THEATRE WITHOUT WALLS

OLEG KOLIMBET

// Oleg is a Russian photographer from St. Petersburg. For him photography is an opportunity to understand the world around him. He shared with us his photographs from a very energetic Moscow street theatre performance by Le Cirque De Charles La Tannes.

Although Oleg has been photographing since childhood, it is only in recent years that he has dedicated himself to it intensively. Most of Oleg’s work can is documentary in style, but he is also interested in monocle art photography – sometimes he wants to look at the world the way the founders of pictorial photography looked at it, while still remaining in a modern context. He has received several awards, his photographs have been published in various magazines, and exhibited in Ukraine and Italy.

“Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas. It is a creative art.”

Ansel Adams

What draws you to the arts?

“Art inspires.”

What impressed you most about the street theatre performance?

“I was touched by the extraordinary emotional and energetic dedication of the actors, the brightness and uniqueness of expressive means, with the help of which they could not only attract the attention of the audience, but also keep it throughout the entire performance. In a street environment, when ambient sounds constantly distract the viewer’s attention, it is very difficult to do this – but these young actors coped with this task brilliantly.”

Street theatre has existed for as long as the theatre itself has existed, and this is one of the reasons that makes it so attractive – you seem to be connected with history and are filled with an energy that has been accumulating for centuries, Oleg says. Unfortunately, today, in times of Coronavirus restrictions, we are deprived of the opportunity to contemplate massive theatrical performances in our streets – but Oleg has shared with us something that allows us to remember and relive an amazing performance he saw during a street theatre festival in Moscow in 2014.

Oleg´s lens caught the performance of the play “Terminal” by the Moscow-based theatre company “Le Cirque De Charles La Tannes” (an association of actors, directors, musicians and artists, formed in 2006 by graduates of the Moscow Art Theatre School). The idea of the performance is to show, allegorically, life of the terminal without a single word, only with the help of body language. In the words of Sasha Paz, producer, “This is an enigmatic mystery, a dedication to transitions from one world to another. The central object of the journey is the air-plane ladder, the way to which lies through cleansing and getting rid of everything material “.

Much like theatre often does, Oleg´s vibrant candid photos also leaves room for imagination. Photography is, after all, also the photographer´s interpretation of reality.

Click on the photos to see the full images.