The Kursk: Interview
Written by Alison Mooney
Making History With History
News comes and goes at such a rapid pace that it's easy to forget the reality of what's making headlines. Little thought is paid to the thousands of people whose lives are affected by tragic incidents, long after the event.
So when Russian born Toowoomba USQ graduate, Sasha Janowicz, took the time to find out more about the sinking of Russian submarine, the Kursk in 2000, he found stories that people wanted shared.
The stories continued flowing through after his first script, 'The Kursk' was penned and produced as a profit share play in Brisbane two years ago.
The continued outpouring expanded into today's $600,000 production with a rigorous six-month Australia-wide touring schedule and over $350,000 in government grants - making it the largest independent theatre production to ever tour Australia.
As accolades continue to heap on Janowicz's debut script, and all bar one of the cast originals remain, it's amazing to think 'The Kursk' is the play that was almost never made.
The tragic tales were almost too much for Janowicz, says Julienne Youngberry who plays Olga Kolesnikov, the wife of one of the 118 Russian sailors lost when the submarine sank in August nine years ago.
“He went up to the far north of Russia along the Barents Sea and spoke with people who had friends on the Kursk who were in the military. He spoke to them about the whole ordeal and… started to feel, 'oh my goodness, I can't write about this. It's too emotional, it's too intense,'” the eloquent Youngberry said.
“Just when he was thinking 'I can't write this play', he got an anonymous package in the mail. It was a Russian submariner's uniform.”
She said there was also a note enclosed saying: 'this was my husband's he was on the Kursk. I've heard of what you're doing and who you're speaking to and I wanted to donate this to your show'.
“When Sacha got that,” Julienne says, “he said there was no looking back. He had to finish the thing.”
With director Michael Futcher's subtle hand and a traditional set replaced by the clever manipulation of light by designer, Jason Glenwright, The Kursk tells the tragic tale through the eyes of those directly involved.
It also looks at how a story can be shaped depending on who's telling it, as Sacha and Julienne realised back in 2000. The more they discussed the sinking of the submarine, the more the pair found gaping differences between Russian and Australian news coverage.
“For example there was this grueling image of a woman, her name's Nadezhda Tylik… one of the first things that springs to mind when people remember The Kursk, was this woman being restrained by people in military uniform and being injected,” Julienne said.
“We (as Australians) were told, 'Look at these Russians they're silencing people with pharmaceuticals when they're trying to find out what happened to their loved ones'. But the story actually goes that Nadezhda Tylik has a heart condition and her husband, who is beside her in military uniform, because he also was a submariner, was holding her and waved over to one of his friends who was a medic, also in uniform, and asked for help because he was afraid she was going to have a heart attack because… it was her son who was down in the Kursk at the time.”
Facing the harrowing reality, Julienne said, has been the biggest challenge of her role in The Kursk.
“These were actual people. Actual husbands and wives and sons and brothers and it… I don't know… it just brings it all back to you.
“We were recently touring through country Victoria, for instance, and when we were talking with people after the show, it gave them an ability to talk about the fires,” Julienne explained.
“Having a show like this is giving people an opportunity to sit for a moment and sort of take it in and go, 'you know, that's human life and it should be valued'.”
‘The Kursk’ opens at La Boite Theatre, Kelvin Grove on September 1 and runs until Sept 12. See wwwlaboite.com.au for tickets and showtimes.
