Woman in the Dunes — Zero Theater

Direction, set design, and choreography: Oleg Rodovilskiy, Marina Belyavtseva
Costumes: Polina Adamova
Music: Mikhail Gluzman
Lighting: Oleg Rodovilskiy, Ziv Voloshin

The Israeli Zero Theater will once again present its first production to audiences—the play Woman in the Dunes. On May 11, 2003, its premiere took place in Tel Aviv, based on the novel of the same name by Kobo Abe. This day can be considered the birthday of the “ZERO” theater, founded by Oleg Rodovilskiy and Marina Belyavtseva, while Woman in the Dunes was its first child and the theater’s programmatic work, establishing the creative style and theatrical language characteristic of “ZERO.”

The play, based on the work of the renowned Japanese novelist, received enthusiastic reviews from true theater lovers and literary experts, a host of laudatory articles and festival prizes, and returned victorious from the “LUDI” International Festival: the authoritative jury, chaired by L. E. Kheyfets, awarded the production the prize for Best Direction! In 2019, it also took part in the festival of the world’s best Russian-language theaters on the stage of the Vakhtangov Theatre.

Audiences in Canada and Germany, Denmark and Hungary, Lithuania and Uzbekistan, Belarus and Ukraine, Russia and Moldova applauded Woman in the Dunes. The large, heavy, “viscous” novel by the Japanese classic is not theatrical in the conventional sense, filled as it is with the author’s reflections and long interior monologues. From this philosophical work, the director-performers created a simple and touching production…

The production is subtle and precise, lovingly and meticulously crafted in every detail. It is no coincidence that, in the Israeli experimental theater competition, it received a prize in such a specific category as “Best Lighting Design.”

“...In Oleg Rodovilskiy and Marina Belyavtseva’s adaptation, Kobo Abe’s philosophical novel becomes the story of two people—a mystical, strange, touching love story in a mysterious setting...” (From the press)