At the Rostov Academic Drama Theater named after. M. Gorky is the premiere again. On the small stage they played the play “Invitation to the Parterre” based on the play “Theater of One Spectator” by playwright from Sterlitamak Vladimir Zherebtsov. Directed by Valery Voronin, known to the Rostov public for his play One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the play acquired not only new plot lines and twists, but also changed the genre - from comedy to anti-thriller. The transformation was monitored by Kommersant correspondents VALENTINA PERESTYUK and NINA PETROVA. The director of the play, Valery Voronin, decided not to deviate from the original source, but, at the same time, bring his own vision to it. Take, for example, the production genre - anti-thriller. What is hidden behind this, is there any intrigue here? “I wouldn’t try to find some hidden meaning in this,” Valery Voronin said in an interview with Kommersant correspondents. - This is just “banter” - a kind of answer to E. Konchalovsky: “anti-killer - anti-thriller.” We hope for the imagination of the audience and that, having seen the title, they will try to watch the performance to the end.”

The plot in brief is this. Rumors are circulating around the city that some mysterious underground performances are being held in a closed sports and recreation facility: either striptease or cockroach races. But it is known for sure that for a lot of money and each time only for one viewer. A curious Major (S. Popovich) enters the mysterious room and is appointed to replace an allegedly ill employee. Meanwhile, in a sports and cultural institution, a performance is unfolding for one Spectator (Yu. Dobrinsky), a modern “new Russian”, who has only entertainment and “grandmas” on his mind. However, instead of the expected entertainment, he is offered to watch scenes from his own life. After a story about a long-forgotten rape, there follows a story about bribery and betrayal of a Friend, who appears in the second act of the performance. And in the finale it turns out that the whole performance was staged not for the “new Russian”, but for Major, who became a secret witness to the exclusive show. It was he who paid crazy money and, apparently, will pay more, because he becomes a full-fledged participant in the performance, having committed (as it turns out in the end) an imaginary murder. After screaming, noise, roar, the plot quickly fades away and the action freezes, and one of the Actresses frantically “prays for all of us,” after which the actors of the theater named after. M. Gorky turn their gaze to the audience. Everything is twisted and unpredictable, and you can no longer tell who the audience is and who the actors are. The moral of the play is whether it is worth breaking the law, because there will still be some Director who will force you to watch a play made up of scenes from your own life. “We don’t work for money, we want your soul to tremble a little, to squirm a little,” says the Director (V. Ruzanov). But is it? This question will remain a question, the answer to which can only be given by each person for himself.

Theater within a theater... This effect can only be achieved in a small space. Valery Voronin received it, choosing the small stage of the theater. Spectators who come to the performance find themselves “face to face” with the actors, almost becoming participants in the action - the mesh stretched along the entire perimeter of the stage interferes. It was with this that the director tried to separate the fictional world from the real world. The decorations also become an organic addition. The artist (A. Lyutov) recreated the atmosphere of a modern sports and recreational facility: mats on the floor, punching bags, a badminton net, balls, benches, a basin of water.

“I did not strive to create a masterpiece of world theatrical art here and, to be honest, I did not strain myself. This is my first work in the drama theater, and I just wanted it to be a success,” Valery Voronin told a Kommersant correspondent after the performance. He completely coped with his task: no one would call his production a masterpiece.

Kommersant (Rostov) No. 218 dated November 20, 2004, p. 12

Anti-thriller from your own life