Tchaïka

As a veteran actress at the twilight of her career, Tchaïka seems lost in the darkness of the stage, alone. While the silent audience patiently observes her, a young girl appears behind her to deliver a message: it’s time to perform, to fill this theater stage with what will likely be her last performance. For her farewell, she portrays Arcadina in Anton Chekhov’s “The Seagull” – her favorite play – but without the proper set, without the actors who have all gradually disappeared, and without the text slowly fading from her memory.

Caught between the insatiable desire to perform and the inexorable oblivion, Tchaïka clings on; in her confusion, she still tries to deliver this text that she loves so much, intertwining fiction with her personal story, memories that revive the young actress she once was.

Crowned by numerous awards and acclaimed by critics – from Belgium to Chile – “Tchaïka” by Compagnie Belova-Iacobelli is a one-woman show with dazzling craftsmanship for both an actress and a puppet, plunging us into the depths of old age and telling the story of a heroic and decadent struggle to break free from the unhappy destinies of classical tragedies.