Bird&Carrot
London-based company Bird&Carrot (B&C), founded by creative director Alexandrina Markvo, specializes in theatre, music and visual arts events in Britain and beyond. B&C works on a wide spectrum of artistic projects involving not only world-famous performers, directors and artists from across the globe, but also those just starting out on their creative journeys. What the company values above all is the freedom of creative expression.
London-based company Bird&Carrot (B&C), founded by creative director Alexandrina Markvo, specializes in theatre, music and visual arts events in Britain and beyond. B&C works on a wide spectrum of artistic projects involving not only world-famous performers, directors and artists from across the globe, but also those just starting out on their creative journeys. What the company values above all is the freedom of creative expression.
Its foremost objective is to create a space for the exchange of artistic ideas and unrestricted discussions.
Alexandrina Markvo
Founder and CEO of Bird&Carrot.
Prior to establishing B&C in London, Alexandrina had a diverse arts-related career, working at various times as a TV presenter, theatre producer, and organizer of contemporary art and literary events.
Alexandrina founded a number of creative and communication companies, curating and producing a number of ground-breaking cultural events, including:
Alexandrina founded a number of creative and communication companies, curating and producing a number of ground-breaking cultural events, including:
- Vivienne Westwood's show at Kazansky railway station;
- Museum Night in Moscow – an annual international city-wide project attended by more than a million people;
- Sir Norman Foster retrospective exhibition at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow;
- The BookMarket – a Moscow multi-media open-air book festival hosting hundreds of talks and debates with authors from all over the globe;
- Zemfira rock concert at the V&A Museum in London;
- The Feast of Trimalchio and Inverso Mundus – multimedia installations for AES+F group (Venice Biennale).
She has recently produced:
- The Mother - piece of dance theatre (Southbank Centre)
- Death and the Girl - multimedia theatre performance (Tabernacle Theatre)
- Brodskiy/Baryshnikov (UK tour, Apollo Theatre)
- Inside Pussy Riot - immersive theatre performance (Saatchi gallery)
- AUKTYON band (Under the Bridge)
- AQUARIUM band (Under the Bridge)
- Dina Korzun's Star Child (Tabernacle Theatre)
- Boris Grebenshchikov (Royal Geographical society)
- Neschastniy Sluchai (Natural History Museum)
Upcoming projects
The Mother
20 Jun 2019 - 22 Jun 2019
Queen Elizabeth Hall
The Mother is a powerful, narrative dance production choreographed and directed by Arthur Pita - a master storyteller - which has its London premiere at the Southbank Centre Queen Elizabeth Hall in June. Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's dark tale, The Story of a Mother, this sumptuously designed production stars international dance superstar Natalia Osipova and multi-award
winning dancer Jonathan Goddard.
This is an inventive new production which conjures up a dangerous, kaleidoscopic world, combining narrative dance and drama. In setting out to save her sick child a young mother journeys into the unknown to face life and death. Will she succumb to the forces of evil, or will the power of motherhood prevail?
Southbank centre
20 Jun 2019 - 22 Jun 2019
Queen Elizabeth Hall
The Mother is a powerful, narrative dance production choreographed and directed by Arthur Pita - a master storyteller - which has its London premiere at the Southbank Centre Queen Elizabeth Hall in June. Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's dark tale, The Story of a Mother, this sumptuously designed production stars international dance superstar Natalia Osipova and multi-award
winning dancer Jonathan Goddard.
This is an inventive new production which conjures up a dangerous, kaleidoscopic world, combining narrative dance and drama. In setting out to save her sick child a young mother journeys into the unknown to face life and death. Will she succumb to the forces of evil, or will the power of motherhood prevail?
Southbank centre
Death And The Girl
2/3/4 Jun 2019
The Theatre Center «Na Strastnom»
The actress Valentina Karavaeva (1921-1998) became famous with her debut film, "Mashenka" (1942), where she played the main part. But no second film followed. A car accident left a terrible mark on the young woman's face in the form of a scar that struck through her acting career. But Karavaeva's life did not end there. Several more remarkable episodes followed. She would marry a British diplomat and leave for Europe but then return to the Soviet Union. After all, the most important thing for her was her work in the film industry. But the return did not bring Karavaeva the roles she longed for. She could only survive by dubbing foreign films. The formerly famous "Mashenka" was now sheltering in a tiny Moscow flat. All the money she had she spent on making amateur films in her "home studio".
