Alternate Title Gaudeamus: 19 improvisations after the story Construction Battalion
Premiere New York Premiere
Production Language Russian
Country of Origin Russia
Description Sergei Kaledin's novel Construction Battalion (Stroibat), published in Novy Mir in 1988, is the basis of Gaudeamus. The production was conceived and created by Lev Dodin with students from his first-year directing class at St. Petersburg's Theatre Institute along with young actors from the Maly company.
In this riveting production from St. Petersburg's Maly Theatre, a battalion of conscripts enters compulsory military service in the pre-Glasnost Soviet Union. With scathing satire, the play depicts an army rife with murder, suicide, gang rape, racism, corruption, pettiness, and banality, whose victims are the young, especially those of non-Russian ethnic origin. This prize-winning production, performed by a spirited company of young actors, features a foot-stomping display of dancing, singing, acting, acrobatic feats, and juggling. It is directed by Artistic Director Lev Dodin, one of the great pioneers in the Soviet theater's long and difficult struggle against the tyranny of state censorship.
Identifier 1994f.01018
