The sixties of the XX century are better known as the times of poetry. Many poems appear in this period of Russian literature. But dramaturgy also plays an important role in this context. And a place of honor is given to Alexander Valentinovich Vampilov. With his dramatic work, he continues the traditions of his predecessors. But a lot of things are brought into his works both by the trends of the era of the 60s, and by personal observations of Vampilov himself. All this is fully reflected in his famous play " duck hunting».
So, K. Rudnitsky calls Vampilov’s plays centripetal: “..<пьесы>they certainly bring to the center, to the fore the heroes - one, two, at the most three, around whom the rest of the characters move, whose fates are less significant ... ". Such characters in "Duck Hunt" can be called Zilov and the waiter. They, like two companions, complement each other.
"Waiter. What can I do? Nothing. You have to think for yourself.
Zilov. That's right, Dima. You're a creepy guy, Dima, but I like you better. At least you don't break like these... Give me your hand...
The waiter and Zilov are shaking hands...”.
The attention of the dramaturgy of this period of Russian literature was directed to the features of the “entry” of a person into the world around him. And the main thing is the process of its approval in this world. Perhaps only hunting becomes such a world for Zilov: “.. Yes, I want to go hunting ... Are you leaving? .. Great ... I’m ready ... Yes, I’m leaving now.”
Conflict was also special in Vampilov's play. “The interests of dramaturgy were turned ... to the nature of the conflict that forms the basis of the drama, but not to the processes taking place inside human personality", - said E. Gushanskaya. Such a conflict becomes interesting in the play "Duck Hunt". In fact, the play does not contain, as such, the usual conflict clash of the protagonist with the environment or other characters. The background of the conflict in the play is Zilov's memories. And by the end of the play, even such a construction does not have its resolution;
In Vampilov's play, strange and unusual cases often occur. For example, this ridiculous joke with a wreath. “(Looks at the wreath, picks it up, straightens the black ribbon, reads the inscription on it aloud). “To the unforgettable Viktor Alexandrovich Zilov who burned out at work untimely from inconsolable friends” ... (She is silent. Then she laughs, but not for long and without much fun).
However, E. Gushanskaya notes that an Irkutsk geologist told Vampilov the story of the wreath. “It was his fellow geologist who was sent a wreath with the inscription “Dear Yuri Alexandrovich, who burned down at work”.” This strangeness extends to the content of the Duck Hunt itself. the whole play main character going hunting, making the necessary preparations, but never getting there in the play itself. Only the finale speaks of his next training camp: "Yes, I'm leaving now."
Another feature of the play is its three-stage finale. At each of the steps one could finish the work. But Vampilov does not stop there. The first step can be identified when Zilov, inviting friends to a wake, "felt the trigger with his big toe ...". No wonder there is an ellipsis at the end of this phrase. There is a hint of suicide here.
Victor Zilov crossed some threshold in his life, once he decided to take such a step. But phone call does not allow the hero to complete the work begun. And the friends who came later bring him back to real life, an environment that he wanted to break with only a couple of minutes ago. The next step becomes new attempt Zilov's "assassination attempt" on his own life. “Sayapin disappears.
Waiter. Come on. (Seizes Kuzakov and pushes him out the door.) It will be better that way... Now put the gun down.
Zilov. And you get out. (They look into each other's eyes for a moment. The waiter steps back towards the door.) Alive.
The waiter detained Kuzakov, who appeared at the door, and disappeared with him.
In the third finale of the play, Zilov never arrives at any concrete answer to the questions that arise for him in the course of the play. The only thing he decides to do is go hunting. Perhaps this is also some kind of transition to solving their life problems.
Some critics also considered Vampilov's plays in a symbolic way. Objects-or situations-symbols are simply filled with "Duck Hunt". For example, a phone call that brings Zilov back to life, one might say, from the next world. And the phone becomes a kind of conductor for Zilov's communication with the outside world, from which he tried to at least fence himself off from everything (after all, almost all the action takes place in a room where there is no one else besides him). The window becomes the same connecting thread. It is a kind of outlet in moments of emotional stress. For example, when unusual gift friends (funeral wreath). “For some time he stands in front of the window, whistling the melody of mourning music that he dreamed of. With a bottle and a glass, he settles down on the windowsill. “The window is, as it were, a sign of another reality, not present on the stage,” noted E. Gushanskaya, “but the reality of the Hunt given in the play.”
Very interesting symbol hunting and everything connected with it, for example, a gun, becomes. It was bought for duck hunting. However, Zilov tries it on himself. And the hunt itself becomes an ideal-symbol for the protagonist.
Victor is so eager to get into another world, but that one remains closed to him. And at the same time, hunting is like a moral threshold. After all, it, in fact, is a murder legalized by society. And this "is elevated to the rank of entertainment." And this world becomes for Zilov the world of dreams, eh. the image of a waiter becomes a guide to this world.
As a waiter worries about a trip: “Well, how? Do you count days? How much do we have left? .. My motorcycle is running. Order ... Vitya, but the boat should be tarred. You should have written to Khromy... Vitya!” And in the end, the dream simply turns into a utopia, which, it seems, cannot come true.
The theater of Vampilov E. Streltsova calls "the theater of the word, in which, in an incomprehensible way, the author was able to combine the incompatible." The unusual, and sometimes even comical nature of some situations combines with memories close and dear to the heart.
His dramaturgy included new images of characters, a kind of conflict, strange and unusual events. And on symbolic objects, you can recreate a separate picture, which will become even brighter to set off the actions and behavior of the protagonist. Peculiar open final, characteristic of his other plays, gives hope that Zilov will be able to find his place not only in his memories within the room.
Vsevolod Sakharov
The fate of the Irkutsk playwright Alexander Vampilov (1937-1972) in many ways, as it were, anticipated the fate of Vasily Shukshin: an early death - and the subsequent rapid growth in the interest of theaters, critics and audiences in Vampilov's plays. In this interest, the share of vain curiosity, the fashion “for Vampilov”, is also noticeable, and at the same time it is clear that success was predetermined by the playwright himself, who managed to create not just a few successful plays (in this case, no fashion would help him) , but something integral - a theater that is rapidly developing, subject to its own laws, a special aesthetics.
