BRODSKY/BARYSHNIKOV Adds May Performance at the Apollo

An extra performance of Brodsky/Baryshnikov has been added on 7th May due to high levels of interest. Found somewhere between a play, a poetry recital and a piece of performance art, this UK premiere is being staged at the West End's Apollo Theatre for a limited run.

Brodsky/Baryshnikov is a one-man show, performed by legendary dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, based on the poems of Nobel laureate Joseph Brodsky. The production is an emotional journey deep into the poet's visceral and complex compositions. Baryshnikov walks onto the stage unmasked and unguarded and tells us the story of their 22 year friendship that began in 1972 in an unnerving expose.

Brodsky/Baryshnikov is conceived and directed by Alvis Hermanis, noted Latvian director of The New Riga Theatre. Performed in Russian with English surtitles, Baryshnikov recites a selection of his long-time friend's poignant and eloquent works. Hermanis comments Baryshnikov was taken by the idea of using Brodsky's poetry as a score for the show. Brodsky's poems strung together as a score to compose a requiem that carries Baryshnikov's body which reacts to every word and creates movement that transpires either into pain or into a dance, similarly to the artwork of Egon Schiele and the Japanese Butoh dance.

Brodsky/Baryshnikov is Baryshnikov's nostalgic tribute to his once dear friend.

Brodsky/Baryshnikov is a co-production between The New Riga Theatre and Baryshnikov Productions, presented by Bird&Carrot. Its London run is made possible thanks to the generous support of Norvik Banka and Blavatnik Family Foundation.

IF YOU GO:

Brodsky/Baryshnikov

Director Alvis Hermanis
Performer Mikhail Baryshnikov
Scenographer Kristine Jurj?ne
Lighting designer Gleb Filshtinsky
Sound Designer O?egs Novikovs
Video Design Ineta Sipunova
Pyrotechnic Design International Fireworks Design
Costume Design Deanna Berg MacLean
English surtitles Jamey Gambrell
Music Jim Wilson (God's Chorus of Crickets), Karlis Tone

Performance Dates: Wednesday 3rd - Saturday 6th May, 7.30pm & Sunday 7th May, 2.30pm
Running time: 90 minutes (no interval)

At Apollo Theatre, 31 Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1D 7ES
How to get there: The nearest underground stations are Piccadilly Circus (on the Bakerloo, and Piccadilly lines), Leicester Square (on the Piccadilly and Northern lines), and Charing Cross (on the Bakerloo and Northern lines). The nearest rail station is Charing Cross.

Box Office Tickets are available from £30 to £200, nimaxtheatres.com/apollo-theatre/brodsky_baryshnikov

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Joseph Brodsky was born in 1940 in Leningrad, and begun writing poetry when he was eighteen. He moved to the United States in 1972, an involuntary exile from the Soviet Union. Celebrated as the greatest Russian poet of his generation, Brodsky authored in Russian and English nine volumes of poetry, as well as two plays and several collections of essays, including Less Than One, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism in 1986. His first book of poetry in English translation appeared in 1973. Brodsky received the Nobel Price in Literature in 1987, and served as Poet Laureate of the United States in 1991 and 1992. He died in 1996.

Born 1948 in Riga, Latvia, Mikhail Baryshnikov is considered one of the greatest dancers of our time. After commencing his career with the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad, he came to the West in 1974, settling in New York City as principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre (ABT). In 1979 he joined New York City Ballet, where he worked with George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. A year later he was appointed artistic director of ABT where, for the next decade, he introduced a new generation of dancers and choreographers. From 1990-2002, Baryshnikov was director and dancer of the White Oak Dance Project, which he and choreographer Mark Morris co-founded to expand the repertoire and visibility of American modern dance. As an actor he has performed widely on- and off-Broadway, as well as in television and film, receiving a Tony Award nomination and a Drama Desk Award for Metamorphosis, and an Academy Award nomination for The Turning Point. Other productions include Forbidden Christmas or The Doctor and the Patient, Beckett Shorts, In Paris, Man in a Case, and The Old Woman. He is currently appearing in two solo theatrical productions, Letter to a Man, directed by Robert Wilson and Brodsky/Baryshnikov, directed by Alvis Hermanis. In 2005, he launched Baryshnikov Arts Centre (BAC) in New York City, a creative space for presenting and nurturing multidisciplinary artists from around the globe. Under his leadership as artistic director, BAC's programs have grown to serve up to 700 artists and 22,000 audience members annually. Among Baryshnikov's many awards are the Kennedy Centre Honours, the National Medal of Honour, the Commonwealth Award, the Chubb Fellowship, the Jerome Robbins Award, and the 2012 Vilcek Award. In 2010, he was given the rank of Officer of the French Legion of Honour.

Born 1965 in Riga, Latvia, Alvis Hermanis was recently named among the ten most influential European theatre personalities of the last ten years by DU Magazine Swiss periodical for arts and culture. Mr. Hermanis currently works with major European theatre companies, including Burgtheater Vienna, Schaubuehne Berlin, Munchner Kammerspiele, and Schauspielhaus Zurich; and in opera houses including La Scala Milano, State Opera Berlin, and La Monnaie Brussels. He has staged operas at the Salzburg Festspiele since 2012. His latest stagings there include Trovatore (2014) featuring Placido Domingo and Anna Netrebko and Die Liebe der Danae (2016). His most recent opera premieres are La Damnation de Faust with Opera de Paris, featuring Jonas Kaufman in December 2015 and I due Foscari with La Scala Milano, featuring Placido Domingo in February 2016. In 2018 he will direct a new staging of Lohengrin at the Bayreuth Wagner Festival. Mr. Hermanis's theatre productions have been presented at major theatre festivals ranging from Avignon to Edinburgh, and have toured to more than 40 countries. His many accolades include the Europe Prize New Theatre Realities, the Stanislavsky Award, two Golden Mask Awards (Moscow), Max Reinhardt Pen (Salzburg Festspiele), Nestroy Preis (Austria), and the Konrad Wolf Award (Germany). He has been artistic director of The New Riga Theatre since 1997.

Bird&Carrot is a London-based company which specialises in producing theatre, music and contemporary art events in the UK and internationally. Bird&Carrot was founded by its Artistic Director, Alexandrina Markvo, and focuses on developing collaborative projects with world famous and emerging International Artists. Bird&Carrot creates a forum for debate and intelligent discussion aiming to support the right to freedom of artistic expression.

The New Riga Theatre is a state repertory theatre founded in 1992, led by artistic director Alvis Hermanis since 1997. The Company is comprised of 23 actors. The New Riga Theatre is located in a historical building in the centre of Riga. The productions are presented not only on the main stage (470 seats) but also on other stages, including venues outside the theatre building. The New Riga Theatre has performed at major festivals around the world, including Avignon, Edinburgh, Wiener Festwochen, Salzburg Festspiele, Holland Festival, BITEF, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, and, to date, has toured to more than 200 towns and cities in 40 countries, both in Europe and overseas.

Baryshnikov Productions is designed to bring the distinctive voices of innovative directors, choreographers and artists to the world's most respected stages. Under this umbrella, the company has produced and toured the White Oak Dance Project (1990-2002), Forbidden Christmas or The Doctor and Patient (2004-2006), Beckett Shorts (2007), In Paris (2010-2012), Man in a Case (2012-2014) and The Old Woman (2013-2015). Current Productions include Letter to a Man and Brodsky/Baryshnikov.