Gaudeamus: Construction Battalion

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Event Gaudeamus: Construction Battalion
Venue St James Theatre (1930-), Te Aro, Wellington, New Zealand
Umbrella Event New Zealand International Festival of the Arts 1996
First Date 14 March 1996
Opening Date 14 March 1996
Last Date 16 March 1996
Dates Estimated No
Status Professional
World Premiere No
Description Fantasy, satire, change: these are all key words to describe the kind of theatre that the Maly Drama Theatre of St Petersburg stands for. Director Lev Dodin and his actors have command over an inexhaustible arsenal of resources: words and music, disciplined action and daring acrobatics, unbridled passion and hilarious fun. Maly Theatre has become renowned for radical, imaginative, richly visual productions of great dramatic power which have won audiences across Europe, Britain and America. Unforgettable visual images follow one another in the blink of an eye, men sucked into snow holes, a candlelit ballet, two lovers on a flying piano playing the opening bars of a Mozart symphony with their toes. Based on the novel 'Construction Battalion', the only book banned by the Gorbachev government, Gaudeamus is a dizzying carnival of characters and emotions. Violent, moving, joyful, it is ultimately a thrilling testament to mankind's indomitable optimism.
Description Source Programme
Primary Genre Theatre - Spoken Word
Secondary Genre Music
Visual Theatre
Satire
Acrobatics
Related Events
Organisations
Contributors
Name Function Notes
Lev Dodin Adaptor
Alexei Porai Koshits Designer
Lev Dodin Director
Henrik Ibsen Playwright
Sergei Kaledin Playwright Novelist
Text Nationality Russia
Production Nationality New Zealand
Further Information Improvised from Kaledin's novel by Lev Dodin and his students of the Academy of Theatre Arts in St Petersburg.
Event Status Completed
Data Source
Source Description
Programme New Zealand International Festival of the Arts 1996
Data Set AusStage
Event Identifier 156478