Here, for example, "The Elder Son" - perhaps the most stage play by Vampilov. Take a closer look at it, and you will see that in a cramped box, scenes are played out, helping one another, as many as two plays. It is difficult for viewers to immediately figure out which of them is more important. But it is clear which is more fun, more dynamic - of course, a comedy about a dashing insolent and heartthrob Silva.
This clown is a favorite of the public, a man-spring, regularly spinning the wheel of action. He jokes, plays the guitar, sings, etc. - in a word, the whole evening on the carpet. And if this play by Vampilov can be called a comedy, then the main reason for this is the replicas and deeds of Silva that amuse the audience.
Behind Silva, the main thing that he so diligently serves is not always distinguishable - a conversation about loneliness and unity. These themes exclude each other, and their merciless struggle is the basis of Alexander Vampilov's dramaturgy.
At the beginning of "The Elder Son" - cold, darkness, cruel, piercing wind. And two in the wind, surrounded by carefully curtained windows and securely closed doors. And student Busygin calmly says to Silva, who is about to call for help: “Who are you, what do they care about you? .. People have thick skin, and it’s not so easy to break through it.” On the street in front of the locked doors, one can feel the weight of these hackneyed truths, indicating, it would seem, the only way out of this situation - the path of evil, loneliness and distrust.
In Vampil's plays, this path is always offered to the characters. But at the same time they are given the opportunity to choose. In The Elder Son, Busygin and Silva easily choose evil, and the playwright emphasizes the thoughtlessness of this act. They invade someone else's life, into the already dysfunctional, decaying Sarafanov family. This is where this crazy, reckless deception, cruel imposture begins: Silva declares Busygin the eldest son of the head of the family, and the student agrees to this game.
And suddenly in a conversation uninvited guests with the confused Vasenka, younger son Sarafanov, for the first time this word pops up - "brother". “What do we need? Trust... Man is a brother to man, I hope you heard about it... A suffering, hungry, cold brother stands at the doorstep, and he won't even offer him to sit down," reproaches Vasenka Busygin. And already from the very tone it is clear that the word "brother" has long been lost for speaking meaning and effectiveness, turned into a worn out stamp, into rhetoric. This whole conversation is, in essence, a shameless game of trust, a continuous exchange of lofty words and concepts, a lowering of spiritual values.
In The Elder Son, conversations follow conversations, new characters appear. But the main event has already happened: the doors opened and people met. The word “brother” is uttered, and the same word sounds in response, but with a different meaning: the head of the Sarafanov family has been writing the oratorio “All people are brothers” all his life. And all the further action of the play is devoted to the resurrection of the old, eternal meaning of this word - "brother".
This work is completed successfully: people who were previously divided, absorbed by everyday life, trifles, who built their lives according to everyday recipes (like Ninina: “I don’t need Cicero, I need a husband”), eventually unite into a friendly family. It's all good - that's what comedy is for. But now Silva is running away from these people, and with him the superficial, self-contained comedy is leaving. Remains main topic that has stood the test of the stage. The audience followed her, and Silva's tricks and jokes, having amused the audience, did not obscure this topic at all.
The Elder Son theme is not new: art human communication, unity, spiritual brotherhood. But Vampilov is talking about something else here - about how hard, painstaking work it is, how expensive it is to establish such simple, everyday relations between people, to improve everyday ethics. And here there is no longer any comedic serenity, no lyricization of everyday life. Vampilov's comedy always threatens to turn into a tragedy, and in the incessant struggle and impending troubles, losses are sometimes more serious than gains. Small victories come at an unheard of cost, they require constant spiritual sensitivity, and ethical deafness, on the contrary, greatly simplifies, makes life easier, showing a person the way of ready-made solutions. Everything seems to be correct in the square cadet Kudimov, and yet he is deeply unsympathetic. And Busygin, who at first is neither cold nor hot, enters the Sarafanov family, becomes a brother and son, because he is not unambiguous, although not ideal. He is capable of both deep affection and new faith into old words.
But what makes these people overcome spiritual coldness and loneliness and find unity and warmth? And who so fearlessly demanded a considerable payment from them for such an ordinary, small victory? Vampilov, of course, could say enough big words here. But his explanation is simple: “Whatever you say, life is always smarter than all of us, living and wise. Yes, life is fair and merciful. It makes heroes doubt, and those who did little, and even those who did nothing, but lived with with a pure heart She will always comfort you." Of course, Vampilov's play is not about doubting heroes and not about little people. It is about ordinary people who managed to endure the test and unite. And life paid them for this with warmth, light, a sense of unity.
In The Elder Son, the student Busygin, an intelligent but tired man, gradually takes over the action. For Vampilov, this is the main, most interesting type personality that runs through all his plays. This young man came to the comedy "Elder Son" from "Farewell in June", an early play, still largely imperfect. In Eldest Son, this hero, with the help of those around him, eventually wins. In "Farewell in June" he is broken.
This Vampilian play, with all its emphasized "youthfulness" - sad story about the compromise that destroyed outstanding personality. The hero of this sad comedy, student Kolesov, was let down by a reckless faith in the iron worldly scheme of a scientist’s career: diploma, graduate school, academic degree, etc. He is a talented botanist and cannot imagine life outside high science, outside the beautiful world of herbs and flowers. But it is no coincidence that in Vampilov's play the song is heard all the time: "It's all the lilies of the valley to blame ..."
For the sake of his herbs and flowers, Kolesov takes the path of compromise and eventually comes to betrayal. Friendship and love are traditionally betrayed. There is nothing terrible, amazing in this betrayal - an ordinary deception, where one offers a diploma and graduate school, the other - human dignity. This is just a disgusting bargain that people have entered into of their own free will. Everything is clear here. Something else is interesting: Kolesov's insecurity, his readiness for such a compromise.
High science has not been united here with high ethics, and therefore all his betrayals by the Vampilian hero are committed precisely for the sake of science. The alliances concluded by Kolesov with Repnikov and Zolotuev are characteristic.
