In the episode “Theater in the Gulag” of the series “GULAG. Witnesses” there is an episode about the outstanding Ukrainian director of the 20-30s Les Kurbas. The story of this episode is preserved in the memory of those who participated in Les Kurbas’s productions at the camp theater on Solovki. Les played the role of an old mime who is not allowed to play the piano. They twist his hand, he plays with the other hand, they close his eyes – he plays blindly, they tie both hands – he plays with his foot… The guards pull him away from the instrument, he grabs the lid and flies with it to the other side of the stage. After a pause, the jester begins to play on the empty keyboard board, and the melody appears again. This metaphor became the embodiment of Kurbas’ life.
He was shot by NKVD on November 3, 1937, in the Sandarmokh tract. During the filming of the episode about Les Kurbas, we tried to reproduce the story with the pianist performed by mime Nikolai Terentyev.
