"Patchouli" is the main Minsk performance of the year. I specifically didn't want to watch it as part of the premiere rush. To watch it in the atmosphere of an ordinary spectator show. I am delighted with how powerful the audience support is for director Evgeny Karnyag. Probably, five or six performances have already passed since the premiere, but the reception was absolutely premiere, to which friends and relatives gather. It's so nice when people know when to clap and how to clap when they liked it. So sorry for the beautiful Minsk artists playing in the shit for those who were forcibly driven. There is no such real theatrical truth in this.

I was sitting surrounded by such respectful attention that it delights you yourself. there is some kind of magic of joint action in this. and even the dude who was sprawled out in front and clearly fell out of this compatibility, somehow did not spoil the impression.

About the performance itself.

The performance is based on Belarusian folklore songs about the experience of having a child. Ekaterina Averkova is responsible for the musical part, who tried to pick up and arrange folklore material so that a beam of powerful energy directly flies from it. Birth, suffering, death - all these meanings are embedded in the songs, and they directly fall into the viewer. The amazing artist Tatiana Nersisyan turns the stage into a real gloomy Disneyland, where transformations and attractions happen every now and then, and the actors are always shown beautifully and truly powerfully. Director and choreographer Kornyag is directly associated with modern dance, but in this performance, in my opinion, a lot of work was to set up the actors to exist in such a gloomy abstract space.
I can't say almost anything about acting, because the performers work in masks. This is an interesting effect, from which the psychological individuality is completely hidden, only the bodily individuality remains.
My friend, with whom we watched, really liked the episode about two brothers. The two characters were connected in their heads. Their movements and interactions are determined by this continuity. In the background light, all their movements acquire special significance. I don't know who exactly is performing there, I can't even distinguish between the two characters. It turns out such a visual abstraction. There seems to be no psychology of these relationships. More precisely, it is given to us at our discretion. This is a very cool aesthetic principle that requires the mood and involvement of the viewer.
In the performance, these scenes are masterfully organized, where the physical, not the psychological, embodies the meanings, and we sort of connect with the body and finish the picture ourselves. Here is a woman breaking through the bonds to a child, here is a guy getting out of a pile of black stones (coal? and by the way, I recognized this performer, this is Artem Kuren, he will take off his mask later), here he is fighting with a pack of dogs.
I see my role as a critic in expressing my opinions, exposing the meanings that the performers lay down. But to be honest, I would pass in this case. Those who have been to it more than once have definitely written about this performance and will continue to write about it (I know that my colleagues go to it regularly). And it will be more correct and honest to ask them "what is it about?".
I will only say my important thing, that in this performance I see a lot of conditional "war in Ukraine", and this is surprising, because the performance began to be made last year. Although it is not surprising, because Kornyag's performances are so powerful and aggressive that they used to seem like hyperbole of aggression, and now a prophecy.
For me, the reason for further reflection will be the search for some moments of my personal parental, paternal experience in this performance. one episode about a father breastfeeding a baby is definitely about me. it's interesting to figure out and dig around, what else is there about me. but for this you need to go further.