Min Tanaka . Moscow Theatre 'School of Dramatic Art'

In conjunction with Europalia Russia, we are organising a ten-day festival featuring three very different productions by the great Russian theatre-maker Anatoly Vassiliev: 'Médée-Matériau', 'The Iliad, book XXIII', and 'Capriccios'. Vassiliev was born in 1942. He studied chemistry before turning to the theatre. Later he trained as a stage director at the famous Moscow Conservatory of Dramatic Art (GITIS). In 1987, he established his School of Dramatic Art, which he conceives as a theatrical laboratory that offers its students room for research and experiment. A research project may be complete in itself, or may grow into a full-fledged production. In 'Capriccios', Vassiliev translates the dynamic of the stylised battle scenes from book XXIII of the Iliad into a choreography with references to Japanese Butoh dance.