Founded by artists and designers - participants of DaNet [YesNo] underground theatre of Boris Ponizovsky. AKHE’s productions, synthetically combining various art forms, consist of kaleidoscopically changing combinations of colors, textures, forms, light, and sound.
Founded in 1989 by artists and designers Maxim Isayev, Pavel Semchenko, and Vadim Vasilyev – participants of DaNet [YesNo] underground theatre of Boris Ponizovsky. The first street performances, conducted on the basis of Pushkinskaya 10, the center of independent art of the 1990s, gained acclaim for AKHE and served as the starting point for the creation of their own theatrical language. Several years later Vasilyev left the group. Since mid-1990s AKHE, under the leadership of Isayev and Semchenko, has constantly participated in major European and Russian art festivals (Unidram, Arena, Fidena – Germany, Fringe – Scotland, Belo Horizonte – Brazil, Elagin Park – Russia, St. Petersburg, and etc.), actively collaborated with Slava Polunin, Anton Adasinsky, Andrei Moguchy, Bolshoi Drama Theatre named after Tovstonogov, Alexandrinsky Theatre, as well as theatres from other countries – Lantaaren (the Netherlands), Toihous (Austria), Project Theatre (Germany), Kampnagel (Germany), Teatr KANA (Poland), and etc.
During the decades of its existence, the Engineering Theatre, having no followers or imitators, have produced over than 40 productions of various genres and forms – productions for chamber theatre spaces, site-specific and street shows, performances.
In their productions Isayev and Semchenko turn to archetypical stories (Sine Loco – the ancient myth about Ariadne and Theseus, The Cabinet of Curiosities – the legend about the creation of the world, Between the Two – the Tibetan book of the Dead, Mr Carmen – the novel by Prosper Mérimée, Faustus in the Cube. 2360, Faustus. Signature – the legend about doctor Faustus), classical stories (Shchedrin – the Chronicles of Dead Mayors based on the novel The History of a Town by Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Foam of the Daze based on the eponymous novel by Boris Vian, Macaria’s Archive based on Goethe’s novel Wilhelm Meister’s Journeyman Years and etc.) and also use their own texts and scripts (The White Cabin, Pookh and Prakh, Filling the Gaps, Gobo. Digital Glossary, The Catalogue of the Hero, momentary cabaret Gloria Transit).
AKHE talks with the audience using the metaphoric language of visual images, appealing to associative perception. The method of Isayev and Semchenko is based on improvisational interaction with the object, which, during the entire course of action, experiences various metamorphoses. Communication between the characters, as well as the characters and the audience, happens through contact with the object. The process of creating stage microcosm for the Engineering Theatre members is also the result of this process. In order to convince the audience that their world is genuine, they mystify the surrounding reality, showing its secret facets – invisible for the Philistines, yet seen by the eye of an artist.
AKHE’s productions, synthetically combining various art forms, consist of kaleidoscopically changing combinations of colors, textures, forms, light, and sound. The action breaks into a number of interchangeable, intrinsically valuable episodes. The cast also frequently changes – permanent members Isayev and Semchenko often invite for participation actors from state theatre companies, ballet dancers, circus actors, jazz and electronic musicians, designers, etc.