Week 5- Justine Florentin: Nikolai Kolyada

In Russia, theatre is still under duress to live with an economic burden, which appears like censorship. Some big theatres are "official" and get money, but it is very difficult for the small ones, for the independants to survive. Even more when you are in a big industrial city in the Ural mountains, in the middle of the country.

But Nikolai Kolyada is a crazy man. I just can quote one of his former student who describes Kolyada like a

"charismatic pride of the Urals, famous playwright, author of over 90 plays, actor, director, manager and owner of the Kolyada Theatre, founder of the Urals school of playwrighting, one of Yekaterinburg's most popular blogger on LiveJournal and quite simply the Light of Russian Drama" (Alexandra Chichkanova). 

He is prolific and always in fight in his town as in his creations, never hesitates to use music, costums, a lot of props and twenty actors! But his theatre is politic and convey his fight for free expression and reconnaissance.

In 2004, his company (finally) got a place to work and perform, in the basement of the local History museum, where they were able to accomodate hundred people in the audience. But as it is said above, it is hard to live for the independant artists and they had to move away. That is why they have been in a small wooden house since 2006, where only fifty persons can sit.

It is in the same year that he created the Kolyada-plays theatre festival in his town, place for dozens of emerging playwrights from the region, notably his former students. it is also a competition which promotes young artists.

Nowadays, Kolyada is famous in Russia and in the whole world as the founder of the New Drama movement in Russia, even if he is still in the small house in the middle of nowhere...

Sources:

http://www.kolyada-theatre.ru/en/theatre

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/blogs/432775/post/kolyada-plays-festival-under-way-in-yekaterinburg/439480.html

To see an extract of his theatre:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlPbjP_ax38

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