​From September 2 to September 11, in Krasnoyarsk, Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation in cooperation with the Krasnoyarsk Youth Theater will hold the “Theater Syndrome. Children's World" Festival.

The annual “Theatrical Syndrome” Festival is one of the main projects of the Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation. The tasks of the Festival are the inclusion of the Krasnoyarsk Region in a wider, Russian and world theater context; acquaintance of the local public with all the diversity and the best examples of modern theater; the bringing up a new generation of spectators who are able to navigate the complex world of contemporary art and openly perceive not only classics, but also experimental productions.

This year the Festival focuses on children's theater. The role of this institution can hardly be overestimated: it is in children's theater that the child first gets acquainted with the art of live dialogue, learns to perceive creativity, and gains important knowledge about how the world and life work in a playful way. The modern theater for children is in the stage of intensive development, in search of new ways to communicate with today's children, who live in a world full of information and new technologies. Children's theater today is not inclined to protect the child from the complexity of life, on the contrary, artists working in this field offer their viewers an honest conversation about the contradictory nature of the world everyone has to face. Children's theater does not create a “reservation area” for children, but carefully prepares them for growing up, urging them to be open, spontaneous, curious and attentive to life, to what the world is ready to offer them.

The main program of the “Theatrical Syndrome. Children’s World” Festival offers performances of the best Russian theaters working for children.

“Gerda's Room” is a performance by one of the leaders of a new generation of directors of children's theater Yana Tumina, which presents the genre of the lyrical horror. Here Anderson's fairy tale is the basis for the fantasies and reflections of the theater performance. The protagonist is the room that comes to life in front of the viewer: here Gerda, either a girl, or an adult, middle-aged woman, once again lives through her journey over the lifeless land of the Snow Queen. The performance is both for children and adults: the first will enjoy the story itself and the visual, fairy-tale like, deformations of space, while the second will have a chance to experience comprehending one’s own life from the perspective of time.

“My grandfather was a cherry” is a performance by the St. Petersburg Bolshoi Puppet Theater (BPT), one of the best puppet theaters in Russia, which had grown out of a laboratory where director Ivan Pachin worked with a book by famous Italian writer Angela Nanetti. The play is about the boy Tonino, who learns to understand people and makes his first discoveries: he learns that love is stronger than death, and memory prolongs life. The performance intonation varies from cheerful hooliganism to slightly ironic sadness. Here everything is created from improvised means - cardboard and scotch tape, but every object comes to life in the magical space of the theater.

"Edward Rabbit" is a play based on the novel by American writer Kate DiCamillo, one of the most popular works in Russian children’s and adult theater. Moscow RAMT, a theater with a rich repertoire aimed at different ages, a theater with great laboratory experience, invites its viewers to go on an exciting journey with a porcelain rabbit. Getting into different difficult situations, meeting and losing people on his way, Edward turns from a selfish, narcissistic creature into an extremely sensitive one, capable of love and devotion. The play tells us that not only joy and happiness, but also sadness and pain are elements of invaluable experience that helps to feel life in all its authenticity and unpredictability. The director of the play is Ruzanna Movsesyan, who has already staged many successful plays perfect for a whole family theater visit.

“Tsatsiki Goes to School” is a book by a Swedish writer Moni Nilson-Branstre, who managed to become a living classic for readers in many countries of the world. The performance of the Khabarovsk Youth Theater offers the viewer, together with little Tsatsiki, to enter the situations proposed by the school world: here the hero learns friendship and love, deceit and betrayal, learns to appreciate sincerity and kindness in relations between people. The performance also touches on the family theme, talking about Tsatsiki’s relationship with his mother, who is luckily able to see the world through the eyes of a child.

Another performance on the program of the “Theatrical Syndrome” is “My Name is Lyok” offered by the Perm Puppet Theater: it welcomes even very small spectators. The play (participant of the Golden Mask Festival’s "Children's Weekend") by Alexander Yanushkevich, one of the most famous puppet theater directors, is based on the story of a German journalist Andrea Sophie Yannush. The protagonist of the performance is a moth, whose whole life lasts just a week, but even in this short period of time, Lyok manages to appreciate all the beauty of the world, all the diversity of nature. The allusion to human life is obvious here: we tend to focus on our own problems and forget that the world is open and endless, and there are many opportunities in every familiar thing.

In 2019, as part of the large-scale project “Theatrical Syndrome. Children's World” will be presented the festival of a young audience “Language of the World”, which will offer three programs: a block of street performances, a series of theater lessons and a program for professionals. The purpose of the festival is to present children's theater as an open phenomenon, without borders and barriers, as an institution striving for active interaction with its audience, not only on stage. The street program will include such participants as the French Circus Theater REMUE MENAGE with the world premiere of the performance “Flight”, theaters from St. Petersburg “MIMO Crocodile” and “Sky Carousel”. Theatrical pedagogy will be presented by the project of Natalya Anastasieva “The Magic Flute” (an interactive music lesson with the participation of professional soloists and artists), an outdoor psychology lesson - the social and creative project of the Krasnoyarsk Youth Theater and the Berlin Strahl Theater and a performance of the Center named after V. Meyerhold “Children of the Crow”, followed by a discussion with participation of a leading theater educator Alexandra Nikitina. 

Within the framework of the professional program, a round table will be held devoted to the development of children's theater in Russia, as well as an Art Market Competition (project of the Krasnoyarsk Youth Theater) of large-format performances for children and family audiences. As part of the off-program, the Krasnoyarsk Youth Theater will show a number of its recent premieres: “Chronicles of Narnia. The Sorcerer’s Nephew”, “And the Thunder Struck”, “Oliver Twist”, “There is no play”, “Peace between the wars”, “Mom, I lost my arm”, “To whom it may concern”.

Organizers of the “Theatrical Syndrome. Children's World” Festival are Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation and the Krasnoyarsk Youth Theater. The festival is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Krasnoyarsk Region.

The venues of the "Theatrical Syndrome. Children's World” Festival will be the Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theater named after D. A. Hvorostovsky, the Pushkin Drama Theater, the Krasnoyarsk Puppet Theater and, of course, the Krasnoyarsk Youth Theater.

The detailed program is published on theatricalsyndrome2019.ru website.

Up-to-date information about the "Theatrical Syndrome. Children's World” Festival and other projects of Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation can be found on social networks: vk.com/prokhorovfund, vk.com/theatricalsyndrome, facebook.com/prokhorovfund and instagram.com/prokhorovfund​.