Grigory Zaslavsky. Ready to surprise

Ready to surprise
In the new season, Muscovites will become victims of a new theater boom. Or they won’t

It’s hard not to notice the decisive renewal in the theater ranks. Just a year ago, the traditional complaint that the circle of principals is now old was a common place and at the same time was considered by everyone to be something irreparable, almost a generic feature of Moscow theatrical life. And now, as the poet said, look out the window.

What changes should I start with?

In the Pushkin Theater , where everything was so simply explained by Koonen’s curse, supposedly sent “in exchange” for the reorganization, which resulted in the renaming of the Chamber Theater to the Pushkin Theater and the involuntary departure of Tairov and Koonen ?

At the Theater on Malaya Bronnaya, where just recently the critical polyphony merged into a single chorus in order to pillory the theater director Ilya Aronovich Kogan , because, supposedly, he does not tolerate the director “at his side”, claiming unity of command?

In the Theater of Satire, where Valentin Pluchek broke all records of creative longevity, so that those around him perceived him as a mathematically solid value, a constant, in front of which the world-famous number “pi” was no longer seen as infinite and lost weight?

And so on and so forth.

Director's revenge

It has even become fashionable to say that the age of director's theater is close to sunset. On the one hand, the directors themselves provide less and less food for not only debate, but also conversation (as they say, on the merits). On the other hand, the actors moved like a pig. They supported their directorial experiences with words. And the meaning of what they said is not that, they say, peasant women know how to love, and actors know something about directing. No, in their public speeches, actor-directors insisted on primogeniture (which is fair if you look at the issue from a historical perspective), and sometimes on the fact that acting direction is the only true one (almost according to Lenin : acting direction is omnipotent because it is true ). Actor-directors reject accusations of “acting direction,” as they say, right out of the gate. When they turned to directing, they argued that all the best directors had previously been in acting shoes (for example, Stanislavsky , Meyerhold , Strehler ), it became difficult to argue. We had to agree with many things, and first of all, the wretched picture of our theatrical life convinced them that they were right. The gray everyday life of the theater became the source of their directorial enthusiasm, which is easy to “shift” to the words from the song: “If not me, then who? Who, if not me?”

And so the directors - one can imagine this - decided to take revenge. However, we are not talking about directors alone, since in the new season the portrait of “middle management” managers has noticeably changed not only in the example of the main directors of the capital’s theaters.

Strengthening the leadership team

In December last year, the Satire Theater, one might say, was inherited by Alexander Shirvindt . In February of this year, Andrei Zhitinkin headed the Theater on Malaya Bronnaya, and Roman Kozak - in April - the Pushkin Theater. was introduced to the troupe of the New Drama Theater The other day, on August 17, the new artistic director Vyacheslav Dolgachev .

By the way, Roman Kozak also came to the Pushkin Theater as artistic director, and not as chief director. The difference here is not only linguistic, and, by the way, this appointment also refutes the opinion that has developed in recent years that now (contrary to the experience of the late 80s) directors do not want to become not only artistic directors (when they also need to think about management), but even They don’t even go to the theater in charge (when the burden is “only” of caring for the troupe).

To the list of those who were called to “strengthen the leadership team” (as it was called under the Soviet one-party system), one should add Tabakov , for whom the last season was not entirely his - in the sense that he could only be responsible for its second half . And only the new, beginning season of 2001-2002. completely formed under his watchful eye: only now observers (those who wish it and who claim objectivity) are given the right to speculate both on his tastes and on his work with personnel.

The picture of the current “personnel revolution” will be completed by the appearance of two new rectors in Moscow at once - at the head of the Moscow Art Theater School (Anatoly Smelyansky ) and at the head of the Russian Academy of Theater Arts ( Marina Khmelnitskaya ). Both the rector of the Moscow Conservatory and (in a certain sense) the hero of the occasion - the chairman of the Moscow Committee for Culture Sergei Khudyakov (to whom most of the above-mentioned owe their appointment) - are starting the new season for the first time in their new executive offices.

Of course, I really want, as is customary in philosophy, physics and other exact sciences, that quantitative changes lead to changes in quality. Or rather, this, of course, will happen without any of our or anyone else’s desire, but we want these changes to become changes for the better. So that personnel renewal will lead to the renovation of the theater.

From the history

Historical analogies - especially in art - say little, but this does not make them less entertaining. In our case, it is not without interest to remember when such a massive renovation of the theater workshop happened in Moscow.

