Zero

The performance society came to the premiere

The Bolshoi Theater of Life on an unprecedented scale was revealed on January 16 in Kamergersky. The most anticipated premiere of the season was shown on the Small Stage of the Moscow Art Theater in the presence of the author - Surkov and his wife - and the artistic director of the Moscow Art Theater - Tabakov in ...

The Bolshoi Theater of Life on an unprecedented scale was revealed on January 16 in Kamergersky. The most anticipated premiere of the season was shown on the Small Stage of the Moscow Art Theater in the presence of the author - Surkov and his wife - and the artistic director of the Moscow Art Theater - Tabakov alone.

Let's take this out of context for a moment. If you knew that the author is not Surkov, the director is not Serebrennikov, and this was not staged in a theater, the head of which at the recent moment most urgently needed the support of the authorities (subordinates were heavily fined) and received this support in a timely manner, one could say: masterfully modern chronicles sustained in the noir genre. But all these “needles in the egg” turn Near Zero from a performance into an action, where reality becomes part of what is presented on stage.

No, the fruit of the agreement between Surkov and Tabakov did not turn out to be a scrofulous bastard, quite the opposite: stylish and viable and - who would doubt - doomed to success. From the foul-smelling substance of high-ranking prose, Serebrennikov managed to mold an anti-hero of our time, and, perhaps, he has never been so convincing. Everything here is black and black clownery, the black sky into which the doors swing open, the scorched space of post-life. In the black enclosure of the stage there are murders, venality, sadism, squabbling over money - in a word, recognizable circumstances, and in the hall there are sleek observers, as if members of the “Own” club, among which is one of the ideological choreographers of this entire ballet. The hall and the stage seemed to be something complete - and already damaged.

"Guilty" and the artists. If Vladimir Putin were handsome and charming, he would be Anatoly Bely. Bely suits the role like no one else: drive, nerve, sympathy. Vladimir Kachan is good, Aleksey Kravchenko is good, Fedor Lavrov is good: clowns and murderers “for the sale of Nabokov, for the retail of Tyutchev, for the wholesale of Oberiuts” ...

From my seat, a great view of the author opened up: Vladislav Surkov caught what was happening selflessly, a smile wandered on his lips, he was happy. Mini-oligarchs, deputies, beauties and young men were sitting in the hall, in whom the archetypal prototype of the hero was guessed without much effort. Walking along the spines of the books, the audience casually trampled down a lot of authors, whose intentions paved the way to the hall. The word "power", written in dreary neon, was licked, then crap, but it burned on the wall in the main script.

The final attempt at morality in the performance is like a paper rose screwed to a ficus. Near Zero is a phenomenon. A carefully crafted and proudly presented simulacrum. Imitating reality and competing with it in cynicism. Luxurious as a rubber whore from GB, Barbie from the theater, with live music, bloody cinema, energetic scenography. Will earn!

And suddenly it seemed: if you can argue about it and laugh at it, perhaps our times are not so bad yet ?!