Kagarlitskaya, S. Ya. Neo-Classicist and Avant-Gardist Eugene Ionesco at Taganka Theatre in Moscow. Cultural Universals in Art and Aesthetic Practices

Abstract: The article is devoted to the theatrical interpretation of Eugene Ionesco’s play ‘Exit the King’ that was first staged at Taganka Theatre in Moscow in 2012. The play was directed by a famous Polish film director Krzysztof Zanussi and the major part in the play was played by Valeri Zolotukhin, the People’s Artist of Russia, who played his last role in that play. Later the play was removed from the repertory but the question about the mutual understanding with the audience was left unanswered. The author of the present article focuses on how the theatre, based on a wide range of theatrical communication tools that had been accumulated for centuries, tried to help the audience to stand above the ‘isolated situation’ and get closer to universal human values. The author draws attention to the contemporary search for the universal language of art as a method of involving the audience into the dialogue built upon the principle of using such cultural universals as time, space, faith, home, love and etc., i.e. eternal existential constants of human existence and, which is equally important, upon the principle of shifting the emphasis from the word to the visual image in the play. The stage director Krzysztof Zanussi rethought the concept of ‘absurdity’ as a genre and overcame the atmosphere of despair which was typical for plays back in the 1960th. The tragic ending symbolized the release of spirit and therefore gave hope. The main theme of the play was the study of an ability of an individual to orient himself in the world when ‘culture does not provide a meaningful history and emotional experience and events cannot be included in the organic relationship between cultural generations’ (P. Kozlowsky). The play of Eugene Ionesco as a neo-classicist and avant-gardist showed the path to such interpretation as well.

Keywords: