Journalism

9. THEATRE AVANGUARD REALIZES ITS DREAM

On the 15th Dec, 1999, a massive fast aeroplane Iljusin 76, that usually serves as the aircraft for the training of Russian cosmonauts, took off from the air base in Stellar City near Moscow, carrying with it 14 Slovenians and roughly the same number of Russian coaches and crew members. Their aim was to perform the theatre play 'Biomehanika Noordung' , the work of the Slovenian theatre director Dragan Zivadinov. To this purpose, the aircraft interior assumed a different scenographic appearance.
In the clear sky, the parabolic aeroplane Iljusin darted skyward speeding at 700 km/h and reached a height of 10,000 meters. On the summit of his parabola, zero gravity, lasting for approx. 30 seconds, occurred in the aircraft. After that, the aeroplane sunk again, and again climbed up with great speed, created parabola and resulting in weightless space . The same thing was repeated 11 times. Play at Iljusin went on for the entire 48 minutes, and actual zero gravity lasted 6 minutes.
By the end of the play, the actors and public were mixed up on the weightless scene, and in this manner director Dragan Zivadinov realised the great vanguard's dream. Namely, at the end of his play 'Biomehanika Noordung', spectators flew to the scene and joined the floating actors.
The dream of the theatre vanguard thus came true in the sky above Moscow on 15th Dec 1999, at the edge of the stratosphere, inside the airplane of the Russian centre of the training of the cosmonaut 'Yury Gagarin'. It is the first theatre play ever to be performed at the zero gravity and of course, the greatest height above sea level ever since the beginning of the theatre and world in general....

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