Yuri Maykov in an agreeable orgy of sensation, "When The Sun Was God."
Yuri Maykov in the anonymous leading role of "When The Sun Was God" is one part Bagman, one part Shaman -- all parts fascinating.
He is assisted by a group of candle bearers, music makers, and two audience members drafted to play bride and groom.
"When The Sun Was God" is a ritual theatre piece without apparent plot. Fortunately, it doesn't need one.
The "play" is more a series of stylized actions meant to evoke the images of pre-Christian Russian nature worship.
It is rarely clear in this piece what is actually being said -- there is no narrative thread, no naturalistic method "emoting" going on here. The action's meaning creeps up on the viewer through a tightly layered series of ritual actions.
The performance is about the eco-system and the family, about fire and birth and agriculture and marriage.
Ultimately it tells us that for Russia to heal herself as a country she must again treat the family and the earth as sacred objects, worthy of worship and resurrection.
The play's abundant use of Russian pagan religious ritual with a Christian ending seems to imply that Christ is the final symbol of resurrection that Russians must emulate.
While this all sounds very confusing, watching it is not. The action proceeds slowly but is not tedious.
It has an agreeable orgy of sensation.
Maykov beats his Shaman's drum before a bowl of fire, little girls in white pass round lit tapers to the audience, and behind a scrim a shadowed figure taps out shimmering tones on hanging pieces of brass.
With the smell of candles, the sound of bells and the sight of the earthy-looking wooden set-pieces and paintings, the theater resembles some bizarre combination of an Orthodox church and a New Age shrine.
After the hour-long show, performers tell fortunes by candlelight for interested audience members with a choice of I-Ching, Runes or Indian Sticks.
If mixing your Christianity with Paganism -- or vice-versa -- offends you, you may not find this show to your taste.
But those interested in a moral and theatrical exploration of the spiritual, will likely will find this drama as interesting and pleasant as I did myself.