Sweet Dreams by Dmytro Bogomazov Ukraine

An electro-acoustic opera-performance, based on the text of the ghost scene from Shakespeare’s Richard III. Bogomazov has won recognition for his visually inventive presentations of classic theatrical texts. In Sweet Dreams, he meditates on the nature of memory.

Richard, the bloody-handed king of England, is visited by the ghosts of those he has murdered and is confronted by his own inhuman acts. The rich, eerie and witty score by composer Daniil Pertsev is generated electronically from the actors’ live intoned speech. In English.

Concept and Direction: Dmytro Bogomazov
Movement: Larysa Venediktova
Composer: Daniil Pertsev
Co-producer: Vilna Scena (Open Stage) Kyiv and Ukrainian Drama Theatre Odessa
Support: Swedish Institute, The City of Kyiv
Duration: 60 minutes

Culturbase on Dmytro Bogomazov

Reviews

“If for some, theatre was still associated with baroque stucco, red velvet curtains and the passionate voice from the high stage, then the participants of the international Black/North SEAS project have dispelled for good the myth about stage art as the literal reading of classical literary texts.”

“The cultural expansion of experimental theatre in Ukraine continues”
Vera Baldyniuk

Inspired by a visit to Sinop in Turkey

Sweet Dreams emerged from a meeting between Bogomazov and SEAS artist Siri Hermansen (Norway) who visited Istanbul and Sinop in Turkey in 2007. Bogomazov was impressed by the ancient buildings and ruins of Sinop and began to think about his new work for SEAS as an exploration of the memories and the ghosts which he imagined haunted the old Turkish buildings. Working in Kiev after this visit he created Sweet Dreams using the memories of his actors and married it to his own memories of his trip.

This trip was also the inspiration for Hermansen’s own SEAS work Borderline, which uses, like Bogomazov’s, the human voice to create a sound-tapestry.

Bogomozov

“The most interesting thing in Black/North SEAS for me is the principle of -mobile art-, the art which is not bound to a certain traditional space, the art which is constantly moving from place to place, from one space to another,
making these places change as a consequence.”
Dmytro Bogomazov

Dmytro Bogomozov is a major profile in the contemporary Ukrainian theatre. His work is strongly visual, using stylized costuming, projections, effectual lighting and non representational set design. An able navigator in the world of classical literature, Bogomazov is best known for productions of classical plays, his original interpretations giving them new relevance.