In front of witnesses: Mikhail Yefremov took the stage again

The play "Without Witnesses" was Mikhail Yefremov's first public appearance after a long break. A month and a half before the official premiere, director Nikita Mikhalkov staged a pre—premiere screening - in fact, a public inspection of the artist who returned to the profession after four and a half years in prison. In the chamber production for two actors, Efremov's partner was Anna Mikhalkova. Izvestia attended the screening and, together with the fans, applauded the artists.

The first one went

The release of the play with Mikhail Yefremov has been expected since June, since it became known that the actor was included in the troupe of Nikita Mikhalkov's Workshop 12 theater. The director, who knows Yefremov's talent well, accepted him into the troupe of his theater.

Soon there was information about the repertoire of the new artist. Sofia Prokofieva's play "A Conversation without a Witness," based on which Nikita Mikhalkov made a chamber film starring Irina Kupchenko and Mikhail Ulyanov in 1983, was scheduled to appear on the theater stage. The stage version was again prepared by Alexander Adabashyan and Nikita Mikhalkov.

With the beginning of the rehearsals, the media's attention to the project became increased. Mikhail Yefremov silently endured the journalists' curiosity. Closer to the premiere, security was assigned to the actor, he began to arrive at the theater by car and still did not comment. The actor's roles should speak for him.

Mikhalkovs, Vysotsky and Efremov's son in the hall

The pre-premiere screening of "Without Witnesses" was decided to be held a month and a half before the official launch. Among the guests were noticed: Mikhail's son Nikolai Efremov, Anna Mikhalkova's husband Albert Bakov and his son Andrey, director Nikolai Burlyaev, Sergei Mikhalkov's widow Yulia Subbotina, lawyer Pavel Astakhov and his wife Svetlana, director Anna Melikyan, screenwriter, playwright Alexander Adabashyan, actresses Irina Rozanova, Svetlana Toma, actors Sergei Shakurov, Mikhail Gorevoy, Vasily Kortukov, producer, director Nikita Vysotsky, head of the State Duma Committee on Culture Olga Kazakova, rector of GITIS Grigory Zaslavsky, writer Alexander Tsypkin.

Nikita Mikhalkov came on stage before the performance began.

— The main thing is that by the end of the performance you will not be less than you are now. Those who love theater know how worried the actors are. Anyway, we wouldn't have risked coming out to the audience if we weren't ready to speak out. I'll be in the gym. Take care of the pensioner's nerves! — the director said from the stage.

He then added that he would make some amendments, noting that such a state of affairs was necessary because the audience would see the first run of the play.

Mikhail Efremov appeared on stage in a Santa Claus costume. And he opened the apartment of a woman with whom he has not lived for 9 years with his key. I decided to make a surprise and met her by shooting a firecracker. She fainted from fright. The family drama that had ended in divorce threatened to turn into a farce. But a smart woman, she accepts her ex-husband as a friendly hostess. She is preparing for the New Year, buying provisions.

The unexpected guest decided to recall the past. And to support his pants, he writes down rolls and sends them to messengers to an old friend. So the playwrights diluted the Soviet way of life with modernity.

The couple's son Dimka, Zoomer, grew up. He sets boundaries literally and figuratively. While he's gone, his father wants to find out how the teenager lives. But my son's room is on alarm, and it's guarded by a skeleton in boxing gloves.

At first, Yefremov's excitement was felt. And his voice seemed to be shaking. But less than five minutes later, the artist showed his skill and scope. He dances and sings, climbing on a chair, and Anna Mikhalkova accompanies him on the piano. And when Efremov's hero finds an expensive bottle of cognac in the New Year's supplies, the hall immediately brightens up along with the heroes.

"Is cognac expensive?" he asks. "Yes. And why did you open it?" — Anna's heroine is amazed. "Mechanically," Yefremov replies.

There are many lines in the play, as if copied from Mikhail's biography. He hadn't visited his son for many years, but he loved him from a distance. I talked to a friend online, but rarely in real life. The ex-wife is surprised that life has not spared him. And now he's bald. It's funny, but not to the man himself. And she only thinks that only her son will not inherit it.

The artist Yuri Cooper built a two-room apartment on the stage with a large kitchen and a closet. Trains are rustling outside the window, and in moments of melancholy, the hostess plays Chopin and Debussy on the piano. The furniture is like everyone else's — a sofa, a table, chairs, a rocking chair. Soviet chandelier under the ceiling. And in the closet, a woman keeps not only skis and boxes of photographs, but also a secret.

Artificial intelligence also found a place in the play. The memories from his past life, saved by his ex-wife on a VHS tape, on which Efremov is young and handsome, are generated by AI.

At some point, the ex-spouse decides to take the bull by the horns and strips down to his underpants. But it only scares the woman. In the heat of the moment, the couple demolishes the apartment. Chairs were smashed, a Christmas tree was knocked down, curtains were torn off. But it was interesting to follow these family squabbles. The two masters on stage were sparkling and hissing like champagne. It's like there haven't been several years without a profession. It was as if Mikhail regularly appeared on the stage of Sovremennik. And Anna is organic herself. The scene suits her very well.

The artists were showered with flowers as they bowed. The audience shouted "Bravo!" for several minutes. Nikita Mikhalkov came on stage and hugged Yefremov approvingly.

A ticket under one hundred thousand

The premiere of "Without Witnesses" is scheduled for March 25 and 26. Even before the official launch, the play received the status of one of the most sought-after. Now, viewers who are willing to pay several tens of thousands of rubles for a visit to the theater are eager to get not only to the "Cabal of Saints" at the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater with Nikolai Tsiskaridze and Konstantin Khabensky, but also to Efremov and Mikhalkov at Nikita Mikhalkov's Workshop 12.

The start of sales was scheduled for February 9: at 12:00, tickets appeared at the box office, at 15:00 — on the official website. Within a couple of hours, everything was sold out. But resellers on fraudulent websites had tickets at exorbitant prices: from 20 thousand rubles for a ticket to the mezzanine to 93 thousand rubles in the stalls. However, buying tickets at such venues does not guarantee security — neither the safety of personal data, nor the authenticity of the tickets themselves.

As the theater's box office told Izvestia, the play "Without Witnesses" will be included in the repertoire and will run monthly. The launch of sales for April and, possibly, an additional screening in March will be announced on the theater's website and on social networks. Official prices range from 500 to 32 thousand rubles.