IN THE SOLITUDE OF COTTON FIELDS, Starring John Malkovich, Opens in Hamburg

Timofey Kulyabin's production of Bernard-Marie Koltès's IN THE SOLITUDE OF COTTON FIELDS, starring John Malkovich and the award-winning Lithuanian actress Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė has opened at the Talia Theatre in Hamburg. The production runs for one weekend only, with four performances on April 20th and April 21st, 2024.

“If you are walking at this hour and in this place, you must want something, and I can certainly help you with that something.” – A dealer and a customer meet in the “solitude of the cotton fields” in the dead of night abstract place. A verbal probing begins, but what the trade is about, what is to be sold or bought, remains unclear. Instead, a dangerous dialogue unfolds for the audience in virtuosic language about desire and fulfillment, feeling and knowledge, power and sexuality.

Kulyabin focuses on the unspeakable and the social taboo in his production. Desire as shame, love as longing and impossibility, trade as the predominant modality of human relationships. Malkovich and Dapkūnaitė masterfully and grippingly explore one of the most mysterious works of modernity in alternating roles.

Additional production credits include Dramaturgy by Roman Dolzhanskiy, Set and Costume Design by Oleg Golovko, Video Design by Alexander Lobanov, Sound Design by Timofei Pastukhov, Cinematography by  Vladimir Burtsev, Video Production by Anastasia Zhuravleva, Lighting Design by Oskars Paulin's, Choreography by Anna Abalikhina, Producer and International Relations by Ekaterina Yakimova, Executive Producer and Administration by Irina Paradnaya, and Production Management by Yara Ziva-Chernova.

In the Solitude of Cotton Fields is a co-production with Dailes Theatre Latvia and held performances in Riga, Latvia in March.

Photo Credit: Andreas Simopoulos