The rector of the institute, Repnikov, is a failed scientist who amuses himself with administrative work. Once he was broken, he compromised. That is why I could not become a scientist. In Kolesovo, Repnikov suddenly saw himself, his youth, and therefore feels a strange sympathy for him, mixed with hatred. It is no coincidence that he says confidentially: "Agree, you and I have something in common ... Who once stumbled hard, he limps all his life." And Repnikov is right: Kolesov, as it were, repeats his path.
Another friend of Kolesov is the old cynic Zolotuev, who speculates in flowers. " Fair man- is the one who is given little. You need to give so much so that a person cannot refuse, and then he will definitely take it! ”, - this is his symbol of faith, and Kolesov confirms this rule with his fate. He was given so much that he could not refuse. Of course, this is not vulgar money, but a subtle spiritual temptation. And Kolesov makes a decision: “I am not Romeo. It just seemed to me that I was Romeo ... I don’t have time for this ... ”And when Zolotuev asks how much Kolesov gave for a diploma, he replies:“ He gave a lot ... A lot, uncle, you never dreamed so much. ..” Indeed, a person who could not resist broke down. And it's unclear if he has the strength to get up. At the end of the play, Vampilov leaves his hero in an eloquent pose - with outstretched hand, as if begging for a little warmth and participation.
In "Farewell in June", a cruel test is arranged for the personality, the person's guilt is determined. And it would be possible to leave this hero and move on to other people and problems. But Vampilov did not calm down and in "The Elder Son" showed us the revival of the hero. But this difficult fate has another option. And it is given in "Duck Hunt", a little staged, controversial play by Alexander Vampilov.
"Duck Hunt" - a play in the highest degree strange. It sometimes seems hopeless, turns into a gloomy grotesque. It is difficult, very difficult to see the light behind this darkness and not fall into destructive sarcasm, into "black" humor. Apparently, there is only one way out: when playing this play by Vampilov, it is necessary to reveal its whole idea, and not to beat up individual lines and scenes. And then the material itself will lead the performance, not allowing you to deviate from the main idea.
And it's easy to deviate. See how boldly, almost defiantly, Vampilov begins. A very serious boy brings a wreath to the main character in the morning with an inscription on a mourning ribbon: "To the unforgettable Viktor Aleksandrovich Zilov, untimely burnt at work, from inconsolable friends." Well, cruel joke. But Zilov is not an angel either. All his actions are a much more cruel game with people.
Duck Hunt is filled with conflict to the limit, and each of them, important enough in itself, speeds up the action. The play moves in jerks, revealing all the pitfalls, all the hidden flaws of these destinies. The blows mount: the breakup with his wife, trouble at work, the death of his father, the growing annoyance of friends. And it all ends huge scandal in a cafe where Zilov tells each of his acquaintances what he thinks of him. “Your decency disgusts me,” he shouts with hysterical anguish. And the most terrible thing in this scene is that he tells the truth to everyone. All of them are good, all of them are smeared with one world, these people who are listed as Zilov's friends. One of them speaks for everyone: “If you look, life is essentially lost ...”
But there is no need to take Zilov for a sort of modern Chatsky, who saw terrible faces of monsters around him and rebelled. All his actions are, in essence, evil amusements of an immensely bored person, indifferent to life and people. Zilov so mastered the rhetoric, the poetry of empty beautiful words that sometimes he believes himself. It dies great artist, who turned his whole life into one continuous play. He also has something like the "Moscow" of the Chekhov sisters - duck hunting, infinitely distant wonderful Life where you can run away from lead abominations» and monsters. But all this is a game, a cruel theater that ends in nothing. Everything happened, everything is said. And everything remained the same.
Why did Vampilov show us this unsympathetic man and his friends? Why was he not afraid of reproaches of pessimism? After all, it would be much easier to write a bright lyrical comedy about young lovers or everyday scenes that tell about someone else's life ... But Alexander Vampilov does not write a sweet story, but a cruel drama that is merciless to the characters. He points to the phenomenon of life, shows it as it really is. And this is much more effective than caricatures and ridicule.
Vampilov's play - precisely high satire, overcoming the flaws of the soul, for it makes us take a closer look not only at Zilov, who has lost support, but also at ourselves.
Such a view of Vampilov on the role of the theater, among other things, returned to dramaturgy its strength and effectiveness. Everything is important in this small world, and Vampilov's strength is precisely in this heightened sense of the theater, to which everything is subordinated, including the light, as if flying dialogue so beloved by the actors.
Vampilov did not write scripts, not texts for the theatre, but dramas that had only to be staged and played. And all the efforts of the director and actors were spent on this production, on revealing Vampilov's intention. This required professionalism. The success of the performance depended on the accuracy of the understanding of the play. Naturally, Vampilov's plays could not please the so-called "director's" theater, in which the playwright's text is just an excuse for another "interesting interpretation". This is easy to verify by looking at theater posters.
"Duck Hunt" turned out to be too complicated for many, but it has a much lighter, comedic version - "Provincial Jokes". This comedy is composed of two one-act plays, between the writing of which there is a time interval of eight years. Therefore, it is difficult to distinguish the main idea in it, as if obscured by a brilliant comedy ... But here Vampilov himself helped us, placing an epigraph from Gogol at the beginning of his comedy.
Here is the first of these small plays - "The Story of the Metranpage". How easy it is to see in it the most witty mockery of the administrator Kaloshin, this reinforced concrete "bourbon" and fool, a vagrant set of official rules! Above the stage, the terrible, incomprehensible word for Kaloshin hangs all the time “metranpage”, and the administrator’s monologue about his work and positions perfectly fits into such an interpretation. There is pure Gogol's situation, where the role of the inspector or the revived nose is played by the mythical meter-page. And one could laugh at the dunce Kaloshin and move on to the second play, if not for the epigraph.
