The May issue of Meridian published information about the upcoming tour of the Russian Youth Theatre from Toronto in Ottawa. It is better to see once than to hear a hundred times.

Unfortunately, there were many empty seats at the only performance, which was successfully held on June 2 in the Carleton University Theatre in Ottawa. After all, in 24 years of its existence, the theatre performed in the Canadian capital for the first time. The debut was so bright that good word of mouth about the Russian-speaking artists who visited us on tour has already spread throughout the province of Ontario, and those who missed the opportunity to touch the magical world of a fairy tale on the first Sunday in June will certainly not miss such a chance next time.

The Russian Youth Theatre (RYT) from Toronto is part of the charitable organization ‘’Russian Theatre Centre for the Arts in Canada’’. It was founded in 1999 by two professional musicians, opera singer N. Cherkasov and pianist A. Kartuzov, who dreamed of instilling a love for Russian theatrical art in the young generation of Russian-speaking immigrants. This type of art consists not only of auditory and visual components. The main role is played by such an important component as imagination. During the first 5 years of the theater's existence, more than a hundred representatives of the younger generation completed the stage school. Gradually, a permanent troupe was formed. Twice, in 2007 and 2011, the theater received awards for its contribution to the cultural development of youth in Canada. In 2009, together with the Canadian television channel NTV, a television play was filmed and shown on Canadian television. Since the formation of the theater, 19 plays have been staged, radiating beauty and wisdom, encouraging life. The fairy tale “The Magic Rings of Almandor” based on the play by Tamara Gabbe was shown in Ottawa. The performance lasted an hour and a half without an intermission, captivating the attention of an audience of different ages. “Problems between fathers and children do not exist where parents and children are friends and do something together.” This apt statement by the French writer Anatole France perfectly illustrates the atmosphere that reigned in the auditorium during the performance of the guests from Toronto. Preschoolers, primary school children, teenagers, their mothers and grandmothers worried about the main characters, applauded enthusiastically all the actors, whose level of performance corresponded to the best traditions of the Soviet Youth Theater. (The Youth Theater is a professional theater, the repertoire of which is intended for children, teenagers and young adults, and the stage solutions are distinguished by their color, play with the audience and syntheticity). The choreographic inserts looked impressive, the costumes looked wonderful. The plot of the fairy tale, with unexpected moments, did not allow the audience to relax, and the precise work of the lighting designer and the meticulously worked out system of changing the scenery, which was also beautiful, added magic to what was happening on stage. Of course, the level of acting skills was also pleasing. Clear diction, correctly selected intonations, that is, delivered
voices, worked out facial expressions and gestures contributed to the success of the presentation. The key word in this case is coherence. No distortions, excesses - everything is harmonious and organic. The soul requires live communication! How the audience, young and old, hurried after the performance to take pictures with the main characters in the foyer, to touch them literally, and figuratively - to touch the kind, bright, energetically strong ...

It rarely happens that the opinions of different viewers about the performance absolutely coincide, especially when the viewers are from five to seventy years old. At the same time, no one can say specifically what exactly they liked, because they liked everything. This is a sign of professionalism! BRAVO, guests from Toronto! Come visit us again!