RICARDO FRAYHA
producer

Space Chekhov 2010 was an occupation at Funarte Cultural Complex in São Paulo composed by theatre performances, exhibitions, workshops and panels dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the birth of Anton Chekhov (1860-1904), celebrated around the world in that year. A place located at the intersection between theater, its backstages and dressing rooms, sets and researches. A mix of the history and the numerous plots of this important Russian playwright and writer whose work started the modern theater. The National Arts Foundation (Funarte) held this multidisciplinary event from 17 September to 10 November in partnership with the International Theater Festival Anton Tchekhov, in Moscow, representing another step in the cultural rapprochement between Brazil and Russia. Presentations of work processes and “binational” stagings, by masters of Russian theater such as the renowned director Adolf Shapiro and the young set designer Maria Volskaia with Brazilian artists, such as Mundana Companhia and the actress and director Lígia Cortez, are the main highlights of the Space Chekhov 2010 . Brazilian visual artists are also related to Chekhov's life and work, such as Coletivo Lat 23 and José Roberto Aguilar. On Thursdays, there were round tables, debates and video presentations of Chekhov's striking stagings around the world. The idea of ​​this project was to intertwine life, work and the historical moment in which Chekhov lived, with the current and the Brazilian history, through an exhibition and abundant documentation about historical Brazilian stagings. Space Chekhov 2010 in its initial conception borrowed Virginia Woolf's idea of ​​Anton Chekhov's work: these little stories about nothing at all, the horizon widens; the soul gains an astonishing sense of freedom.

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CHEKHOV⁴ - A SCENIC EXPERIENCE
Director: Adolf Shapiro

with Mundana Companhia

For the first time, a Russian director directs a show with Brazilian actors. With this project, Mundana Companhia continues, after the success of its staging of Dostoievski's The Idiot , to explore the world of Russian literature. Adolf Shapiro, winner of the Stanislavski International Prize, is recognized worldwide as one of the most important directors of Chekhov's plays. During an artistic residency in São Paulo, he worked with Brazilian actors on the four most famous plays by Chekhov, putting together in different spaces a four-act journey, consisting of one act of each of these plays. The audience watches the first act of The Seagull , the second act of Uncle Vanya , the third act of The Cherry Orchard and the fourth act of The Three Sisters.

 

Direction: Adolf Shapiro | Set: Hideki Matsuka | Costume: Simone Mina | With: Mundana Companhia (Aury Porto, Luah Guimarãez, Fredy Állan, Lúcia Romano, Sylvia Prado, Sérgio Siviero, Silvio Restiffe and Vanderlei Bernardino) | Special participation: Tieza Tissi and Priscilla Herrerias | Translation: Diego Moschokovich

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SPACE CHEKHOV 2010

Production: prod.art.br | Production direction: Matthias Pees and Ricardo Muniz Fernandes | Executive production: Ricardo Frayha | Spacial design: Hideki Matsuka | Technical Direction: Julio Cesarini

Realisation: National Arts Foundation (Funarte) | Partnership: Anton Chekhov International Theater Festival

Complexo Cultural Funarte 

São Paulo, SP, Brazil

17/09 to 10/11/2010