This epigraph is taken from the same Gogol, on whose grave it was written: "I will laugh at my bitter word." And in Vampilov's "joke" one hears not a mocking giggle, but precisely bitter laughter. A bitter, mournful word was said about a man who gradually lost himself and came to a very tragic ending. And no amount of irony will help this man. Moreover, it becomes clear that in such cases irony is powerless, for it satisfies the pride of the mocker, but cannot do anything about it. real phenomenon life.
Vampilov chooses something else: he plays out this whole story with the meter page primarily for Kaloshin, showing him all the monstrous absurdity of his life. The playwright helps a person who has put himself in a foolish position to get out of this situation. And for this, Kaloshin must look at himself, at his life from the outside.
In "History of Metranzhem" the strength of Vampilov's faith in man, in his hidden possibilities, is striking. It seems that he has become so ossified, Kaloshin has forgotten himself, that nothing can help him. But he was once alive, cheerful, able to feel. After all, he says to a friend: “Oh, Boris! There was only life that was in youth ... Do you remember, they worked on the river? .. The tugboat was "Grigory Kotovsky", remember? (Crying). From the past, only the names of steamships remained, but the feeling of a wrongly lived life has already come. Kaloshin is changing, reaching for a new life. True, for this he had to experience a cruel mockery of fate. But apparently it couldn't be otherwise.
And the second "joke" of Vampilov is also about the incredibly difficult work of the good. This is precisely the drama, in its tragedy not inferior to the "Duck Hunt". Vampilov seems to emphasize the kinship of these plays, connecting them with one eloquent detail: Zilov has not seen his parents for four years and is late for his father’s funeral because of his insignificant affairs, and the agronomist Khomutov in Twenty Minutes with an Angel for six years could not visit his mother and give her money and managed only for her funeral.
This Khomutov is the angel who, within twenty minutes, brought the ordinary clients of the Taiga Hotel into a state of some kind of evil obsession. One hundred of his rubles, saved up for his mother and generously donated to the businessmen who have gone on a trip, become a kind of symbol of a different attitude to life and that is why they lead everyone to extreme irritation. Khomutov's act is a challenge, a reproach that unerringly hits the target.
The “Angel” informs the shocked businessmen of rather simple, well-known truths: “It is not easy for all of us, mortals, and we must help each other. But how could it be otherwise?.. The hour comes, and we pay dearly for our indifference, for our egoism.” This is not newer than Sarafan's: "All people are brothers." But Khomutov paid so dearly for these old truths that he can no longer live as before.
That is why its very presence is unbearable for people who have become stagnant in shallowly floating everyday life, in stubborn distrust of lofty truths. That is why they are so cruel to the righteous man who has suddenly appeared among them, they are so stubbornly eager to find in him and his deed some underlying reason, a disgusting flaw.
Here again it is easy to misunderstand Vampilov. But if the playwright believed in Kaloshin, why should he place a pessimistic passage on the theme “All people are scoundrels” next to this generous story? Wouldn't it be better to assume that in the second "joke" the same theme of faith and hope is continued in other ways?
Let's think about this: all these different people abandoned their daily activities and gathered around the bound "angel". They are furious, they wave their fists, they quarreled among themselves, and each frankly determines his own degree of disbelief in a person. But they all thought. Moreover, they already think together. In this scandal, something stable, unifying and enlightening is born.
Of course, Vampilov had no intention of ending the play with a brotherly embrace. It would be a lie from every point of view. He wanted to show and showed something else: that difficult work of thought and feeling that begins in all these people. This work will bear fruit not today and not tomorrow. But the grain is thrown into the ground. And Vampilov himself believes and makes us believe in happy outcome.
"Provincial jokes" with their very unfunny basis make you think about genre nature vampilian plays. What is it - comedies, tragedies? The playwright himself thought about it too, and in the unfinished vaudeville "The Incomparable Tips" there was a delightful dialogue about the nature of drama. Actor Eduardov teaches the future playwright Nakonechnikov the basics of dramaturgy.
“Tips. They walk and talk... One kept silent, and then he says: further, he says, you can’t live like this, you, he says, are not people, but jerboas, it’s boring, he says. I will put you in jail, he says, and sit with you myself.
Eduardov. So. This is drama.
Tips. And I saw another, so there is more and more laughter. And the guy is funny. Of course, you took my wife away from me, of course, you also took my son away, you have, he says, other shortcomings, but now, he says, it’s a thing of the past and in general, he says, you are still not bad people. Therefore, he says, let's all have fun together,
Eduardov. And this is a comedy.
There is a lot of sarcasm here. Alexander Vampilov seemed to have foreseen the dispute about his dramaturgy and, as if by the way, expressed his opinion.
Last play Alexandra Vampilova "Last Summer in Chulimsk" is a drama in the full sense of the word. This is another play about a broken man. Everything here is addressed to investigator Shamanov, everything is done for him. But he himself cannot give anything in return, because he has long since lost the feeling of strength and fullness, the authenticity of his life. In Shamanovo, only the dead, the survivors remained. There is not even a desire to live, and this is especially evident when he gives the enraged Pashka his gun and, in essence, pushes him to kill. This once strong and courageous man is now a living dead, cast into dust. It seems that the abyss that accepted him is so deep; that you can't get out of it.
However, the play ends with the revival of Shamanov. But for this life, which this one: an outstanding person is still needed, commits a cruel deed.
Next to Shamanov, the playwright creates Valentina, a light and poetic being. To this girl, despite her tragedy, no dirt will stick. It is impossible to break it, because authenticity, organicity and strength of feelings and life sensations reign here. Valentina's naive, reckless faith in people even the extinguished Shamanov surprises and interests, although he tells her skeptically: "You place too high hopes on them."
It is no coincidence that critics were so carried away by Valentina, her calm faith, stubborn restoration of everything destroyed - from the devastated front garden to the broken fate of the investigator Shamanov. It does not immediately become clear that Valentine is a symbol of a wise life that heals all the wounds; calmly existing inside the merciless in its uncompromising realism of the Vampilian drama.
