Students of ASU Participate in International Theater Festival in Arras, France

Students of two Departments of Astrakhan State University – the Department of Pedagogics, Social Work, and Physical Training and the Biological Department – have taken part in the International Festival of Student Theater ARS?NE that has been held in Arras, France.

The event host was Artois University; the Festival was supported by the Administration of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and by the Mayor’s Office of Arras. Teams of actors and actresses from France, Great Britain, Canada, Italy, Romania, and Russia took part in it. One should remark that the student team from ASU was the only Russian team at the Festival.

Our Department of Pedagogics, Social Work, and Physical Training applied for participation for two years, but its applications were not successful. Last summer, it decided to apply jointly with our Biological Department. Thanks to their idea to present a play with a French sign interpretation, a well-prepared application, and an interview during which Dr. Alfiya Salkhenova, a Coordinator of Academic Mobility at ASU, answered the event organizers’ questions, our students passed the selection stage. The ARSÈNE Festival has no awards; participation in it is already a victory.

According to Prof. Galina Palatkina, Dean of ASU’s Department of Pedagogics, Social Work, and Physical Training, our students’ play “The Gypsies”, which is based on the poem by Alexander Pushkin, was originally staged at socialization events that were previously held at ASU. Yet, it was performed on the scene then; it was accompanied with an interpretation into the Russian sign language, and about 50 people participated in it. In contrast, the performance in Arras, which took place on its central square near the local ancient theater, involved just 12 actors and actresses; it was interpreted into the French sign language. The participants and coordinators of the Russian team were aware that it would be an uneasy project. It was necessary to “redesign” the play within three months. Our stage director and scriptwriter, Mr. Alexey Matveev from the Astrakhan Drama Theater, handled this task excellently. Elizabeth Alekseeva (“Social & Cultural Activities”), Aleksei Zhigulskiy (“Social Pedagogics”), and Evgeniy Matveev (“Social & Cultural Activities”) learnt the new roles and prepared their dialogues in French. Polina Lisovaya (“Social & Cultural Activities”), Alena Basova (“Organization of Youth-Related Work”) and Anastasiya Lutfulloeva (“Social & Cultural Activities”) sang marvelous songs in Gypsy and in Russian. Sergey Vlasenkov (“Biology”), Eduard Sadykov (“Social Work”), Aleksey Podlipalin (“Social Pedagogics”), and Vladimir Palatkin (“Functional Nutrition”) presented professional dancing numbers; Luana Vassilyeva (“Organization of Youth-Related Work”), a professional choreographer, supervised and trained our dancers. The audience also admired our actors’ and actresses’ costumes.

The participants of the Festival got a whole load of bright and staggering impressions.

Luana Vassilyeva: “What I liked most was the play “The Idiot” based on the novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky and presented by the Romanian team. Even though the play was in Romanian, each character expressed their emotions so brightly and vividly that we needed no interpretation. The 1.5 hours of the performers’ expressive body language and strong emotions were a real delight. I’d watch this play once more with a great pleasure”.

Vladimir Palatkin: “We’re used to watching plays by the Russian traditional theater school, whose specific feature is psychological and realistic staging. At the Festival, we watched the scenic forms that were new for us. We especially liked the play by the team of our French peers from Artois University. It may be one of the strongest teams at the Festival. That team humorously presented absurd material about the way humans and dogs reflect upon the same events”.

Alena Basova, Elizabeth Alekseeva, and Anastasiya Lutfulloeva: “It was a terrific trip to France. Our accommodation conditions were splendid; we had a great time making friends with our peers from other countries. The Festival gave us incredible emotions; we’ll remember it with shining eyes and a smile”.

Polina Lisovaya and Eduard Sadykov: “We are non-linguistic students, but we learnt we can speak English and French quite fluently. It was a great experience for us. Now we’re anxious to enhance our language skills significantly”.

Aleksey Podlipalin: “Our trip to France was the most memorable adventure while I’ve been a student. I learnt so much about its culture; I began to speak French more fluently. I was delighted to feel the atmosphere of cooperation and mutual assistance within and between the teams. As a result of a long-lasting and difficult preparation for our participation in the Festival, we didn’t just get to know each other better – we became a single team”.

During the ARSÈNE Festival, Prof. Galina Palatkina (Dean of the Department of Pedagogics, Social Work, and Physical Training of ASU), Prof. Elena Kondratenko (Dean of the Biological Department of ASU, and Dr. Alfiya Salkhenova (a Coordinator of Academic Mobility at ASU), met their French counterparts who are in charge of international activities of Artois University. The two parties agreed to develop their cooperation: funding of master and PhD projects, faculty and student exchange programs, etc.