Andriy Zholdak’s Conception of Theatrical Reality (by the Example of Performances of the Plays: “Zholdak Dreams: Abductors of Feelings” and “Beyond the Curtains”)

Abstract

The article presents a formulation of the
aesthetic principles in the work of Ukrainian
film producer Andriy Zholdak by the example
of two productions made in St. Petersburg —
“Zholdak Dreams: Abductors of Feelings”
and “Beyond the Curtains.” Stemming from
historical premises of the phenomenon
of theatricality and the conceptions of the
structure of the theatrical mask expounded
by the artist, the author analyzes the film
producer’s actable approach to performance
of a dramatic text, as well as the artistic
techniques of transposition of the subjectivity
of perception in the capacity of a means
of formation of the stage image
of the objective world.
When turning to the techniques of the
theatrical masque, the author researches the
nature of symbiotic relations of the actor and
his or her role existing in the determined
stage reality of Zholdak, who is able to connect
within a single spatial field the temporal strata
of the text, the performer and the audience.
The producer chooses the associative type of
montage of episodes for the creation of the
overall visual picture out of cinematographic,
visual, musical and plastic means of expression.
Analysis of the crucial moments of the
productions helps organize the structure of the
conceptual thinking of the artist, who asserts
the relationship between the subjectivity
of theater and the objectivity of reality as the ambivalence of the form of being.
The theatrical world of Zholdak
is characterized for a surrealistic principle
of producing the theatrical performances,
a rejection of representation and turning
to deconstruction of the matrix
of the theatrical play with a subsequent
manifestation of its alternate reality
on stage.