Actress, director.
In 2011 Natasha graduated from Belarusian Academy of Arts majoring in puppet theatre directing (workshop of A. Polukhina). Today her productions are performed in Russian and Belarusian theatres.
As an actor, she performs in the movies and takes part in the productions of Bolshoi Puppet Theatre (St. Petersburg), Mogilev Regional Puppet Theatre, Karlsson Haus Theatre (St. Petersburg). She participates in directors’ labs and readings.
Natasha took part in the first International Laboratory of Figurative Theatre (St. Petersburg, Karlsson Haus Theatre, 2016).
She taught tap-dancing to French actors in the framework of the project Moo Teatro of the international association Demain le printemps; she delivers master-classes dedicated to Meyerhold’s biomechanics.
Name. Slashcheva Natalia Alexandrovna
Date and place of birth. 11.11.1986 (Minsk, Belarus)
Education. BGAI, puppet theatre director (graduated in 2011), workshop of A. A. Polukhina.
In a nutshell, tell us about your career (who influenced you, where and how you started, whom you worked with, which productions you staged, where you work now). How did you find yourself in puppet theatre? This is how it happened: once I saw the production A Domesticated Hedgehog (directed and performed by Sveta Ben’- Zalesskaya). This was – and still is! – the best thing I saw in puppet theatre. A. A. Lelyavsky was admitting students to his class. Upon graduation, I started directing in Gomel: The Wedding of a Fly, The Catcher in the Rye, Hedda Gabler, Sha-sha in the Left Shoe. I continued in Mogilev – The Humpbacked Horse. Now in Piter – Little Nicholas and Pippi. Besides that, I work as an actress and write plays.
Favorite and/or most interesting to you authors, subjects, stories: I cannot live without ancient Greek myths. Daedalus, Dido, Penelope, Persephone, Cerberus… Subjects – temptation and sin, faithfulness, perseverance, and patience. I like Fazil Iskander – Sandro from Chegem, for instance. A. Bitov, Flying Away Monakhov. Georgy Danelia and his film Heads or Tails.
What would you like to stage in puppet theatre and why exactly with puppets.
Caligula, The Canterville Ghost, The Cat That Walked by Himself. However, I certainly will not tell you why and how. Also – What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.
Is the expression “puppet theatre” still relevant today? I do not like theorizing. I do not care how to name things. In this regard, Shakespeare already explained in his sonnet which things smelled of what, irrespective of their name.
What, in your opinion, is the difference between puppet theatre in Russia and the West? There is more logic (in the good sense of this word) in Russian theatre. Less intuition, absurdity, and accidental things (they still exist, but very few of them). The rules are created in order to be breached – everyone knows that. He or she who breaches them in a talented way moves puppet theatre forward. On the other hand, everything has already been breached. This is even sad.
What is useful about collaboration and cultural exchange? Meetings are always inspiring. It is important to conduct them in a rational and considerate format, with the right approach. The process should be meticulous, without haste, and result-oriented. I prefer risk to search.
"A merry kaleidoscope of situations, in which Pippi finds herself – whether it is making pancakes or going to school – inevitably makes the audience happy. Skillfully chosen music serves as a great background for all these adventures. Naughty rock-n-roll ideally complements the production – as it seems, it would have been hard to find a better soundtrack for such a show".
Marina Konstantinova
MUSECUBE
“During two acts, the director indeed managed to show the audience a psychologically convincing portrait of a teenager who is dissatisfied with life, relations between people, unwillingness to live in the same way as his parents.”
“The production (The Catcher in the Rye) is extraordinary because of the form of presenting it to the audience, its aesthetics and director’s choices. It is staged in the genre ‘crazy story’ in two acts.”
Olesya Silchenko
portal "Bymedia"