Theater: performances of the month

In May, Moscow theaters reflect on the theme of the history of the 20th century and turn the classics with a modern angle: the A.S. Pushkin shows the Second World War and 1968 through the story of a Polish family, Stalin's favorite film is transferred to the stage at the Theater of Nations, "Satyricon" staged a play by an American playwright about love for Chekhov. And the Gogol Center and Teatr.doc are traditionally responsible for modern dramaturgy.

"Milk"

"Gogol Center",

May 5, 6

One of the main repertory lines of the Gogol Center is modern dramaturgy, and the premiere of the play Milk is its direct continuation. Denis Azarov, who directed it, is an unpredictable and inventive director who combines traditional psychologism and cinematic grotesque in his work: his performances make one recall the films of Tarantino and Lynch. By the way, Azarov has already staged at the Gogol Center: a few years ago they showed his Christmas Tree at the Ivanovs based on the play by oberiut Alexander Vvedensky.

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The play "Milk", which participated in several drama festivals (Volodinsky, "Lubimovka"), was written by Ekaterina Mavromatis, a Moscow screenwriter, a graduate of the Literary Institute. This is a play about a fruitful feeling of impotence, about an ardent desire to save the world and help the suffering. The main character Zoya is forced to quit her job and get a job closer to home, as her extravagant husband stole two penguins from the zoo and settled them in the bathroom. At school, the inexperienced Zoya is taken to the place of a psychologist - the exalted headmistress is delighted with her passion for the theories of John Maxwell Taylor. At first, Zoe does not succeed - there is a lot of grief around, and her attempts to help are too awkward and awkward. A sense of responsibility for the whole world, a heightened indifference give rise to an unusual power in an ordinary woman - the only question is how to cope with the superpower bestowed by higher powers. The main charm of the play is in the intonation, in the way the author treats his characters: with slight irony, without pathos and condescension.

The premiere of Denis Azarov's performance will take place on a small stage, young actors will be involved in the performance.

"Gardenia"

Theater named after A.S. Pushkin,

May 6, 7

Gardenia is the story of one family, the confessions of four women connected by blood ties. Each of them is a witness of its time: the Polish playwright Elzbieta Chovanets mounts the particular and the general, plays with scale and proportions, passing the personal through the historical. One of the heroines is a noblewoman: she caught the war, participated in the Resistance, was forced to hide, drank, sank to the very bottom. The other grew up in socialist Poland. The youngest already lives in a completely different country, and her lifestyle is the European standard. In the tradition of the Polish theater, Gardenia refers to the most painful eras, to the traumatic experience of the nation - Chovanets marks each family scene with a significant date: the war is replaced by 1968, when Soviet tanks in Prague irreversibly changed the world. Gardenia is not just a family drama, it is first of all a statement about the inextricable links between the past and the present, about the urgent need to realize the historical experience of one's country, to realize one's connection with ancestors and contemporaries.

By the way, "Gardenia" grew out of a sketch, its director - Semyon Serzin from St. Petersburg - became one of the participants in the director's laboratory, held at the A.S. Pushkin throughout the season. Alexandra Ursulyak, Anastasia Lebedeva, Elmira Mirel and Natalya Reva-Ryadinskaya will play in the performance, which has settled on the stage of the branch.

"Circus"

Theater of the Nations,

May 11, 12, 13

Most recently, Evgeny Marchelli released his version of Ostrovsky's Thunderstorm at the Theater of Nations, where the role of Katerina is interestingly played by Yulia Peresild, and in May Ingeborga Dapkunaite will appear on the same big stage, also in the classics - but already in the Soviet one. Director Maxim Didenko, whose theater is built on montage of attractions, on plasticity and eccentricity, staged "Circus" - a modern rethinking of the 1936 film by Grigory Alexandrov, Stalin's favorite film. The American circus performer Marion Dixon, who found a new homeland and love in the Land of the Soviets, was played in the film by Lyubov Orlova, and here Dapkunaite, who had previously worked with Didenko, will play: in the play “The Idiot” she unexpectedly, gently and subtly played the fragile Prince Myshkin.

