The scene of huge casualties

The world premiere of the play “Inhable your plow on the bones of the dead” - in Yerevan, which becomes the Point of Freedom for the Russian Theater

*“Once, a meek soul,

On a dangerous path

The righteous was a man

Making his way to the valley of death. "*

Each chapter of the novel “Lead your plow along the bones of the dead” of the Nobel laureate of the Polish writer Olga Tokarchuk is accompanied by an epigraph from William Blake, mysticism and philosopher.

Olga Tokarchuk, like many authors, after February 24, 2022 banned the use of her texts in Russian for any productions and goals. And she made an exception - for the actress, who, however, cannot play anything in Russia - for Leah Akhedzhakova. I read the novel, already knowing that it was Akhedzhakova who would play the main role in the play on it. And I could not imagine a more accurate choice (although this text, written in 2009, is so, alas, relevant and alive that there are many examples of its past and future theatrical productions, and there is also the film Agnieshk Holland “The Beast trail”).

In 2022, when I arrived in Yerevan, as a person who is engaged in cultural projects, I immediately began to think that my new city is ideal for theatrical collaborations. Friendly, open, with convenient aircraft logistics and adequate prices - people from Russia and recent emigrants can come here. So it happened two years later, in 2024. An example, on which it is quite possible to rely, was the play “Lead your plow in the footsteps of the dead”, staged by Boris Pavlovich, in which, in addition to Akhejakova, Alexander Feklistov (Spain), Musya Totibadze (Georgia) played.

The producers say that they chose Yerevan because he turned out to be the cheapest for such an entreprise. And excellent, this is a good competitive advantage. However, prices are a rather serious stumbling block. Since 2022, the cost of tickets for touring Russian concerts and performances strains the inhabitants of Armenia, who basically are very happy with our emigration. Armenia is a country with small salaries. And such high prices for the evening event did not exist before.

Moreover, often these were artists unknown in Armenia, that is, the calculation was originally in recent emigrants. And the Armenian intelligentsia felt like a circle of events thrown out of this circle, which seemed to make the Armenia poster more diverse.

However, judging by the fact that a month before the premiere another show was added “in the bones of the dead” - and the producers chose more accurately, and people seek a performance with Akhedzhakova. They know her.

“I really love Armenia, my life is connected with it, I played performances here, starred in a movie. And there is always amazing hospitality, ”says Lia Medzhidovna. - Feklistov and I every day went on rehearsals past the vernissage - this is an amazing bright market where museums in Europe are recalled. And they always approached us with compliments, with tender words, recalled films, performances. And they asked - whether there would be a new performance, they said that they bought tickets. It was evident that these people do not go to the theater every day and that it is very important for them. ”

What is the story of the appearance of the play “Lead your plow along the bones of the dead”?

Leah Akhedzhakova can no longer play in performances in Russia. As in the Tokarchuk’s novel, it is quite clear to say what you think and feel about what is happening in the world to be expelled.

“We needed a material in which there would be a central role for Akhedzhakova - which means that the material should have reflected the human position, the views of Leah Medzhidovna, but not be a poster. And at the same time there was a partnership with other actors, not a monoscope, ”says the director of the performance Boris Pavlovich. - We were looking for the material for six months. And then Roman Tokarchuk practically found us, one of the loved ones began to talk about an unfinished book. Then I began to think how to make a play out of the novel. And the producers began negotiations with Tokarchuk, who, knowing Akhedzhakov, immediately agreed. " “It happens that you and the author speak the same language. It is necessary to use exactly those masterpieces that formulate the tragedies of our time - mutual misunderstanding, betrayal of values. Everything is mixed up, the world is rule for persons that affect the masses and use the worst human qualities. And very few decide to resist. ”

Imagine a very middle -aged woman living in a remote village, where two more people winter, besides her, winter. She lives with two dogs and pain about the splitting of the world, in which people hunt animals just just like that not only in front of each other, but also before God. He looks after the houses of summer residents. A lot is walking around the district. Makes horoscopes of all who are nearby. He admires the Czech Republic, on the border with which he lives (in the novel by the Czech Republic is a symbol of the unattainable beautiful world). And he writes complaints about hunters and poachers who kill animals and spoil the forest, most often just for fun.

It is inconvenient for everyone except several friends - the same inaccules like her.

