Digital Brothers Karamazov? Russian Theatre Moves To The Web
Just over a week ago, Russia held its sixth annual Web Theatre Festival. The performances were available to watch in HD on http://www.cultu.ru/. The festival featured a lot of experimental theatre with many hip, modern artists also in the loop. What is interesting is that festival’s online audience nearly doubled in 2008, but, to me, the idea of holding an online theatre festival in Russia felt a bit strange. And, to understand why, you have to understand what theatre means for Russians as a genre.
Theatre has always been more of an experience than art in Russia. It has always been a place where you could leave all your daily problems behind and get carried away by what was happening on the stage. Going to the theatre has a lot of tradition associated with it: people dress up, it is a good place to go on a first date, it is a place to network, etc. The idea is that theatre in Russia has always been a physical, direct experience whereby to really feel it, you need to be in the theatre to see an actor’s eyes…
That is why hearing that web theatre thrives in Russia is a bit odd to me. In a country where going to the theatre is almost a ritual, it is weird to have people turn to the Internet for it. I would imagine people with no access to major theatres in Russian periphery are the ones driving online traffic for the festival, because the hubs of theatre in Russia have always been Moscow and St. Petersburg. Another large demographics that gets drawn in are likely Russian ex-pats -- Cultu.ru reports Internet users from 80 different countries checked out some of the online performances throughout the festival.
November 6th, 2009 - 14:49
This is great, will let my parents know!! Maybe even watch one myself…
November 6th, 2009 - 18:50
Thanks. It is worth checking out!