Review: The Mystery of the Dyatlov Pass Incident
Surviving an event where other people experience loss of life is likely to follow if not define you for the rest of your life. This was the lot of Yuri Yudin.
In January 1959, 10 experienced Soviet hikers set out on an expedition to the Ural Mountains. Part of this initiative was the attainment of the highest level of Soviet accreditation. An honour none of the party would attain. 9 hikers died on Kholat Syakhi and the sole survivor, Yuri Yudin, had earlier succumbed to the recurrence of an ailment forcing him to abort his mission. Yudin became one of life’s guilty without guilt.
Driven at key points through a series of monologues, Acting Coach Scotland’s The Mystery of The Dyotlav Pass Incident opens with a howling wind and the deep breath of a hiker making their way to the campsite where wooden crates, blankets and other hiking accoutrements are strewn. The juxtaposition of confinement in the great wide-open induces the perfect conditions for clashing egos, alliances, and misunderstood romances which eventually elicits a sense of belated fellowship.
The immediate challenge for the production is the sheer number of characters required within a confined performance space: a square that is circled by having 7 actors portray 10 people. This limits any confusion arising from the need to delineate so many characters. However, it does result in some actors portraying two characters where others portray just the one.
Whilst internecine strife is ever-present, there is a lovely piece of dramaturgy which is a reification of calm. The hikers are captured in a series of stills: smiling, laughing, posing, gathering. A tableaux of community and comradeship representing the unpublished photographs taken by one of the party which only came into the public domain in 1997.
The search for the hikers and the events of what took place on Kholat Syakhi have about them a shroud of mystery. Was it an avalanche? Soviet radiation? A Yeti? The bodies of the 9 hikers were found in different locations, in different states of undress, and in contrasting physical conditions. The perfect circumstances for conspiracy…which provides an apt opportunity to re-tell a story without resolution by prompting the audience for a response: “which was it?” the actors shout. Whether the audience is aware they are being solicited for their views remains uncertain… as eventually an answer emanates from somewhere close to the sound-desk!
The Mystery of the Dyatlov Pass Incident continues its run at The Space, Symposium Hall, Edinburgh until 26th Aug.