Probably around 70. At the very end of the 60s, Anatoly Efros (1968) came to Malaya Bronnaya, though not as the main one, but as the next director. In 1970, Oleg Efremov headed the Moscow Art Theater named after Maxim Gorky, and Vladimir Andreev - the Theater named M.N. after Chulimsk", "Duck Hunt"). In the same year, in Sovremennik, abandoned by Efremov, power passed to the art college. Officially, it was only in 1972 that Galina Volchek took the reins, but we can probably say that her Sovremennik began already in 70 (in 1971, a graduate of the Shchukin School Valery Fokin came to Sovremennik at her invitation and directed " Valentina and Valentina"). At this very time, Mark Zakharov staged in Satire, and in 1973 he became the main director at the Lenin Komsomol Theater .

Something amazing - both in scale and in names, each of which is one of those that, as they say, are inscribed in the history of Soviet and Russian theater in golden letters . The list of names and performances allows us to say: with their appearance, the theater became different.

Why would you start something like this today if you didn’t set yourself the same significant goals?!

Not goals yet, but means

No one can say today whether the capital’s theater will become better (who would agree to take on such courage?!), but everyone will notice that it has become younger. Zhitinkin, Kozak, Dolgachev are among those who are rightly ranked among the generation of forty-year-olds, those who still have not managed to sound out loud. Well, I’d like to think that all this time they were accumulating strength for a decisive breakthrough. And there is little or even no irony in these words. Neither obvious nor hidden.

“You can’t live without theater ,” says one of Chekhov’s heroes. And although Sorin means something different, these same words, without much stretch, apply to a momentary conversation: a director cannot live without his own theater. It is no coincidence that those who, for various reasons, do not manage to inhabit their own theater walls, form the semblance of a small troupe, with which they then wander from theater to theater. Thus, Vladimir Mirzoev tries to include Maxim Sukhanov in his performances (although in Mirzoev’s case one can notice the attraction and “common language” in working with several other actors, so it’s really about the company, and not just about a happily formed duet). So Alexander Feklistov and Igor Zolotovitsky are important for Kozak . So Zhitinkin, before coming to Malaya Bronnaya, tried to include Domogarov in his performances ... And there is no point in not believing Zhitinkin, who explains his coming to Bronnaya with the desire to have a “theater-house.” (It’s good that this concept was not written off in the archives in the heat of current conversations about free sites, which, of course, are also needed, and discussions about the prospects of entrepreneurial enterprises.)

The directing profession is, in fact, not one that is convenient to do alone. In it, the one who is the most lonely is far from the strongest (just contrary to what Dr. Shtokman says in Ibsen). On the contrary, even the best examples convince us of how harmful it is for a director to work in shifts, here and there trying to apply his skills and talents. In frequent moves, skill is lost, somewhere - as if in some holes - talent is sifted along the way. This sequence of events, of course, is not the same for everyone. It’s another thing to fantasize about what the picture of our theatrical life would be like if Mikhail Mokeev , Klim , Vladimir Kosmachevsky , Vladimir Mirzoev and several others had not been left without a theater in their time (and some outside it). But, however, we know what happened without them.

The future of the theater - even with the new "denominators" already known to us - is almost the same mystery for us.

We do not yet know which of the performances these main and artistic directors will remove from the repertoires of the theaters currently led by them (they themselves, of course, do not yet know how their determination will be crowned along this path). We don’t know how the troupe will accept their innovations (each has their own, with their own experience of traditions, grievances, performances and roles performed and not performed). We don't know much at all other than the already announced plans. And that's a lot.

Perhaps Tabakov can be considered the most courageous and decisive leader (and most importantly, this is how he represents himself). Some performances from the previous repertoire have been “mothballed” for the time being, others (according to Tabakov, exactly “Ghosts” and “Misha’s Anniversary ”) will soon be filmed. September is the time of three premieres at once at the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater (though Tabakov, compared to the others, had a greater time head start). On September 9 and 10, the Moscow Art Theater will open the season with Bulgakov's "The Cabal of the Saint" (staged by Adolf Shapiro ), in the middle of the month Evgeny Kamenkovich will show the premiere of Olga Mukhina's play "Yu", at the end of September - the premiere of "Antigone" directed by Temur Chkheidze. Of these three prime ministers, Tabakov, judging by an interview with the Izvestia newspaper, is betting on at least two, believing that by the end of the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater season, “four locomotives” will be pulled - “Amadeus”, “#13”, “Antigone” and "Cabal of Saints." Although by the end of the season "Old World Landowners" by Mindaugas Karbauskis, "Artists" should also be released Elena Nevezhina and "Holy Fire" directed by Svetlana Vragova . Plus - a major renewal of Efremov's "Chaika". And updating the troupe by inviting outside actors. Mainly, for their part, from the Theater under the direction of Oleg Tabakov . This is a given, which, as in all subsequent cases, is subject to comprehension and evaluation only after the performances are released. So far, the only thing that catches your eye is that among the two September premieres there are two repetitions by the author: Kamenkovich has already staged the play “Yu” at GITIS , and Chkheidze managed to “try” “Antigone” at the BDT troupe . Nothing bad can be said about “Yu,” but “Antigone” was not Temur Chkheidze’s success, as Muscovites could see during the theater’s recent tour in Moscow.

