One of the leading actresses of The Old Theatre of Vilnius Aleksandra Metalnikova had conceived her one-woman show to be based on the book Chernobyl Prayer even before its author, writer Svetlana Aleksievich was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. The performance is based on just one of the book’s fragments, the title of which gave the production its name. This won’t be a story about the circumstances of the greatest technological disaster in history – the explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on April 26, 1986. The actress had been captivated by the monologue of a woman, the widow of a deceased rescuer (liquidator) about their love, reflecting on how that colossal catastrophe managed to inflame the love of such seemingly ordinary, but extremely pure and sincere people.
“I felt I had to do it,” says the actress.
Metalnikova grew up in Visaginas, both of her parents worked at the local nuclear power plant. She was just six years old when the Chernobyl NPP exploded. And while she didn’t face those events directly, the Chernobyl disaster and the tragedy of those people affected her and her family in an indirect way. That’s why the actress, despite her busy schedule as a lead actress of the main repertoire, decided on take on this independent project. In this, she is assisted by her frequent stage partner, Vladimir Dorondov, who is also a leading artist of The Old Theatre of Vilnius. As an actress and director, Metalnikova and Dorondov collaborate on the stage for the first time.
Performed in Russian
Photos by Dmitrij Matvejev
