEREVO with Harlekin is in the Top 5 from all 1100 companies who received any reviews at all. Here you can have a look at the critics rating, friendly compiled by The List: http://edinburghfestival.list.co.uk/top-rated

I’d also like to point again to the slideshow by Murdo Macleod from Guardian.co.uk

Congratulations to Harlekin (and The Devoted Monkey), as well as to Carabass. Hold on and keep up the good work, guys!

Just 6 days left…

DEREVO.org web-master

Here’s what the Scottish and English press thinks of DEREVO this year:

***** The Herald, Mary Brennan
…This piece really is about the heart and soul of tragi-comic physicality…

Watching Anton Adasinsky inhabit the age-old, timeless form of Harlequin – or Petrushka, Pierrot or Mr Punch, since they are the same elemental free spirit – is to witness a celebration of wordlessly expressive artistry shade into a poignant elegy for a theatrical dimension that long predates the machine age….

***** EdinburghGuide.com, Garry Platt
…This is not just a stage production it’s a phenomenon… Derevo’s Harlekin presents one scene after the next, each iconic and visually dazzling, unique. The stage is filled raw visceral emotion and then subtle considered jokes and funny vignettes…

***** Fest
…The show is a sequence of strange, arresting set-pieces which would be disorientating without the Harlekin himself. The weary innocence with which he greets every strange new situation is the play’s one constant note…

**** The Telegraph, Mark Monahan
…Just go and see this show. It’s strange, stirring, often beautiful entertainment, and you’ll be thinking about it for a long time…

**** The List, Brian Donaldson
…The sinister and the beautiful have been Derevo’s trademarks ever since their Edinburgh debut in 1997 with Red Zone, and Harlekin provides another memorable chapter in their captivating story…

**** The Scotsman, Kelly Apter
…big show filled with striking visual images and charming set pieces. As the Harlekin, Adasinsky’s capacity to mix tragedy and comedy in one role has never been more obvious, while his turn as the domineering Hurdy Gurdist is a little comic gem…

**** Edinburgh Spotlight, Julie Dawson
…Technically, Harlekin is flawless. The performers are breathtaking, the marriage between music and movement is impeccable, the lighting is perfect, the costumes and makeup are excellent. The overall effect is stunning…

**** Three Weeks, Hannah Myers
…a heart-rending tale of unrequited love, cruelty and suffering unfolds. Derevo transcend this dark matter to reveal pools of shimmering light in the tenacity of the human soul, matching sinister dances of death with exquisite physical manifestations of the beating heart…

**** Fringe Review
…once we accept the basic theme we sit back and take in the spectacle like a surreal dream….

The List still hasn’t counted all the Harlekin’s stars and put the show at the 9th position of 952. not that bad… ».

And just beyond all competition is the unique slide-show by Murdo Macleod from Guardian.co.uk just watch it on their web-site:

In June the WEISSE FESTUNG (WHITE FORTRESS) happened at the beautiful pond in the historical city centre in Dresden. After the last year’s success they asked us to repeat the open-air action. It was far too easy to persuade us in this case.

On and In the Water:

Anton Adasinsky, Lena Yarovaya, Pavel Semchenko (AKHE), Andrey Sizintsev (AKHE), Alisa Oleynik, Maxim Kuznetsov, Lidiya Makeeva, Lidiya Kopina, Tatyana Belousova, Valentin Tzin, Alexey Lanskoy, Nastya Ponomareva

The crew

Daniel Williams - Sound, Steffen Köhler - Technical direction, Falk Dittrich - Light, Igor Fomin - Light for floating objects, Isolde Matkey - Management, and many assistants - everything that wouldn’t be possible without them

Film by Andrey Gladkikh

See also WEISSE FESTUNG Day by Day »