Da Svidanya, Seagull

Tonight was a pretty special night. We were able to see the final performance of a 30 year run of the Seagull by Anton Chekhov. Yep, that's right....30 years! It was first mounted in 1980 under the direction of the former leader of the MAT, who died in 2000. He was an amazing man. He was pretty much THE guy, the bridge, from Stanislavski to the modern era of the Moscow Art Theatre.

The show itself was pretty stale....how could it not be after 30 years? The characters have had many different actors come through, so it's not like it's the original cast, but the concept was still the same. The fact that it was directed by the former MAT leader was why it was held over for so long. But it was interesting to see this prodcution.

For those of you that don't know, the Seagull is THE production of the Moscow Art Theatre. It was the first play they ever did there. It was directed by Stanislavski himself and was a huge failure. This also marked the shift in acting philosophies of Russian theatre. This new realistic brand of theatre that Stanislavski was introducing was in stark contrast to the much more presentational acting of generations past.

Feel free to correct any of my horrible historical errors, anyone who knows better than I.

Oh yeah, we also got to go to Stanislavski's house today.

That's right...STANISLAVSKI'S HOUSE!

No big deal really...tons of people have been there right? WRONG! Everyone should instantly find me more attractive for having seen this.

It was the house he lived in up until he died. He was placed there under house arrest after he had been cannonized (which lead to Meyerhold's murder remember?). In the house he staged many plays and even would listen to rehearsals of the MAT theatre over the phone. The man loved theatre. Funny enough he wanted to be an Opera singer at the age of four, but his voice inevitably changed and he wasn't able to achieve his dream. His work and gifts to the theatre world were pretty good consolation prizes I'd say.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Ate McDonald's for the third time over here. All of the other quick places to eat around the school make me want to barf, so I'm stuck with the lesser evil, which ironically enough is McDonald's. Vladamir would be so happy to hear that I'm eating that.

He actually sat in on our acting class today as well. All of the girls instantly got dreamy eyes when he walked him...which is ok cause I had them too. VLADAMIR!

Tomorrow we go to the flea markets, so I gotta get my bartering sleep in. Night for me, good afternoon for everyone else.