"Tearful Americans applauded the story of the heroic deed of Russian women"
Sovremennik turns 70 on April 15. By the anniversary of the theater, many stories have accumulated: how they went to conquer Europe in the 1960s and how they conquered Broadway, why Fanny Ardant cried on a Paris tour and for which performances the audience was given money. The head of Sovremennik from 1996 to 2020, Honored Worker of Culture Evgenia Kuznetsova, told Izvestia about this.
"During the performance, people in uniform could come in and tell everyone: "Goodbye"
— Starting a new business, Oleg Yefremov understood that in order for the theater to be recognized, it was necessary to show oneself not only to the capital's audience. Which tours did the troupe go on for the first time?
— The tour history began in 1958. It was also the "Studio of Young Actors at the Moscow Art Theater." The word "Contemporary" appeared in the name of the theater later, and then the Moscow Art Theater "disappeared". The first tour was in Irkutsk. Oleg Efremov staged a play about the construction of the Angarsk hydroelectric power station — "The Continuation of the legend" based on the novel by Anatoly Kuznetsov.
Most of the Yefremov troupe were Muscovites. Or those who have become them over the years of study. Oleg Tabakov got the role of a former tenth-grader from the capital who, without going to college, went to look at people doing business. The rest had to appropriate images of rude, tough, authentic characters, far from what they themselves were. We worked in detail, in the laboratory. Apparently, they were convincing, because the "Continuation of the legend" played an important role in the future touring life of the theater.
— The theater couldn't find its home for a long time. Where did you play?
— First, at the Sovetskaya Hotel, where the Roman Theater is now located. Official delegations stayed here, and even during the performance, people in uniform could come in and tell everyone: "Goodbye." The cashier went outside with a bag of money, returning it to the audience for the failed show.
"Why go outside?"
— Even the cashier was forbidden to be in the building.
— A difficult situation.
— The darkest time is before dawn. And then someone came up with the idea to make a children's play. Director Margarita Mikaelian found Schwartz's play "The Naked King." After reading it, we realized that the performance might not be childish at all.
Theater and film actors Vladimir Zemlyanikin and Nina Doroshina on the stage of the Moscow Drama Theater Sovremennik in the play "The Naked King" by Evgeny Schwartz
Kvasha, Volchek, Evstigneev, Shcherbakov, Tabakov, Doroshina, Kozakov began to rehearse. At this moment, there are unscheduled tours to Temirtau, where there was an uprising at the construction of a metallurgical plant. The workers were not paid, they were fed God knows what, they drank rusty water. Sovremennik, with the play "In Search of Joy," was supposed to pacify people's souls.
After returning from Temirtau, everyone started rehearsing "The Naked King" all over again. Ten days before the release, a run was played. It became clear that the performance was not going well. The theater council was assembled and by its decision Yefremov was obliged to intervene in the work. He refused. But it was written in the charter of the theater that the main director, the leader, is obliged to obey the decision of the team. And Oleg Nikolaevich "stood in the middle." In ten days, I made an absolute masterpiece out of this sketch.
Yefremov staged a satirical play, it was impossible not to see a hint of modern officialdom. Kvasha played the First Minister in the portrait makeup of Kalinin, the All-Union headman. The brilliant Evstigneev embodied in the King all the stupidity of an insignificant man exposed by the authorities. Tabakov played a Cook who is constantly dragged out of the kitchen for rallies, he catches a cold and loses his voice. He also got the role of a Conductor who goes everywhere with a bundle, realizing that at any moment one must be ready to part with freedom. Volchek played the First Lady-in-waiting, and Nina Doroshina, an unearthly beauty, was a Princess.
Actors of the Sovremennik Theater studio in the play "The Naked King"
— Why did they rush to release The Naked King?
— Because in March 1960, a tour was announced in Leningrad, where this "children's play" was supposed to be shown. But the "Naked King" still had to be checked by the Ministry of Culture. Apparently, believing that they had staged a fairy tale, they sent a young guy to receive her. When he saw the play together with "moms and dads," he was stunned. The audience is laughing, but at what ... and a dilemma has arisen before him — to forbid or allow? Thinking that the first audience of the "Naked King" should be on tour in Leningrad, where censorship was rampant, the "receptionist" hoped that they would definitely close it there. And he allowed me to go.
In the recreation center of the "First Five-Year Plan" (now replaced by the New Mariinsky), mounted police were already standing at the second screening of the "Naked King". Word of mouth worked. The audience tore down the doors in an effort to get in. And those who could not buy a ticket made their way to the recreation center on the roofs. They went down the drainpipe to the third floor, where someone had opened a window in advance. Some went through the cellars with rats.
When the artists returned to Moscow, all tickets for the performances of Sovremennik were sold out overnight, which the homeless theater had not known for a long time.
"There was an order on the Minister of Culture's desk to close Sovremennik
— Did none of the authorities understand what the "fairy tale" was about?
