Theatre club supporting Russian culture in Guernsey

Wednesday 19 January 2022

Guernsey's Russian community celebrated their country's Old New Year - which falls two weeks later than the standard New Year - with a theatre performance at the Guille-Allès Library attended by around 60 people.

The amateur theatre community club 'Matreshka' includes children and parents. It was started by a group of Russian-speaking mums "trying to keep the culture and language alive for their children".

Maria Chamberlain, who moved to the island in 2019, was the driving force behind Matreshka, which has now performed two theatre plays at the Library.

"Russia has a very rich culture and arts," said Ms Chamberlain, who has a directing degree from the Russian Film Academy.

“It’s food for the heart and soul that keeps the connection back to our roots.

"It was also great to see islanders attending who simply wanted to learn more about different cultures and nationalities.”

Pictured: The group performed Snegurochka, a play about a mythological Russian character who is said to be the grand-daughter of Father Frost.

The Russian Soviet Republic adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1918, but the Russian Orthodox Church continued to use the Julian calendar. The New Year became a holiday celebrated on both calendars - on 1 January and two weeks later.  

The theatre club hosted a performance called Snegurochka, who in Russian mythology is said to be the grand-daughter of Father Frost, the Russian Father Christmas. Together, they bring children presents on New Year's Eve.

Their performance featured interactive dance and singing acts with the audience. Children and parents danced and sang together. The event also included food, traditional costumes, music, craft making and photography with Father Frost and Snegurochka.

“I loved this opportunity to perform alongside my two children”, said one of the performers, Natalyia Zalyesova.

“It is my second performance ever and it was so rewarding to see a happy young public at the end. Children are asking when the next Russian fairy tale performance will be.”

The group will hold future events to celebrate other important Russian events, including Pancake Day and Victory Day, which is the equivalent of Liberation Day in Guernsey and also falls on 9 May. 

The group said: "Guernsey has a large Latvian community and a growing community of Russian speakers with families having links with Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and others with former links to the Soviet Union."