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Category: Slava Polunin

A Full Text Of Slava Polunin Interview

I know a lot of you are interested in the interview with Slava Polunin that I translated in 2003. It wasn’t published, and then in 2008 I thought I’d publish it here. Since then I’ve received so many thankyous, I’ve met a few people who were involved in absurdist, surrealist theatre or in clownery and who apparently even used this interview in their classes. What happened, as well, I changed templates on the blog, and suddenly “read more” option stopped working, and some of the posts from the interview got truncated.

So when I received yet another request from someone involved in clownery and acting, it occurred to me that I could use Scribd! Gosh, you can really go for ages not realising there is an obvious thing to do. Now the document is on Scribd, I gather the S’s editors were happy with the document and had it featured, and you can read it here, download, embed it on your site, print it out, in short – spread Slava’s talent, thirst for life, and carnival spirit.

Slava Polunin – A Monologue of the Clownhttp://www.scribd.com/embeds/106971542/content?start_page=1&view_mode=book&access_key=key-2ac2yu7vsas1n77gb558

 
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Slava Polunin in Moscow: Stairway to Heaven Book Presentation

Yesterday I had the most pleasant chance to attend a presentation of a book by Slava Polunin, Russian-born best clown in the world. Called Stairway To Heaven, it has little to do with Led Zeppelin; on the contrary, it is a collection of photographs from over 70 events united by the idea of a carnival. The Carnival events visited many countries, including the U.S. where the participants used the Nevada Desert as their stage. And only once, in Moscow’s Kolomenskoe Park and Reserve, the White Carnival was enacted entirely as it was conceived by Slava.

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Slava Polunin presenting Stairway To Heaven book in Moscow

The white colour and snow play a large part in Slava’s work, and this time we finally found out, why. He was born in the town of Novosil in Oryol Region of Russia. His mother worked at the store and had to march long distances to and from the train station, collecting the goods for trade. In winter this would become a tricky task, due to heavy snowfalls in the area. Towards the end of the winter season people walked in 5-meter high tunnels that were formed by digging paths in the snowy stepp. The little Slava also dug the tunnels, making rooms, letting his imagination run wild. Hence, snow to him is a recollection of this wonderful childhood years. Yet at the same time it is associated with fear, for he was afraid his mother would get lost in those heaps of cold white substance.

Don’t forget, you can read Slava’s interview, Monologue of the Clown.

error: Sorry, no copying !!