— The officials came: the smart ones laughed, pretended that it wasn't about them, but the idiots wrote letters upstairs. In early May 1960, on the table of the Minister of Culture (Nikolai Mikhailov. — Ed.) there was an order to close Sovremennik. But in the morning he found another order: he was being sent as an ambassador abroad (From 1960 to 1965 Mikhailov was the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the USSR to Indonesia. — Ed.). And he happily did not sign the paper on the closure of the theater. After all, he is no longer a minister. This position was taken by Ekaterina Furtseva. She was furious, because not long ago she had saved Khrushchev, and he had demoted her from a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU to Minister of Culture. And then there are these subverters of truths.
Ekaterina Furtseva, Minister of Culture of the USSR
— Why didn't Furtseva deal with Sovremennik when she had the opportunity?
— She had two obstacles. She was going on a business trip abroad. And to close the theater, it wasn't enough to say "I want to." They created a party commission from the district committee. She watched the entire repertoire. And on July 5, 1960, its chairman, Alexander Karaganov, published an article in Literaturnaya Gazeta entitled "Be true to your Name." It was an absolute eulogy for Sovremennik. After such a publication, Furtseva had no reason to close the theater.
— By that time, the Sovremennik still had no stage?
- no. We were playing at the hotel. And in the summer, when my colleagues went on vacation, I went to the Pushkin Theater and the Cinema Actor Theater. The Naked King was played 50 times there!
— What did Furtseva do after returning from a business trip?
— A smart man has figured out how to free Ekaterina Alekseevna from this yoke: it is necessary to transfer Sovremennik from the union subordination to Moscow. At that moment, the city Department of culture had just vacated a room on Mayakovsky Square, 1. According to the general plan, it was under demolition. Well, until it was broken, the dilapidated building became the home for Sovremennik.
By the way, there was another option — to send the theater to Murom. There was a room, but there was no troupe. We stopped at the first one. Sovremennik officially became a Moscow theater.
Artist friends Messerer and Zbarsky figured out how to turn the barn into a theater. The artists picked up rags, mops, brushes, paints and put the house in order. On April 15, 1961, Sovremennik celebrated its fifth birthday with a housewarming party.
— The theater's first foreign tour was in 1966 in Czechoslovakia. What did they bring to Sovremennik?
— They were organized by the executive director of the theater Leonid Erman. The situation in Czechoslovakia was already precarious, and nothing from the USSR was accepted. Outstanding colleagues, the playwright Pavel Kogout, the famous director Otomar Krejci said: "Guys, there may be a failure. People may not go." But let's go. We started with Bratislava. We looked at the auditorium of the first performance, where the majority represented those who were obliged to come, and not theater fans. But a miracle happened. Even they realized that this was real art. The next morning, there was a crowd at the cash register. Full houses and absolute acceptance accompanied Sovremennik all these tours, despite the difficulties.
"Only a particularly gifted artist could earn the forgiveness of Volchek"
— Many famous artists played in Sovremennik. Even Lyudmila Gurchenko was in the troupe. Why did she leave?
— Gurchenko was in Sovremennik for a short time. One of the most striking works is Roxanne in Cyrano de Bergerac. It's right that she left. Gurchenko is a planet. It's separate. And Sovremennik was a group of like—minded people, in which it was necessary to obey the law of the ensemble.
After working for ten years, Mikhail Kozakov left. He began shooting his film "All the King's Men" and asked Efremov for a sabbatical. But he wouldn't let go. When Kozakov left, Valentin Gaft appeared in the theater. He has worked in many theaters in Moscow. Couldn't get along. And Yefremov gladly took it and transferred all the roles of Kozakov. Gaft played Shamraev in the premiere of The Seagull. This performance was Oleg Nikolaevich's last production in Sovremennik. He went to the Moscow Art Theater.
Actor of the Sovremennik Theater, People's Artist of the RSFSR Valentin Iosifovich Gaft
Gaft is a complex artist, not easy to communicate with. But he was very much loved in the theater. Galina Borisovna [Volchek] herself became a victim of his sharp tongue, but forgave, realizing the scale of his talent.
— Didn't everyone get this privilege?
— No, only a particularly gifted artist could earn Volchek's forgiveness.
— Who else was like that?
— Oleg Dahl. His Top was idolized. But he was drinking, and Galina Borisovna hated drunks. One day Dahl's mom called and said that her son was out of shape. Galina Borisovna talked to him and said that he should go on stage. And she promised that not a single person in the theater would say a word to him. It was a violation of the principles of Sovremennik. But Dahl Volchek forgave a lot. The artist eventually packed up, came and brilliantly played Vaska Ashes in the play "At the Bottom".
And someone left, dissatisfied with the situation in the theater. Others left Sovremennik because they were not voted for.…
"How's that?"
— At the end of each season, the troupe met to discuss everyone. The one they were talking about was walking out the door and waiting for his fate. It was terrible. But there was no other way.
A scene from the play "At the Bottom" based on the play by M.Gorky in the production of the Moscow Sovremennik Theater, Natasha - Alla Pokrovskaya, Luka - Honored Artist of the RSFSR Igor Kvasha, Vaska Pepel - Oleg Dahl
— What was important?
