“THE STAGE AS A MIRROR OF THE WORLD”: THE OTHER IN THE LANGUAGE OF VERBATIM (BASED ON THE DOCUMENTARY PLAY “THREE QUARTERS OF SADNESS” BY P. BORODINA)

Abstract

The image of the Other, based on a number of philosophical concepts (G. Hegel, J.P. Sartre, M. Bakhtin, J. Deleuze, etc.), helps to realize one of the main tasks of verbatim as one of the forms of documentary theater and drama – a call for empathy, understanding and complicity. The article examines a problem of portraying the Other in P. Borodina’s documentary play “Three Quarters of Sadness”, dedicated to one of the episodes of modern Russian history and staged in the Theater.doc in 2015. Empathy and the effect of complicity in the viewer who decides to watch the performance are achieved with the help of voluntary consent to trauma. Hyperrealism of the text works to strengthen the emotions of the viewer, turning those present in the hall into participants in the action. Everyday details, straightforwardness, provocation of the play, adherence to extremes, reveal the image of the Other. The “I” accepts the Other’s world, becoming a part of it. This synthesis is seen as an incentive to change both the “I” itself from within and the “I” in the context of modern history. The director, the playwright and the characters themselves make a certain political gesture, deciding that documentary evidence (interviews) should be heard from the stage. The political verbatim, deprived of the usual aesthetics, creates a new aesthetics, the instrument of which becomes reality – its language, and the Other also speaks it.