How Peter the Great made the New Year a winter holiday

Voronezh Academic Street Theatre, or the VAS theatre for short, is a new creative team formed at the initiative of the Platonov Arts Festival. This is an unprecedented case in Russia when a cultural institution initiates the creation of a street theatre. The VAS theatre is the first street theatre in Voronezh. Among its participants are actors, musicians, artists, fire jugglers, dancers.

The VAS theatre was created within the framework of the street theatre laboratory, which started in February. There was a competitive selection of the participants and their training. The artists were mentored by Anna Shishkina (St. Petersburg), the artistic director of "Mr. Pejo's wandering dolls" theatre. She also became the director of the debut performance "How Peter the Great…"

The performance "How Peter the Great made the New Year a winter holiday" continues the topic of the activities of the first Russian emperor, raised in the debut production of the VAS theatre. The graphic set design, sustained in black and white, echoes the drawings of Peter the Great. Traditional Russian ornaments, pagan painting and ritual signs and paintings by Kazimir Malevich were also among the sources of inspiration.

"The spring of action is twisted around the fact that the people have heard the decree, but do not know how to carry it out. And they start to comprehend and implement each paragraph of the decree - about joyful fun, about tasty dishes, about flashes of fire, about trees that need to be put up and decorated for the New Year. I think that we eventually managed to generate joy and fun. And it is very important that the whole VAS theatre team sincerely wanted this, and if people sincerely want something, they will definitely achieve it." Director Kamil Tukaev for THEATRE magazine.