Engineering Theatre AKHE
RUSSIA
From what initially seem to be miniature, fragmented episodes, a story is miraculously created like an intricate puzzle. Entirely silent, wordless performances conjure up an explosive conflict between a lonely man and a solitary woman. While they search the earth for love, they switch roles and flit through genres, adopt masks and manipulated puppets. In the end, the happy end never arrives, but the fascinating journey does bring some comfort.
Engineering Theatre AKHE was founded by three young members of the Boris Ponizovski theatre “Yes - No” (Maksim Isaev, Pavel Semtchenko, Vadim Vasiliev) in 1989. Immediately they announced themselves as an independent art group (in term of styles and forms) and started working in the fields of performance, cinema and fine art.
From 1996 AKHE developed into a theatre collective, now with 6 members, and, as cult icons on the Moscow and St Petersburg independent art scene, the group is sought after at progressive festivals, across mainland Europe and the world.
They work as artists and film directors, but they also still use their artistic backgrounds, working as painters and stage-designers. AKHE creates a unique dream theatre of chaos. Filled with countless absurd and inspired events, its shows work with physical laws to create a psychological play combined with fantastic images and endlessly fascinating stage pictures.