DEREVO is still fighting at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. That’s really not easy.

For those who doesn’t know what it is: for instance, there’s seven to ten different companies performing on the same stage at the same venue. There are 200 of such venues. Time for set-up, minimal changes for light, sounds, for make-up and warm-up - 30 minutes precisely. Just as much time for break down and cleaning after the show.

Currently DEREVO with Harlekin is in the Top 5 from all 1100 companies who received any reviews at all. Here you can have a look at the critics rating, friendly compiled by The List: http://edinburghfestival.list.co.uk/top-rated

I’d also like to point again to the slideshow by Murdo Macleod from Guardian.co.uk

Congratulations to Harlekin (and The Devoted Monkey), as well as to Carabass. Hold on and keep up the good work, guys!

Just 6 days left…

DEREVO.org web-master

Here’s what the Scottish and English press thinks of DEREVO this year:

***** The Herald, Mary Brennan
…This piece really is about the heart and soul of tragi-comic physicality…

Watching Anton Adasinsky inhabit the age-old, timeless form of Harlequin – or Petrushka, Pierrot or Mr Punch, since they are the same elemental free spirit – is to witness a celebration of wordlessly expressive artistry shade into a poignant elegy for a theatrical dimension that long predates the machine age….

***** EdinburghGuide.com, Garry Platt
…This is not just a stage production it’s a phenomenon… Derevo’s Harlekin presents one scene after the next, each iconic and visually dazzling, unique. The stage is filled raw visceral emotion and then subtle considered jokes and funny vignettes…

***** Fest
…The show is a sequence of strange, arresting set-pieces which would be disorientating without the Harlekin himself. The weary innocence with which he greets every strange new situation is the play’s one constant note…

**** The Telegraph, Mark Monahan
…Just go and see this show. It’s strange, stirring, often beautiful entertainment, and you’ll be thinking about it for a long time…

**** The List, Brian Donaldson
…The sinister and the beautiful have been Derevo’s trademarks ever since their Edinburgh debut in 1997 with Red Zone, and Harlekin provides another memorable chapter in their captivating story…

**** The Scotsman, Kelly Apter
…big show filled with striking visual images and charming set pieces. As the Harlekin, Adasinsky’s capacity to mix tragedy and comedy in one role has never been more obvious, while his turn as the domineering Hurdy Gurdist is a little comic gem…

**** Edinburgh Spotlight, Julie Dawson
…Technically, Harlekin is flawless. The performers are breathtaking, the marriage between music and movement is impeccable, the lighting is perfect, the costumes and makeup are excellent. The overall effect is stunning…

**** Three Weeks, Hannah Myers
…a heart-rending tale of unrequited love, cruelty and suffering unfolds. Derevo transcend this dark matter to reveal pools of shimmering light in the tenacity of the human soul, matching sinister dances of death with exquisite physical manifestations of the beating heart…

**** Fringe Review
…once we accept the basic theme we sit back and take in the spectacle like a surreal dream….

The List still hasn’t counted all the Harlekin’s stars and put the show at the 9th position of 952. not that bad… ».

And just beyond all competition is the unique slide-show by Murdo Macleod from Guardian.co.uk just watch it on their web-site:

In March at the „Entresol“ I performed a series of improvisations. I was happy and I am still happy now.

From those six days
There’s a new work was born
“The Gospel of Anton”
Which we show in Italy now
And in August we’ll bring it to Edinburgh.

Photo by Anna Bogodist
Photo design: Elena Yarovaya

 
All photos »

 
 

The 29th of August will come and we shall take seats in our bus and immediately visit everything: Loch Ness and the Sharmanka Theatre in Glasgow, and the House of Sir Walter Scott, and the Museum of Feathers and.. and… or so DEREVO thought to itself at the beginning of August. Then there were the twenty four performances of KETZAL at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. On August 29 the disciplined but half-dead of tiredness DEREVO approached the bus. The keys weren’t there. We searched for them but not really intensively and went back to sleep…

We dreamed five dreams, fragments I’ll try to tell.

Anton.
A doctor’s room. The right hand must be amputated. The question is – what should be left? They suggest some stump. I don’t like the idea. I don’t want to have anything at all up to the shoulder. So it would be much more theatrical. During the discussions I cannot stop myself gazing at the view behind the doctor’s back. There is a hole in the wall and there is a stage. I see KETZAL. Di is dancing in place of me. I weep.

Shtyck.
She’s lying sideways in a puddle. The water is soft and oily. She doesn’t dare to raise her head, because her face will remain in the water.

Buda.
She’s flying down towards a green field. It’s starting to rain. She
flies amidst the raindrops and with the same speed.

Di.
Di is driving some airplane. The gunner is pressing his back against the back of Di. They are like Siamese twins. They fly somewhere in the night. Suddenly – it becomes very bright all around – they are caught in a ray of light. Then – waiting for the shot. The back of the fellow becomes warmer.

Ga.
It’s bright and noisy. Lots of everything and everything is very fast. There are five suns in the sky and the clouds are swiftly flying over in circles. Several faces are approaching – all have small evil moustaches. I need a flag – thinks Ga, of course a flag! It’s not good – going to the Pole without a flag…

Alisa fell asleep in a bath, frozen and remembers no dreams.

Max was looking for the keys.

Photo - Anna Bogodist, Di, Alisa and/or DEREVO

This is a forwarded message
From: koc-lech
To: derevo
Date: Monday, August 14, 2006, 10:07:20 AM
Subject: Шотландский посланник

===8<==============Original message text===============

Поздрявляю вас с наградой, герольды альтернативных миров, дивной красоты, парадокса!

Кецаль - то, чего нет а оно есть.

Кецаль - сафари, у человека четыре лапы.

Кецаль - вальсище подземное

Кецаль - фабрика тел ради жизни

Кецаль - пятна красок, свет в яме

Кецаль - Одинокая

Кецаль - райский папугай, вещун Гамаюн

СЛАВА КРАСНОМУ СОЛНЦУ И ЛУЖЕЙКАМ ПЕРВОБЫТА!

(копия на http://www.liveinternet.ru/users/1045962/)
–
Лех Кочывонс, Варшава PL

===8<===========End of original message text===========

On August 12th 2006 in Edinburgh an Awards of The Herald were presented. Already awarded with the Herald Angel back in 1998 for the “ONCE…” DEREVO now has got The HERALD ARCHANGEL for the performance KETZAL.

We perform KETZAL from 4 till 28 August. You’re welcome.

Tickets are here.

Wir treten mit dem Stück KETZAL vom 4. bis 28. August auf.

Karten sind hier zu kaufen.

Мы показываем “КЕЦАЛЬ” с 4 по 28 августа.

Билеты здесь.