There's a coffin there: Local and general apocalypses on Moscow stages

At the height of the season, the capital's theaters presented many novelties, including quite shocking ones. But the critic Vlad Vasyukhin, as always, plucked up the courage and attended even the most terrifying performances — especially for Izvestia.

"Ordinary death"

Theater of Nations

The play is played on a Small stage, and not all lucky ticket holders are aware in advance of its most shocking mise-en-scene, and therefore, upon seeing the contents of a closed coffin carried literally in front of their noses, they fall into a stupor. Ignoring acting superstition, People's Artist of Russia Yevgeny Mironov ended up in a coffin at the behest of Valery Fokin, one of the country's leading directors. More correctly, his character is the judicial official Golovin. This 45-year-old Ivan Ilyich fell while hanging curtains at home. A trifling injury caused an indisposition for which there is no remedy, and a tragic ending...

Leo Tolstoy's outstanding novel "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" is a kind of diary of dying, which the main character leads in front of the public, and his relatives and colleagues are just indifferent viewers with their formal feelings and useless advice. The painful expectation of the end, physical and moral, helps the hero to rethink his life: was it genuine? Mironov's participation (it would not be an exaggeration to say that the play is based on him) makes "Ordinary Death" an extraordinary spectacle, and the director has prepared at least one more shocking attraction for the public.

The "Game of Interests"

RAMT

The artistic director of the Youth Theater, Alexei Borodin, again talks about what worries him most today, choosing original material and an unusual approach to it. The master of directing combined and mixed the seemingly incongruous: scenes from the "puppet comedy" — the adventurous Spanish farce of Nobel laureate Jacinto Benavente "The Game of Interests" (1907) and fragments of the war drama by Englishman Robert Sherriff "The End of the Road" (1928). The quick and abrupt change of episodes is facilitated by Maxim Obrezkov's inventive scenery, where a huge painting divides two spaces.

The large-scale, multi—figure production made it possible to involve a significant part of the RAMT troupe, and while some actors tried on masks of typical commedia dell'arte characters, where there are crooked friends, simpletons, a matchmaker, and so on, others got quite realistic roles of participants in the First World War, and the scene was a British infantry company dugout in France. It will be possible to figure out how and why these texts are connected and what their relevance is only closer to the finale. So far, some have a ball, others have hell, but at some point the inhabitants of the two worlds will inevitably meet. Their parallel lives will intersect. And even collide.

"Osia. Joseph. Joseph»

Mayakovsky Theatre

As you know, Joseph Brodsky did not like drama theater. And, most likely, from a biographical play staged on the occasion of the 85th anniversary of his birth, the poet would simply "dump" (by the way, a word from Brodsky himself). Moreover, the Honored Artist of Russia Yuri Korenev, who plays him, looks more like another famous poet from the city on the Neva, Alexander Kushner. And why would Brodsky, if he were among the audience, reconsider his own life path? But for the public, especially the young, this experience can be interesting, serve as an example and comfort.

The play was directed by Oleg Sapiro, who also plays three roles, including the "father of the Axis." Sapiro is also the author of a stage composition that has a strong bias towards the trial of a young poet who was accused of parasitism in 1964. The period of emigration, when Joseph preferred to introduce himself as Joseph, is shown very succinctly. His happy marriage and the birth of his daughter are not reflected. And it may seem that there was nothing but joy in the life of a Nobel laureate...

"Nathan the Wise"

"Shalom"

Of course, we can say about this performance that it is historical, about Jerusalem of the XII century, about the era of the Crusades, about the "Jewish" or "religious theme." But these characteristics will not be complete and accurate. By and large, he is both for the spite of the day and for all times. And his main idea is the need to be tolerant, tolerant, and condescending. And first of all, when it comes to matters of faith.

Director Peter Shereshevsky took as a basis the drama of the German classic G.E. Lessing, written in white verse in 1779 and more than once in disgrace, then in favor. The text has been shortened, rewritten, and supplemented. And it is modern: for example, the rich Jew Nathan (Dmitry Urosov) A tire recycling shop has been set up. But the parable of the three brothers and the three rings remains unchanged, which Nathan tells Sultan Saladin (Evgeny Ovchinnikov) in response to his question about which faith is true.

"Ark 2"

"Satyricon"

A futuristic parable unusual for his repertoire has been added to the poster of the Satyricon. This is a collective essay. 28-year—old director Georgy Mnatsakanov (Gosha in the program), together with playwright Lara Bessmertnaya, artist Varvara Matsenova and actors, made a performance that can be described as "bombastic". The audience has already split into two poles, but fans will go to Ark 2 several times.

After the apocalypse, a small, very caricatured and seemingly very Soviet group of citizens remained on Earth, which was supposed to fly to Mars on the last rocket. But one of them, a certain Vasily Mukhin (Ilya Rogov), wants to stay at home. His suddenly found lover Eva (Sofya Shcherbakova) will stay with him. More precisely, she will remain close only in Vasya's dreams ...