Oleksii Kolomiytsev's Theater
(TeatrOK, Ukraine)
Oleksii Kolomiytsev (born in 1972) is a famous Ukrainian composer, stage director, actor, singer, musician. He has influenced on the evolution of modern Ukrainian theatre. He acquired a reputation as an alternative director and theatrical rebel for his performances.
Kolomiytsev is the composer and director of more than 20 musical shows, such as «Divka», «Vivisection», «Herod. The story of one passion», «The legend of Taras» (Taras Bulba), «FeminismUkrainian style», «The adventures of Munchausen in Ukraine», «Mary Stuart», «Bluebeard. Idiotic fairytale».
They have been performed in Dnipro, Odesa, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Moscow, Donetsk, Kamianske, Lviv, Poltava.
Oleksii Kolomiytsev:
«I’ve been obsessed with opera art since childhood. That is the reason why I entered conservatory. That’s why I was an opera and operetta singer for almost 10 years. That’s why I cannot put up with the fact that opera still continues to be a museum in Ukraine.»
«Yellow continent» portal:
«The theatre of Oleksii Kolomiytsev is a surgical table, where the consciousness of audience is laid bare, cynically, dispassionately and without anesthesia. You need to be a masochist in some ways, in order to watch the shows of Kolomiytsev. So you might say that for those who got used to musicals, ballet and opera his experiments are dangerous…»
Hanna Antonovich, a journalist:
«I haven’t felt such pain after watching a play in a long time. In fact, Kolomiytsev tells the truth - there are still tryings to make Ukraine a garbage dump, where ‘red (communistic) pants’ don’t want to give its place to the new day.»
Olga Dovgan-Levitska, a theatre expert:
«The director Kolomiytsev is a resilient misanthropeand a fan of killing himself.»
Musical «Divka»
Ukrainian ethno musical «Divka».
A woman who behaves in a way that some people disapprove of and consider sexually immoral
A story of love between a girl from Ukraine and a guest worker.
Author of libretto, composer, director and scene-designer - Oleksii Kolomiytsev
Costume designer - Margarita Blam
Slogan:
Love or money. And what if both…?
Julia Lysyak, a journalist:
«After careful immersion in the play, it reminds the logical range of clips for MTV.»
Anna Tsupko, a culture expert:
«A vivid musical ‘Divka’ is an unexpected, but amazingly bold and modern interpretation of canonical Ukrainian classic.This play has combined folkloreand cabaret. Moreover, it has sung a requiem over Ukrainian culture.»
Tina Arsenyeva, a journalist:
«In his musical ‘Divka’ the composer Kolomiytsev proves that there is no melodism, there are no mawkish claims or salon verses at the root of folk singing, there is rather a scream: magic and conjuring…»
Zhan Petrov, a blogger:
«The Ukrainian culture was flung aside till later even in times of peace. There were always ‘more important’ problems: first of all to feed a nation and then one day to pursue culture. This vicious circle has to be broken in the end. Dare to formulate the main idea of the musical ‘Divka’: probably it is better to save your own life at first and then to think what to do next.»
Live movie «Vivisection»
Music drama «Living movie. Vivisection»
Author of libretto, composer, director, scene-designer - Oleksii Kolomiytsev
Slogan:
Characters - all of us! My friends, my enemies, people, lions, eagles, andpartridges.
About the play:
Surreal musical novellas, binding into single symphonyof beauty and ugliness. This play is about the animal nature of human being. Now you are an executioner and the very next momentyour victim holds the knife to your throat. Now you are a vivisector and tomorrow - a guinea pig. This show is about the inmost fears and desires of the author. There are no protagonists or antagonists, no winners or losers. There is only a vivisection.
Valeriy Gerlanyets, a journalist:
«…avant-garde Vivisection, breaking the inflexibility and the patterns of realistic theatre, has the full right to be called the living paintings of Salvador Dali and Hieronymus Bosch.»
Christoph Brumme, a blogger:
«There is a scene in the play, called ‘Eurovivisection’, where a harsh mixture of anthemsof the Third Reich and the USSR sounds like an organic unity. These melodies are very similar indeed. As they say, it would be funny, if it wasn’t that sad. Unfortunately, the factof Russian aggression against Ukraine is stillnot obvious for many Europeans. In general, there is one play, but there are many questions after its watching.»
Elena Migashko, «Ukrainian Theatre» magazine:
«The show ‘Livingmovie. Vivisection’ is a space of total irony. Kitsch is charming, cruel and ruthless. This is a vehemence of the director’s hysteria. This is a diabolic ‘montage of attractions’ and a kick in the teeth for trendy and entertainment theatre.»
«Donetsk affiche»magazine:
«…at the end of the play you want to cry. And that’s not because all the characters in unison put the rope around their necksand drop like flies. But because, after everything all of them, victims and murderers, return to life and hatefully embrace one another during the curtain call.»
Opera «Rayok»
«Rayok» («Peanut gallery») - fantasy, music drama about Dmitri Shostakovich
Scriptwriter and director - Oleksii Kolomiytsev
In the play there were used musical compositions of Dmitri Shostakovich, such as «Antiformalist Rayok» («The Little Antiformalistic Paradise»), the stringed quartet № 8 andothers.