— What kind of artist is on stage is the most important thing, how he fits into the team, whether he shares the beliefs of the core of Sovremennik, how he treats the common cause. Roughly speaking, did he come to the theater with a brush and paints when everyone was doing repairs, or did he prefer to act. They could have said directly, "Thank you very much. We're breaking up." Or they could have put it on display, warned that it was necessary to show the result.
— Who was asked in this way?
— In 1961, six artists, among them the great ones — Stanislav Lyubshin, Vladimir Zamansky — were warned. Then they decided to make Volodin's "Five Evenings". Although the theater has already had a performance based on this play directed by Efremov. But the artists took a chance. They invited the Tops to a rehearsal. She was pregnant, she didn't play any plays, but she wasn't in a hurry to go on maternity leave either. I looked at their sketches and made a much tougher production than Efremov's. When the team saw the run, they decided to play in the "Five Evenings" queue of Efremov and Volchek. That's how Galina Borisovna took her first steps in directing.
"A plane carrying celebrities from New York arrived at the premiere of Echelon"
— What did Volchek do if the performance was banned?
— There was a crazy story with the staging of the play "Echelon" based on the play by Roshchin. He was handed over to officials 16 times! There are 20 characters on the stage. And all this in the small space of the rehearsal hall. The commission came, watched the play and left in silence. And at some point Tabakov ran after them. "Well, you don't have an opinion, but do you have any impressions?" Oleg Pavlovich shouted. They didn't respond to that either.
Volchek came to one of these performances and saw that all the artists were kind of weird. They played a play. Again, he was not accepted. When she went down to her office, she found out that her father had died.
A scene from the play "Echelon" based on the play by Mikhail Roshchin
— When was the play released?
— In 1975. The suffering was not in vain. Two years later, a delegation from the United States arrived in Moscow. They were looking for a modern Russian play to stage. Sovremennik was the last address they were taken to. Volchek took it as a joke. How can Americans be interested in exhausted Russian aunts in the train with small children in their arms, dying of hunger and carrying equipment to the rear?
But during the intermission, Nina Vance, artistic director of The Alley Theatre from Houston, approached her. Grabbing her by the hand, she began to say something hotly. Volchek didn't speak much English at that moment and thought that the woman needed to go to the bathroom, where she took her. There in the queue, Nina explained as best she could that she was asking her to come to Houston so that Volchek would do this performance at their theater. She thought it was a joke. And she said, okay, I'll come in February 1978.
And after the performance, two more people from New York and Chicago asked her for the same thing. She thought they were laughing at her. But the next day, Galina Borisovna was ordered to attend a meeting at the VAAP (All-Union Copyright Agency. — Ed.). She was too late. She ran in, and then everyone greeted her with applause. In February, she flew to Houston, where two months later the grand premiere of "Echelon" took place. A plane carrying celebrities from New York flew to her. Tearful Americans gave a standing ovation to the story of the heroic deed of Russian women.
"Fanny Ardant couldn't get up from her chair"
Was Volchek the first Soviet director to direct abroad?
- yes. During the Cold War, Volchek pulled back the "iron curtain", putting up a "Train" about Russian women. In the mid-1990s, she was invited by New York University to their famous Tisch School of the Arts to stage The Cherry Orchard. There she met the art critic Marina Kovaleva. She invited Sovremennik to come on tour to the USA. Volchek replied that they would not play in synagogues. If you do a tour, then on Broadway. And Marina, along with her daughter Rina, took up the organization of the Broadway tour of Sovremennik. The success was bombastic. "The Steep Route" and "Three Sisters" were enthusiastically received by the press. Reviews — to tears: about the opening of the Russian theater, about the psychological depth.
French film actress Fanny Ardant
After that, the same Kovalevs had the idea to play the premiere of the new edition of The Cherry Orchard on Broadway. And so it happened. 14 days in a row, 16 performances, a resounding success.
And already in the 21st century, we have traveled a good half of Europe. I'll never forget how we opened the "Steep Route" tour in Paris in 2007. Volchek gathered us and, like a football team, pumped us up before the performance. Fanny Ardant could not get up from her chair. Everyone left, and she was sitting in the auditorium. It was the conquest of Paris.
— Galina Volchek's last tour with the theater was in May 2018 in Tbilisi. Izvestia was accompanied by Sovremennik. Why was it important for her to return to Georgia?
— This story began in 1962. The hospitality with which they were received in Tbilisi at that time is remembered to this day. After the performances, white Volga cars drove up to the theater, and everyone was taken to some kind of celebrations arranged for the theater. The artists felt like gods.
Artistic director of the Sovremennik Theater Galina Volchek
Galina Borisovna dreamed of returning to Tbilisi. Thanks to the "Big Tour", Sovremennik went to Georgia after 56 years. Nikolai Sventitsky, director of the Tbilisi Russian Drama Theater named after A. S. Griboyedov, who died not so long ago, was a cordial host. Galina Borisovna met with Rezo Gabriadze. She wanted to bring back the feeling of fantastic happiness in 1962. But you can't enter the same river twice. She, the theater, and the audience were already different. But our Georgian colleagues did everything to make Galina Borisovna and Sovremennik feel joy to the fullest.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
