FRAGMENT ‘Our play is called Fragment. This fragment is from A. Chekhov’s play Three Sisters – beginning of the third act – the night fire. In the center, as if under the magnifying glass, Olga, the eldest of the three sisters. In this dramatic piece of work: axon, fear, foreboding and struggle. The struggle is hopeless and perhaps not very successful – like all attempts by A. Chekhov’s heroes, including Olga – to defeat fate, which does not allow them to save the cherry orchard, become a writer, or go to Moscow. They are doomed to fail. All that remains are the attraction to each other, suffering and loneliness. A. Chekhov is generally not concerned with the result but with the attempt itself, and that is what makes his characters so close and dear to us.
Regarding the question that may arise as to why I didn’t stage the wonderful play Three Sisters, I have the following remark: I once pointed out that when standing in front of a famous painting, I am interested in taking a good look at its parts, maybe even more than at the whole picture, so that there, like in a drop of water, I could discover the artist’s portrait and individuality. (...) And since in my opinion A. Chekhov is not sluggish and apathetic, but very energetic, bright, and even fierce, the fire scene is the best for my game. Just relax and watch. And maybe you will sympathize and fall in love with these very familiar people, who can’t properly protect themselves, their love, and their home.’ Dmitry Krymov
The course of the performance is like a labyrinth – as soon as the viewer ‘settles’ into the content, environment and rhythm of the stage action, everything changes literally in seconds and a different situation begins in a different environment, in a different rhythm.
– VĒSMA LĒVALDE, Latvian theatre critic
‘Fragmentas’ allows to feel aesthetic satisfaction, while enjoying the creation and destruction of scenic paintings based on Chekhov in Krymov’s own style. They are permeated by the experience of the history of Western art, and the present appears in them not through concrete, journalistic facts, but through emotion, mood, and the premonition of destruction.
– IEVA TMONAVIČIŪTĖ, Lithuanian theatre critic
Klaipėda Drama Theatre has created not only a strong performance, but also a space for directors’ education. ‘Fragmentas’ is not a success, but a legitimate result of the director’s craft and an opportunity for the viewer to experience the pleasure of theatre.
– AUŠRA KAMINSKAITĖ, Lithuanian theatre critic
DMITRY KRYMOV (1954) Having graduated from MCHAT in Moscow, he started working at the Malaya Bronnaya Theatre as a set designer of productions directed by his father, A. V. Efros. He has designed the set for more than a hundred Moscow productions at the Mossovet Theatre, Taganka Theatre, Mayakovsky Theatre, Stanislavsky Theatre, Gogol Theatre, Yermolova Theatre and many others. In 2002, Dmitry Krymov started to teach set design at the Russian Institute of Theatre Arts (GITIS). In 2014, he signed a collective letter of Russian workers of culture that condemned the annexation of Crimea by Russia. He was forced to leave GITIS in 2018.
In 2004, he and his students founded their own experimental laboratory at the Vasilyev Theatre – Drama Art School (Dmitry Krymov’s Theatre Laboratory). The productions he directed were presented at prestigious international festivals in Austria, United Kingdom, Germany, Georgia and Poland (Without a Dowry was also a guest at the 2019 Divadlo festival), and won the Golden Mask Award for Best Production of the Year several times as well as other awards at international festivals.
In early 2022, Krymov was in Philadelphia, preparing his production of The Cherry Orchard, which was scheduled to premiere at the Wilma Theatre in February. After Russia invaded Ukraine, he condemned the invasion and refused to return to his homeland. When his production of Mozart. Don Juan. Dress Rehearsal, staged at the Fomenko Workshop Theatre, won the Golden Mask Award in April 2022, Krymov asked one of his actors who had remained in Moscow to dedicate it to the editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta. In the same year, his productions were withdrawn from the repertoire (with two exceptions where, however, the director’s name was deleted). In October 2022, Krymov announced opening of his new studio in New York City – Krymov Lab NYC.
KLAIPĖDA DRAMA THEATRE The theatre was officially opened in 1946 as Klaipėdos muzikinės komedijos teatras (Klaipėda Musical Comedy Theatre), focusing both on drama and musical productions. In 1949, it was renamed ‘Klaipėda Musical Drama Theatre’ and since 1951, it is known as Klaipédos dramos teatras – Klaipėda Drama Theatre. Today the theatre offers productions of leading Lithuanian directors as well as of many award-winning theatre makers from abroad (e.g. Māra Kimele, Elmārs Senkovs, Jan Klata, Michał Borczuch). Since 2017, it has organised the International Theatre Festival TheATRIUM every May and June.
