The most beloved

Well, the Golden Masks are awarded, which means that the “theater community” has ceased to discuss the expert council, which, as usual, nominated not for the prizes of the wrong and not for that, and began to bounce about who this time was bypassed, but to whom they gave the award in vain. These conversations will last until the end of the season, and from the beginning of the next, everyone will begin to guess, whom the expert council of the Golden Mask 2007 will be included in the new list of nominees. The names of the current laureates will no longer cause doubt or crooked pins.

But while the jury decisions are not perceived by so final, to figure out which of the laureates is worth it, it is interesting (I commented on the list of nominees in the New Year's article on the theatrical results of the year ). Moreover, this time I am a biases, since I was in the expert council on drama and dolls. And, recalling, at the cost of what difficult compromises, not everyone liked the list of nominees for the current prize, I am not surprised at any jury choice.

So, the best domestic director of the drama, who staged the best performance in Russia last season, was again Peter Fomenko. By and large, such a combination is correct: if the director is the best, then the performance should be better than anyone, but, as a rule, trying to cover more nominees, the jury shares these two prizes. So, if the judges did not feel true and gave “two in the same hands”, which means that they were really the play “ Three Sisters ” in Fomenko’s workshop.

True, at the premiere that took place at the beginning of last season, that is, a year and a half ago, this performance did not cause such universal enthusiasm. Critics crumbled, sting and wrote that everything, of course,, as always, cute, but, for which Peter Naumovich took up this play, they are not entirely clear. Those who saw the "three sisters" recently said that the performance gained momentum, the actors play amazingly and no questions for it arose. However, Fomenko himself, who understands his staged better than any critics, was nervous, assured that the "three sisters" go unevenly, and sometimes it was bad, and before the most "masking" shows wrote a letter, asking to take his performance from the competition. Fortunately, he managed to persuade him, but, receiving prizes, Fomenko looked noticeably embarrassed. And such a demanding and tough attitude to their work (regardless of all talk about the neurast of the artist), in my opinion, should be a convincing lesson for directors who are impeccable.

By the way, at the awards ceremony, we saw another version of the “History with Ride”, but already in a parody. There, the chairman of the music jury, Vladimir Vasiliev, reminded the public that at the beginning of the premium race, Valery Gergiev, withdrew his candidacy from the nomination for the "best conductor" (he was supposed to be nominated for the "Mask" for "" Tristan and Isolde "in the Mariinsky Theater). Of course, he took it off not because he considers his work unsuccessful, but, on the contrary, because in the opinion of the folk, the opinion of the jury and, probably, he will see his soaring high in the sky, generally outside of any categories and premiums. Vasiliev said with a simple -minded edification: "Valery Abessalych took off his candidacy, and this is a wonderful step and a good lesson for those people who receive this award from year to year." And thereby immediately offended all those who received a “mask” not for the first time (and there were many of them). However, the malicious Tsiscadze, who once again went on stage for the awards of his missing colleagues from the big one, did not remain silent: "Despite the fact that Vasiliev said that some of the awards are tired and they need to self -embrace, I was not tired of getting them even even for themselves."

So, continuing about Fomenko. Already a few years ago, just during the next Golden Mask ceremony, it became completely clear: Fomenko is the most beloved director in the Russian theater. No recognized geniuses - neither Dodin, nor Vasiliev, nor Ginkas - will be able to argue with him in spectator love. Of the directors, perhaps, only he, going on stage for the award, causes a standing ovation that they do not allow him to speak for a long time. It is symbolic that this year even the intensity of the famous Doech theater, receiving the “Mask” for the best foreign performance shown in Russia (it was Emilia Galotti Michael Talhaimer), said: “Great honor is to stand on the stage where Peter Fomenko just stood.” And he called the thunder of approval applause.

A completely similar situation occurred with the nomination for the best female role. There were three applicants for this prize, but everyone understood that the young - albeit very good - Omsk actress Inga Matis in the role of Christina from Freken Julie could not compete with Aliso Freindlich and Marina Neelova in their monosparr and pink lady and overcoat . And in this pair of two truly best Russian actresses of the first spectator love, Freindlich clearly turns out to be, each appearance of which is literally howled on the stage. Accordingly, the announcement that the prize of the audience sympathies, which has been awarding “Neskafa Gold” for several years, also went to Oscar, the audience of the ceremony was taken for granted.