Slogan:
Stalin was. Stalin is. Will he be?
Part 1
The scene is laid in 1948. Joseph Stalinwants to listen to the music of Shostakovich for himself. In order to pull this off four musicians are brought under escort. The musicians play the stringed quartet 8 of Shostakovich. Each of the four is guarded by the officer of NKVD. During the performing of the quartet, the officers suddenly lose control of their actions and change into zombies. In horror Stalin orders to end the performing of the quartet. He immediately commands Andrei Zhdanovto condemn the creative work of Shostakovich and set a note of infamy on him. All the notes are immediately arrested and are sentenced to the supreme penalty - firing squad.
Part 2
In the Soviet culture centre musical figures meet together to discuss such a musical concept as formalism (modernism, avant-gardism, etc.). Three speakers (Bronze bust, Phallus-penciland conductor of All Russia),
one by one, presentindisputable evidences ofharmfulness of all musical styles apart from realism. The musical figuresdecide «to condemn formalism in music» by the general voting. The meeting lasts for 50 years. Gradually the musical figures get older and turn into statues. A small boy comes into the culture centre. He returns the musical figuresto life and informs them that nothinghas changed during 50 years. The musical figures joyfully dance the cancan, showing their red pants.
Futuristic opera «2014»
Futuristic opera (music drama) «2014»
A story of crimes of soviet communists.
Libretto and music by Oleksii Kolomiytsev
Scenography and costumes by Oleksii Kolomiytsev, Darya Mel’kina
Based on the poem of Velimir Khlebnikov «The night raid»
Slogan:
What was stolen cannot be given back.
After the revolution of 1917 the government of Bolsheviks announces and invokes the eminent domain in territories under its control. Sheltering behind revolutionary slogans and new laws, vandal Bolsheviks conduct the bloody raids on houses of the citizens.
About the play:
At night the squad of revolutionary seamen (communists) raids the house of one family. They kill the son of the hostess andhave an orgy. During the orgy,the squad commander seems to see that the killed man is God. The murderer provokes God to have revenge. The mad mother of killed sonsets on fire the house and the squad of seamen (patrol) dies.
Dmitriy Florin, a journalist:
«Why is the performance that tells the story about the events of the year 1917 called ‘2014'?»
Oleksii Kolomiytsev:
«That’s because there are too many analogies. What is happening nowadays (annexation of Crimea by Russia) is identical to what happened 100 years ago. It’s justthat there are Putin’s little green men instead of seamen-communists of Lenin».
«…the words are especially strong when they have twomeanings, when they are the live eyes for a secret and the second meaning shines through the glass of а trivial meaning…» Velimir Khlebnikov
Rockopera «Herod»
Rockopera «Herod. The story of one passion»
The impressive music drama about love of King Herod for Judaean princess Mariamne.
Composers - Igor Poklad, Oleksii Kolomiytsev
Author of libretto - Aleksandr Vrataryov
Director, scene-designer and author of video projection - Oleksii Kolomiytsev
Costume designer - Olena Zotova
Slogan:
If you are stronger then kill!
About the play:
Herod wields immense power in Judea, but it is out of his power to win the woman’s heart. Eventually he kills the one he loved and goes mad with loneliness.
Oleksii Kolomiytsev:
«We all have our own Herod inside. When he (Herod) wakes up, we (due to our moral education) are trying to calm him down, to negotiate with him. We fight him and justify ourselves. But it happens that we secretly love and admire him (Herod). Why? That’s because Herod is a part of our human nature. And the very difficult task is to get rid of him as it is inconvenient.»
Oleg Vergelis, a theatre expert:
«Yesterday I saw one of the few ‘evil’ modern Ukrainian performances. And especially I would like to emphasize that the key advantage of the rock opera ‘Herod’ is the venturous demonstration of the creative concern. The condition whichunites the demon director and the angelic actors. The last are ready not onlyfor acrobatic feats, but also for complete nudity under the critical temperature close to zero.»
Opera buffa «The Secret Marriage»
Opera buffa «Il matrimonio segreto» (The Secret Marriage)
Composer - Domenico Cimarosa
Director, scene-designer - Oleksii Kolomiytsev
Conductor - Vladimir Garkusha
Costume designer - Ekaterina Kolesnichenko
Slogan:
Not all the operas are about love.
Oleksii Kolomiytsev:
«I’ve been obsessed with opera art since childhood. That is the reason why I entered conservatory. That’s why I was an opera and operetta singer for almost 10 years. That’s why I cannot put up with the fact that opera still continues to be a museum in Ukraine.»
Salesian, a blogger:
«… it is known that Richard Wagner despised Italian opera, considering it as a profanation of opera art. But the great author of ‘The Ring of the Nibelung’ could change his mind if he met the Ukrainian director Oleksii Kolomiytsev, who turned the classical opera
buffa of Domenico Cimarosa, ‘The secret marriage’, into scintillatingmusical dramawith a deep meaning…»
Dmitriy Desyaterik, «The day» newspaper:
«Oleksii Kolomiytsev created something extraordinary turning the traditional opera
into operatic comic strips.
Taking into account the rigid conservatism of the modern Ukrainian opera, you can literally call it
a heroic deed.»