YEREVAN (Armenpress)– Yesterday–the British Council sponsored a press conference in Yerevan at Hotel Armenia where the staff of the UK "Volcano" theatrical company spoke to the press about their June 26-27 performance of "L.O.V.E."–a piece combining classical and modern themes–at Yerevan’s Baronian Theater.
According to actress Fern Smith–"L.O.V.E." is a dramatic and theatrical interpretation of Shakespeare’s sonnets. Three actors perform the piece in English. The theater staff said that Armenia’s particularly love Shakespeare’s work and that they producing a small booklet of sonnets on which the performance is based on for the Armenian audience. The proceeds from the two planned performances in Yerevan will go to Gyumri Biennial.
The cast has also performed the play in Georgia and Azerbaijan. They said that the three performances in Baku were a success; there are three performances planned in Georgia. The first performance was successful but the second and third performances did not take place even though tickets were sold. Actor Paul Davis said that the reason was probably the peculiar relations between the Georgian theater and Georgian bureaucracy. He assured that the revenue from the tickets went to Georgian orphanages.
Volcano theatrical company has been operating for 17 years. One or two performances are put on annually. "Our company is small and we invite actors and actresses if necessary. It is not easy to be an actor–we have to be accountants and managers simultaneously," said actress Fern Smith. The first performance of "L.O.V.E." was put on ten years ago. The company has also performed Anton Checkov’s works. According to a British Council representative–the Volcano staff along with BC will hold acting technique courses for a group of 12 Armenian students and actors.