Semion Aleksandrovssky 
With Charles Bukowski in The Bar
An audio performance for one spectator with headphones

Old Bukowski recalls how it all began: poverty and rented apartments, auxiliary work and loose women, love and sex, loneliness and madness on the verge of suicide. He reflects on creativity, on writing that has always been a priority, on his unique path in literature, on personal battles that he fought all his life.

You walk down the Fleminginkatu street. Enter the Pulmu bar. Sit down at the bar. The bartender hands you over headphones and a beer. You stay one-on-one with the life story and poetry of Charles Bukowski.

Working group:
Director and concept creator: Semion Aleksandrovsky
Voice actor: Darren McStay
Project manager: Irina Duskova
Production: sadsongskomplex:fi
Partner: Pulmu Baari
Place: Pulmu Baari, Fleminginkatu 13, 00530, Helsinki

The performance language is English. Duration 1h 15 mins.

Semion Aleksandrovsky is a graduate of Saint-Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy, Lev Dodin’s workshop. Winner of The Russian National Theatre Golden Mask Award.

He is the director and founder of Pop-up theatre. The repertoire of the Pop-up theatre includes 12 performances, and all of them explore the boundaries of modern theatre, build 

new rituals and communicative practices. Theatre performances often take place not on theatrical stages, but in the urban environment, streets, bars, museums, libraries and parks. It is always a search for meanings specific to the chosen space.

Upon the invitation of the Baltic Circle Festival, Semion Aleksandrovsky made a performance «Death at work» in Helsinki, exploring the experience of people constantly working with death. The performance was chosen to be shown at the International Documentary Theatre Festival in Moscow.

Semion Aleksandrovsky participated in the documentary Festival Theaterformen in Germany, Baltic Circle Festival in Finland, San Francisco International Arts Festival. Conducted an educational course for La MaMa Umbria International Symposium for Directors.

Darren McStay initially gained a certificate of distinction in Speech and Articulation from LAMDA before studying for an MA in Acting at East 15 Acting School. He also has the equivalent MA in Radio from the same school and is currently studying to complete his Grade 6 TEFL course through the London Teachers Training College.

To further his resources, Darren went on to complete two further diplomas, one in Life coaching and the other in Hypnotherapy.

Now with over twenty-seven years of performance experience, he has amassed a wealth of expertise and appeared to over three and a half million people live worldwide; Including productions for The National Theatre, Royal Opera House and Secret Cinema.

Sadsongskomplex:fi 

In less than ten years, since its creation in 2015, sadsongskomplex:fi has become one of the most significant Finnish players in the international theatre field. During its first eight years of operation, in addition to one of its own productions, the group has produced two domestic and 10 international co-productions and visited 12 countries, 18 international theater festivals and 22 cities. From Moscow to Edinburgh, from Kajaani to Yerevan.