| Tomorrow the premiere of the play “The Cherry Orchard” staged by Nyakrosius will take place At the end of the theatrical season, the Moscow public, tired of the Chekhov International Festival, is waiting for perhaps the most coveted premiere of this year - “The Cherry Orchard” with Russian artists, directed by Eimuntas Nekrosius, the famous Lithuanian director, a shadowy genius, a favorite of all festivals, a favorite of critics.
The idea of this performance matured in the bowels of the International Foundation named after K.S. Stanislavsky. Even during the lifetime of the foundation's founder, Oleg Efremov, the intention arose to celebrate the three upcoming centenary anniversaries - the writing of the play "The Cherry Orchard", its production at the Art Theater and the death of the great playwright on July 15, 1904 - with a serious theatrical event. We decided to invite Eimuntas Nyakrosius, a graduate of GITIS, known for his unconventional, strange and very interesting performances of Chekhov, to stage the production (he had already staged Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters and The Seagull, the latter with Italian artists). In October 2001, the foundation board sent a delegation to Vilnius consisting of theater experts Vadim Bartoshevich, Vidas Silyunas, Olga Garibova, actress and foundation board member Lyudmila Maksakova. Vice-President of the Stanislavsky Foundation and producer of the project Zeinab Seid-Zade says that Nyakrosius “heard” the idea, although he doubted how much his own artistic position, based, of course, on the traditions of the Russian theater school, but existing according to other laws, was compatible with objectives of the fund. They reassured him by promising complete artistic freedom in choosing actors, production crew and work timing. As a result, an agreement was concluded under which the Nyakrosius Theater “Meno Fortas” became a full participant in the project, providing the production part of the performance.
In June 2002, the selection of actors began, which lasted ten months. Lyudmila Maksakova got the role of Lyubov Ranevskaya, Evgeny Mironov was chosen to play Lopakhin, Alexey Petrenko got the role of Firs, Vladimir Ilyin got Gaev, and Irina Apeksimova got Charlotte. The remaining roles are occupied by actors from various Moscow theaters: Igor Gordin (Petya Trofimov), Inga Obldina (Varya), Anna Yanovskaya (Dunyasha) and others.
The first twenty days were rehearsed in Vilnius, in the premises of the Meno Fortas theater, since Nyakrosius wanted the actors to concentrate entirely on the play. The last forty-five days of rehearsals took place in Moscow, in the new Cultural Center of the STD of the Russian Federation. Later it turned out that the first five premiere performances could be played on this stage, so the center became involved in the project as a partner, and a new theater venue will open in Moscow tomorrow.
“We would not have carried out this project without the support of the Moscow government,” says Zeinab Seid-Zadeh, “we were allocated money as part of the Open Stage program.” Some of the funds were provided by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, although the producer speaks much less passionately about its participation, not forgetting, however, to separately note the support of Minister Shvydkoy.
It was not possible to find out how much money was spent on such a bright and, of course, arousing general interest theatrical project. Zeinab Seyid-Zadeh only reported that the costs are high and amount to “many zeros,” and that the sponsors, in addition to the Le Meridian company, the Kempinski Hotel and the Rossiya Hotel, which provided housing for the project participants, do not show any particular desire to finance theatrical ideas, although there is hope for their help is still available. One would also like to hope for some income from the rental of performances, but this hope is not great. Although many actors refused lucrative film offers for the sake of this work, and the size of Nyakrosius’s fee cannot be compared with the amounts that are offered to him in the West, so on his part, the staging of this performance is in some way a voluntary contribution to the promotion of theatrical art . And it will be fair if this selfless service is eventually rewarded with something, in addition to the consciousness of the benefit brought.
Of course, the matter will not be limited to the premiere screening in Moscow. Since the beginning of the season, Cherry Orchard expects to play every month. In September, a series of performances will be performed in the premises of the "Commonwealth of Actors of the Taganka Theater", that is, a theater under the direction of Nikolai Gubenko, a lease agreement has already been concluded with him. In the future, there are some proposals for tours, including abroad, but the first priority is trips to Russian regions, if, of course, the regions want to organize this.
But Moscow audiences will be the first to see the Russian-Lithuanian “The Cherry Orchard” tomorrow. There are no more tickets for this performance and the next four. Read a review of the performance in the upcoming issues of the Vremya Novostei newspaper. Alena Solntseva |
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