One soldier in the field: the Moscow Art Theater staged "Twenty days without war"
To mark the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory, the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater staged "Twenty Days Without War." Director Marina Brusnikina took as a basis the screenplay by Konstantin Simonov, based on which Alexey German made a film starring Yuri Nikulin and Lyudmila Gurchenko. Ivan Volkov, Mikhail Porechenkov, and Svetlana Kolpakova are engaged in the premiere production. Izvestia appreciated the stage version of the film from the golden fund of Soviet film classics.
Beat the classic
Taking on a name well—known to moviegoers is a risky experiment. But director Marina Brusnikina did not refuse Konstantin Khabensky's offer to direct "Twenty Days without War." Alexey German's film of the same name starring Yuri Nikulin and Lyudmila Gurchenko was released half a century ago. Then it was thanks to the fact that Georgy Tovstonogov and Grigory Kozintsev offered Herman to make a film based on the script of the wartime writer Konstantin Simonov, the author of the famous piercing lines "Wait for me, and I'll come back ..." and the winner of six Stalin Prizes, the director remained in the profession. His previous work, "Checking on the Roads," was "shelved" by censorship, Herman had not filmed for several years and therefore seized on a script based on military essays and Simonov's book "From Lopatin's Notes." This film news became the basis for Marina Brusnikina's dramatization. As the director says, if not for the suggestion of the artistic director of the Moscow Art Theater, she would never have thought of taking up this material.
— When I read the script, I really wanted to do it. I wasn't scared. She just said: "Let me use the plungers" (mechanized lifting part of the stage. — Ed.). I know this scene very well and I understand that few people have taken full advantage of it," says Marina Brusnikina.
On the Main stage of the Moscow Art Theater, plungers provide movement for 20 movable platforms that can rise from the stage level up by 2.9 m, descend down by 2.7 m and tilt further, changing the angle. In Brusnikina's production, they repeatedly changed their position, sometimes depicting ruins, then train cars, then a long table, then rooms in a communal apartment.
The set design, according to the director, is austere. There are beach chairs on the empty stage, wooden pallets in the corner and an empty fuel barrel. At the back of the screen, the title is displayed: "Why do I remember this?" And then — "City beach. Winter". Such hints for the viewer are like a reference to the first principle. People are walking around the stage, and a strange man in an overcoat, a hat with earflaps, and glasses is rushing around in the center. He's nervous and in a hurry. The train will take him to Tashkent soon. And as soon as the station rush ends, at one point the empty stage comes to life. Spaces of different levels grow quickly and silently.
Another condition of director Brusnikina was that Ivan Volkov should play the role of military commander Vasily Lopatin, the one played by Nikulin in the film. On the eve of 1943, the hero goes on a three-week vacation to the deep rear, to Tashkent, where a film based on his Stalingrad essays is being shot at a local film studio. He will visit the family of a deceased fellow soldier, celebrate the New Year in a peaceful company, experience a short but vivid love — spend 20 days of vacation without war.
Ivan Volkov's hero, military commander Lopatin, literally stirred up the lives of the evacuated women with his visit. Everyone strives to meet and talk with him, to get comfort and hope that their husbands and sons will soon return from the front, because he was in Stalingrad and was able to survive. Women are so attentive to Lopatin because they feel the need for a man's shoulder, at least for a few minutes. As Ivan Volkov's partner Svetlana Kolpakova admits, it is impossible to play an intellectual, you can only be one.
The actress plays Nika, the costumer of the Moscow theater evacuated to Tashkent. As Svetlana Kolpakova admits, when working on the role, the image created on the screen by Lyudmila Gurchenko did not put pressure on her. She listened to the tasks that the director set. Svetlana Kolpakova sees a thirst for life in her heroine. Perhaps that's why love comes so fast. The actress believes that in a peaceful life, her heroine would not have paid attention to this man. And in these circumstances, even the difference of 17 years did not frighten her.
The children of the actors are also involved in the performance. Svetlana Kolpakova enters the stage with her five-year-old son Andrey. The actress resisted very much, she did not want the boy to become an actor. But the director saw the talent, and it was difficult to resist it. If Andrey quickly joined the work on the play, then his mother is still afraid for him.
— For the first time, I'm not only thinking about my role, but at the same time I'm worried about my son, — Svetlana Kolpakova admitted. — But the risk is justified. Because what is happening on stage is very beautiful and the plungers create a powerful image.
A broken heart
Igor Khripunov, Armen Arushanyan, Alexey Varushchenko, Yulia Kovaleva, Ilya Kozyrev, Alexey Krasnenkov, Anastasia Skorik, Maria Sokolskaya, Dmitry Sumin, Valery Troshin, Alyona Khovanskaya, Daria Yurskaya, Margarita Yakimova are also involved in the performance. They all play multiple roles. Simonov's scenario is densely populated.
People's Artist Mikhail Porechenkov has one role. His character is pilot Yuri Stroganov, whom Lopatin met on the train on the way to Tashkent. The hero's wife cheated on him, and he can't forgive her, even though he loves her very much. Alexey Petrenko played a man with a broken heart in the film, a small but memorable work in Herman's film. Porechenkov did not even try to outplay his predecessor.
— My main task was to make it no worse than Alexei Vasilyevich's. Petrenko is a great actor," says Mikhail Porechenkov. — I'm playing a man with a wounded soul. War passes through people's lives, affects the most peaceful corners of the human soul and eventually consumes everything. That's what we wanted to say with our performance. The war puts its accents, and we only read what it does. I have two grandfathers who did not return from the front. And I dedicate this work to peacetime.
Simonov's prose is modern and honest in form, the director of the play believes. As a war correspondent, he knew the war without embellishment.
— He brings to the fore people who are far from the front line, in need of evacuation, — says Marina Brusnikina. — They are suddenly torn out of their usual environment, mixed up with each other, completely lost, emotionally torn apart. Their lives changed in one moment, and there's nothing you can do about it except try to move on somehow. Moreover, it is necessary to find the courage not only to exist, but also to fight for victory.
And in this ruined world, in the incredible cold, love suddenly sprouts. This means that there is hope for happiness, support, and the meaning of life. The premiere of the play will take place on May 8 at 19:00 on the Main Stage of the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
