This year, when the famous singer and musician, the leader of the “Kino” group, Viktor Tsoi, would have turned 60 years old, the Chekhov Theater in cooperation with Hansa Peron will stage a musical show “Luk, taa!”, dedicated to the man who has become one of the legends of the 20th century. A few years ago, as a result of his creative search, Romans Smirnovs created a special genre in which the dramaturgy of the show is made up of songs, and since then he has successfully staged projects of this form several times. Now such a unique musical message will also appear in Riga. The video material of the artist associated with Viktors Coja and his friends will be used as a presentation, which will be realized artistically and technically by the video projection artist Artis Dzērve, while the show will be dressed in light moods by the artist Oskars Pauliņš.
The well-known theater director Romans Smirnovs, who knew Viktor Coja, his family, friends and colleagues personally in life, says: “I like to compose a play together with the actors. This is where my intentions coincided with the intentions of the theater – in the sense that I am once known for creating musical performances and not just musical ones, but with the songs of the authors that I love and know. I have a pretty clear idea of what Victor [Cojs] would have agreed, but why not. These are also limitations. There are real feelings in there, hot, very real, sometimes naive… even more often naive. Until then, I would like to bury myself. It seems that I have now declared our goals and objectives. Perhaps it will be beautifully said – I have tried and will try to achieve authorial, personal learning of the material. I offer the actors to look for themselves, their attitude, their reading.”
Victor Coy’s bright and sharp talent flourished in the “breaking era” of the 1980s. The expressed anti-war mood, the tangible resistance of the individual to the system in its various manifestations and forms, the deep individual shade of experiences, the strong and bright lyrics, the bold and memorable musical solutions characteristic of the group “Kino” coincided with the times and the spirit of change. At the moment, the songs of Viktor Coja and the band “Kino”, which have been loved by many until now, are gaining relevance again and, in some sense, a second wind. They again – for today’s us…
Theater director Dana Bjork says about the upcoming project and cooperation: “Sometimes you can only be happy about the coincidences and coincidences of life. It is quite an interesting story, how the theater came to the idea of staging such a musical performance. During the pandemic, while having lunch in an outdoor cafe, I noticed a provocative quote by Coj and reflected on it on social networks. Roman Smirnovs responded to my thoughts. The idea settled and developed until a suitable environment for such a production had to be found. Hansa Peron felt real with its design, infrastructure and atmosphere cozy, so we are very pleased with this cooperation! Here it is!”
Hansa Peron: “We are delighted to be doing a show at Hansa Peron again, especially when it comes to Victor Coy. Until now, amid the restrictions of the pandemic, both concerts and theaters have filled our premises, but this will be a combination – a musical performance with songs that almost everyone knows. We appreciate the cooperation with Mikhail Chekhov’s Riga Russian Theater and are glad that this performance will take place at our place. We are waiting for the audience to the performances very soon!”
Director Roman Smirnov graduated from the Novgorod Higher Theater School and the Leningrad State Institute of Theatre, Music and Cinematography (professor Georgy Tovstonogov’s course; specialty of dramatic theater director-producer). 1988-1994 was a correspondent, cameraman and journalist for “CBS News Moscow” (United States of America). Conducted reports from the “hot spots” of the USSR and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Cooperated with the television companies “RAI” (Italy), “CNN” (USA), “NHK” (Japan), “BBS” (England), “TF-1” (France), “ABC” (USA), “ABC Australia ” etc. Since 1998, he has been performing in St. Petersburg. In 2001, he was a member of the jury of the international “Emmy” award of the US National Academy of Arts.