Of course, Neelov, who plays in the dry and rational performance of Fokin, the role of the old girl-resort Akaki Akakievich at some desperate limit of opportunities was impossible to leave without a prize. And the award "For the best performance of a small uniform", which was received by the "Overcoat", this time was clearly intended for the actress. What the smart Fokin, receiving a prize, immediately said from the stage.

As for Vasily Bochkarev, who received a prize for a male role in a unique situation (he is nominated for work in a play that was not nominated for any more prize), then there is also a story to a large extent related to the audience love. In my opinion, both Vitaliy Kishchenko (Jean from the Omsk "Freken Julie"), and Alexei Levinsky (Serebryakov from "Uncle Vanya" Troblinichko) play no less worthy than Bochkarev - the role of profit in the " last victim " of the Small Theater. But Bochkarev is so loved, so much connected with the best theatrical memories of several generations of the audience and, playing in the small, in recent years had so few opportunities to count on prizes (not to mention the fact that the millionaire's in love is irresistibly charming) that it was decisively impossible not to give the actor.

Now about the jury specials. This year, it was more noticeable than ever that the special prizes are comforting and are given to those who do not want to give the main prizes, but you can’t notice at all - there will be a lot of noise. So it was with Evgeny Marcelli , who has long been listed among the best directors of the Russian province, takes all prizes at regional festivals and is constantly nominated for a "mask". In Moscow, his brutal performances, although they have their fans, are regularly failed, and this year Marcelli was presented at the prize at once with two Omsk productions that were present in all premium nominations. And although everyone understood that the Marshalli's master was not an opponent, it was impossible not to notice him. As a result, without mentioning the director, they gave a special prize to the whole Omsk drama with the wording "for the variety of creative searches in the season." The second special prize had an even more scandalous subtext. He was given to Kirill Serebrennikov "for creating bright performances in the season." So they got out of the situation, evaluating in the competition two performances of the director, who has been the first among the fashionable for several years in the capital, has a recognition of criticism, the unconditional success of the public, incredibly working, releases more prime ministers than anyone, and puts in the theater, cinema and on television, but at the same time causes inexplicable irritation of the theater community. So this time, the performances that occupied the first lines in all the ratings of the season, dear members of the jury were considered frivolous, called a cabbage on the sidelines, and successes were attributed to the intelligence of the audience.

Now about other nominations that are not alien to me - “dolls” and “innovation”. As a member of the expert council, I am proud of the performances in one and the other nomination. Both programs turned out to be high -quality, without breakdowns. The "innovation" was especially good and diverse. And although the prize in it received a powerful polyphonic performance of Andrei Mighty “between a dog and a wolf” (he also received a prize of criticism), his rivals were very worthy: the “ death of Polypheme ” (ballet in a tiny Lilikan Theater with Living Nicholas Tsiskaridze in the role of a giant), and a wild, but driving “Genesis? 2” Viktor Ryzhakov for Ivan. Vyrypaev, and expressive student "lack of core" Dmitry Krymov. By the way, with regard to student performances - both “lack of car” and “boys” by Sergey Zhenovach, who participated in a dramatic competition - they, as expected, did not receive awards. This is understandable: for them, the inclusion in the prestigious list of nominees is already a reward. But still, it is a pity that the jury did not come up with any way to celebrate them with a special mention, at least for a rare acting serious and courage.

And finally, the puppet theater. Then the jury decided to divide the prizes into all. The "best artist" went to St. Petersburg - a very conditional minimalist " ugly duckling ." "Best Director" - in Abakan, a sweet sentimental performance for " Oscar and Pink Lady ". And for the best actor and for the best performance, the inventive and simple-minded Buryat legend “Singing Arrow” from Ulan-Ude received the prize. Honestly, I was especially ill for them: once to the village guys, and now the St. Petersburg graduates who are just beginning professional life in poor Buryatia, a solid reward can help very much. Maybe they will give a bonus or even a salary will be raised. After all, to be honest, the "golden mask", no matter how pleasant it is to get it, does not bring anything to actors, directors and artists in the capitals. It is really important only in the province - there, receiving a prestigious award ensures the respect and attention of the local authorities. And it is very necessary. Because our theatrical people are traditionally powerless, defenseless and poor. And the poorest of them are those who work in children's theaters. And the most poor among the poorests are puppeteers. And it is impossible to rationally explain why people in the provinces go to work in puppet theaters, why, receiving a penny, spend their lives on buses jumping on country roads from school to club or kindergarten. So, if two velvet boxes with golden masks will help Buryat theater, it will be possible to assume that they turned out to be the main awards of the current festival.