From 19 to 26 May 2018, the State Literary and Memorial Museum-Reserve of A.P. Chekhov "Melikhovo" will host the International Theatre Festival "Melikhov Spring" for the 19th time. The festival programme will traditionally include performances based on the works of Anton Chekhov. As part of the festival's additional programme this year there will be film screenings and master classes for actors, and for the first time a special Children's Day will be held for young spectators.
As always, the programme of the 19th Melikhov Spring is rich: theatres from Moscow, Grodno, Samara, Lipetsk, Syktyvkar, Perm and Yoshkar-Ola will take part in the festival. The composition of the participants of the 19th festival was approved by the Expert Council consisting of well-known Russian theatre critics.
The goal of the Melikhov Spring Festival is to show the most diverse stage interpretations of Chekhov's works. That is why every year the Organising Committee and the Expert Council try to compile a programme of plays of different genres and theatrical styles. One of the features of Melikhovskaya Spring is the obligatory "The Seagull" in the festival programme every year. In 2018 the festival will present three versions of it - different in essence and form. Two "Seagulls" will be shown in the theatre programme. These are the performances of the Syktyvkar Academic Drama Theatre named after V. Savin (directed by Elena Olenina) and Grodno Puppet Theatre (directed by Oleg Zhyugzhda). The third will appear on the first festival day, but not on the stage, but on the screen - in a poignant short film created in a creative collaboration of Kyrgyz and Russian filmmakers. The film - winner of many competitions - will be shown by the young film director Elizaveta Stishova. On the opening day of the festival, another film will be shown in the film programme - "Three Sisters" by director Yuri Grymov, who will present his film to the audience. The screening will be followed by a meeting of the audience with the famous director and the film crew.
The theatre programme of Melikhovskaya Vesna is becoming more and more interesting from year to year. In 2018, for example, for the first time the Moscow theatre OKOLOHOLO Stanislavsky House will be the guest of the festival with the play FORGET OR NOT LIVE (staged by Yuri Pogrebnichko, directed by Lilia Zagorskaya) - a kind of fantasy on the themes of Chekhov's works. The young theatre from Moscow "ROOM" will bring its version of "PALATE № 6". A mix on the themes of Chekhov's plays under the title "CHEKHOV" will be offered to the audience by another Moscow company - the Moscow Open Student Theatre (MOST). The story "IN THE HUNTER", staged by the young director Ervina Gordeeva, will be shown by the Mari Youth Theatre. The hilarious comedy "Came! SEEN! LOVED!" based on A.P.Chekhov's joke plays is being brought to Melikhovo by the regular participant of the festival, the Lipetsk Academic Drama Theatre named after L.N.Tolstoy. The play "THREE SESTRIES" will be performed at the festival by the youth theatre "Place of Action" from Samara. It will be performed not in the usual location - the writer's estate, but on the stage of another festival venue - the Serpukhov Musical Drama Theatre.
In the traditional Special programme "Visiting A.P. Chekhov" this year the audience will see performances based on the works of Maxim Gorky, whose 150th anniversary is celebrated in March 2018. They will be presented by final-year students of the workshop of P.O. Chomsky and S.A. Golomazov of RATI-GITIS with the production "MESCHANE. An attempt at a reading" and a frequent guest of the festival - the theatre "U Most" from Perm, which will show in Melikhov one of its latest premieres - the play "Vassa. (FIRST VARIANT) staged by Sergey Fedotov.
The festival will not be without premieres. The Chekhov Studio Theatre of A.P. Chekhov's Melikhovo Museum-Reserve is preparing its own version of DYADI VANI directed by Kirill Loskutov especially for the Melikhov Spring-2018.
The 2018 festival programme will be complemented by a number of interesting events and activities. In 2018, the Melikhovskaya Vesna Festival will host the first Children's Day, which will include two comprehensive programmes for children of different ages. The first programme - for young guests from 2 to 6 years old - includes the performance "Through the Eyes of a Flower" by the Moscow SNARC theatre and a fascinating lesson on the story "Kashtanka" by A.P. Chekhov. The second programme is designed for young visitors from 7 to 14 years old. It will include a performance of "Slippers", a recent premiere by the Chekhov Studio Theatre of the Melikhovo Museum-Reserve, and a fascinating quest around the estate.
Traditionally, on 24 May the festival will include an O.N. Efremov Day, this time in the format of a creative meeting with alumni of O.N. Efremov's course at the Moscow Art Theatre Studio School. The meeting will be held on the veranda of the main house of Chekhov's estate. Former students and now famous actors of the famous Moscow theatres (Chekhov Moscow Art Theatre, Pushkin Theatre, Theatre on Malaya Bronnaya, Gogol Centre, Mossovet Theatre, Quartet I Theatre, Gubernsky Theatre and others), popular film artists, teachers and musicians together with Oleg Efremov's family and relatives will remember the Master, read poetry and prose, sing songs from films.
The 19th Melikhovskaya Spring will open on 19 May 2018 as part of the all-Russian Night at the Museum event. The opening scenario is traditionally kept secret. It is only known that the guests will be treated to a rich concert programme with a jazz cabaret-style performance by the festival's participating theatres.