However, Didenko himself has repeatedly turned to the art of the totalitarian era - at the Alexandrinsky Theater he staged "Earth" based on the film by Alexander Dovzhenko, and in the "Workshop" by Grigory Kozlov - the first act of the "Young Guard", where he reconstructed the Soviet heroic myth.

The premiere of "Circus" will be held as part of the "Cherry Forest" festival.

"Audience"

May 17, 19, 20

Another long-awaited premiere at the Theater of Nations is the play "Audience" directed by Gleb Panfilov; the leading role will be played by an outstanding actress, star of Lenkom and the movie screen Inna Churikova. Once in the film "Inception" she played a debutante, reincarnated as Joan of Arc, now she will play the Queen of England.

The play "Audience" was written by Peter Morgan, a famous English playwright and screenwriter, who has repeatedly addressed the topics of big politics, the structure and life of the British royal court. The Audience premiered at London's Gielgud Theatre, followed by a resounding success on Broadway, with the graceful intellectual Helen Mirren playing Elizabeth II.

Especially for the Russian premiere, Morgan rewrote the play - or rather, reduced the distance between English specifics and Russian realities. The Moscow version of the Audience mentions Stalin and Gagarin, Gorbachev and Putin, sanctions, and so on. In addition to Inna Churikova, Gleb Panfilov's performance will feature Galina Tyunina, Vera Voronkova, Anatoly Lobotsky and others.

"Inspector"

Etc,

May 15, 16, 25, 28

This is not the first time that the master of directing Robert Sturua has collaborated with the Et Cetera theater - a few seasons ago, The Tempest based on Shakespeare's play was released here. This time, the choice of the director, known for his interest in world classics, is surprising: Sturua is staging Gogol's The Inspector General, a landmark play for any theatrical career. The main forces of the troupe are engaged in the performance, and the titled set designer Alexander Borovsky is responsible for the visual side. You can't expect a boring "school" production from Sturua, in the case of "The Inspector General" it becomes clear already from the distribution of roles: Khlestakov, a young rogue with "an unusual lightness in thoughts", will be played by the artistic director of the theater Alexander Kalyagin.

"Vanya and Sonya and Masha and the Nail"

"Satyrikon",

May 15, 20, 21, 27, 28

Konstantin Raikin, who is increasingly acting as a director, is staging a play by the American playwright Christopher Durang for the first time in Russia. Durang himself, a graduate of Harvard and the Yale School of Drama, has repeatedly confessed his love for Russian classics, especially for Chekhov's plays, which were often staged in educational theater. In Durang's first play, the main character, played by then-student Meryl Streep, was an elderly translator of Russian classical plays.

In the play "Vanya and Sonya and Masha and the Nail" we are talking about the ups and downs of the fate of people whose names refer to Chekhov's plays - that's what their parents called them: teachers, humanitarians, connoisseurs of the work of the Russian playwright. Paradoxically, Chekhov's motives, his plots and moods begin to invade life, mixing literature with reality. In a lyrical comedy about the close intertwining of fantasy and reality, Denis Sukhanov played the main role.

"Man from Podolsk"

"Teatr.doc",

May 25 and 31

Dmitry Danilov, a well-known prose writer, multiple finalist of the Big Book, made his debut as a playwright. His play "The Man from Podolsk" immediately attracted attention - the text was shortlisted for the "Remarque" competition, and the first readings had already taken place. In "Teatre.doc" either a black comedy or Danilov's parody dystopia is staged by artistic director Mikhail Ugarov and young actor Igor Stamm.

In the play, recognizable reality is turned inside out: a random guy ends up in a police station, where no one explains anything, and another guy toils in the "monkey". Everything seems to be the same as always. Only now the police ask strange questions and throw in the names of avant-garde artists - they talk with the detainee about Cage and Malevich, about their native Podolsk and its hidden beauty. Danilov's gloomy comedy turns into a story about lack of freedom, about the totalitarian nature of any imposition, the essence of which does not change from the imposed, conservative or progressive, values.

Photo: Press Service of the Ballet Moscow Theatre, Press Service of the Gogol Center, Natalia Zykova / Press Service of the MDT im. A.S. Pushkin,

Vladimir Vasilchikov/press service of the Theater of Nations.