Although they’ve been away for years, the three sisters Olga, Masha and Irina still yearn for the life they used to live in Moscow. All three of them in some way are stuck in the past, unable to take control of the future. As in Strindberg’s Miss Julie, director Christiane Jatahy transports Chekhov’s original (Three Sisters) to a contemporary setting in her native Brazil. The play’s live performance is filmed, and screened live in a second auditorium. The audience can opt to see either the live performance first, followed by the film, or the other way around. By showing the audience a live performance and a film version – the former exploring life issues the sisters share, the latter focusing on the individual afflictions – and by involving the audience directly, Jatahy breaks down the walls between fiction and reality, and between the present and the past. She provides the sisters with a real chance to break the deadlock and take their first step towards change. programme See also: http://christianejatahy.com.br/en/
dates
Sun June 14 2015 7:00 PM
Mon June 15 2015 8:30 PM
information
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Portuguese
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Duration of performance unknown (pauze: zo 14 juni 18.45 - 20.15 / ma 15 juni 20.15 - 21.15)
What if they they went to Moscow? is Brazilian film and theatre director Christiane Jatahy's original take on Chekhov's Three Sisters. Moving the action to contemporary Brasil, she has created an inventive new version of the original play, connecting theatre and cinema in a refreshing way to tell Chekhov's classic story. Part of the audience will watch the actors performing the piece live on the main stage of Frascati 1, the other part will be watching the film version in Frascati 2, which will be shot live in Frascati 1 with the use of multiple cameras. In this set-up, the two art forms, film and theatre, co-exist simultaneously, impacting on each other. The audience watch both the film and the live performance of What if they went to Moscow? They can choose which they want to see first.
With camera crew walking to and from sets being moved from one place to another, all parts of the space available in the main auditorium, Frascati 1, are used. The set is built up from elements of a large apartment with bathroom behind it and a large dining table, musical instruments and bottles of booze. The actors move around and behave like modern Brazilians of various generations, open-minded people talking, dancing, laughing, crying, singing and discussing political, social and personal issues.
The question which fascinated Jatahy and her team in Chekhov's Three Sisters was why do people of all generations have the desire now and then to get away from it all. Why do people dream of moving to another country? Moscow serves as this Utopia in the performance, the place we wish we were, the place we fantasise about, but will never move to. Everyone has their own Utopia. With her actors and collaborators Jatahy researched what people dream of in Paris, Frankfurt and São Paulo, interviewing citizens from different backgrounds, cultures and histories. This led to a documentary, material which is also used in What if they went to Moscow?
While this footage is being screened the principal characters on the main stage – Olga, Macha and Irina (played by Isabel Teixeira, Stella Rabello and Julia Bernat) - are asking how they could move to another place or change the place where they already are; whether change, personal as well as political, is at all possible.
