'Drillalians' wins a Golden Mask award

Anastasia Nefedova of the Stanislavsky Electrotheatre has been awarded a prestigious Golden Mask as Best Costume Designer in the category of musical theatre for her work on Drillalians. Here is what she had to say when asked what the award meant to her:

'This prize means... that our theatre is beautiful; that it does a fine job of 'drilling through' the space of reality; that everything created here is so unique, challenging and lively that you can't fail to notice it or value it)))) And it definitely is really freaking awsome and so exciting that so many people dear to me, familiar to me or not familiar to me have congratulated me))))) Hurrah!!!!!'

Earlier, in an interview conducted by Alexandra Krasko for a website connected to the Golden Mask Festival, Anastasia talked a little about her work on Drillalians. Here are some snippets from that talk.

'I was incredibly inspired by the idea, the world that Boris Yukhananov transmitted to, and shared with, us. It was like I penetrated it and then inside myself began to get a look at the residents of Drillalia as they might really be. I made sketches lightning-fast. I had a notebook and I began jotting down whatever images came to my mind. That's how it came about - spontaneously and authentically.'

'A costume may help or may hinder a performer. But even when it hinders, it is still of help. Here each performer had to decide for him or herself how they would live with the image [the costume gave them]. You can accept it as if it's a second skin, or you can accept it as a second skin, you can distance yourself from it, or you can perceive it as a conflict, wherin you exist with it in a heightened dialogue.'

'Drillalia gave me so many marvelous moments of interaction with contemporary music, such as that of Dmitri Kourliandski which I encountered so intensely for the first time in the first prologue. It then manifested itself to me by way of a true catharsis, an unbelievable sensation of freedom, joy and brilliance of intellect.'

'Drillalia for me was a revelation, it has pervaded my entire life. What is important about Drillalia is that it is real. I think the biggest achievement of these operas - what comes across in the 'here and now' - is the birth of a different spirit from the one in which we now exist.'