In June the WEISSE FESTUNG (WHITE FORTRESS) happened at the beautiful pond in the historical city centre in Dresden. After the last year’s success they asked us to repeat the open-air action. It was far too easy to persuade us in this case.
On and In the Water:
Anton Adasinsky, Lena Yarovaya, Pavel Semchenko (AKHE), Andrey Sizintsev (AKHE), Alisa Oleynik, Maxim Kuznetsov, Lidiya Makeeva, Lidiya Kopina, Tatyana Belousova, Valentin Tzin, Alexey Lanskoy, Nastya Ponomareva
The crew
Daniel Williams - Sound, Steffen Köhler - Technical direction, Falk Dittrich - Light, Igor Fomin - Light for floating objects, Isolde Matkey - Management, and many assistants - everything that wouldn’t be possible without them
We know powerful places by experience.
But this place is powerful to such an extent that one really risks losing his head.
I’ve lost my voice for an hour; in the dressing room (actually a beer cellar) a mirror has broken. Wind has lifted the tent over the mixing console and put it five meters away. Daniel Williams said it was good so, and that the other spot will be better acoustically…
First rehearsal at the Albrechtsburg Castle in Meissen.
The Execution of Harlequin scene.
Tanya plays an executioner and lifts an axe…
Suddenly a horrible scream and two falcons are falling from the sky.
Dodging and moaning.
It’s scary.
All the tourists in the yard just run away.
Steep curve right above the ground and they’re in the sky again…
Singing and crying.
Their nestling has fallen and smashed.
The nest was at the very top of the church.
“Yes, - the castle’s manager said, - at the very top. They could really build the nest much lower.”
Then he said to us, right in the face: “The place plays with you..”
The nestling has been buried then.
We stopped the rehearsal and went to see the Goat, who guards the House of the Lonely Knight.
Text: Anton Adasinsky
English text editor: Daniel Williams
Photo: Lena Dolmatova, Elena Yarovaya
Photo design: Elena Yarovaya
This is a first video from the future film project about DEREVO Backstage.
Here we rehearse the open-air project “The Fight Of The Harlekin With His Own Shadow In Search Of The Barrel of Wine And The Eternal Life” to be performed on 27 June and 9 - 11 July 2010 in the courtyard of the late gothic castle Albrechtsburg in Meissen, Germany.
We are working on the WHITE FORTRESS project again. At the beautiful pond in the historical city centre in Dresden. After the last year’s success they asked us to repeat the open-air action. It was far too easy to persuade us in this case.
Usually the work on a show is a process closed for the public. But the weather and the mood are too good to keep anything secret.
In the next days we will share some impressions with you here.
On and In the Water:
Anton Adasinsky
Lena Yarovaya
Pavel Semchenko (AKHE)
Andrey Sizintsev (AKHE)
Alisa Oleynik
Maxim Kuznetsov
Lidiya Makeeva
Lidiya Kopina
Tatyana Belousova
Valentin Tzin
Alexey Lanskoy
Nastya Ponomareva
The crew
Daniel Williams: Sound
Steffen Köhler: Technical direction
Falk Dittrich: Light
Igor Fomin: Light for floating objects
Isolde Matkey: Management
and many assistants: everything that wouldn’t be possible without them
It’s nice to remember the June at the end of October. However it was rather cold too…
The report about an open-air project WHITE FORTRESS (WEISSE FESTUNG) in the historical centre of Dresden in June 2009 you will find here ».
Following many requests we’re now looking for a possibility to repeat the open-air action at Zwinger in Dresden next year. This time using thermal waterproof garments… (just kidding…)
Camera & cut: Andrey Gladkikh
Music: Daniel Williams
I can’t recall everything very clearly…
I remember I had to watch seventy two short films on one single night,
since I was in a jury of the Open Cinema.
Enough for the next ten years.
And in the morning we were rehearsing the upcoming concert.
Two new songs emerged:
“Times of Year” by Andrey Sizintsev
and “The Cat on Accordion” by me. Olga Arefieva gave us a song and we were to accompany her but the guys took away her guitar, so she had to sing only to the drums. It worked fine though.
And every day I was learning my text for the film by Alexander Sokurov:
Faust. Mephisto / the Usurer speaks the Old German.
Now I’m at the filming location near Prague.
At the same time Lena Yarovaya prepares the big project Jesters’
Empire for the closing of the street theatre festival in Radebeul.
During the filming I only can scribble a couple of lines in the
evening, about what happened on each day.
These short notes are what I’d like to show you.
Anton.
Story one.
As an actor playing one of the main characters I benefit from
various privileges. For instance a car with a chauffeur.
I don’t use the chauffeur but drive myself.
A castle where filming takes place is far away from the hotel,
about half an hour drive on the curved rural Czech roads….
Now Anton Adasinsky (DEREVO) and Pavel Semchenko (AKHE) are on the way to France. There they will work on the new film “Signature” (working title), a joint project of Mikhail Chemiakin, Slava Polunin and Anton Adasinsky.
Meanwhile you can watch the very first video of the White Fortress:
Camera & cut: Andrey Gladkih
Music: Daniel Williams
From now on you can download and share the free online version of the DVD “Adventures of the Golden Egg”, the film by Andrey Gladkikh about DEREVO’s most spectacular open-air actions.
The download is provided free of charge via BitTorrent protocol. You will need a torrent client software to download it.
Video professional Andrey Gladkih looked at the cupboard full of video tapes. Then at the second cupboard. He drank some tequila and looked at the third one.
“Something have to be done with it”, he said.
And from millions of pixels and squares and points he chose right those amazing moments where his mouth fell open or laughter came out or his beard had to be scratched (yes the work took some notable time).
You’re now invited to watch the tangram Adventures of the Golden Egg!
Film by Andrey Gladkih. DEREVO is on screen.
WHITE FORTRESS
Open-Air performance on and at the water
11, 12 & 13 June 2009
Zwingerteich, Dresden, 22.00
Exclusively for the Zwingerteich area (the pond at the Zwinger Palace) in the centre of Dresden DEREVO together with specially invited dancers, artists and musicians creates a magically moving night world, inspired by history, water and architecture.