But Vampilov creates a high tragedy. In the world drama, tragedy often arose where an innocent, bright creature, a symbol of goodness, perished. The death of the devastated Shamanov could not teach anything, would not create a feeling of tragedy. But when misfortune overtakes Valentina, a strong feeling arises that shocked the audience and pulled Shamanov out of his spiritual sleep. And again Vampilov shows what price one has to pay for the revival of the human personality. His tragedy is played out at such heights of spirit that from the very beginning we forget about the provincial Chulimsk and think only about the lessons of humanity contained in this ordinary story.
The playwright see the complexity of life modern man and believes in him, in his ability to endure and win. That is why Vampilov's plays are built as arguments in the great controversy about man. But in them there is no forgiveness, justification of everything human. Here everything inorganic, evil, leading a person away from the main path is condemned, mercilessly cut off. This theater is extremely demanding on its characters, because it strictly implements the old principle of our literature, formulated by Dostoevsky - "with full realism to find a person in a person."
Speaking about the dramaturgy of Alexander Vampilov, we must always remember the incompleteness and lack of composition of his theatre. He started well, but it's hard to judge the whole by a great start. Nevertheless, the very movement of dramatic material points in the right direction for further searches. Vampilov left us excellent plays, but they should not close the main thing - the idea of a new theater that holds them together. We will apparently return to this idea more than once in our disputes about modern dramaturgy.
Keywords: Alexander Vampilov, criticism of the work of Alexander Vampilov, criticism of the plays of Alexander Vampilov, analysis of the works of Alexander Vampilov, download criticism, download analysis, free download, Russian literature of the 20th century
Genre features of plays A. Vampilova
"Elder Son" and "Duck Hunt"
Creativity A.V. Vampilov occupies a worthy place in the history of Russian literature. Plays by A.V. Vampilov's works form an original, multifaceted and bright artistic phenomenon, rightfully called by the researchers "Vampilov's Theatre".
Presented by plays of different genres, ranging from lyrical comedy and ending with a psychological drama, "Vampilov's theater" has a profound psychological impact, makes viewers and readers rethink their own being and the philosophical foundations of life.
Alexander Valentinovich Vampilov passed away early. Almost unnoticed during his lifetime, praised after his death, A. Vampilov became one of the mysterious figures in the history of Soviet and Russian drama. He had a significant impact on the development of modern drama.
"Alexander Vampilov's Theater" is considered as a developing artistic phenomenon, in which the social and moral problems of their time are transferred to the plan of universal " eternal questions»spiritual being. It should be noted that the majority of dramaturgy researchers A.V. Vampilov find it difficult to accurately define the genre of his plays, speaking only about their genre originality and highlighting the presence of various genre forms, which in turn leads to the emergence of such terms as "poly-genre", "genre synthesis", "genre polyphonism", "genre syncretism".
A.V. Vampilov already in his early plays-stories of the late 50s - early 60s shows genre originality his dramaturgy, experimenting with dramatic genres and creating an innovative play based on the traditions of the lyrical drama of J.S. Turgenev, satirical comedy N.V. Gogol and psychological dramaturgy of A.P. Chekhov, arranging the action as psychological experiment.
The playwright owes his real theatrical fame mainly to the play "The Elder Son", which for several years occupied leading place in his repertoire.
Liberty fiction and poetics distinguish the play "The Elder Son", the play gravitates towards non-everyday, phantasmagoric, parable forms that take them beyond the scope of an everyday anecdote. The play "Elder Son" carries quite specific and recognizable motives of the era. The theme of sudden or false acquisition of relatives, which is widespread in world dramaturgy, also receives its historically determined popularity in these years.
On the one hand, comedy is characterized by frank gaiety. A. Vampilov uses such well-known comedic plot development techniques as eavesdropping, the issuance of one character for another, imposture, sincere belief in a hoax. Vampilov masterfully masters the techniques of creating comic situations and characters. He knows how to introduce his peculiar hero, not without comic features, into the most ridiculous situations.
On the other hand, the play "The Elder Son" reproduces the atmosphere of an unsettled life, disintegrating family ties so psychologically accurate and true, as was characteristic of the psychological drama of the 60s of the XX century.
Due to the fact that in the comedy several moral and aesthetic perspectives of depicting reality are set simultaneously, “The Elder Son” acquires the features of a tragicomedy, which complicates the genre of lyrical comedy.
The play is fitted by the young playwright into a classical trinity. And at the same time, there is no dramatic predetermination in it. On the contrary, she is characterized by absolute spontaneity, the unintentionality of what is happening: Busygin and Silva actually get to know each other before our eyes, not to mention the Sarafanov family, with whom both the viewer and the characters get to know each other at the same time.
The comedy "The Elder Son" is built on a hard paradoxical breakdown, a paradoxical transformation of events arising from the "wrong", non-canonical reaction of the characters to circumstances.
From the very beginning, the reputation of the most mysterious and complex play by A.V. Vampilov, including at the level of defining the genre of a work. In "Duck Hunt", the tone of the story and the whole sound of the play are serious. "Duck Hunt" is built as a chain of Zilov's memories.
Consistently staged, but scattered memorable episodes from past life the hero is presented not only to the reader and viewer, but also to Zilov himself, the story of his moral decline. Thanks to this, from the very first episode of the play, a real drama of human life, built on deceit, unfolds before us. The drama of Zilov's life gradually turns into a tragedy of loneliness: indifference or feigned participation of friends, loss of a sense of filial affection, vulgarization sincere feeling the girl in love with him, the departure of his wife ... The signs of tragicomedy in the play are obvious (Zilov's conversation with Galina at the time of her departure; Zilov's public denunciation of the vices of his friends; Zilov's preparation for suicide).
However, the leading methods of constructing a play, creating a genre orientation of the work, are the methods of psychological drama. For example, the hero A.V. Vampilov is shown at the moment of an acute spiritual crisis, shown from the inside, with all his experiences and problems, almost ruthlessly turned inside out, psychologically naked. The playwright focuses on the content moral peace his contemporary, while there is no definition of the hero as good or bad, he is internally complex, ambiguous. The finale of "Duck Hunt" is complicated: the play could have been completed before the main finale twice: when Zilov put a gun to his chest or shared property with Sayapin (then it would be more in line with the canons of tragicomedy). The main ending of the play is open and solved in the tradition of psychological drama.
