"12 steps" from hell

Artists and clowns united for the sake of saving alcoholics

In St. Petersburg, a new non-profit theatrical project “Sober”-the joint work of the Comedian-Trest Theater Partnership, the creative team “Untouchable”, which connects the documentary, classic and clown theater, was launched
And rock music.

The idea of ​​the project "sober" is extremely simple. It suggests one small condition: the ability to look in the eye and admit that alcoholism is one of the most difficult problems of Russian society. The task is to jointly find a path from hell, especially since this path really is. It is even known how many steps in it is 12. The rehabilitation program, which returned the human appearance to hundreds of people, is called “12 steps”.

Some of those people who, thanks to this program, literally returned from the other world, agreed to become participants in the project to help others - those who are still at the bottom and their relatives. Among them are actor Andrei Urgant, Mite Mitya Shagin, musician Oleg Garkush.

The author of the idea is the actress of the theater partnership “comedian-Trest”, Honored Artist of Russia Natalia Fisson.

- The problem has existed not the first year. We began to lose the theater, lose performances, lose people. Naturally, we learned about the 12 Steps program, found that it was the most effective, and set hard boundaries, demanded to undergo treatment. Our actor Igor Scholklevich agreed, he entered the rehabilitation center “House of Hope on the Mountain”, we did everything to get there. It was not easy, but friends helped us - Andrei Urgant, Mitya Shagin, they called, they helped him get there urgently, outside the schedule. We escorted it to the whole theater this summer there, and then Ilya Staroselsky and I visited him. We then made the play “Nonsense in a tailcoat”, rehearsed 12 hours a day and under this regime on our weekend we still went to “House on the Mountain” for a 5-hour training for co-dependent.

Igor Scholklevich successfully passed the program “12 Steps” in the “House of Hope on the Mountain”, returned to the theater and has not been drinking for 7 months. He says that during this time everything has changed in his life - from the physical state of the body and the state of the head, on which the poison no longer acts, to the picture of the world, which he suddenly saw not from the eternal sodsof, but with sober eyes. You still need to get used to it - and other people need to get used to you - another. A whole circle of support was formed - even those who did not want to participate in the “sober” project called, said the words of encouragement, and today they all support and help. When the idea arose to make a performance based on real stories of people who were freed from alcohol dependence, Igor Scholkhevich agreed to participate in it and telling his story. Not everyone who turned to such a proposal was ready to publish their stories, openly talk about how they drank and how they stopped drinking. According to Natalia Fisson, it is not customary to talk about this among Russian stars.

- In fact, this is a small feat of each of our participants - what they are openly talking about it. There are theater and cinema stars - I will not call them - who told us: no, we will not talk about it, because it can affect our career. They will begin to treat us differently - poor, we need to help - not realizing that we are already other people. And someone, on the contrary, will not want to know us after that, he will despise.

Meanwhile, the participation of stars, according to Natalia Fisson, is very important, she understood this from a conversation with the artist Dmitry Shagin, who was one of the first to go to America to be treated from alcoholism when he heard that the course was successfully held by Mick Jagger. And Dr. Evgeny Zubkov, together with the American philanthropist Lu Bentle, founded the first free rehabilitation center for alcoholics “Hope of Hope on Mountain” in Russia, believes that when the wife of one of the American presidents admitted that she had a problem with alcohol in her youth and she coped with her, this influenced the consciousness of tens of thousands of people in the country.

-In addition, some higher forces act here, there is an element of a miracle-but it means that there is no guarantee that it will certainly happen. There were people who went very successfully to recovery and broke. But all the same, there is light at the end of the tunnel - the program says that even if you broke, it does not mean that you are missing - the doors are always open, and you can return.

The script of the project "Sober" is composed immediately, in the process. The director of the project is the Laureate of the Golden Mask theater award Mikhail Patlasov explains how the script is written.

- There is such a method - verbatim. Here we are talking now, then this conversation is transferred to the text. For example: a deep professional journalist takes an interview with a young director, he changes, does not know what to say, two clowns stand, look at them with a strange look, smile-well, well, what will he do with us? And we begin to disassemble this situation, we begin to make a play out of it. And she, as a rule, finds a very lively response, because her language is our language. I still think that life writes better than we proud people. We are often not ready to hear the language of life, and documentary theaters are ready. There is even such an expression - to kill a demiurge in yourself, that is, to fight with your own pride.

The actors work for free - this is their contribution, but the money for the scenery and the props, and then for the rental of the hall, are still needed. Therefore, it was decided to organize crowdfunding - to raise money on the Planeta.ru portal. The authors of the project like that this is a completely transparent system in which it is clear where every penny goes. Budget theaters exist on taxes of citizens, only citizens give their money blindly, and this performance will be created, one might say, by order of people who will pay for it and, as it were, will buy tickets for the future performance.

The site for the project has not yet been found - according to Mikhail Patlasov, in the play it is necessary to find a balance between the social component, art, clowning, and not every theater is ready to open doors for the project with such a strong social line.

-In a sense, this is a dialogue. I don’t know if we can withstand such an intensity of a creative relationship, but you know, an amazing thing, because usually the theater comes to the names: Shakespeare - and everyone goes, it does not matter who the director is. And when you make a social theater, they go to the problem. And tickets are sold better. Therefore, I agree with Andrei Urgant, who says that by these names they will judge our time.

According to Natalia Fisson, the name “sober” itself is especially important for St. Petersburg after the appearance of famous slogans like “in St. Petersburg - drink”. It is no less important not to lose people who have “left the peak,” most of them have a creative explosion after this, the potential of these people is huge. Igor Scholklevich, for example, writes songs, transforming the stories of people saved from alcoholism.

Who is the potential spectators of the “sober” performance? The authors of the project are not building illusions that alcoholics will immediately fill the auditorium. Yes, one of them will come too. According to Oleg Garkushi, if at least one person, leaving the audience, decides to get rid of his disaster, it will already be a lot. But the “Trees” team believes that they will mainly come to them who can be considered co -dependent - so people living with an alcoholic are called in professional terminology. The psyche of these people also undergoes great changes. And when the alcoholic steps back to a normal life, his environment very often does not want to accept it - new. His wife, who “saves” him daily, was used to him, children and friends are accustomed, and it is strange for them to see that a person behaves completely differently - that he considers money, is engaged in raising children and generally claims to the place that is not intended for him, deprives close part of their life - the heroism of “rescuers”. Dmitry Shagin believes that Russia is a “country of co -dependent”, and this line will also be reflected in the play.

The TASS team, who told about their project in the TASS news agency, brought white balls there in memory of those who died from alcoholism. They say that if you inflate the ball in memory of every victim, then one could realize the scale of the problem - these victims are no less than those killed in the war, it is simply not customary to remember them.

The pre -premiere of the play "Sober" is scheduled for mid -April, the premiere - in May.

Tatyana Voltskaya, especially for "New"