The New Space of the Theatre of Nations presents the project Layer, its curators are the Deputy Artistic Director of the Theatre of Nations, theatre scholar Oksana Efremenko and production designer Anastasia Yudina. The project is aimed at creating productions based on screenplays and films by iconic directors: Maxim Sokolov presented My Brother Is Dead by Alexei Balabanov (Russia), Galina Zaltsman staged Youth by Yan Geling (China). Artem Terekhin will create an independent work inspired by the film In the Mood for Love by Wong Kar-Wai (Hong Kong)

In each of these productions, the study of the texture of time is implemented through the language of cinema, through the direct presence of iconic figures within the project and artifacts from films. The fundamental quality of the project Layer will be multidimensionality, therefore, in the New Space of the Theatre of Nations there will be not only performances, but also installations, exhibitions, open meetings, concerts related to the themes of the premieres.

"Today, reality is very mobile and changeable, and the first evidence of this is language and our communication. It is in language and communication methods that new phenomena are recorded, concepts are invented. In the project Layer, we plan to turn to different languages ​​​​with which we record reality. In the 2023/24 season, we will focus on the study of film texts and the layer of cinema, their ability to create rules of thinking and understanding, ways of speaking in reality and in art," says the curator of the project Oksana Efremenko.

Oksana Efremenko is responsible for the dramatic basis of the productions of Layer. However, "cinema layer" is not only the theme of "film script on stage", but also a desire to explore the similarities and differences between the languages ​​of cinema and theatre. Therefore, the curators pose the following questions: what happens to a character in cinema and theatre? What are the similarities and differences between the instruments of these arts? How can the visual nature of cinema be realized on stage? The answer to the last question is sought by the second curator of the project - production designer Anastasia Yudina, who is responsible for the visual concept of Layer.

"The curatorial dialogue with Anastasia Yudina is built on the basis of her roots in contemporary art. She loves to incorporate sculptures and installations into the artistic environment of the performance. And this, in turn, expands the function of scenography - an actor not only exists in the fictional world of the performance, but also interacts with the world of modern art objects. In two productions that are part of Layer, Ms. Yudina, together with the directors, invents a way of interaction between the actor, the script and the object environment, and in the third one she will discuss with the director Artem Terekhin and the designer Alexey Lobanov their version of mastering this space," says Oksana Efremenko.