A play by A.V. Vampilov's "Duck Hunt" is usually regarded as a socio-psychological drama (less often as a tragicomedy with elements of industrial conflict, farcical and melodramatic inserts), in which the playwright revises the problems of his early works.
In criticism of the 70s - 90s. there has been a tendency to interpret "Duck Hunt" primarily as a drama of losses, since the play consistently exposes value ranks: the hero realizes, or makes visible for awareness, what could become a solid support in his life, but no longer. And yet, "Duck Hunt" is, first of all, a tragicomedy of existence and self-valuable awareness: its conflict is born where reality, taking the form of a mercilessly objective mirror, provides the hero with the opportunity to look at himself from the outside.
With the constant attraction of the playwright to the genre of comedy throughout his creative life Tragicomedy nevertheless became the genre dominant of his work.
Alexander Valentinovich Vampilov(August 19, 1937, Kutulik, Irkutsk region - August 17, 1972, Port Baikal) - Soviet playwright.
During literary work A. Vampilov wrote about 70 stories, sketches, essays, articles and feuilletons. In 1962 A. Vampilov wrote a one-act play "Twenty Minutes with an Angel". In 1963, the one-act comedy "The House with Windows in the Field" was written. In 1964, while studying, the first big play was written - the comedy "Farewell in June" (the playwright returned to work on it more than once: four versions of the play are known). In 1965, A. Vampilov wrote the comedy "The Elder Son" (the first name was "Suburb"). In 1968, the playwright finished the play Duck Hunt. In early 1971, A. Vampilov completed work on the drama Last Summer in Chulimsk (the first title was Valentina).
“A chance, a trifle, a combination of circumstances sometimes become the most dramatic moments in a person’s life,”- Vampilov developed this idea in his plays. A. Vampilov was deeply worried moral problems. His works are based on real life material. Awakening conscience, nurturing a sense of justice, kindness and mercy - these are the main motives his plays.
Type of hero of time - eccentrics, strange people, strange women, carrying a holiday (Valentina in the play “Last Summer in Chulimsk”.
Sound. There are no musical sequences - there is an interesting speech of the characters. The case is important - the random circumstance of the episodes, the case is a test for the heroes. The personality of the hero is revealed through dramatic and tragic episodes.
During his studies, he wrote the comedy Fair (other name Goodbye in June, 1964), which was highly appreciated by playwrights A. Arbuzov and V. Rozov. Vampilov's own theme is heard as a foreshadowing. She has not yet gained strength, only cuts through the plot of the “student comedy”, either too intricate or too simple, in the style of a faculty skit. There are many more spectacular provisions, they are generously sketched and illegible. An upset wedding, a failed duel, a hero serving fifteen days in forced labor ... The author still does not quite believe that he can hold our attention with a character sketch. And the character has already been presented, the fate of the young Kolesov has announced its own theme.
Zolotuev seems to be quite an introductory comic person, but the most important in the plan of the play. Violating all the laws of the genre, he delivers a three-page monologue. This monologue is about the misfortune of an old bribe taker who ran into an honest man. He still cannot believe that he would not take bribes - everyone takes it, it is important not to miss the price offered. Zolotuev is offended, indignant at his ostentatious honesty, and, even after serving his term, he is sure that he was sitting in vain: it means that he gave little.
But what does the pensioner Zolotuev have to do with it, when we are interested in the dashingly brave, honest and charming guy Kolosov? In Kolesov, the energies of the young are seething, harmless mischief, but in general he is an excellent fellow and, when he is kicked out of the institute, most of the guys are on his side.
The trouble comes to the young hero from the other side: when it is necessary to make the first serious life choice. It’s not the blood that flows through the veins, it’s a serious matter: institute or love?
Having laughed at Zolotuev, Kolesov himself does not notice how he is converting to his faith: everything is bought and sold, the price and goal are important. Leaving the girl you love, as her father demands, is both hard and mean. But if the diploma burns? If fate is at stake? Kolesov was characterized by everything that is characteristic of a good, honest young man: next to enthusiasm and across it - a skeptical pose, next to the romance of the soul, distrust of the phrase, educational pressure, moral prescriptions that the elders always annoy. Hence, perhaps, mischief, youth. Hence the demonstrative practicality, ostentatious rationalism, a little funny and still innocent at a young age, but imperceptibly, like Kolesov, justifying the first deals with conscience.
In Kolesov, the negative shines through, which will be the essence of Victor in Duck Hunt. The transformation of Kolesov - a wheel, betrays the girl for the sake of a diploma, scientific work. It can roll here and there. Zilov in "Duck Hunt" - a Zil truck, goes through destinies. Between these heroes 20 years, the winner of the student became selfish and scoundrel. 3 stories in "Farewell in June" - Kolesov and Tanya, a student wedding and a mono drama - a man who measures everything for money.
In 1967 Vampilov wrote plays Elder son and duck hunting in which the tragic component of his drama is fully embodied. In the comedy The Elder Son, within the framework of a masterfully written intrigue (deception by two friends, Busygin and Silva, of the Sarafanov family), it was about the eternal values of being - the continuity of generations, the breaking of spiritual ties, love and forgiveness by close people to each other. In this play, the "theme-metaphor" of Vampilov's plays begins to sound: the theme of the house as a symbol of the universe. The playwright himself, who lost his father in early childhood, perceived the relationship between father and son especially painfully and sharply.
Not in the foreground love stories, but the relationship of father and son, although they are not blood relatives. I remember the return prodigal son from the bible . Theme to go crazy or not to go crazy– they all go crazy with feelings. All this develops into a love relationship.
