Brechtian Butusov

We've seen three shows by the director Butusov during our time here in Russia, and I think it's safe to say that, as a group, we've had pretty mixed feelings about his style. It's jarring, visceral, and intense, though the specific subject matter has varied greatly in each performance.

First there was Flight, a chilling and visually striking industrial surrealist nightmare. Then there was The Seagull, a bizarre deconstructionist version of Chekhov’s classic play. And finally, we saw Brecht Kabaret, an abstract biographical drama of the life of German writer Bertolt Brecht.

I was rather invested in liking this final Butusov show from the time I first heard we'd be seeing it. Having spent a gap year in Germany before going to St. Olaf, I get very excited at the prospect of encountering German history and language when elsewhere in the world. And the style of theater that Brecht popularized (Google “epic theater”) is exactly the sort of thing that Butusov does well, so combining the two seemed like a match made in heaven.

We were not disappointed. Butusov’s disjointed narrative style painted the story of a writer caught in emotional and political turmoil. Though we missed most of the specifics to the language barrier, we could tell that the scenes unfolding onstage portrayed historical situations, as well as more personal commentary on current events. Marc was generous enough to translate a moment in which the actor playing Brecht broke character in order to blatantly criticize governments that wage unnecessary war on other countries against the will of the people.

It was quite a multilingual production, and by the end of the first act I had developed a slight headache from linguistic whiplash. Many songs were in English, French, and German, with Russian surtitles, and occasionally they would speak German, or quote Brecht in Russian with the original text projected. Trying to follow everything was a lot of fun, though their thick Russian accents made the English and German hard to distinguish. Marc’s occasional translations helped us recognize just how political the show was, using Brecht’s writings and ideology as a medium to express their displeasure with Russia’s current government.

The second act emulated a cabaret-style show, with a number of songs, skits, and dance numbers by the different actors. They were a fantastically talented bunch, and their costume and makeup changes altered their appearances enough to make it seem like the cast was much larger than it was. Even without knowing entirely what was going on, it was a pleasure to watch them sing, dance, and give dramatic monologues, just for the impressive visuals that Butusov’s shows are known for.

Of the three shows we saw by this director, Brecht Kabaret was by far my favorite. And the fact that we got to meet him afterwards to ask about his creative process was icing on the cake. His shows are pretty hit-or-miss for me, but when I like them, I love them, and I'd be more than happy to see more of it work if the opportunity arose.