ABOUT THE SPECTACLE
A family play on the eternally topical theme of parent-child relations. According to the plot, aging parents leave their children for a mysterious island in the middle of the northern sea. There they relive their youth and leave an important message to their children. The play is beyond the news agenda, politics and war - a touching story of love that conquers death.
Author of the play Mikhail Durnenkov: "There are places on the edge of the world where the fabric of reality is thin, where the simplest actions and words are filled with magical meaning, connecting times and people. Such as this island. Here is the story of a family - of children and their parents. And this story is about how a family, separated by grief, is reconnected by an unbreakable chain of kin".
Kostya Novitsky, director of the play, said:
"Extra Life is my personal statement about acceptance and responsibility as the highest form of human expression.
We live in a world of global tragedy, cataclysms and constant information pressure. At such a moment it seems important to return to the human being and to what seems to me to be the most important qualities of human nature.
The performance combines different theatrical forms, styles and genres. What does it look like? Probably magical realism or a realistic fairy tale.
But the main thing is about acceptance and goodbye, about letting go. It's a story told by young people about inevitability and how you can deal with it."
The project is being created in Berlin by an international team of Russian-speaking artists. In the future, the performance is planned to be shown in different European countries - as an attempt to talk about a universal experience that has no national borders.
Starring:
- Igor Titov
- Anastasia Velikorodnaya
- Video participation - Alexander Feklistov
Performance team:
- Director - Kostya Novitsky
- Playwright - Mikhail Durnenkov
- Production designer - Anna Grebennikova
- Production designer - Anton Troshin
- Video - Valeria Nikolicheva
- Technical Director, Lighting Designer, Sound Designer - Tina Kowalski
- Music - Igor Titov, Victor Ignatiev
- Cameraman - Frol Podlesny
- Designer - Keith Hell
- General Producer - Svetlana Dolya
- Executive Producer - Sofia Gromova
Mikhail Durnenkov, playwright
Playwright and screenwriter, one of the key representatives of the New Drama movement since the early 2000s. His plays have been translated into fifteen languages and staged in more than twenty countries. From 2012-2019, he was artistic director of the Lyubimovka Festival.
In 2022, facing persecution because of his anti-war stance, he moved to Helsinki, where he collaborates with the Finnish National Theater and works with Russian-speaking, Ukrainian and bilingual teenagers. His plays have been performed at leading European theaters including Schauspielhaus Zürich, Thalia Theater Hamburg and Eesti Draamateater, as well as in Israel, Kazakhstan and the United States.
Kostya Novitsky, director
Theater director. Studied at RGISI in St. Petersburg with G. M. Kozlov and at the École Jacques Lecoq in Paris. He has staged productions in various European countries, including Théâtre de l'Épée de Bois in Paris and Urban Theater in Berlin.
His play "Who's There?" was included in the Off program of the Avignon Festival in 2025 and won several awards. In addition to directing, he participated in the Lev Dodin Lab at the Théâtre National Populaire in Lyon (2024). He left Russia in 2022.
Anastasia Velikorodnaya, actress
Actress, theater director and acting teacher. Since 2022 lives and works in London, where she holds the position of Senior Lecturer in Acting at RADA. Graduated from the Moscow Art Theatre Studio School, Dmitry Brusnikin's course.
For eight years she was a leading actress at the Brusnikin Workshop Theatre, and has acted in more than 28 productions, including productions at the Chekhov Moscow Art Theatre, the Praktika Theatre and the Meyerhold Center. Meyerhold Center. Winner of the Golden Leaf Award for Best Actress (2015). Participated in the award-winning productions of Besy, Rodina (Golden Mask Award, 2019), The Man from Podolsk Sergei Sergeyevich is Very Dumb (Theatrical Star Award, 2019).
Anastasia has also participated in international theater festivals and collaborated with theater companies Ontroerend Goed (Belgium) and Vaba Lava (Estonia). She left Russia in 2022.
Igor Titov, actor
Actor, director and musician (Banvivan project). Graduate of the Moscow Art Theater Studio School, Dmitry Brusnikin's course. Worked at the independent theater Brusnikin's Workshop, collaborated with the Praktika Theater, the Meyerhold Center and other venues. He has worked with the Praktika Theater, the Meyerhold Center and other venues.
Played in the following productions: "Norma" directed by Maxim Didenko based on the novel by Vladimir Sorokin, "Svan" - an anti-utopia in poetry by Yuri Kvyatkovsky, "Besy" - a play by Dmitry Brusnikin based on the novel by Dostoevsky.
Directed the play (musical biopic) "The Right to Rest" about the expulsion of Alexander Galich from the Writers' Union.
In 2022 he left Russia. Lives and works in Berlin. In 2023 staged in Berlin the play "Leaving? Go away!", based on the fate and work of Soviet bard Alexander Galich. He also participates in Maxim Didenko's play "Crematorium", produced in 2024 Berlin.
Anna Grebennikova, scenic designer
Anna Grebennikova is a scenographer and production designer working in Vienna.
Graduated from RATI-GITIS (workshop of Kamenkovich-Krymov), since 2023 she has been studying at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. From 2017 to 2021, she was a member of Dmitry Krymov's Laboratory. Together with Dmitry Krymov, she has created two performances "Two" and "Boris". Participated in projects presented at the Ural Biennale of Contemporary Art, MMOMA, Ground Solyanka and Winzavod.
She has worked on plays and performances at the School of Dramatic Art, the Museum of Moscow, the Center for Dramaturgy and Directing, the Yermolova Theatre, the Altai Theatre, and the Moscow Museum of Art. She has worked on productions and performances at the Yermolova Theater, the Altai Theatre, the MHT, the Mongolian Drama Theater in Ulaanbaatar, as well as in international projects in Vienna and Berlin. Participant of Wiener Festwochen (2024).
Tina Kowalski, technical director, lighting designer and sound designer
Media artist and media designer specializing in light, video and sound design for theater and installations. Creates atmospheric stage spaces that reveal the rhythm and emotional dramaturgy of a performance. Works in collaboration with directors and production teams.
Has experience of projects in independent and institutional theaters in Germany and Russia. Educated in music production, photography and videography and theater artistic lighting. Works in Berlin and other European cities.
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