The plot of the play "Elder Son" is simple. The name of the play "Elder Son" is the most successful, since its main character - Volodya Busygin - fully justified the role he took on. He helped Nina and Vasenka understand how much their father means to them, having raised both of them without a mother who left the family. The gentle character of the head of the Sarafanov family is manifested in everything. He takes everything to heart: he is ashamed of his position in front of the children, hides that he left the theater, recognizes the “eldest son”, tries to calm Vasenka, to understand Nina. You can’t call him a loser, since at the very peak of his mental crisis, Sarafanov survived, while others broke down. Unlike the neighbor who refused Busygin and Silva an overnight stay, he would have warmed up the guys, even if they had not invented this story with the “elder son”. But most importantly, Sarafanov cherishes his children and loves them. Children are callous towards their father.
Silva, like Volodya, is also essentially an orphan: with living parents, he was brought up in a boarding school. Apparently, his father's dislike was reflected in his character. Silva told Volodya about how his father “admonished” him: “Hey, he says, you have the last twenty rubles, go to a tavern, get drunk, make a brawl, but such a brawl that I won’t see you for a year or two.” Vampilov did not accidentally make the origins of the fates of the heroes similar. By this, he wanted to emphasize how important a person’s own choice is, independent of circumstances. Unlike orphan Volodya, "orphan" Silva is cheerful, resourceful, but cynical. His true face is revealed when he "exposes" Volodya, declaring that he is not a son or brother, but a recidivist. Nina's fiancé - Mikhail Kudimov - is an impenetrable man. Such people are found in life, but you will not immediately understand them. “Smiling. He still smiles a lot. Good-natured,” says Vampilov about him. In fact, the word that he gave himself for all occasions is dearest of all to him. He is indifferent to people. This character occupies an insignificant place in the play, however, he is a pronounced type of “correct” people who create a suffocating atmosphere around themselves. Involved in a family intrigue, Natasha Makarskaya is shown as a decent, but unhappy and lonely person. Vampilov deeply reveals in the play the theme of loneliness, which can bring a person to despair. In the image of the neighbor Sarafanovs, a type of a cautious person, an inhabitant, who is afraid of everything (“looks at them with apprehension, suspicion”, “removes silently and timidly”) and does not interfere in anything is deduced. The problematics and the main idea of the play are stated in the very title of the dramatic work.. It was no coincidence that the author replaced the original name "Suburb" with "Elder Son". The main thing is not where the events take place, but who participates in. To be able to think, understand each other, support in difficult moments to show mercy - this is the main idea of the play by Alexander Vampilov. The author does not define the genre of the play. Along with the comic, there are many dramatic moments in the play, especially in the subtext of the statements of Sarafanov, Silva, Makarska.
The play "Duck Hunt" written by Vampilov in 1968. Researchers note that ""Duck Hunt" is Vampilov's most bitter, most bleak play. As critics point out, Alexander Vampilov "managed to sensitively capture and convey the loss in everyday bustle of a sense of kindness, trust, mutual understanding, spiritual kinship." “You need to write about what makes you unable to sleep at night,” Vampilov argued. "Duck Hunt" - personally experienced, felt, silent. The action of the play "Duck Hunt" takes place in the late 60s. Before the eyes of the reader is the city apartment of the main character, Zilov. Throughout the play, the hero's memories draw us separate episodes of his life. Zilov is “about thirty years old,” as the author notes in a remark. Despite the young age of the hero, we can feel his spiritual decline, lack of moral and heart strength. Vampilov points out that “both in his gait, and in gestures, and in conversation, he shows some uncertainty and boredom, the origin of which cannot be determined at a glance.” In the course of the play, the reader learns that Zilov's outward well-being and physical health is an appearance. Something destroys the hero from the inside. Some kind of power overwhelmed him. This force is life itself, with which Zilov does not want to fight. He does not live - he outlives himself. At some point, fate swallowed up Zilov, the routine and routine of life became the norm, moreover, a habit, second nature. The theme of “outliving oneself”, spiritual decline, runs like a leitmotif through the entire action of the play. funeral music, funeral wreath, the phrase "life, in essence, is lost" - characteristic details that accompany the development of the action. The worst thing is that Zilov has long come to terms with his fall. “Come on, old man,” he says to Sayapin, “there will be nothing of us anymore ... However, I could do something else. But I do not want. I have no desire." This phrase - “I have no desire” - is the personification of the entire internal and outer life hero: his relationship with his wife, women, friends, colleagues, himself. Zilov voluntarily surrenders. He enters into vicious circle where the only action is to escape from oneself. Zilov is surrounded by people with whom he can communicate without any effort - whether heartfelt or mental. Probably, the hero came to such an existence after a terrible shock. The researchers note that "...behind Zilov<…>an undoubted disappointment, a spiritual breakdown, as a result of which he is ready to stop believing in goodness, decency, vocation, work, love, conscience. He turns into a cynic after experiencing an internal catastrophe. Suffering is opposed by indifference and denial. "Cynicism from suffering?... Have you ever thought about it?" . However, it is cynicism that allows Zilov to be aware, to understand, to determine. Still, he does not live in a world of illusions. As writer Sergei Dovlatov, a contemporary of Alexander Vampilov, noted, “cynicism presupposes the existence of common ideals.” Of course, Zilov had ideals. But they could not stand the rough touch of reality, when "turbulent life turned into mean prose." Myself the image of the coveted duck hunt devoid of romantic, idyllic coloring. For Zilov, duck hunting is nothingness, silence on the hunt is “the silence of eternal oblivion, the silence of an almost otherworldly world”: “Do you know what kind of silence it is? You're not there, do you understand? No. You haven't been born yet. And there is nothing. And it wasn't. And it won't." Action is needed to break out of the dark circle. Not decorations, not preparations for action, but action. In spiritual despair, Zilov tries to commit suicide. But this act of his is a game with himself, a gloomy irony, a mockery: “I sat down on a chair, put the gun on the floor, leaned my chest on the trunks. Tried on the trigger with one hand, tried on with the other. He put down a chair, sat down, arranged the gun in such a way that it rested on the chest with the barrels, with the butt on the table. He put down the gun, pulled off the boot from his right foot, took off his sock, and again arranged the gun between his chest and the table. I felt the trigger with my big toe ... ". In our opinion, the problems of the play "Duck Hunt" can be defined by the words of one of Alexander Vampilov's contemporaries - the writer Valentin Rasputin: “The main question that Vampilov constantly raises is: will you remain a man, a man? Will you be able to overcome all that false and unkind ... ". "Duck Hunt" is the tragic culmination of the main theme of the theater by Alexander Vampilov: "Will a living soul overcome the routine of life?" . And perhaps not all is lost for Zilov. Maybe the hero will get a second wind and he will see that “the rain has passed outside the window, a strip of sky is turning blue, and the roof of the neighboring house is lit by a dim evening sun.” Maybe Zilov's words “I'm ready. Yes, I’m leaving now ”- a real action, the beginning of a new life. Without a doubt, Alexander Vampilov possessed a rare gift - the gift of a dramatic writer. His work is alive; sense of proportion, talent, a considerable share of genius - features dramaturgy of Vampilov. In the play "Duck Hunt" there is no place for untruth. That is why it is read freely and at the same time turns thought into the depths of human existence. The author managed to turn the dialogical speech of the characters into a "sparkling, energetic stream" . Truthfulness and the gift of human sensitivity - this is what provides the work of Alexander Vampilov with an incomparable attraction.
