The 19th Kyiv Pectoral award ceremony was held in Kyiv on International Theater Day. It was modestly celebrated, without excessive pomp or lengthy procedures (there were a couple of dances performed by the artists of the Kyiv Modern Ballet). Not all guests and nominees came, leaving quite a lot of empty places in the Ivan Franko Theater. The winners quickly climbed on stage, received their awards, said a couple of words and raced on to other business (rehearsals, filming or dubbing). In short: no grandiose theater event. A lot of interesting works were left unattended and didn’t even enter the trios of nominees. However, it should be noted that last year was tough for the expert jury. First there was the huge number of performances — Kyiv’s theaters staged over 100 new productions! Second, it was difficult to choose the favorites in several nominations as all the performances were top notch, and thus worthy of the awards.
One of the brightest performances was Happiness, staged by Andrii Bilous. It is a joint project of the Andrii Bilous Theater Studio and the New Drama Theater in Pechersk (it won the prize for “Best Chamber Performance”). This originally-staged, dramatic love story impressed many members of the jury not only professionally, but also emotionally. This piece, which depicts love as the real human nature, can be considered the beginning of a new stage of the director’s work. The actor Borys Orlov received the Pectoral in the nomination “Best Debut” for his role as Nikita Firsov in the play.
The members of the jury were unanimous when choosing the winner in the nomination “Best Director.” It was awarded to the artistic director of the Drama and Comedy Theater on the Left Bank Eduard Mytnytsky, for the play Three Sisters. Chekhov’s theme of human feelings and relations is indicative for Mytnytsky. The deep psychological insight and finely shaped series proved the creative youth of the master. The author of the music Oleksandr Kurii received a Pectoral for “Best Musical Concept,” for the “live” singing in the play.
The Ivan Franko Theater also exhibited significant creative activity. Vitalii Malakhov’s performance Zorba the Greek was deemed the best dramatic play; by the way, experts had predicted its box-office appeal and popularity among the wide audience. Anatolii Khostikoiev, who found new ways to convey the actor’s psycho-physiological peculiarities, was awarded for the male role in the play; Natalia Sumska, always exquisite and exact when playing the unsurpassed actor’s etudes, received the Pectoral for the role of the prostitute Hortenzia.
The Storm, staged by Serhii Masloboishchykov of the Ivan Franko Theater was also among the nominees. Masloboishchykov proved his creative versatility as director and author of the design and music. The master presented this play in a slightly unorthodox manner as for the great Shakespeare, with a large-scale romantic story about a person considering the essential nature of eternal human values. Masloboishchykov received the Pectoral for “Best Design.”
It should be noted that the list of this year’s nominees was quite diverse: with both academic and small theaters, and so many directors’ and actors’ debuts that one could easily get lost…
The guru, actor of the Lesia Ukrainka Russian Drama Theater Yurii Mazhuza, as usual received the Kyiv Pectoral for his contribution to the development of theater.
However, while being congratulated by friends and colleagues, the winners remarked several times that the real judges are the audience, since the great miracle of Theater is created for them.