Tabakov is perhaps the only one who has publicly stated his dissatisfaction with the state of the crew of the “ship” entrusted to him. Already known distributions indicate that Tabakov’s words about dissatisfaction with most of the current Chekhov Moscow Art Theater troupe do not diverge from reality. However, silence on this matter by the other new chiefs does not mean their complete satisfaction.

Alexander Shirvindt begins the season with the premiere of Sergei Artsibashev , who for his own anniversary is preparing Anouilh’s play “Ornifle”, where, in addition to the new main character, Mikhail Derzhavin , Yuri Avsharov, Grafkin are playing... In the fall, the play “Time and the Conway Family” will appear on the playbill Vladimir Ivanov. Eldar Ryazanov seemed to agree to stage the vaudeville “Say a word for the poor hussar” in Satire.

Neither Shirvindt , nor even Tabakov, whose directorial experience, of course, is incomparably more significant and successful, announced their own premieres this season. They will play new roles, but they are not going to stage them yet. And they seem to give way to “director’s direction.”

Roman Kozak is one of the acting (or acting) directors. But for now he is not going to play on the stage of the Pushkin Theater, nominating “instead of himself” the actor-alter ego, Alexander Feklistov, whom he invited to the main role in the play “The Black Prince” based on Iris Murdoch. In addition, he himself will rehearse “Romeo and Juliet” with young actors, of whom the Pushkin Theater troupe is so rich. Roman Kozak’s debut will be somewhat blurred by performances that were “fixed” even before his appointment - Schiller’s “The Robbers” and Maugham’s “Unattainable” directed by Alexey Govorukho (Dolgachev found himself in the same situation, who comes to three “ready-made” premieres that will be released before the end this year). In addition, the Pushkin Theater announced “Clear Polaroid Photographs” by Mark Ravenhill , directed by , already famous for the play “Plasticine Kirill Serebrennikov ,” as well as works by the young Vasily Senin, Vladimir Ageev, to whom Kozak gives the stage of the branch. However, there he himself will stage the Japanese play "The Laughing Room" with Nikolai Fomenko and Andrey Panin in the leading roles. The latter circumstance seems to contradict the declared aspiration towards a serious non-commercial theater.

Andrei Zhitinkin, who loves to remember the best years of Bronnaya and, in this sense, Efros on Bronnaya, will probably remind you first of all of the efficiency that both the main and subsequent directors demonstrated in the deep Soviet years. Zhitinkin promises to stage four performances this season, with the first premiere taking place just the other day. This is The Picture of Dorian Gray. This will be followed by Wedekind's Lulu, Dürrenmatt's Meteor (for a benefit performance and for Lev Durov's anniversary in December) and, at the end of the season, the "short and tough" (in the sense of not five hours with two intermissions) Anna Karenina " . Skilled in communicating with the press, Zhitinkin, whom serious criticism has not yet favored, although he has not avoided, has already ensured both healthy and unhealthy interest in his yet unreleased performances. His Karenina will be a drug addict, the characters will reveal “complicated sexuality,” and the director promises to “base” the entire plot on Freud... Well, etc.

Vyacheslav Dolgachev keeps his plans secret. But there is reason to assume that even the first title can be interpreted in the context of a direct polemic with Tabakov’s Moscow Art Theater (such repertoire polemics are not hidden, by the way, by his former colleague in the director’s office of the Art Theater, Roman Kozak). And the fact that Inna Solovyova , in her book published for the centenary of the Art Theater, calls the New Dramatic Theater a branch on the tree of the Moscow Art Theater, seems to even imply such polemics and is conducive to it (especially given the current alignment of theatrical forces). So, at least, it seems to me. It makes sense to remember that the repertoire of the Art Theater has always included plays with a social tone, those on the topic of the day. Today, few people want to remember how successful, for example, Alexander Gelman’s play “Meeting of the Party Committee” staged by Oleg Efremov was. Or - later - his no less wonderful and no less topical play “The Bench”.

Runway

Is a new rise in theatrical art awaiting us only because the possibilities for such a rise, or, in any case, for self-realization that is not limited by anything or almost nothing, have opened up for so many at once? Self-realization and competition - against the backdrop of equally ambitious and young chief and artistic directors (here - only about age in their position).

The easiest way is to avoid answering. Once upon a time there were such candies - “Vzletnaya” caramel. They were given to passengers before the plane took off. We can say that such sweets have now been distributed not only to our heroes, but also to all of us, interested viewers.

It would be nice to take off. Or - as the hero of the play and Arbuzov's play "My Feast for the Eye" said - to stare .

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