IDEA

TEXTS

DRAMA

ACTIONS

MUSIC

SONGS

VISIONS

PEOPLE

FRIENDS

CONTACT

DEPOSITORY

METAREALISTS
AND OTHERS

Thank you very much for presentation of your energetic work crossing various countries... By skimming your webpage, we were able to catch the philosophy of your project... Finally, please note that, according to the result of the evaluation, UNESCO would be able to offer moral and practical support to your project.

Tereza Wagner,
Division of Arts and Cultural Enterprise,
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
7, place de Fontenoy 75352 Paris 07 SP France CLT/ACE/ACS.

This project is really inspiring! Is the project already finalized or are is there some space for artists to fit in and in what way?

Marie-Ange Schimmer,
Relais Culture Europe-Luxembourg,
Agence luxembourgeoise d'action culturelle,
34b, rue Philippe II L-2340 Luxembourg.

PETRUSHKA, THE CLOWN

 
1. The Ballerina

Typical fair-like activities are seen:
crowds, a hurdy-gurdy, dancing,
a puppet theater.

The showman of the puppet theater
charms three of his puppets
to life: a Moor,
a ballerina...

Velvet-dressed lady canopied by
plaster statues, perfect image
of a Filippo magazine print.
A pack of thin
black cigarettes.
Smoke twists like
a thread.

...and Petrushka, the clown.

Dancing first on their stands,
they soon jump down from
the puppet theater and
join the astonished
crown in the open
of the fair.

 
2. The Master of Puppets

Petrushka, who has been endowed with
emotions, despises his grotesque
appearance and dreads the yoke
of his master, the showman...

From a cigar he tears off the label. He throws away
the label, and then the cigar. Like a grid,
a window dissects movement
from a thick rod. He
stabs a jasmine
in his lapel like
a knife.

Having fallen in love with the ballerina,
Petrushka attempts to charm her with
his dancing and clowning, but his
uncouth behavior only frightens
her. He soon finds himself
alone in his cell,
cursing a portrait
of the showman.

 
3. The Moor

When Petrushka discovers that
the ballerina loves the Moor,
he becomes insanely jealous
and attempts to come
between them but is
vanquished by
the Moor...

His glance ricochets from
an old stone, pierces the
iron lattice of a window,
becomes transfixed on the pale one,
lashes with open
eyes an icy
diamond
flash.

After more scenes of revelry at the fair,
Petrushka suddenly appears from behind
the curtain of the puppet theater
being pursued by the Moor.

 
4. Petrushka, the clown

The ballerina attempts to restrain
the Moor but is unable to prevent
him from mortally wounding
Petrushka...

At first he does not understand what has happened to his hands
why his throat reduces to spasm,
why with a crash his glasses
have fallen to the stone floor,
having shattered
to splinters
and sparks.

As snow begins to fall, Petrushka dies
and the showman comforts horrified
bystanders by assuring them
that Petrushka is nothing
but a puppet.

 
5. Just puppets

As the showman drags the lifeless,
broken body off stage...

...the sight draws horrified looks
through the flat glass panes...

...however, Petrushka's ghost
appears triumphant on the roof
of the Puppet theater...

...dear boy, how dull now are
your little bird's eyes...

...mocking the stupidity
of the public who were...

...bees drawn to a sweet pie, dying
with burnt wings...

...so easily fooled by the showman.

 
Translated by Wayne Johnson (Atlanta, U.S.).
Photo by Ekaterina Vikulina (Riga, Latvia).