Lars von Trier's 'Melancholia' play debuts in St. Petersburg Catholic church
The premiere of the play «Melancholia» will take place on January 29 and 30 in the space of the Catholic Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Elizabeth in St. Petersburg. Director Anastasia Pautova«s production is the second work where Lars von Trier»s apocalyptic script is reinterpreted through the lens of extreme human fragility.
Anastasia Pautova, a student of Lev Ehrenburg, develops the master«s idea of escalating circumstances to a logical limit. Her directorial task is formulated as distillation: revealing the essence of the characters — sisters Justine and Claire — in the conditions of a total finale, followed by filtering this concentrate. The play seeks answers to questions: what is important when there is no future, what illusions we cling to until the end, and what can be let go.
The choice of an active Catholic church as the venue became a key artistic decision. High vaults, long naves, and special acoustics work to create an atmosphere of universal scale, combined with intimate trepidation.
The main material language of the production is light, on which artist Natalya Tuzova worked. Lighting solutions carve figures out of darkness, draw paths, or overwhelm the viewer with a semblance of heavenly radiance and cosmic emptiness. The aesthetics, referencing Bosch with his sinfulness and mutations, shifts the conflict from the mundane to the metaphysical plane, exposing the distortion of human nature in the face of eternity.
The play features actors:
- Dayana Zagorskaya
- Artyom Zlobin
- Valeria Miklyaeva
- Daria Plastun
- Anna Shelpyakova
- Artyom Kisakov
- Sergei Gerbelev
The production is intended for viewers over 18 years old.