The employee of the city hall, who translates Blake together with her. The silent neighbor who really protects his solitude and is painfully neat. Entomologist engaged in a unique endemic beetle. And a saleswoman from a second-hand with alopecia. Our last heroine, Yanina Dushyka, was the good news instantly. It is in her store that all these people who accidentally nailed to each other find a place and refuge. But the good news does not come. Instead, with the death of a neighbor, nicknamed a big foot, comes more and more terrible events. They begin with the head of the roe of the roytte found in his house. With the photo found.

“Lead my plow on the bones of the dead” (the name is also a quote from Blake) was written back in 2009. This is, as it were, a detective - about a world that does not deserve confidence, where the “small SIM” has to take on the divine roles that they were not going to take at all. The killings that make up the plot canvas are attributed to animals, because all the dead are bloodthirsty hunters, men and local bosses in a small settlement. And when multiple traces of roofs of roe deer are around the crime scene, no one is surprised.

In order to achieve at least a drop of justice, the victim must raise a hand/paw/hoof/wing on its killers, and yes, to go against his nature, but in the name of the nature of the universal and life, which will once defeat death.

“Sorrow, huge grief, endless mourning for every dead animal. After one death, the second sets in, and I am in continuous mourning. Here is my condition ” - this is the inner voice of Mrs. Dushek. In the play, this inner voice gains independence. He is a separate character, a monologue, plays his Musya Totibadze. Director Boris Pavlovich says about this: “Musya is a rock star, she knows how to go out to her listeners face to face, without a dialogue with a partner. This is exactly what was necessary from the inner voice of the heroine. Which cannot be ignored and cannot be weaved into the main role - the whole Roman Tokarchuk is written in the first person. ”

Musya also sings compositions on the verses of William Blake. His poetry is permeated by the whole novel - and therefore the whole performance. In addition to the epigraphs of Pan, the Dushyka every Friday, together with his student, transfers Blake’s poems into Polish. Either a hobby, or a regular ritual is one of the few external relations of the main character. Blake is a spokesman for her search for relationships with everything. William Blake, who has been repulsed from the Bible and revival harmony all his life, is very counted by Janin Dusheka - he looks at the world at once both from heaven and from the earth. Ready to look into hell, not turning away from grief and hopelessness.

Both the novel and especially the film Agnieshki Holland is often accused of justifying ecoterrorism. The struggle against poaching, with the murder of animals, with a barbaric attitude to nature - and the truth is the driving power of the plot. But the main character, Mrs. Dushyka, repeats many times in different departments: if so with animals, it means with people. She writes to all possible instances, complaining about the killing of animals, illegal hunting, poaching. Of course, disturbing busy people, she becomes a universally recognized city crazy one.

“ - You are more sorry for animals than people.

- Not true. I equally feel sorry for both those and those. However, no one shoots defenseless people, ”I told the city security officer in the evening of the same day. “At least for now,” added later.

It is this vastness, the all -encompassing of evil, that comes to the fore in Pavlovich’s play. This is a reading of 2024 ...

The climax of the performance is the preaching of a local priest who calls hunters in the pilots of society, and the murder of animals at the moment when they approach the feeder - the regulation of nature and the natural course of life. And the little Mrs. Dushyka screams with all his might: go away, get down! Take the children! Take the children! - begging not to crumble at least them, bring them out of the temple. Mrs. Dushyka is taken out of the temple, slamming the door behind her forever.

“The preaching of the Shelest Priest is the compilation of the real sermons of chaplain hunters taken from the Internet,” Olga Tokarchuk writes in the notes to his novel.

A few weeks ago, Father Alexei Uminsky, who was kicked out of the Trinity of the Trinity in Khokhlah, spoke a few weeks ago in Yerevan, where he was a rector for many years. He was banned in the ministry and expelled from the dignity. The door of his temple slammed behind him. This happens to many priests who refuse the prayer “On Holy Rus'”, in which it is glorified ***. They are trying to protect the flock, children. Often their parishioners report to them. In most of the temples of Russia, this prayer is required.

Leah Akhedzhakova:

“I am very close to Mrs. Dushyka, I feel her to pain in my heart, to tears. I understand her, I feel, I share all her thoughts, this is a very close person to me. Only she kills, and for this she must bear Kara. And I pay with my fate for the fact that I perceive reality so, and sometimes allow myself very briefly and very reverently, but to speak. The small, middle -aged pan, the Dushek is a huge inner strength of character, it is human power. And of course, this is death. Even the closest people do not fully understand her. I feel and suffer from all her torment. ”

At the end of February, the play “Lead your plow on the bones of the dead” is shown in Cyprus, in late April - in Israel. In Yerevan, a truly world premiere took place.

Maria Shubina,
Especially for Novaya Gazeta. Journal in Armenia "