Within the framework of the “ArmMono Plus” International Theatre Festival, we had the opportunity to watch the monoperformance “The Algernon-Gordon Effect”. The audience has long been familiar with actor Arman Matevosyan’s performances. This young artist has the ability to captivate with his performance, transporting viewers into an alternative reality.
Referring to this stage version of Daniel Keyes’s novel “Flowers for Algernon”, it is worth mentioning one important fact. The young director Inga Shahbazyan was able to continue the author’s point of view, also combining the director’s idea with interruptions.
Here is a completely new Arman, with an unrepeatable, organic play, external and internal references to character traits, and mastery of typification. The sense of stage reality, even the truth of story, in which a clear sense of a timeless and extraterritorial strange existence seems to permeate, contributes to the presence of a finely thought-out space for this performance.
The stage design is not oppressive, but complements the director’s idea. And when we talk about the stage space, we immediately find it necessary to refer to the accuracy of the space imagined and created by the director. Inga Shahbazyan also paid attention to those important points, delved into the details.
“What does it mean to be human?” Everyone will have his own answer to this question. As in the novel, so in the performance, the answer is not given in the end, because each person has his own formula for living. It is necessary to think. We congratulate the young theater figures and wish them new performances.
Vova Arzumanyan
Photos from the festival page
