Will Tuteyshyia show disappear from National Theater?
Actor Aleh Harbuz says that the white-red-white color of the flag in the final act will not be changed. Rather, the show could be removed from the repertoire.
Nobody knows whether Tuteyshyia (Local Folks), so much talked about until now, will ever be on. Tuteyshyia has been staged since 1990. Culture officials say that the play deserves rest. Furthermore, the decorations should be repaired, and the actors need to be changed.
Mikalai Kirychenka: “Each show lives its life. If we keep all the plays, we would have to close the rehearsal period. In my view, this play has already been “worn out”. The show is 20 years old. Only Paulinka has a greater life”.
But theater fans still like this show. But Mikalai Kirichenka, the theater’s director egeneral, says:
“I like this show. I am definitely in favor as a citizen and as an actor. I play in this show and I like my role. But people begin confuse a theatrical metaphor with political slogans and turn this show into a political action. Theater cannot be politicized. Politics should be made on the streets”.
Actor Aleh Harbuz told the European Radio for Belarus that no reconstruction of the decorations is planned. There is no talk about the change of actors, either. If the show is staged once or twice, it will be played by the same actors and with the same decorations.
“I suspect that it will hardly be staged. They are trying to remove it quietly, because it has a political coloring. Perhaps, they will devote it to some events, but it will be staged just a couple of time”, says Aleh Harbuz.
Prior to every staging of Tuteyshyia, there are always rumors that it will be the last show. Rumors also suggest that the ending which attracts so many people will be changed by replacing the white-red-white flag with a white flag. Aleh Harbuz told the European Radio for Belarus that it cannot happen, but some change did take place during the last performance. The actors then did not make a bow under a white-red-white flag.
Harbuz: “The ending has already been changed. In the original version, the flag remained hanging on the stage also during the bow. Now, the flag is pulled out and then it disappears in the darkness. Nobody will change the colors of the flag. It they change it, it will a different play. Pinigin will not agree to that. Rather, he will agree to remove the show from the theater’s repertoire.
The Yanka Kupala National Theater will be closed for reconstruction in 2010. Clearly, not all of the plays could be staged at different venues.
Mikalai Kirichenka: “So far, we look at two stages: Officers’ House and Trade Unions’ House. But we will not be able to shift all the show to the other venues. For instance, we will not stage Erich XIV anywhere else.”
Most likely, Tuteyshyia will not be staged during the theater’s reconstruction. Possibly, it will quietly disappear from the stage.
