Involuntary marriage: Marina Neyolova became a matchmaker in Sovremennik

The first premiere of the 70th anniversary season of Sovremennik was the comedy "The Marriage of Balzaminov" directed by Sergei Gazarov. In the new interpretation, the main character appears not as an infantile eccentric, but as a Russian Don Quixote living in two worlds. Marina Neyolova, People's Artist of Russia, plays the role of Akulina Gavrilovna Krasavina's matchmaker. For the performance, the directors erected four rows of fences on the stage, forced the actors to fly and drink a lot. Izvestia attended the premiere.

Flying in a dream and in reality

The premiere tickets were sold out as soon as they went on sale. The material is proven, Ostrovsky is an eternal classic, the audience remembers and loves the film based on his works "The Marriage of Balzaminov" with Georgy Vitsin, Nonna Mordyukova, Lidia Smirnova. And the cast is interesting. The brilliant Marina Neelova, star of the Oleg Tabakov Theater Natalia Kachalova, Dmitry Smolev, who played the main role of a "special man" in Garik Sukachev's play "SASHASHISHIN". And Victoria Romanenko, Olga Rodionova, Daria Belousova, Ilya Drevnov, Maria Sitko.

The play is based on two plays by Alexander Ostrovsky — "Your dogs fight, don't bother someone else" and "What you go for, you'll find". In the story, Mikhail Balzaminov dreams of wealth and happiness, which he sees only in a profitable marriage. "All rich brides seem beautiful to me," he admits, wandering the streets of Moscow in search of his destiny. In his fantasies, he is either a general or a king, creating a just world where the rich marry the poor.

So the play begins with a fantasy world. Balzaminov dreams of music. His brides in crinolines are spinning in a waltz from the opera "Faust" by Gounod. And the hero himself hovers over the stage, literally, and catches that one girl of his dreams in flight. Balzaminov's flight of fancy is on a grand scale: paradisiacal gardens have been created on the stage, vines of white flowers fall from above, and beauties dance between them.

A mama's boy

Mishenka Balsaminov in his dreams is a tall, slender blond man.

— I also often saw myself like Brad Pitt, but it's okay, I'll replace him soon, I'll just lose weight, — Dmitry Smolev admits to Izvestia.

Looking just like a Hollywood colleague, and flying Balsaminov among the brides in a dream. The ideal of an artist, he believes, is achievable.

— A couple more performances, and I will weigh 40 kilograms, — Dmitry smiles.

The setting is energy-intensive. The artists dance, run up stairs, climb over fences or leak through holes in it. The spotlights, controlled by the artist Damir Ismagilov, are being fried. Plus, multi-layered clothes, which are also far from cool.

The costumes were created according to the era. As Ostrovsky wrote, these are the characters of his work and appeared. Only outwardly they are not the same as in the classic film "The Marriage of Balzaminov" by Konstantin Voinov. There, the gaunt Georgy Vitsin plays the role of a Target. Sergei Gazarov has a picky fiance on stage, round-faced, well-fed, smiling like Dmitry Smolev.

—Balzaminov is 28 in the film, but he's 43 in our film, and he's not like that at all," the actor clarifies. — And that's another story.

Director Sergey Gazarov presents the main character not as an infantile crank, but as a "Russian Don Quixote" — a dreamer and philosopher living simultaneously in two worlds: real and fictional. It is with the illusory, in colors, that the performance begins.

— This is a multi-tiered, great play by Ostrovsky, there are so many layers in it, not every director finds his own version of reading, — says the director. — It seemed to me that the theme of the search for happiness in the play is very relevant for a person. And not only for ours. All people in the world live like this, everyone is looking for happiness.

So the director decided to embody the search for something ephemeral on stage. This is how a person works: even if he has everything, he always strives to be better, more beautiful, richer. And don't resist it.

— We just need to understand what we are looking for, and then — here it is, happiness! — says Sergey Gazarov. — Balzaminov is a man who knows how to dream and dream. And dreams are a life in which we are good, courageous, brave, smart, beautiful.

The red-haired clown in a crinoline

The matchmaker Akulina Gavrilovna Krasavina acts as a guide to the world of illusions for Mishenka Balzaminov. The director invited Marina Neyolova, People's Artist of Russia, to play this role. The image proposed by costume designers Maria Borovskaya, along with makeup artists, resembles a red-haired clown in crinolines. Marina Mstislavovna agreed with this and dances, jokes, and speaks in a childish voice on stage. And from her matchmaker's strong words and jokes under the glass, the hall falls off the chairs.

Krasavina drinks for two. And why not — she has all the hopes in the Balzaminov house. His mother Pavel Petrovna (Maria Sitko) has long dreamed of attaching the picky kid Mishenka to a rich bride, so that he finally finds what he dreams of so much. Otherwise, he sleeps at home, as if in a cradle, over which his mother has just sung him a lullaby. And she doesn't know that Misha has already decided to steal the bride.

Counting on the matchmaker. And she had already betrothed a rich bride for a poor official, Domna Evstignevna Belotelova, a stout, warm—hearted woman. Her condition is "beyond limits." She's been a widow for five years. And so she decided to get married from home, as the matchmaker says. Natalia Kachalova in the image of a rich bride is convincing beyond all bounds. A cherry-colored velvet skirt with impressive hoops (hoops to maintain the splendor of the outfit), a golden corset, and a silk white blouse. A lady who looked like something out of a Kustodiev painting. And who will get such beauty?

Domna Belotelova only says: I am kind! A hospitable hostess, loves to eat. The table is set both in the house and in the gazebo. He just lives a boring life. She should have a dog or a man to entertain. In the meantime, all the entertainment is talking with the matchmaker, and dreaming about the groom.

Belotelova lives behind a high carved fence, through which Balsaminov enters her estate. The fence generally became the main decoration in the play. On stage, the viewer sees four rows of fences at once, one higher than the other. Everyone is an indicator of the class, wealth and taste of the owners. The director came up with the idea of fences after a trip to Shchelykovo, Ostrovsky's estate in the Kostroma region. Sergey Gazarov met all kinds of fences there. They were embodied in the scenery by Evgenia Shutina. The set design is very complicated. In addition to the impression, the scenery should create confidence that you will not fall off it. And on occasion, you can easily sort it out.

Belotelova's fence is as impressive as the hostess herself. Emotionally, having fallen in love with Balzaminov, the hostess rips the gate off its hinges and circles with a whopper in her hands to the aria of the Queen of the Night from Mozart's opera The Magic Flute. It takes a lot of effort to calm down an expressive bride.

At the beginning of the performance, Balzaminov says: "In our business, you can't do anything without happiness. You don't need anything, just be happy." And then he comes back to that thought twenty more times. The creators of the production are sure that it is never too late to dream of happiness.

The next premiere screenings of "The Marriage of Balzaminov" in Sovremennik will be on December 28 and 29.