SF Intl Arts Festival: The Akhe Group, "Gobo.Digital Glossary"
Cowell Theatre
San Francisco, CA
The Akhe Groups latest project, "Gobo.Digital Glossary," is directed by ensemble veteran Yana Tumina and features founders Pavel Semchenko and Maxim Isaev on stage with the rest of the group operating the multiple hand built props and stage effects that have become Akhe trademarks. "Gobo.Digital Glossary" is Akhes absurdist, surrealist take on the Everyman story told through a collection of semi-mute micro-plots created in different genres and with different techniques, from cinema to shadow play, ironically playing a trick on the average hero of modernity.
Absurdist theatre group Akhe from St. Petersburg pushes theatre to its limits. Challenging theatrical creativity with extreme minimalistic props; this avant-garde troupe explodes on stage. Their shows are in a constant state of flux and sometimes change from performance to performance. The constant variable in their work is honesty; which makes for dynamic ritual and mesmerizing visual theatre. Akhe was founded in St. Petersburg in 1989 by Maxim Isaev and Pavel Semchenko both from a visual art background and fomer members of Boris Ponizovskis Yes-No theatre group. Isaev and Semchenko were joined in 1996 by the actress Yana Tumina and Akhe Russian Engineering Theatre was born.
Akhes theatre works with text as an object and creates performances that are true ritual, which offer an image of the world where everything is simultaneously connected and separate. Substances, elements, people, space and surface all cohabit and coexist. Akhes theatre has been describes as a theatre that creates souls for objects and interchanges cause and effect. The artistic and unmistakable Russian chaos of Akhe is a force majeure of the theatre world.
The Akhe Group have been nominated for the Russian Golden Mask Award, have achieved cult status in many theatre festivals worldwide. Their shows are filled with absurd objects and art citations, drawing on an ironic eclecticism that seek to unite the "sublime" with the banal. Their search for contact with fellow humans results in their marching right past one another. Ironic rituals and absurdly eccentric actions are combined mysteriously, allowing the depths of the human soul to shine forth.
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: No |
| Wheelchair Accessible: No |
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Sales have ended for this event. Tickets may still be available at the door.
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Thanks very much
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Dates
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| First: | Saturday May 30, 2009 6:30 PM | | Last: | Sunday May 31, 2009 5:00 PM |
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Prices
Location
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Cowell Theatre
Fort Mason Center, Herbst Pavillion
San Francisco, CA 94123
United States |
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