Gorky - JAGS

Last term part of our Russian Class attended the Russian Film Festival in Central London. Keen Russianists from all over England made an effort to be present. The film showing was ‘Ivan’s Childhood’, a dramatic struggle detailing a young boy’s role in the Second World War. The film was poetic, yet informative, and we particularly enjoyed the cinematography and ground-breaking use of lighting. In a once in a lifetime opportunity, the actor who had played the young Ivan had travelled all the way from Russian to answer our questions and celebrate his motherland.

Olivia Jones and Fiona Henley, Year 13

The Seagull-Cheknov

On the 5 December last year, JAGS Russian department organised a trip to see the Royal Shakespeare Company perform "The Seagull" by Anton Chekhov. After making our way through the clean and functioning underground system (thank you Ken) and walking through the stone-cobbled streets of London Town, we found the New London Theatre. We bought our various chocolate-covered assortments (Minstrels were my preferred choice) and took our seats. To anyone who doesn't know the plot of "The Seagull", the play tells the story of Konstantin, a playwright who despises his mother's lover, Trigorin, yet yearns for his talent and success; he ridicules his mother's art yet craves her approval. Konstantin loves Nina, who loves Trigorin, who loves Nina and Konstantin's mother, Arkadina. It's quite a crippling cycle they've fallen into. The curtain rose to present a small, makeshift theatre that was to be the place of Constantine's dismal plays, and from that point onwards the plot was compelling, yes, as any of Chekhov's works but being one of his plays, it could be at times laboriously slow-paced. Chekhov's plays require a precision of pace if they're to be pulled off in production; they operate on something of a wave of actions and emotions - a moment of intensity, for instance, will be immediately balanced by a flight of silliness, irrelevance or misunderstanding. While the performance carried off the idiocy of the writing well, it seemed as though the dramatic pauses were often far too lengthy, long enough for someone to not-so discreetly cough at any rate. That's not to say that the acting was not outstanding, Konstantin's performance was extremely emotive and the character of the family maid, who was herself in love with Konstantin, delivered well-timed, witty lines. "The Seagull" has always had some trouble, the first staging of the play was a famous flop: one of the leading ladies lost her voice and wits under the audience's rude reaction. The theatre can be a cruel mistress indeed, and Chekhov's play explores the struggles of those tortured souls trying to find success on and around the stage.

Sidra Zabit-Foster, Year 11

‘Uncle Vanya’ Theatre Trip

It was on a Thursday afternoon that a group of Year 9 and sixth form Russian students got on the train to the new Swan theatre in Kingston to see one of the works of one of the greatest Russian playwrights of all time, Anton Chekhov. The production of ‘Uncle Vanya’ was the first play to be put on at the new Swan theatre in Kingston, just outside London, in a full translation from the original Russian. The tragicomedy about a rich, old professor and his young, second wife and the family of the professor’s first wife: Vanya, her brother, Sonya, the plain daughter of the professor, and the professor’s first mother in law. It paints a bleak picture of a lonely and secluded life on the professor’s estate, which Sonya runs almost alone with her uncle Vanya, as she pines for the family doctor, who, in turn, becomes obsessed with the professor’s wife, as does Vanya himself. It is a sad and often funny play, humorously subtitled by Chekhov ‘Scenes From Country Life’, which gave people at the time of its publication a false impression of the content. An interesting and thought-provoking production, it was a great opportunity to see a great piece of Russian literature.

Emma Simmons, Year 9