“Useful Space“

The Moscow Times
“I don?t like directors pushing on me,” says Emil Kapelyush in his characteristically quiet, lilting voice. „I tell them, ?I can read the play. I have ideas of my own.?”

There is no doubting that modest claim. Kapelyush?s ideas as a theater designer have been the source of some of the finest sets to be created in Moscow and St. Petersburg in recent years. These include what were, for my money, the two most breathtaking designs in Moscow last year — the abstract, geometrical space of lines and light in Strindberg?s “A Dream Play“ at the Et Cetera and the amazing forest of huge but graceful wooden booms that looked like monstrous blades of grass waving in the wind in Carlo Gozzi?s „King Stag” at the Vakhtangov Theater. Perhaps more than any other designer in Russia today, Kapelyush has developed a style of rare combinations — the environments he constructs are not only aesthetically attractive, they are functional down to the smallest detail. When Kapelyush puts something on stage, he puts it there to work.

I tell Kapelyush that this reminds me of the great David Borovsky, Yury Lyubimov?s right-hand man for three decades at the renowned Taganka Theater and one of the most influential theater designers of the last 40 years. Does he feel a kinship with Borovsky, I wonder?

“Well, subconsciously, maybe,“ Kapelyush replies after a short pause. „I take that as a compliment. But I studied all the designers I have seen, how they are able to have an effect with what they do.”

Of late, Moscow has had ample opportunity to see what Kapelyush is up to. Born in Leningrad in 1954 and a resident of the city his whole life, he is currently winding up his latest and fourth collaboration with a Moscow theater, the Oksana Mysina Theatrical Brotherhood for whom he has created the set and the costumes for Viktor Korkiya?s “Ariston.“ Two shows featuring Kapelyush?s work are presently competing in the Golden Mask festival: Henrik Ibsen?s “Nora” by the Bely Theater of St. Petersburg, for which he designed the set and costumes and which completed its festival run Thursday night, and Yevgeny Grishkovets? „Winter” by the Kamerny Theater of Voronezh, for which he designed the costumes and which plays Sunday at 3 and 7 p.m. A Golden Mask recipient in 2000 and a nominee in 2003, Kapelyush is not up for an award this year although he couldn?t care less, since, as he proudly announces, his wife Marina Solopchenko is nominated for best actress for her turn in the title role of “Nora.“

“My work in ?Nora? is negligible really,” he says almost dismissively. „It?s a small, intimate show. My task was mostly to organize the space to make it workable for the actors.”

Although Kapelyush is an artist who knows exactly what he wants, his willingness to be flexible and even invisible seems to be one of the keys to his success. Foremost in all of his work is his readiness to serve those who actually use his work — the actors and the directors. He is capable of creating grandiose sets, such as the extraordinary structure of beams, swinging ropes and a beach head that won him the Golden Mask for his design of Shakespeare?s “The Tempest“ at the Komissarzhevskaya Theater of St. Petersburg, or he can step into the shadows if that is what a show requires. That is what happened with his work on Oksana Mysina?s new production of “Ariston,“ a contemporary rendition of the Oedipus myth which opens Wednesday at the Theater Center Na Strastnom. Moreover, the retreat took place long after he had devised the set and had the miniature model for it built.

“What happened was that my job was not properly defined at the outset,“ Kapelyush explains. “I thought it was going to be a large-scale work and so I designed a set with six long boats and a large platform that could revolve and tip to any side on top of a large sphere. But when I came in and saw the rehearsals, I realized this would be an intimate work for a small or medium space. So I tossed my first plan out.“

How difficult is it to give up a good plan and start all over?

“Easy in this case,“ Kaplyush insists. “Some directors map out everything in advance and then work to make everything fit their conception. Oksana is not like that. She is good at sensing what is necessary as the work develops. Her main tools are the actors themselves, their movements, the lighting on them and a few small props. So my job was to react to what I saw and come up with something that suited the show that was emerging.“

As a result, the huge tilting platform and six boats originally devised have been replaced with a single, sleek wooden canoe that can stand on end, lay flat, or hang from the flies. The simplicity of the set is intended to echo that of the modern-dress production and the play itself, a streamlined updating of the events and characters first described in Sophocles? “Oedipus Rex,“ about the king who blinded himself when he realized he had married his mother after unwittingly killing his father. Korkiya?s play, which focuses on the human factor rather than questions of responsibility before the state, is called “Ariston” because that was Oedipus? given name before he was made king of Thebes. This Oedipus is a man whose greatest search is for the truth about himself.

For Kapelyush, designing „Ariston” created other problems, at least initially. Two seasons ago, he developed the space for a production of Sophocles? „Oedipus Rex” by an independent group working out of the Theater Na Liteinom in St. Petersburg. It was a huge hit, a kind of pop show with musical interludes, that pulled down several Golden Mask nominations last year, including Kapelyush?s second. Wasn?t he concerned about repeating himself by taking on the same basic story again so soon?

„It was difficult only until I saw the rehearsals,” he asserts. „That is when I realized there would be no problem. Oksana?s group has created its own theatrical language, completely different from what the troupe in St. Petersburg did. There is no competition between the two shows, no comparison. They are two entirely different worlds.”

Kapelyush will have to wait to see the fruits of his labor in „Ariston,” however. By the time the show opens, he will be in Seoul, Korea, putting the final touches on his set for Anton Chekhov?s „The Seagull” at the Seoul Art Center. Worse yet, he will not be here to see how his wife and other colleagues in „Nora” fare at the Golden Mask awards ceremony on April 12.

***“Ariston,” a production of the Oksana Mysina Theatrical Brotherhood, premieres Wed. at 7 p.m. at the Theater Center Na Strastnom, 8a Strastnoi Bulvar. Metro Chekhovskaya. Tel. 258-9251. It also plays April 27 and 28 at 7 p.m. at the Dzhigarkhanyan Theater, 17 Lomonosovsky Prospekt. Metro Universitet. Tel. 930-7049, 930-4269.

“Winter,” a production of the Voronezh Kamerny Theater, plays as an entry of the Golden Mask festival on Sun. at 3 and 7 p.m. at the Theater Center Na Stranstnom, 8a Strastnoi Bulvar. Metro Chekhovskaya. Tel. 258-9251.***

John Freedman, 2-04-2004