Directors, designers. Two of their productions won the National Theatre Award THE GOLDEN MASK. They created Trickster Theatre (2011), which was born thanks to the previous work of the directors in Theatre Tenj [Shadow].
Two of their productions won the National Theatre Award THE GOLDEN MASK (The Epic of Lilikan in the category: Best Production in Puppet Theatre, 2010; A Journey to the Country of Jumblies received the special prize of the jury of musical theatre, 2016). They created Trickster Theatre (2011), which was born thanks to the previous work of the directors in Theatre Tenj [Shadow].
Viacheslav and Maria direct productions in Russia and abroad. In their work they combine musical theatre and puppet theatre, when the singers during the performance work with puppets and objects. They did several productions in the style of cyberpunk. The duo pays a lot of attention to interactive communication: during their performances, the audience members often do not stay in their seats, but have an impact on the development of the story. They work predominantly for children, elaborating and following the theory of non-conflict drama for the young audience.
Name. Maria Litvinova
Date and place of birth. 18.08.1982. Moscow
Education:
SPbGATI, department of puppet theatre,
VGIK, animation director,
The School of Theatre Leader at Meyerhold Center
In a nutshell, tell us about your career. From 2001 to 2010 I worked as an actress in Theatre Shadow. From 2005 to 2015 – an actress and director in Praktika Theatre. Since 2010 – head of the independent Trickster Theatre. I made three animated movies which became participants and winners of international festivals. From 2001 to 2017, in collaboration with Viacheslav Ignatov, we created over than 20 productions in puppet, drama, and opera companies of Russia, Germany, and England. Two productions became the winners of THE GOLDEN MASK award in 2010 and 2016.
Member of the Theatre Union of Russia.
Favorite authors, subjects, stories. Stanisław Lem, Felix Krivin. By the way, it is good when new work is created for theatre, when new stories and unknown titles emerge, when original music is written.
Favorite traditional puppet system/texture:
Shadow theatre.
Does a performance need text? It depends on the production and idea, which we want to bring to life.
Is the expression “puppet theatre” still relevant today? It is relevant, if a company creates only puppet theatre. However, modern puppet theatre often steps into the territory of wider forms – visual theatre or theatre of the artist. Anyway, we try to create cross-genre productions.
What, in your opinion, is the difference between puppet theatre in Russia and the West? In Russia directors tend to stage productions for adults, and principal breakthroughs happen in such productions, whereas the majority of productions for children remain low-quality. The problem of professional school is that students are still taught the outdated canons of puppet theatre. They are not taught to think visually, but puppet theatre is, in the first place, visual theatre. The audience goes to theatre to watch – not to listen, it goes there to be surprised. And puppet theatre also has the instruments in order to surprise the audience. Yet in Russia it lags behind: new materials and technologies are not used, new subjects are not covered; if you compared repertoires of various puppet theatres of our country, 80% of titles would be repeated. Puppet theatre actors do not have the skills of improvisation and text work. Yes, many of them can skillfully work with puppets, but for contemporary theatre this is not enough. An actor of visual theatre should be versatile.
What is useful about collaboration and cultural exchange? Sharing experience always helps to move forward.