A theater without borders and boring rules. Kaluga is preparing for the festival “New people”

From October 30 to November 15, Kaluga will be one of the main venues of the eighth New People Theatre Festival. The poster includes performances for any age and taste, unusual stage decisions, experiments with artificial intelligence and unexpected theater spaces. The organizers want not only to surprise the audience, but also to show that modern theater may not be the same as we remember it from boring school trips.

The festival appeared in 2018 and has grown significantly during this time. Growing up and its first audience: children who once came to the plays for the youngest, now can choose productions for teenagers and adults. Today, New People unites different directions and formats of the current theater, and Kaluga this year received the largest program among the participating cities. Performances will also be held in Moscow and Obninsk.

We started in 2018 and a lot has changed over the years. For example, children grew up who went to our baby shows. It is important for us that the viewer does not stop at one visit, but returns again and again. So that everyone can find a performance that will hook him, said festival producer Alexei Boshenkov.

Six Scenes and Outside Theatre

The opening of the festival in Kaluga will be held on October 30 on the street near the Innovation Cultural Center.

A total of six sites will be involved. Among the main ones are the Kaluga Regional Philharmonic, ICC, Theatre of Puppets and Theatre. They will also be joined by two Kaluga establishments – a bar and a restaurant.

Organizers try to choose spaces not for the sake of an unusual address, but for the performance to organically fit into the place and interact with the viewer.

Over the years, performances were shown even in the library and other unusual spaces. But the Museum of the History of Cosmonautics, which last year hosted storitelling performances, this time does not participate in the program, since the current productions do not suit him on the subject. According to the organizers, each site has its own technical capabilities and limitations, so not every project can be brought to any hall.

“We want less restrictions and more freedom for independent theatres. This year, the festival does not have a common theme that would unite all the performances. On the contrary, we want to show diversity – both in technical solutions, in literary material, and in the ways of talking to the audience. I do not want the participants to adjust to one set line, explained program director Yevgeny Khudyakov.

One of the most unusual events promises to be the play “The Myth of Prometheus” of the Alexandrinsky Theatre, the Laboratory of New Media, in which artificial intelligence is involved. The technology here is not just an auxiliary tool for creating scenery: AI is involved in the main action, and video projections are created with its help and possibly formed directly during the presentation.

“Artificial intelligence is already actively changing our lives, and theater cannot stand by either. In The Myth of Prometheus, he becomes part of the play itself. We are interested in exploring how new technologies can affect the stage action and interaction with the audience, said Yevgeny Khudyakov.

From rap musical to Gogol

There is no general theme of the festival, but this does not mean that the program is random. The team strives to collect productions that differ in genre, intonation and way of communicating with the public. As a result, classical literature, musical theater and experiments with new technologies are nearby.

Among the performances that the organizers advise to pay special attention to is the rap musical War and Peace, which will end the festival. Tickets are quickly sold out. The classic novel here is reinterpreted through the language of rap - and, according to the program director, it's an occasion to see the familiar story differently.

As long as the language of rap is alive, War and Peace is worth a visit, if only to see how this material works in such a reading. This is a completely different way of talking with the classics, says Yevgeny Khudyakov.

Another recommendation is the performance “Vertinsky”. This is not an attempt to literally reproduce the image of a famous artist and copy his manner of performance. The creator of the production offers his own interpretation of Vertinsky’s songs and personality.

Here the artist does not try to become a copy of Vertinsky, does not try to portray him in everything. He goes his own way, but the show is very touching. It seems to me that this is the power of such a reading, the program director shared.

Among the interesting works – and the production of Gogol “How Ivan Ivanovich quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich”. It was embodied on stage by the Chinese director Wang Shen, and he will come to Kaluga with the play. There are no tickets for it anymore. For the organizers, sold-out is not just a successful result of sales, but also a sign that the viewer trusts the festival and is ready to get acquainted with unusual theatrical formats.

Kaluga performances and Moscow audience

Participation of local theaters in the festival is not an automatic condition of the program. Every year, the organizers open applications, consider performances from different cities, including Kaluga and Tarusa. The decision depends on the quality of the production, its content and technical requirements.

“We do not include local groups just because they are from Kaluga. We look at the performance itself, its theme, quality and the opportunity to show it on a specific site. We are interested in Kaluga works, including from the point of view of bringing them to Moscow. But for this, the production must correspond to the program, explained Alexei Boshenkov.

At the same time, Kaluga theaters do not often decide to release premieres specifically within the framework of the festival. The organizers believe that such cooperation has potential, but it requires willingness to experiment and new forms of interaction.

Not all the performances that I would like to show the Kaluga audience can be brought. For example, the play “Square” is planned to be presented in Moscow. The organizers are eager to bring it to Kaluga, but so far this is hampered by technical limitations.

At the same time, the New People team itself agitates residents of the capital to come to Kaluga for festival performances. For this, there is a practical argument: in a big city, it is sometimes difficult for the viewer to decide on a choice among many events. In Kaluga, the program is also rich, but the organizers hope that the festival will help to discover not only new productions, but also the city itself.

Trust is not only measured by tickets

The festival is already actively attracting the public: in the first week of sales, about 27 percent of tickets for all events were sold. Every day there are fewer and fewer free places.

However, sold-outs are not the only indicator of success. The team monitors viewer feedback, collects comments on social networks and uses them, in particular, in reports on grant projects.

“If all the tickets are sold, that means trust. But good reviews are equally important to us. I want to understand that the viewer did not just come to the play, but got an impression about which he wants to tell others, said Alexei Boshenkov.

For eight years, the audience has become accustomed to unusual theatrical formats, and what once caused surprise is perceived more calmly today. But the organizers have another task – to constantly expand the audience and find people who do not yet consider the theater interesting for themselves.

“There are spectators who may have been traumatized by school trips to the theatre. They remembered it as something obligatory and boring. We want to change this attitude, to show that the theater is different and everyone can find something in it, says Yevgeny Khudyakov.

This, perhaps, is the main idea of the “New People”. Not to convince everyone to watch the same thing, but to let them choose, argue, wonder and come back. So that after the first performance there is a desire to come to the second, even if it is completely different from the previous one.

The festival is implemented with the support of the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Kaluga region.