Stage adaptation and direction Sergey Zhenovach
Set design Alexander Borovsky
Lighting design Damir Ismagilov
Composer Gregory Gobernik
The first night 2008, May, 22
The Battle of Life is a continuation of the search for theatrical verbal expressiveness, it’s an attentive reading of an old story together with old friends beside a burning fireplace. The actors appear carrying a pile of pages with the text and start reading Dickens’ stories. The “try on” the roles, sometimes with a glimpse of irony, sometimes with sincere sympathy for their characters. The distance between the actor and the character isn’t covered consciously. It so happens that Dickens’ sentimentalism which is so difficult to act in a serious way nowadays, opens up in a new dimension while the audience in their turn have an impression of involvement into the rehearsal process when the actors have just started creating their characters.
The Battle of Life is a prize winner of the Golden Mask award in the nomination of Best Small Scale Production.
Running time 2 h 40 min with intermission
Production support Sistema