Andrei Muguchi, director of Circo Ambulante, accidentally produced a critical allegory of Russia at a theatre supported by Putin Sixty people. That is how many the performance requires — to act in the production, and above all to build the set of a production of St. Petersburg avant-garde director Andrei Moguchi on the large stage of the Finnish National Theatre. It is his vision of a world which fortunately does not exist in reality, but which nevertheless seems strangely familiar — should we say, perhaps, in Russia? “Yes, Circo Ambulante depicts Russia“, Moguchi admits. “But I am doing art, not politics“. Russia's artists, and their freedom of expression, have been a hot topic of conversation in recent days. Andrei Moguchi also makes a point of taking up the topic. „Pussy Riot certainly never imagined that they might end up in prison for two years. They have pulled stunts before! However, doing a performance in a church struck the moment, and a nerve, in such a way that the stupid sentence and the attention of the international media made it a big thing.” „Time will tell if anything will change in Russia, but right now the country seems to have been split in two, for and against Pussy Riot, almost like the Civil War. I believe that our situation at the moment is not fully under the control of the Kremlin.” The set of Circo Ambulante is a fiery and remote volcanic island where factories and smelters have been shut down after the raw material ran out. The only source of income for the island is a slaughterhouse and meat-packing plant, which delivers bulls' testicles to the tables of the rich under the watchful eye of a Great Leader and the Chief of Police. The rest of the meat is dumped into the sea to attract sharks, which are also fed the island's criminals. Everyone who could afford a plane ticket has left the island. At the initiative of the leaders, a circus that was located in the centre of the city has been converted into a flea market, which is being developed into a centre of clowning in the world. Budgets are overspent repeatedly as the crater of the volcano is turned into an amphitheatre. Andrei Moguchi, 51, is known primarily for is experimental use of space and his dreamy spectacles with plenty of cripples and tramps, dwarves and giants on stilts, dolls and pyrotechnics, and often with wordless narrative and surreal pictures. Initially many Russians looked askance at the director's European style which cheerfully mixes different types of expression, but from 2000 onward there has been a steady flow of prizes. Finns got a taste of Moguchi's aesthetics already 15 years ago when the outdoor performance Orlando Furioso, directed as a medieval market theatre piece, was put on in Helsinki as a collaborative project of the Baltic Circle Festival and the 1997 Helsinki Festival. The director's latest production, Circo Ambiente, is being shown at the Helsinki Festival on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. The next premiere, a stage version of Franz Kafka's The Trial, is in Dusseldorf in September. Circo Ambulante got its premiere at Moscow's Theatre of Nations in January. It was the first time that Moguchi, a man who grew up as an heir to Nikolai Gogol and the absurdist tradition of St. Petersburg, got to direct in his country's more conservative capital. “Yes, I live in St. Petersburg, and it's a completely different country“, laughed the director in the foyer of the Finnish National Theatre. The reaction to the performance was sharply split. Some loved it, while others hated it. The motives of the detractors were not exclusively political: many in the audience thought that they would get the chance to enjoy the comedy of Lia Ahedyakova, a famous Russian comedienne, who played the protagonist. However, Circo Ambulante is not a comedy any more than Russia itself is. Moguchi says that he went to Moscow because Ahedyakova asked him to. In addition to being a comic actress she is also an outspoken dissident who wanted to work with Moguchi on a performance about what is happening in Russia right now. The director repeats several times during the interview about how difficult it is for Russians to understand their homeland, and especially to explain Russia to others. The absurd seems to be his basic experience, which is also often seen on stage. Andrei Moguchi was surprised and shocked when he heard from the actors just two months before the premiere that the Theatre of the Nations gets funding granted by Vladimir Putin. „It's about reputation. Most of Russia's theatres get their money from the state, but others have a reputation of taking direction from those in power. If I had known this I might have taken my piece elsewhere, or possibly made it an even more critical production. Now people think that Moguchi is 'with the programme'. I have never been that.” The metaphoric nature of Circo Ambulante is not the result of fear or politics — it is that way in order that people might see the story as something more than just an image of Russia. «This is an artistic choice. Direct political theatre is not for me. My method of expression is more poetic and visual — abstract.» «The situation in Russiais … strange. Speaking the truth is perhaps not actually dangerous, as it was in the time of Stalin, but it is not completely safe, either. In principle anything can be discussed, but relations are complicated and the risks are greater than they were a short time ago. Many are afraid.» «It is very hard to know in advance what the officials and those in power will latch on to. I just saw a very critical political performance in Moscow recently in which the house was full of Kremlin workers. Everyone laughed and applauded. The producer of the performance — I won't mention the name — happens to be very close to these people who are in power. A similar performance by someone else in a different theatre could put someone in jail.» “On the other hand it is fashionable nowadays to be political. Some younger theatre producers boast about how many times they have been arrested. It is a kind of game in which I am a player myself, even though I hate it. We have to learn to play the game if we want to live in Russia.“ According to Andrei Moguchi, the Kremlin has „an intelligent director and skilful dramaturges” who know how to divert the attention of the majority in the way that they want to and to manipulate public opinion. But they also make mistakes. Circo Ambulante's performances at the Finnish National Theatre in Helsinki are on Tuesday, Aug. 21st and Wednesday, Aug. 22nd.