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SEMIANYKI EXPRESS
The Russian troupe of the Semianyki - Italian for "family" - heir to the legendary St. Petersburg company Licedei, Russia's first clown and mime theater, created in 1968 by the legendary Slava Polunin, presents its new show that has travel as its main theme. A kind of Slavic epic, poetic, dreamlike and unexpected. A condensation that fully reflects what is the life of the acrobat -- the journey and its fortuitous encounters.
It all begins on a railroad track in the middle of nowhere. One mounts to aboard the Semianyki Express to immerse oneself in a totally insane and fantastic Russian universe, close to that of Gogol and with nods to silent film and cabaret.
The six clowns embody to turn train personnel (a stationmaster, a bartender, a waiter...), travelers (a singer d'opera, a magician, a femme fatale...) and even supernatural beings. Characters meet and form fleeting relationships to dizzying pace.
The rhythm is continuous and every scene elicits laughter and smiles because there is nothing the Semianyki cannot do: dance, mime, perform, play games of skill and tell us impossible stories. Without the use of words, but only through poetic mimicry, union of body and looks that goes straight to the heart. The finest homage that can be paid to the clown as a figure, at the same time, traditional and contemporary.
A universe of incredible noises and sounds, the continuous movement of the swaying train, the impossibility of staying balanced, perfectly represent what could really be the experience of a trip to aboard a Russian train, in the extravagant universe of, for example, the bizarre dining car.
Scenes unfold, relationships form and unravel at the speed of the speeding train, each time with unexpected twists and turns.
This fun and totally crazy company will be a constant surprise.
Welcome to aboard the Semianyki Express and have a safe journey.
Created and performed from Olga Eliseeva, Alexander Gusarov, Kasyan Ryvkin, Marina Makhaleva, Elena Sadkova, Yulia Sergeeva
scenography** Iurii Suchov**
art director Yana Tumina
presented from Quartier Libre Productions
E.T.C. light adjustment. Italy www.etcconnect.com
"I worked in the reception of a polyclinic, and then as a cleaning lady, because the salary was higher, and then in a cooperative.... I left everything to study psychology at the university. I got married, a useful but disastrous experience. Once divorced, I finished college with honors, before throwing it all away and joining the Licedei theater company."
"After achieving brilliant studies from puppeteer at the Ufa Fabrik in Berlin, and then to St. Petersburg, I entered the Lyceum School. Guided by the faith of my childhood, I devoted my life to being a clown."
"I was teased from my playground days all the way to the college campus because I was a clown. from when I joined the Lyceum Company I was accepted and respected. Yay!"