“I feel like I’m in a Soviet café,” says actor Sasha Samar as he crosses the threshold of Café Tabac in Villeray. The green of the tiles on the walls, the chrome, the wood of the benches… The place reminds him of his childhood and youth in Ukraine.
Posted at 7:00 am.
It was the director Catherine de Léan who suggested this neighborhood café for a three-way meeting on the subject of Russia, its turbulent history, its ideals turned upside down by perestroika, but also the warlike drift into which it seems to be heading. Especially since the invasion of Ukraine, two years ago to the day.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
Catherine de Léan and Sasha Samar are taking part in two theater projects with the former USSR as a backdrop.
But let's start with the beauty before diving into the horror. Three plays set against the backdrop of the former USSR will be coming to the stages of Montreal in the next two weeks. Inspired by the extraordinary life of Sasha Samar, Me, in the Red Ruins of the Century is back after a notable first appearance in 2012. The text by Olivier Kemeid tells of Sasha's 22-year search for her mother in a falling apart USSR. dislocated.
The play “The End of the Red Man,” directed by Catherine de Léan, is based on statements collected by Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexeyevich from citizens of the 15 former Soviet republics after the fall of the USSR in 1991. This winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature (in 2015) took out her notebook and pencil at this crucial moment in Soviet history, when the communist dream was crumbling and capitalism held out the promise of a better future.
The third piece, entitled Chevtchenko, will be performed in the Jean Claude Germain Hall of the Center du Théâtre d'Aujourd'hui (see the other text).
Is it a coincidence or a deliberate decision by theaters to show these productions as the Russian-Ukrainian conflict enters its third year? ” No matter. “The most important thing is to draw attention to my country in its time of need,” says Sasha Samar, who grew up in Krivoy Rog – in the same neighborhood as President Volodymyr Zelensky – before studying theater in the capital Kiev. “I hope these pieces help send love to my homeland. »
In all of these cases, it's the stories written at eye level that make the story stand out with a capital H. “The story is told differently, in a different paradigm than that of winners and losers,” says Catherine von Léan, who signs her first career production here.
In The End of the Red Man, it is a way to explore how political changes in the USSR affected the social fabric. Ordinary people have experienced extraordinary changes. They were all guided by an ideal.
Catherine de Lean
Sasha Samar experienced this change from within and the play in which he is the hero implicitly addresses the upheavals in this corner of the world. “I spent my childhood in the USSR and my youth during perestroika. Childhood is the time of ideals and naivety. For me it was the rosy time of the Soviet Union. »
The danger, he says, is confusing the longing for childhood with the longing for the country as it was before the dissolution.
PHOTO DANNY TAILLON, PROVIDED BY THÉÂTRE DUCEPPE
Sasha Samar rehearsing for the piece that tells part of her life.
Some people think we need to go back to that idealized Soviet Union. It was good to say that we were all Soviet. But the price to pay was terrible.
Sasha Samar
He regrets that some people have forgotten that Putin invaded Crimea the day after the Sochi Winter Games – “a real ecological mess,” he says. “This man is crazy,” says Catherine de Léan.
An ignorance that must be eradicated
Catherine de Léan admits without embarrassment: before she accidentally came across Svetlana Alexeyevich's book, she knew little about Russia and its republics. Putin, Pussy Riot… “Despite everything, this country fascinated me with its great authors. For me, the gateway to Russia is art. They are great authors with breathtaking imaginations. »
She's not the only one in Quebec who has a very fragmented idea of what happened in this region of the world. Even more so since he emigrated to Montreal in August 1996 – a city he chose because he admired Guy Lafleur! –, Sasha Samar was often told that he was Russian. For a long time he did not take the time to explain that he was from one of the Soviet republics called Ukraine.
Previously, the nuances weren't so important and saying Russia instead of USSR was an easy shorthand. But today this abbreviation is no longer acceptable. Out of respect for those who die in the trenches, I prefer to clarify the who, the what and the how.
Sasha Samar
Out of respect for his roots and those of his people, he also requested that part of the lyrics of “Me, in the Red Ruins of the Century” be changed. “I couldn't imagine reciting an excerpt from a poem by Alexander Nevsky again. » The Russian poet's verses evoke the greatness of Russia and the promise that those who come there with the sword will die by the sword… “These words no longer passed my lips. »
Catherine de Léan, for her part, insisted on including replicas in the languages of various republics in The End of the Red Man. To show that the USSR was far from being a large, unified empire… “We could not pretend that the conflict did not exist. I think there is great humanity in Svetlana's writings. It is a text that brings together more than it divides. It proves that we are all made of the same fabric. »
Even if the character Sascha – and the person who inspired him – had every reason to hate the USSR, “I in the Red Ruins of the Century” is anything but a dodgy text. “It is a human story about the fragility and universality of feelings. I want the audience to leave the room with some kind of awareness. »
I, in the red ruins of the century, at Duceppe, from February 28th to March 30th
Consult the parts page
The end of the red man in Quat'Sous from February 27th to March 23rd
Consult the parts page