The premiere of Hercules and the Augean Stables concluded the sixth season of the Art Lab project in Tobolsk

15 december 2021

The sixth season of Art Lab, a joint project of the Territoriya International Festival and School of Contemporary Art and SIBUR drew to a close with the premiere of the production of Hercules and the Augean Stables. The performances premiered on December 11 and 12, 2021 at the Ershov Tobolsk Drama Theater.

The show is a culmination of the activities of the Drama Theater Laboratory. The play was directed and staged by the director and production designer Pyotr Norets. Specially for the project in Tobolsk, he developed the concept of TRASHOW (or trash ballet) inspired by current environmental challenges. The music for the play was scored by the composer Stanislav Zhuravlev, with Svetlana Zhadko acting as the multimedia artist

The play Hercules and the Augean Stables, written by the Swiss writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt in 1954, is still relevant today. The play which tells the story of man and the society we live in tackles the age-old challenges of our time

After the premiere performance was over, some of its spectators agreed to share their first impressions:

Now that I have watched it, I realized that the true meaning was hidden deep inside. I realized how much "trash" there is inside us, in our heads, all around us, and there is no one but ourselves who can clean it up. What a bold interpretation! Kudos to the show’s actors and to its director for their courage. This topic is quite relevant these days. I hope this project is going to travel around the world for as long as possible, so that as many viewers as possible are able to see it and draw their conclusions.

A very captivating performance. Complex props and costumes. One can easily see how much work has gone into it. Thank you!

The opening night of the Hercules and the Augean Stables show was held as part of SIBUR's Formula for Good Deeds social investment program.

For several years now, the Art Labs have been acquainting Tobolsk’s residents with modern dramatic theater thus contributing to the city’s development into one of the centers of cultural life in Russia. The effect of this collaboration is the opportunity to experiment and introduce something new. These performances allow the theatrical community and audiences to look at familiar things in a new light while the actors get the chance to undergo training and try their hand at new forms of theater. The innovative format of this year's production allowed us to explore both timeless and burning themes. We are very happy that the residents of the city liked the show, Elena Belskaya, Head of Department of Government Relations and Socio-Economic Projects at ZapSibNeftekhim LLC, commented.

These premieres of the Hercules and the Augean Stables production brough to an end the sixth season of the Art Lab project. 2021 saw the Art Lab project produce three performances in Voronezh, Tomsk, and Tobolsk.

In May, a Storytelling Laboratory held under the guidance of director Savva Savelyev and actress Ingeborga Dapkunaite was conducted resulting in open rehearsals of the Sveiki sulaukę (Hello to those who have waited) production at the Voronezh Chamber Theater.

In November, the Tomsk Theater of Young Spectators premiered Artem Ustinov's play The Book of Everything which was the fruit of the efforts of a laboratory of contemporary children's theater led by Dmitry Akimov.

The address of the Territoriya Festival’s website is: https://territoryfest.com/

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