BEHIND THE SCENES with Dmitry Nikolaev
If you were describing Happy Birthday Darling! to someone you met at a cocktail party, what would you say?
Could you please fetch me the biggest cocktail? More whisky, more... and rum also... yep! Thanks. Now I can tell you that my piece is a classical Aristotelian drama. Events, characters, development, climax, etc. - but a drama with no words. How can this be? Listen tomorrow! Now, let's drink, we're at a cocktail party...
Three drinks later...
People very easily break human relations, connections and start to kill others who do not follow their rules. It's a story about how love turns into hatred that destroys everything and kills everybody
Aha! Was there a script?
Yes! Russian script [is attached]
[ Ed. note: An excerpt of the five-part script, via Google Translate...]
"Part two. Amorous and erotic. She steps up to the table. Pulls up a chair. Sit at the table together. He admires the beauty of the table. She is modest... He pulls out a bottle of wine. Her favorite! He uncorks, the wine is poured. Gently humming a drink. Very tasty wine. It offers culinary delights. He is delighted Eats. Delicious! Ate. What to do next? Pours wine. She refuses to drink. She lights a candle with a match. They drink by candlelight. Kiss. He tries to lay a kiss, but she stops him. He begins to sing the melody. She is also included. They approach, and are ready to merge the music... just the latest note melodies they sing differently. SHE - up (false), HE - down (at least out of tune). Gently find out the misunderstanding. She takes a guitar and plays his own version. He - accordion and plays.
Part three. Sadistic. She hits the plate.He hits the plate. She hits the plate. He hits three plates. She hits his guitar. Crackling roar... she beats him, biting. He could barely escapes from her teeth, HE hits a table with dishes and three times, making a complete victory, solemnly singing his version of the melody. SHE defeated, groans and crawls, a little apart reloads a gun and shoots. He scares, hides and runs away. She sings his own version, as Song of Triumphant Women. But here...
Part Four. Military. Approaching soldiers... they keep up and sing Happy Birthday, as the march. Male voices. SHE gets scared and disappears. He sings with them. Now approaching from afar female voices and military equipment, something shoots. Begins a large modern war - machinery, aircraft take to the skies. HE and SHE sung fragments of melody, the military command. Morse Code. Morse begins transmitting the melody Happy Birthday...
How did you direct the actors while recording the piece?
I just told them what they are doing and what for.
What do you hope that listeners come away from Happy Birthday Darling thinking and feeling?
"Audio Art is terrific!"