Before Finland/Estonia

Our week of theater ended quite bizarrely and rather amusingly.

First, we went to see Raskolnikov (the stage adaptation of Crime and Punishment) at what was advertised at the ‘Starnik’ Theater. What I failed to realize was that the production was put on by an amateur Russian Orthodox acting troupe - despite this being advertised on the ticket - and that the ‘theater’ turned out to be located in a sketchy part of town, on the fourth floor of a church. Despite our disbelief (could a theater really be in the midst of ominous warehouses and miscellaneous buildings, away from main buildings and, well, people?) and misleading building numbers, we eventually found our way thanks primarily to some helpful guards. After finding our seats we waited the standard Russian 10 minutes for the show to start (I don’t think a single show has started on time here, including at the Mariinskii), and then the producer of the troupe got on stage. He explained the troupe’s mission – the only Orthodox troupe in St. Petersburg, although apparently there is one or two in Moscow – and why they had chosen Raskolnikov. Anyone who has read Crime and Punishment might guess that Dostoevsky was a very religious or at least very moral man, and he said almost exactly that; not only is C & P a classic, but in the end the story has a strong lesson. Then, before the show began, he led us all in an Orthodox prayer. Both the theater in the church – a very nice and well set-up theater for an amateur company – and the prayer were new to me, but it was certainly an experience. The play itself was actually very interesting. I had been wondering exactly how they were going to edit such a work to make it play-size, but for those who have read it, the play consisted almost solely of scenes between Raskolnikov and Sophie, and centered of course on Raskolnikov. The acting was good, very good in some cases, and the atmosphere was perfect. Perhaps it had something to do with being in a church, but there was an almost sacred feeling to the scenes, or at least an intimate one. Or rather look at it this way; the church knows how to make scenes feel sacred, and this knowledge was used to stage the exceptional play. All in all, the trip to the church, the church itself, the hymn and the play itself was quite the Friday night experience.

Then came Saturday. In the morning we had an excursion to the Yusopov Palace, the site of the plot against Rasputin, and of his poisoning and shooting. More generally, it is a sumptuous palace in the heart of the city that had been bought and re-decorated by the Yusopovs, one of the richest noble families, in I believe the late 18^th century. And those Yusopovs knew how to live! Many of the rooms are themed, and include a beautiful study filled with books and old, dark wood, the ‘Islamic’ (or maybe ‘Spanish’) room that opened onto a garden, the ‘Turkish’ room for billiards, a massive, lengthy hall for their personal art collection and a theater. A beautiful, beautiful theater that is still in use today, complete with a ‘princes’ box’ in place of the traditional ‘tsar’s box’, for obvious reasons. Of course, the palace also includes a banquet hall, a massive ballroom and three salons lining the Western side of the palace, looking out on the canal for the use of guests. There are also many interesting quirks to the building (which is still under reconstruction- I can’t imagine how there can be more to see, but apparently there is). For example, at the end of the hall that runs down the western side of the building there is a ‘rotund’ room that is built somewhat round and with a large round sofa in the middle, for guests to conveniently use as a sign to turn around either back down the hall towards the ball and dining rooms or go through the alternative set of doors. Because this room is at the end of the building, there are only two exits, both in the north. However, there are fake doors in the South, apparently to make the room symmetrical, but also as the guide put it ‘because you always want to make it look like your palace is bigger’. Of course, a ballroom and dining hall aren’t enough to prove that.

The area were Rasputin was killed is on the North side of the palace, which had been remodeled to house the Yusopov heir, Felix, and his new wife. That side includes a small room that is mirrored on all sides in the shape of doors, four of which are real and four of which are fake. One leads to where the other plotters sat on the night of Rasputins murder, making noise so that Feliz could pretend that his wife was upstairs; they were nervous, however, and apparently forgot to change the record and thus listened to ‘Yankee Doodle’ for that whole fateful night.

Overall, it is a completely stunning palace, my favorite of all the palaces that we’ve visited, perhaps because you can feel that people really lived there. Yes, they lived in indescribable luxury, but nonetheless the palace is a ‘home’, not just a palace.

Saturday night was another theatrical experience, but this time the Nutcracker on Ice, at the Sports Palace arena. What we failed to realize this time was that it was put on by what must have been a children’s ice skating club. Not that this was really a problem, but it certainly was somewhat odd. The storyline was mostly the same, but then after a while it somehow turned into interpretive ice-skating to Russian techno and folk music, without any explanation or any end to the actual Nutcracker tale. It was enjoyable nonetheless, and the hordes of children around us added to the joy, but it was not at all what had been expected. Cotton candy, caramel corn and flashy toys were to be had though, so what could really spoil our fun?

We ended the night at Dacha, a bar downtown that plays great music and apparently is popular with ex-pats; we met three British, two French, a Canadian and a Russian-American. The last explained that the bar was founded by a Swedish couple, which might explain its appeal.

So ended Theater Week. The cold snap ended with it, leaving us with again warmer than normal temperatures and me with a revised fear of global warming. Still, Finland and Estonia on the weekend! Great things are to be had, I’m sure.

In more recent news, we returned from the Finland and Estonia trip yesterday and it really was quite stunningly fantastic. As soon as I manage to find the words, I’m sure that I’ll be writing about it.

More importantly, today was the first snow!! Just when I thought the world couldn’t get more amazing, it did. Of course, it was wet snow and in most places it melted as soon as it touched the ground, but that doesn’t change the fact that it swirled deliciously through the air and made everything more magical. Tanya told me that according to Russian tradition two weeks after the first snow the snow will become permanent for the rest of the winter. Which would give me two completely snow-filled weeks before we leave!

Actually, its very strange to think that in less than four weeks we’ll be leaving Russia. Is this possible? Its impossible to say how I feel about it, because there are so many conflicting emotions.