Karavaeva spent more and more time at home, withdrawing into herself and her memories. This is why she responds enthusiastically when a director offers her a role in a new film. She does not take the time to figure out what kind of director he is and what the film is about, because for her the most important thing is the work itself. Karavaeva thus agrees to star in a film that runs through her entire life up to the moment at which the story starts. What will come afterwards? And who is the "director" who remembered the actress everyone else has forgotten? This is the subject of "Death and The Girl" – a fantasy based on the final days of the actress Valentina Karavaeva.
2/3/4 Jun 2019
The Theatre Center «Na Strastnom»
The actress Valentina Karavaeva (1921-1998) became famous with her debut film, "Mashenka" (1942), where she played the main part. But no second film followed. A car accident left a terrible mark on the young woman's face in the form of a scar that struck through her acting career. But Karavaeva's life did not end there. Several more remarkable episodes followed. She would marry a British diplomat and leave for Europe but then return to the Soviet Union. After all, the most important thing for her was her work in the film industry. But the return did not bring Karavaeva the roles she longed for. She could only survive by dubbing foreign films. The formerly famous "Mashenka" was now sheltering in a tiny Moscow flat. All the money she had she spent on making amateur films in her "home studio".
Karavaeva spent more and more time at home, withdrawing into herself and her memories. This is why she responds enthusiastically when a director offers her a role in a new film. She does not take the time to figure out what kind of director he is and what the film is about, because for her the most important thing is the work itself. Karavaeva thus agrees to star in a film that runs through her entire life up to the moment at which the story starts. What will come afterwards? And who is the "director" who remembered the actress everyone else has forgotten? This is the subject of "Death and The Girl" – a fantasy based on the final days of the actress Valentina Karavaeva.
Writer
VALERY PECHEIKIN
Original concept
ANNA RULEVSKAYA
Director
MAXIM DIDENKO
Performers
ALISA KHAZANOVA
ALEKSEIY ROZIN
VALERY PECHEIKIN
Original concept
ANNA RULEVSKAYA
Director
MAXIM DIDENKO
Performers
ALISA KHAZANOVA
ALEKSEIY ROZIN
Producer
ALEXANDRINA MARKVO
Designer
GALYA SOLODOVNIKOVA
Video designer
OLEG MIKHAILOV
Lighting designer
SERGEY VASILIEV
ALEXANDRINA MARKVO
Designer
GALYA SOLODOVNIKOVA
Video designer
OLEG MIKHAILOV
Lighting designer
SERGEY VASILIEV
Music&Sound designer
LOUIS LEBEE
Technical director
STEVE WALD
Construction manager
TOMASZ CHWAJA
Graphic designer
VARVARA TIMOFEEVA
LOUIS LEBEE
Technical director
STEVE WALD
Construction manager
TOMASZ CHWAJA
Graphic designer
VARVARA TIMOFEEVA
Dresser / props
KARINA ISKHAKOVA
Assistant Stage Manager
ZARINA TUCKER
English surtitles
JOSIE VON ZITZEWITZ
Assistant producer / Stage Manager / Surtitles
ALICE TEREKHOF
KARINA ISKHAKOVA
Assistant Stage Manager
ZARINA TUCKER
English surtitles
JOSIE VON ZITZEWITZ
Assistant producer / Stage Manager / Surtitles
ALICE TEREKHOF
Past projects
Press
"Life is the sum of tiny movements," Brodsky says. And that is what Baryshnikov shows.
Shining light on the darkness is the best way to expose injustices
An opportunity to experience what it's like to have freedoms curtailed and spirits broken.
Osipova gives a fittingly intense performance.
He morphs from folklorique babushka to elegant rose gardener (in high heels) to slinky witch and prowly, snake-slithery lover – always a superbly dark force to Osipova's compellingly complex mosaic of emotions and movement styles.
Osipova excels at channelling the energy of martyrdom into her performance; she seems like someone constantly on the brink of giving up, but fighting against it with all her will.