Reaching Pushkin: Et Cetera hosts premiere of Gogol's story

The new "The Old World Landlords" features a Pushkin character, and part of the performance is in Estonian. The Et Cetera Theater under the direction of Alexander Kalyagin staged Nikolai Gogol's story. Director Vladimir Beldiyan has created a symbiosis of music, picturesque scenery, actors and the author's slogan. In the title role - People's Artist of Russia Lyudmila Dmitrieva. In early February, Izvestia visited the premiere show and evaluated the performance.

Praise of an idol

Pushkin was an idol for Gogol. Nikolai Vasilyevich handwrote the poet's works, and at the age of 19 went to St. Petersburg to personally meet Alexander Sergeyevich. But three attempts to reach him were not successful. Gogol returned to Pushkin the next day. "Is the master at home?" he asked the servant. "Resting!" - was the reply. "Did you work all night?" - asked the visitor. - "Of course I worked, I played at cards." So he went to Alexander Sergeyevich for two weeks. The two literati came close three years later. The fact that Pushkin himself flattered Pushkin about the talent of the young writer, cheered up Nikolai Vasilyevich. Gogol promised his idol to write something about the life of Malorossiya. And kept his promise. "Old World Landlords" - a story included in the collection "Mirgorod", along with "Viy", "Taras Bulba". This is a continuation of "Evenings on a farm near Dikanka".

In the play, the role of Pushkin was performed by Natalia Balandina. The actress in the production of Vladimir Beldiyan - in three persons. In addition to the poet plays a keywoman Yavdokha and clerk Nichipor. Pushkin, like a shadow, appears now and then in the production. His image can be read in the profile of actor Artem Blinov, who plays Gogol. The poet also appears from the master's basket. The hosts place a double photo frame with portraits of Alexander Sergeyevich and Nikolai Vasilyevich on the table.

Estonian accent

The play has been created with imagination. There are many details and trifles, which the actors emphasize. This compensates for the lack of text. The characters practically do not speak. The author, aka the writer Gogol, is responsible for their biography. On stage, the almost fairy-tale company appears in a steam train. The mouse for the cat, the cat for Zhuchka, Zhuchka for the granddaughter, the granddaughter for the grandmother, the grandmother for the grandfather, and the grandfather is the locomotive in this company. He is the driving force in being. So, Afanasy Ivanovich not only takes care of the household, but is even ready to stand under the gun, if necessary.

Characters are constantly on the move. Actress Ekaterina Egorova in the program is listed as Dura. She shows aerobatics, reincarnating as a chicken, a doggie, or blessed. Anastasia Subbotina is the kitty in the performance. And Yegor Shevchenko performs the role of the Sower. With him begins the narration about the life of village inhabitants. He walks importantly on the stage and spreads the grain with his sweeping movements. He does it so dashingly that he sprinkles wheat on those sitting in the front rows. He rides a horse, too. Snorts, eats from the hand, drives the cab. All the actors have mastered the art of pantomime. In their plasticity recognizes the livestock from the cattle yard, ridiculous villagers. Natalia Balandina plays a corrupt clerk. Male image she decides not only costume and makeup, but also invented a special language for the hero. Her character, taking advantage of the kindness of the owners Pulcheria Ivanovna and Afanasy Ivanovich steals and squanders their goods.

- Let's take a ride to the oak trees! - One day the old woman suggested it.

And what was her disappointment when instead of hundred-year-old strong trees she saw only stumps. When the landlady asked her where are the oaks? - the clerk suddenly starts babbling in some gibberish. Listening, you realize that the actress speaks Estonian. Natalia comes from the Baltics. Knowledge of the language came in handy to create the image.

Village pastoral

Gogol wrote "Starosvetskie landlords" at the age of 25 and dedicated the story to the inhabitants of the villages of Malorossiya. Nikolai Vasilyevich himself came from those places. Artem Blinov got the main and responsible role, he leads the narration from the author. His Gogol then goes to Pushkin in St. Petersburg with the intention of hearing from the genius of the theme for his new book, then goes to one of the remote villages, called in Malorossiya Starosvetsky. Life in them is so quiet that to a guest who has inadvertently stopped by a low baronial house drowning in the greenery of the garden, the passions and anxieties of the outside world will seem not to exist at all.

The director felt that makeup artist under Gogol is not worth it. The image for Artem Blinov is created by a long coat, a black hat and a white shirt. The writer leads the narrative with the appearance of a connoisseur of local traditions. The fact is that the actor comes from the Poltava region. His childhood was spent in Kremenchug. And there it is a short walk to Dikanka, Mirgorod and Sorochintsev, where Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol was born.

The main female role in the play was played by People's Artist of Russia Lyudmila Dmitrieva. Gogol writes: "Pulcheria Ivanovna almost never laughed, but on her face and in her eyes was written so much kindness, so much willingness to treat you to everything that they had the best, that you would probably find the smile is too luscious for her kind face. Lyudmila Dmitrieva's Pulcheria Ivanovna is a little wordy. She is more silent. But at some point suddenly begins to speak French.

- Have you heard that the Frenchman secretly agreed with the Englishman to let Bonaparte loose on Russia again? - asks a visitor from a neighboring village who has come from the old people.

- Well, - answers Afanasy Ivanovich. - I'll buy myself a new armament. I'll take a saber or a Kozak pike.

- Qu'est-ce que ce? - Pulcheria Ivanovna is surprised. - He'll go to war, and he'll be shot by the first soldier there!

Afanasy Ivanovich is played by Kirill Loskutov, who is still very far from being an old man. But their comic duet with Lyudmila Dmitrieva looks very organic. They are like a masherochka with a masherochka, like a thread with a needle. Not a step away from each other. And as Afanasy Ivanovich suffers when he buried his wife.

The director explores not life in the village house, but his attitude to the characters. And it is noticeable that he loves each of the many inhabitants of this village. As does the artist Sofia Kobozeva. In the space of the small stage of the theater she has placed a bar house with storerooms filled with supplies, nalewka and jam, a cattle yard, a garden, a field and even a railroad. On which a steam train rarely, but still passes. She also created the costumes for the play. And the lighting designer Maya Shavdatuashvili was able to tell about the blossoming, withering and death of the estate together with its owners. The melancholy music by Slava Zhukov and Faustas Latenas also builds the atmosphere.

The director has defined the genre of the performance as "rustic pastoral". Fans of unhurried, thoughtful narration will enjoy Vladimir Beldiyan's production of "The Old World Landlords". The next performance is on February 10.