Twice two is good

At the School of Modern Play theatre, two debutants staged the comedy of a third

Not much is known about the comedy “2x2=5”, staged at the “School of Modern Play” theater: that three years ago the play received the main prize at the Russian competition “Characters” and that its author, a young debutante Ksenia Stepanycheva, works in Saratov economist. The successful production fate of this debut can be predicted even without knowing further: “2x2=5” is a typical “good play”, or, as they write in the advertising leaflets for the performance at the “School of Modern Play” theater, “one of the joyful examples of how modern drama speaks of good things.” And this, especially in the comedic version, is very much loved by both spectators and theaters, who are afraid of the “new drama”, which does not want to talk about good things or be kind. So, Ksenia Stepanycheva’s debut play was also staged by two debutant directors, actors Albert Filozov and Olga Gusiletova, with RATI graduates, students of the head of the “School of Modern Play” Joseph Raikhelgauz. At this point you can finish the introductory part and move on to the performance, but here it turns out that little can be said about the performance.

The fact is that Ksenia Stepanycheva’s play, despite the honestly earned bonus of seven thousand dollars, is essentially about nothing. This is a certain amount of optional conversations about love and so on, plus a small plot about the beginning of a romance between an unapproachable beauty and a rich client of the company where she works. If you inflate this story a little, you will get a hot romantic comedy that any enterprise will tear away. Fortunately, the author did not exaggerate it, and the plot lined up with the drunken chatter of men on the bus, the dialogue between a rural beauty and her boyfriend, and the story of a risky girl about how she met her current husband while hungover.

The main property of this play, written in a light, ironic tone, is its unpretentiousness. Funny and instantly recognizable acting sketches are added to it: beauties in red, green and black squeal like high school girls, two tipsy friends try to talk to an angry fellow traveler, a teenage girl, like a hurricane, is insolent and tries to improve her sister’s personal life. More sly musical accents: as soon as she was talking about the fairy-tale prince in the car, a passionate Italian song began to sound; As soon as the man on the bus looked at the gruff-haired pie saleswoman, the melody from “Man and Woman” started playing. A joyful ride on wheeled furniture from end to end of a long stage (the play takes place on the “Winter Garden” stage, stretched along the rows like a gut). And the carefree familiarity with the audience: the artists snatch benches right from under the audience and drag them from place to place, treat them to sandwiches, offer to sing, and clearly make eyes at them. The young audience, of which there are a lot here, makes contact willingly, laughs a lot and comments out loud: “That’s right, my sister and I fight the same way!” So, when you go out into the street from this short performance, although you instantly forget what it was all about, the cheerful mood does not leave you until the metro. Is it bad?

Dina GODER