The Ape Star
Great Puppet Theatre · Saint Petersburg
director
premiere 19 September 2020
- 6+
- 2020
- 70 MIN
- Russia
Family rock story for those who don't fit in. A nine-year-old girl, Yunna, is adopted by a huge black gorilla - with shaggy paws and crooked teeth. What is the girl to do now?
Rock-history for those who don't fit the mould
Photos
Let's... let's open a bookstore on wheels and go to the ocean like we dreamed of!!! I don't want to stay at the shelter at all. I want to be with you…Mom!
A nine-year-old girl named Yunna was adopted by a large black gorilla with shaggy paws and crooked teeth. Yunna dreamed of having a different mother - one who was beautiful and smelled good. However, she had to figure out what to do now that she had been adopted by this gorilla. This orphanage story turns into a series of adventures in a performance by Roman Boklanov, and at the end, it becomes clear that appearance or other "ideal" circumstances are not the most important thing when it comes to relationships.
The play is filled with childish mischief, music, and lots of objects - these, made in different scales, convey the wide range of emotions of the characters as they find their way to each other.
Based on the book by Frida Nielson.
Credits
- Director
- Roman Boklanov
- Art director
- Ogannes Ayrapetyan
- Lighting Designer
- Anastasia Kuznetsova
- Gerda, modeler 1, restaurant visitor, GPS navigator
- Natalia Sizova
- Turd, Aaron, modeler 2, waiter
- Maxim Morozov
Awards & Festivals
- 2021Nomination, Golden Spotlight, St Petersburg's highest theatre award — Best Director in a Puppet Theatre
- 2021Theatre-Goer's Star 2021, international audience award — Best Production for Children and Young People, top 3Moscow
- 2021Children's Weekend programme of the Golden Mask, Russian National Theatre AwardMoscow
- 2022Long list of the Golden Mask, Russian National Theatre Award
- 202213th Breakthrough, St Petersburg Theatre Award for Young Artists — Best Director (Roman Boklanov)
- 202213th Breakthrough, St Petersburg Theatre Award for Young Artists — Best Actress (Lidiya Klirikova)
Press
- Roman Boklanov "I Was Adopted by a Gorilla", Big Puppet Theater, St. Petersburg
- How foster families live in St. Petersburg
- Big Puppet Theatre premieres a play about an unusual adoption
- Porcelain and Furry
- "I Was Adopted by a Gorilla": the Big Puppet Theatre premieres a play about adoptive parents and their children
- Teaser for the play "The Gorilla Adopted Me" (dir. Roman Boklanov)
Links
Bring a production on tour, or commission a new one.
Ask Roman about a new productionPhotos