A warrior from the field: the Tabakov Theater has released a play about adapting to civilian life

The story about overcoming, love, betrayal and how to start anew for a disabled veteran is based on real events. Volunteer Artem Vasilyuk told director Sevastyan Smyshnikov and playwright Oleg Antonov about them. This is the first joint work of "Tabakerka" and "Sovremennik", headed by Vladimir Mashkov. "Izvestia" visited the premiere and assessed the result.

Intimate conversation

The premiere was presented on the Other stage of "Sovremennik". Both premises of the Oleg Tabakov Theater are being renovated, so from the new season, the troupe's artists share the stage with colleagues from Chistoprudny Boulevard. Since recently the two theaters have the same director - Vladimir Mashkov. He entrusted the first joint performance to the young actor Sevastyan Smyshnikov, a graduate of the Tabakov Theater College.

The dramaturgical basis of the performance was a play created within the framework of the laboratory "Actual Dramaturgy about a Special Military Operation" held at the Academy of Creative Industries "Meganom" (project "Tavrida.ART"). Sevastyan Smyshnikov and Oleg Antonov, head of the literary part of TOT, met in Crimea with Artem Vasilyuk, who went from a volunteer to a military invalid, then drank, underwent rehabilitation and found salvation in table tennis. He very sincerely told them about his life.

- Artem interested us with his sincerity and willingness to share memories of his life - shared director Sevastyan Smyshnikov. - He was ready for the most honest and even intimate conversation. He shared such sensual topics that not everyone was ready to reveal. His story is diverse, ambiguous and interesting.

The title of the performance "Call Sign Silence" was born from one of the strong impressions of a former combat participant. Artem Vasilyuk remembered in detail the minutes of silence on the front line. When every rustle of leaves and singing bird could be heard. In those places is very lacking silence, and Vasilyuk enjoyed it in the rare moments when it still happened.

The authors defined the genre of the play as "documentary drama". They did not dare to call Artem Vasilyuk's story a play. As the director explains, because life is not over and there will still be a lot of events in it. And it is likely that the work will have a sequel. In the performance of the Oleg Tabakov Theater, the main role played by the actor "Sovremennik" Nikolai Klyamchuk. The collage of the poster is made up of his portraits. A stylish projection - unity in ten faces.

- The production is on a topical theme, and it is very difficult to talk about events that are happening here and now, in the language of the theater. But the guys have plucked up courage," notes Vladimir Mashkov. - This is the story of a simple guy, there is nothing invented in it, there is no fiction. It consists of his stories and memories. Artem is a real Russian man - with his reflections, fear and faith.

As Vladimir Mashkov says, recalling the words of Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky, art is a way of balancing a person with the world in the most responsible and critical moments of life. Hearing and being honest with oneself is very important for people. "Now the guys behind the ribbon are doing everything that depends on them, and we will be too," adds the folk artist.

Artem on the civilian served in Rostov-on-Don in the Ministry of Emergency Situations, taking people out of burning buildings. In the first days of hostilities Artem Vasilyuk signed up as a volunteer.

The play tells about difficult and tragic events: the betrayal of a loved one, the very battle and the decision - to surrender or fight, survive or die. Artem survived, but became an invalid, half of his leg was torn off. As if as a reward, they say in the play, Vasilyuk met true love. And when, it would seem, everything terrible was over, the hero was again on the battlefield. Only now with himself. This stage became one of the most difficult in Artem's life. In the civilian life he had a hard time adapting to peaceful life. The battles changed him, and now it was necessary to answer new questions. How to start living? For what? To drink or not to drink? And about this, too, tells the play "Call Sign Silence".

Amputation or life

Different memories pulled out of himself by the hero, but most of all the director was struck by his reflections on what a "patriot" is.

- Who is that? We can say - a person who loves the motherland. And Artem compared it to the feeling for his mom. "Mom" equals "Motherland." Simple. But how often these simple things are forgotten. We wanted to bring them to the forefront.

The production team was looking forward to the premiere Vasilyuk. In "Sovremennik" came other reclaimed, including disabled people. One of them, Yegor Shirobokov, has the same prosthetic leg as the hero of the play. The warrant officer was severely wounded in a mortar attack and had to provide first aid himself.

- The tibia was already completely shattered, I first applied a tourniquet, but the blood wouldn't stop, so I had to cut off my own leg, - Egor shocked me with his confession. - There was no choice. 19 months of work prompted only such a decision. I treated the wound with hemostatic, and the blood stopped.

As Yegor confessed, he was not as nervous on the battlefield as he was before the performance. Meanwhile, Artem Vasilyuk appeared in the foyer. In a modest young man in jeans and a gray jacket can not recognize the hero of the play. He was not afraid to see how his story was staged at Oleg Tabakov Theater.

- My wife always says to me: "You hit a tank, what can stop you?" - admitted to "Izvestia" Artem. - There are thousands of people like me. Soldiers perform heroic deeds on the front line every day, and the younger generation should know about it. You can talk as much as you want, but when you are there, all the masks come off.

Now Artem sets records in sports. He plays table tennis and has won several competitions. He was invited to join the Russian Paralympic team, but he refused. A lot of things to do.

Domesticity saves

The performance on the Other Stage of the Sovremennik creates direct contact between the narrator and the audience. On a small stage, the staging managed to present peaceful life, a dugout, a hospital and even a battlefield. The artist Irshat Azikhanov invented constructions that with a slight turn turn from a dugout into a dwelling house, from a bunk bed into an operating room, from a high-rise building into the ruins of Donbass. Ayvar Salikhov's lighting design and pyrotechnics helped create the illusion of battle.

As one of the heroes nicknamed Batya says, "on the front, apathy is the first step to death."

- It is even more dangerous than fear, because you stop thinking adequately, which means you can make a fatal mistake. - That's why we brush our teeth twice a day, shave, do laundry. Domesticity saves us here.

"Our business - to beat the fascist for the good of our beloved and great Motherland," - teaches Batya. And one more science from the commander: an empty stomach saves from peritonitis, if, God forbid, a bullet hits the stomach.

The play is played by young artists of the Tabakov Theater: Maxim Sachkov, Arkady Kiselev, Anastasia Timushkova, Arina Avtushenko and the director Sevastyan Smyshnikov. They play with a tear. For immersion in the material, they not only communicated with the prototype of the protagonist, but also traveled with the troupe to hospitals, spoke to the wounded, handed over humanitarian aid. Actor Evgeny Pavlov went to serve in Donbass.

After the performance Artem Vasilyuk came out to the bows together with the actors. The audience welcomed him with a standing ovation.