The artist, who experienced two years of house arrest in his country and who is in exile in Europe in the wake of the war in Ukraine, adapted "The Black Monk", a fantastic short story by Anton Chekhov which obsessed for a long time.

He transformed it into a two-and-a-half-hour piece with effective scenography, helped by the mistral which blew hard on the Cour d'honneur of the Palais des Papes, the high place of the festival where the premiere took place on Thursday evening. .

At the end of the performance, the artist known for his anti-war position and his team were applauded, and a poster on which was written "Stop War" was projected on the walls of the Palace.

Chekhov's short story tells the story of an intellectual presented as brilliant, Andrei Kovrin.

He is invited to rest in the countryside with his former caretaker, Yegor Pessotski, who is obsessed with his garden – represented on stage by three greenhouses built of slats and plastic sheeting – and his daughter Tania.

General of the "Black Monk", a short story by Anton Chekhov adapted into a play by the Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov at the Avignon Festival, July 5, 2022. Nicolas TUCAT AFP

"I only live for that, freedom": the tone is set by Kovrin from the first minutes of the play but Pessotski, who cannot dream of a better son-in-law, offers him to marry Tania, which the intellectual accepts "out of weakness".

Split characters

He begins to have hallucinations where a "black monk" appears to him who convinces him that he is a "chosen one" due to his genius.

"If you want to be healthy and normal, join the herd," he told her.

Or again: "Freedom may be just an illusion, but isn't it better to live on a grand illusion?".

Refusing to be an "ordinary shrub" or "a slave of the system", disgusted by the "sufficiency" of "petty bourgeois" of his new family, Kovrin abandons Tania and revels in her madness.

His hallucinations are reminiscent of those of the hero of "Petrov's Fever", Serebrennikov's film released last year.

Three different actors (Mirco Kreibich, Odin Biron and Filipp Avdeev) take on the role of the intellectual, filming themselves in their hallucinations sometimes using a telephone.

The captured image is projected on the walls of the Palace of the Popes, accentuating the madness of the character.

There is also a young Tania (Viktoria Miroshnichenko) and one who has grown old and lives in regret (Gabriela Maria Schmeide).

We pass from a first part where Pessotsky's "summer neighbours" celebrate -- with professional singers and dancers -- to a last part impregnated with almost liturgical songs and dances, with a black monk who multiplies.

To immerse the spectator in the drama, Serebrennikov has the same story told from the point of view of each of the main characters, with three different languages ​​(German, English, Russian).

General of the "Black Monk", a short story by Anton Chekhov adapted into a play by the Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov at the Avignon Festival, July 5, 2022. Nicolas TUCAT AFP

Produced by the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, the play had been programmed before the outbreak of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

She will perform at the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris in March 2023.

Ironically, it was made with the support of the Gogol Center in Moscow, run by Serebrennikov until 2021 but just closed by the Russian authorities, who decided to change its direction and restore its old name.

© 2022 AFP