The most peaceful atom

04.08.2015

Children of nuclear industry employees staged a musical about Igor Kurchatov’s childhood.

There are a few minutes left before the performance starts, and the second call has already sounded. The makeup artist is looking at 15-year-old Masha Shishlova from Novovoronezh checking if everything is perfect. The girl has a challenging role; she plays the mother of the main character, young Igor Kurchatov, future nuclear physicist, inventor of the Soviet atomic bomb. A great deal of excitement is hidden behind the calm look of the young actress, after all, she is performing in her hometown, where she was born and raised.

– Firstly, we have wonderful mentors – the director, choreographer, and vocal teacher, and secondly, we have already succeeded at the premiere in St. Petersburg, and got a standing ovation,” Maria smiles. – But still, every time before going on stage there is such an anxiety, you know. Besides, my friends, my mom and dad are in the audience, they are my most important critics. Nevertheless, these feelings, this stage excitement, this euphoria, when you go on the final stage, when you get goosebumps and many artists have tears in their eyes, it is incredible and will never be forgotten.

A philosophical musical.

Rosatom’s International Project for Children Nuclear Kids is already seven years old. This year the troupe staged the musical Ask Rutherford – a philosophical musical story about the childhood of Igor Kurchatov. The actors are children of nuclear industry employees from Russia and foreign countries such as Vietnam, Czech Republic, Hungary, Turkey, Ukraine and Belarus.

The author of the Nuclear Kids Project idea, Director of the Communications Department of Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation Sergey Novikov noted: “In the year of the 70th anniversary of the industry, the authors of the production decided to dedicate the plot to Kurchatov’s childhood. We imagined what young Igor could be like at the age of the project participants (11-16 years old). The main character strives for knowledge, acts and protects his friends. In the finale, the audience is reminded that the grown up Igor Kurchatov made atomic weapons not to use them, but just so that no one else on earth (after the bombing of Japanese cities by the Americans) would be tempted to use them.”

– Practically nothing is known about Igor Kurchatov’s childhood, except for a few memories,” says Vladimir Karabanov, the director and scriptwriter of the musical. – I found the facts that took place in the Crimea in 1916, and what is shown in the musical is a real story. The main message of the main character is to understand the difficult philosophical questions – why a man lives, what kind of world surrounds him. Young Igor believes that he must meet the most important scientist in the world, Rutherford, to answer the questions that no one can answer: neither the physics teacher, nor Father John, the teacher of the Law of God. Therefore, at the first opportunity, the protagonist decides to meet with the great scientist. However, there are obstacles on the way to the realization of his dream, and he also tries to understand why they arise.

To make it in three weeks.

Almost 500 children applied to take part in the project this year, so the competition was tough. All the musical’s performers underwent serious casting, and in the end, 70 children were selected as the best of the best. Colorful scenery, magical music, non-trivial, thought-provoking script, the audience gave a standing ovation after the performance. However, the most important thing that delighted the audience was amazing natural acting. Not the slightest falseness and artificiality, children literally lived on the stage in the image of their heroes – in general, the show was brilliant.

– This is how children played in old Soviet children’s movies, – one of the spectators shared her impressions, – and for me, as a representative of that generation, this is a sign of excellence.

If you think about it, the troupe managed to do the impossible, according to the terms of the project, only three weeks are given to stage the play from scratch. During this time, the kids had to learn the difficult vocal parts, master the complex choreography, learn the text itself and, importantly, to get used to each other, to play along. And they succeeded.

For the project we choose children willing to work, motivated, and easier to cooperate with,” Vladimir Karabanov continues his story. – Those children who have not yet participated in the project (they make up 80%) at first do not understand where they have come to, but within a week they adapt, start to get involved, and learn to withstand all the stresses. We assess children’s capabilities – what they can do good and what they can do even better – and, based on each participant’s personal characteristics, we chose stage image for him or her. This year’s play is more complicated than ever before. Many scenes were effectively “stitched together” during the premiere performance in St. Petersburg, as minor corrections has been done on the spot, so we can consider this premiere as a final dress rehearsal. Our young artists performed well, there are some minor failings, but not every adult team can perform with such a dignity in such a tight timeframe. Most importantly, in my opinion, the children experienced being part of a team, learned to work together in a group, and understood the collective rhythm of work and the energy of being on stage.

What’s next?

Some of the project’s participants are seriously thinking about future career on the stage. For example, fifteen-year-old Veronika Dorofeeva from Moscow was going to become a nuclear engineer like her mother, but after feeling the audience energy and the emotions it brings, she decided to become an actress.

Nikita Erbes from Krasnokamensk (Trans-Baikal Territory) and Vladislav Gapon from Volgodonsk became good friends and go together like salt and pepper. Vladislav plays the role of jack-in-the box named Pashka, the head of the homeless kids. While Nikita performs the role of Father John.

– It turned out, the role is very difficult – says Nikita – makeup is a matter of time and technique, but the most important thing is the voice, it must be low, and manners, moves are special for the clergy. In general, it is very cool here!

– We have already become friends with all the project kids, – says Melissa Kaboglu from Turkey, – they came from different countries. We rehearsed every day. Woke up very early and were on stage until late in the evening. It’s very interesting. We don’t notice how time passes. In addition to rehearsals there were also guided tours organized for us. We had a lot of fun!

It is very unlikely that all the participants of this wonderful project will have big roles and fame in the future. But that is not the key point. The musical is a kind of “social mobility” for children from Russia’s Closed Administrative Territorial Entities. What’s more important is that they will never forget this lovely atmosphere of team spirit and a job well done. As they will never forget new friends they shared the joys and struggles of a difficult actor’s life with. (It is a curious fact that many of the foreign project participants were so impressed that they even started studying Russian).

In the meantime, our project is going on. The kids still have tours to Hungary, Czech Republic, and Moscow.

Daniil Endovitsky, Moskovsky Komsomolets