Department of Slavonic Studies
Previous Public Lecture Series details:
Politics and Protests in Contemporary Russiа
In Lent 2012 the Department of Slavonic Studies presented a series of talks and presentations on recent developments and watershed moments in the political culture of contemporary Russia.
23 February 2012: ‘ Staging Memory: Re-enacting the death of Sergei Magnitskii in Teatr.doc's 'One Hour Eighteen' . Molly Flynn, Dept. of Slavonic Studies. Seven months after the death of Russian attorney Sergei Magnitskii, playwright Elena Gremina and director Mikhail Ugarov of the theatre collective Teatr.doc opened their production, 'One Hour Eighteen,' composed of verbatim text from statements, articles, and interviews with the prison and medical staff directly involved in Magnitskii's death. This paper explores how Teatr.doc uses the physical and oral practice of verbatim theatre both to reenact and commemorate the recent past so as to play a part in the revision of historical narratives. MML Graduate Suite, Raised Faculty Building, Sidgwick Avenue. 5:30pm – 7:00pm.
1 March 2012: 'Performing Memory: Current Trends in Contemporary Russian Documentary Theatre.' Mikhail Kaluzhskii, Supervisor of documentary performance programs at the Joseph Beuys Theatre (Moscow) discusses the evolution of 'verbatim' theatre practices and their relation to memory politics in Russia today, drawing on his experience as writer, director, actor and critic. This event is also part of the 'Theatre and Performance' series. Co-sponsored with the Memory at War project. Umney Theatre, Robinson College, 5:30-7:00.
2 March 2012: New Russian Politics and Protests: A Roundtable on the Eve of the Presidential Election. A distinguished panel gathers to discuss the protest movements that have emerged in Russia since the parliamentary elections of 4 December 2011. Triggered by revelation of widespread election fraud, these protests have articulated unprecedentedly public criticism of the party in power in the months preceding the presidential elections on 4 March. Panelists will consider the emergence of new political languages in these protests; the role of new media in organizing the opposition; the relevance of the Ukrainian model of 'orange' revolution; and the ways in which today's opposition engages with (or ignores) the past. Speakers include Sir Anthony Brenton (UK Ambassador to Russia, 2004-2008); Alexander Etkind (Cambridge); Rory Finnin (Cambridge); Mikhail Kaluzhsky (Moscow); Susan Larsen (Cambridge); Vlad Strukov (Leeds).
15 March 2012: Film Screening: 'Justice for Sergei'. A documentary film about the death in custody of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitskii in 2009. The film won the Cinema for Peace ‘Justice Award’ at the 2012 Berlin Film Festival and First Prize in the Human Rights Competition at the Kiev's 2011 'Docudays' Film Festival. William F. Browder of Hermitage Capital will present and discuss the film. Winstanley Lecture Theatre, Trinity College, 5:30-8:00 pm.
Performance
Distinguished invited speakers will address different aspects of performance in Russian culture. The first lecture will be held in association with RUSSGRADS.
17 November: Jesse Gardiner (University of Nottingham)
Re-staging Stalinism: Golyi Korol’ at the Sovremennik theatre.
In 1960 the Sovremennik theatre staged Evgenii Shvarts’ previously banned play Golyi korol’ (The Naked King). The production created enormous controversy and nearly led to the theatre being shut down due to the play’s satirical take on Stalinism and Soviet power. This paper will explore the way the production re-interpreted official memories of Stalinism with a new narrative that implicitly critiqued the current Soviet hierarchy.
Thursday 2 Februay 5.30 - 7 pm, Winstanley Lecture Theatre: Prof Tim Scholl (Oberlin College,USA)
'The Dying Swan: Saving the Russian Ballet',
Abstract:
Dance writers like to describe the dance as the most ethereal of art forms. With no standard system of notation, and recording of performances generally prohibited, how to locate the truth of a performance said to be ‘lost?’ In Russia today, the situation is even more complicated. With theaters mostly funded by the state and a new legion of fans making their own videos, the researcher’s task of documenting a production becomes ever more difficult. This presentation investigates these questions in analysis of excerpts from video documentation of Michel Fokine's ‘The Swan,’ George Balanchine's ‘The Nutcracker’, and Marius Petipa's ‘Sleeping Beauty’, as well as Evgenii Bauer’s 1916 ballet-obsessed film, ‘The Dying Swan’.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
Speaker’s Biography:
Tim Scholl is a scholar of Russian and dance historian who has authored two volumes on the history of Russian dance: From Petipa to Balanchine, Classical Revival and the Modernization of Ballet (Routledge 1994) and Sleeping Beauty, a Legend in Progress (Yale 2004). Professor of Russian and Comparative Literature at Oberlin College, Scholl is also a docent in the Theatre Research Department of Helsinki University, where he held a Fulbright teaching/research fellowship in 2000-01. A specialist in nineteenth- and twentieth-century ballet, Scholl holds degrees from Yale University (PhD 1991) and Vanderbilt University (BA 1984). His articles on dance have appeared in Playbill, The New York Times, Moscow’s Kommersant Daily, and Stockholm’s Danstidnigen, and in programs of the New York City Ballet, Milan’s La Scala Theater, London’s Royal Opera House, the Paris Opera, and the Hamburg Ballet. Sleeping Beauty, a Legend in Progress was selected as an Outstanding Academic Title by Choice in 2005, and nominated for the 2006 American Association for Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages (AATSEEL) book prize in literary/cultural studies. He is currently at work on a history of ballet in the Stalin era.
Thursday 1 March 5:30 - 7 pm, Winstanley Lecture Theatre: Mikhail Kaluzhskii (teatr.doc company)
Verbatim Theatre in Contemporary Russia