Radiation: physicists, robbers and robot vacuum cleaners roamed the Moscow scenes
In the middle of spring, Moscow theaters suddenly "shot" a whole series of bright premieres — and the critic Vlad Vasyukhin would barely have time to run from Arbat to Bolshaya Sadovaya, and from there, of course, to Taganka — it's a good thing that not all the performances went on one evening. The most interesting theatrical premieres of April are in the next Izvestia review.
"The Landau Sun"
Vakhtangov Theater
How to show a genius on stage? Especially if he is a theoretical physicist. It's easy to slip into boredom, or into parody and even caricature — let's recall the comedy "Spring" with its "The mass of the Sun is two octillion tons" and the like "Sat down, thought, opened! The most important thing is to think about it."
Director Anatoly Shulev and his team, who created a large—scale dramatic canvas about Soviet physicist, Nobel Prize winner Lev Landau, were able to hold the attention of the public, for whom the words "density matrix" and "quantum liquids" are empty words. And at the same time, they managed not to turn the facts of the biography of a great scientist and an extraordinary, peculiar, contradictory person into a popular science lecture. It is clear that the authors (Tatiana Osina and Marina Osharina wrote the stage composition together with the director) had to give up many interesting facts, however, the main milestones and main people of Dau's life (he preferred to be called that) are presented or mentioned.
The performance features a powerful acting ensemble, from which it is impossible not to single out 33-year-old Pavel Popov, who played the main role. You can consider this statement an advance, but in the theater Popov is the same as his hero Dau is in science!
"The Robbers"
Mayakovsky Theatre
Evgeny Zakirov, who successfully staged Chekhov's Chamber No. 6 in Mayakovka last season, chose Friedrich Schiller's drama The Robbers (1781) this time. It has a long stage history in Russia and allows for various interpretations: from a hymn to freedom to a moral family drama. The genre of the new energetic version is designated as "poetic slaughter". Yes, Batraz Zaseev, a specialist in stage combat, has worked carefully with young artists, sword fights are no less impressive than verbal duels and do not leave a taste of falsehood.
The director suggests that we make a choice.: which of the two sons of the old Count von Mohr (Andrei Gusev) is the greater villain — the elder, the dissolute and noble rebel Karl (Makar Zaporozhsky) or the younger, the envious schemer Franz (Kirill Kuskov)? Why did the former choose the path of self-destruction and lead a gang of robbers, while the latter is ready for any meanness in the struggle for the heart of Amalia (Kira Nasonova) in love with Karl? Why is evil so attractive and violence sometimes so much fun?
Zakirov's permanent collaborator, artist Evgenia Shutina, created a concise, timeless and at the same time metaphorical stage space made of black marble blocks, their movement symbolizes fatalism and the tragic fate of all the actors.
"Marriage"
Mossovet Theater
Theatergoers used to expect some kind of trick from Evgeny Marcelli. He sometimes brought a live horse to the stage in "The Seagull", then in "The Storm" he launched mermaids into an aquarium. That's why unkind critics write about his performances: "littered with surprises." Worn to holes, like Akaky Akakievich's overcoat, Gogol's "Marriage", this director with Italian roots, could well have solved in the style of commedia dell'arte as "an absolutely incredible event."
But no. The director unexpectedly followed the path of realistic theater, for the sake of psychologism, muffling comedy and merchants, thickening the tragedy, while carefully preserving the author's text. But surprises appear immediately: a robot vacuum cleaner crawls across an empty stage (set designer Anastasia Bugaeva), and Stepan, Podkolesin's servant, is busy squeezing juice from oranges with a hand press. But the most important surprise: on both sides of the stage sits a female choir in spectacular kokoshniks and sundresses. And accompanies the action with slightly mournful ritual songs.
The play employs the best forces of the Mossovet, from Olga Ostroumova, a People's Artist of Russia who has been in the troupe since 1983, as a matchmaker, to Niki Zdorik, a 24-year-old TV series star who played Agafya Tikhonovna. Actress Zdorik and Valery Yaremenko (Kochkarev) created, perhaps, the most vivid and memorable images.
"Compromise"
Moscow Theater
Sergei Dovlatov wrote a collection of a dozen short stories entitled "Compromise" over the course of several years based on his experience as a reporter for the newspaper Sovetskaya Estonia in the mid-1970s. The writer Valery Popov, the author of the Dovlatov biography in the ZhZL series, called this book "Brilliant and tragic." Director Ivan Titov has made an elegant and emotional performance, where irony, nostalgia and absurdity prevail.
Artem Lymarev, the performer of the main role, bears little resemblance to the textured Dovlatov, but there is clearly a portrait-less similarity, and this is the main thing. The main character of this densely populated antisocial drama is helped to find a compromise with the surrounding harsh reality and with himself by the hits of Soviet pop music in an excellent live performance.
"Karenina"
Taganka Theatre
Taganka releases one or two premieres every month, but this one is definitely destined for success. Firstly, the story of Anna Karenina and the company about the search for love and happiness still excites us, and the philosophical issues raised in it do not lose their relevance. Secondly, director Alexander Karpushin made a very stylish and dynamic performance, and the Taganrog team brilliantly embodied his idea. I remember not only the performers of the central roles — Daria Avratinskaya (Anna), Pavel Levkin (Vronsky), Anton Anurov (Karenin), Roman Kolotukhin (Steve), but also the supporting characters Anastasia Kolpikova (Vronsky's mother), Alexandra Basova (Dolly) and so on to Maxim Trofimchuk, who played a taper.
The director rather wittily combined the texts of Tolstoy and.. Chekhov! It is a rare case when such a hybrid does not cause irritation. At the same time, all the action was transferred to the station buffets — Moscow and St. Petersburg. This deprives the plot of a number of important episodes (for example, the famous horse racing scene fell out), but it's naive to wait for a meticulous retelling of the novel, getting so many emotions!
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