In drama Last summer in Chulimsk(1972) Vampilov created his best female image - a young provincial tea worker Valentina. This woman strove to preserve the “living soul” in herself with the same persistence with which throughout the play she tried to preserve the front garden, which was trampled down by indifferent people every now and then.
Almost all heroes of Vampilov young and carefree. They easily go through life, doing their beautiful stupidity. But there comes a day when it becomes clear that carelessness is just a game, a shield covering the vulnerable core of the soul. There comes a day when they must show their true self, make a choice that will largely depend on them. further fate. They say that we all live for some most important moment of life, when we have to pour everything that we put into it out of the bag of our life in order to choose something most important - something that will help us not to break in a difficult situation. but get stronger. However, for the author, the hero is not the one who does not stumble, but the one who finds the strength to rise and move on.
In general, the peculiarity of Vampilov's plays is that he does not pronounce the final verdict on his heroes. The author prefers to put ellipsis. We see such an ending in the author's last play, Last Summer in Chulimsk. This play is rightly called the author's most "Chekhovian" play, from which even a comma cannot be removed. The image-symbol of this play - the fence of the front garden - is an indicator of humanity for the heroes of the play. Most of them are constantly destroying the gate, sincerely not understanding why Valentina stubbornly continues to repair it ("People walk across and will walk").
The originality of the plot of A. Vampilov's plays
"Elder Son" and "Duck Hunt"
The play "The Elder Son" is built as a kind of psychological experiment. The author seems to be wondering: "What happens if ...". If an unfamiliar young man accidentally falls into a strange family and, by coincidence, pretends to be his eldest son. Busygin and Silva are the two characters who unexpectedly invade the Sarafanov family and do it unexpectedly for themselves. They saw off the girls, having met them in a cafe. We found ourselves twenty kilometers from home at the moment when the last train had already left. Early spring. Cold.
The situation with which the action begins is the result of an accident, but an accident that was dramatically prepared. The motivation here lies in the fact that the viewer is prepared for the perception of randomness at the moment when it occurs, and, without realizing it, expects it. This is made up of several neutral, also random facts and coincidences.
At the beginning, the viewer does not yet know how the action will develop; and the logic of the plot, the connection between individual facts, hidden from him, is understood only from a height end result, backdating. The first episode in the chain of motivations is Silva's story about her father. Silva speaks of a "respectable parent", and then turns to Busygin, whom they have just met: "And you?" It turns out that Silva has disagreements with her father, while Busygin has no father. Then they accidentally overhear the conversation between the elder Sarafanov and Makarska and see how he went into her house. It is interpreted by them in their own way. They noticed where Sarafanov had come from and that there was another figure in the lighted window of the apartment.
They just need somewhere to spend the night, to warm up, but who will let two strangers into the house, if not "lie properly." They don't mind lying, but what? There is no plan yet, and everything turns out spontaneously. Busygin pretends to be Sarafanov's eldest son. The situation is already largely justified, since the viewer knows two important circumstances. Firstly, Busygin has no father. Busygin himself will remind you of this, answering Silva's question, how did he think of this before. He will say: “Accidentally. By chance. I grew up on alimony, no, no, yes, you will remember this. Sons of feelings awakened in me.
But even the first time he communicates a fact, he cannot go unnoticed, get lost. It was not a randomly dropped phrase, but a whole vivid episode that leads to the statement of a fact. The viewer’s attention is activated on Silva’s amusing story about her parent, which ends quite unexpectedly: “Here, he says, you have the last twenty rubles, go to a tavern, get drunk, make a brawl, but such a brawl that I won’t see you for a year or two!. .Nothing, huh?
The viewer is waiting, what is next, what is the way out. Maybe Busygin has a similar story? An intriguing series of questions follows, and only on the third Busygin answers: "I have no father." Dramatically very finely constructed episode: what should be remembered, not lost in memory, is presented according to the principle of deceived expectation, as an anti-climax.
The second circumstance that the viewer knows - the visit of Sarafanov Sr. to Makarskaya - will turn out to be a false motivation in the future, but so far this is not important. Busygin has already uttered the word "son". Silva praised him: "I think he has a lot of them." And then they begin to juggle with this word, for the time being imposing the very idea on the viewer: “The thing is that Andrey Grigoryevich Sarafanov is my father.”
Now the last but the most difficult thing remains: how to arrange their meeting with Sarafanov Sr. The first act of the play - Silva and Busygin's getting used to the situation - ends successfully.
Busygin and Silva suddenly turn into witnesses, observers of someone else's life, they are present at the creation of the "scene on the stage". They accidentally encountered an unfamiliar world of relationships, conflicts, but if Busygin gradually becomes its inhabitant, then the function of the second character in the development of the action is different. Silva so to the end and stays out family relations, and when he tries to “play along” with Busygin, he finds only stereotyped, false phrases. He plays the role of a kind of barometer of artificiality, the invention of the situation, forcing the viewer to constantly feel the line between the world of real and dramatically artificial relationships. The very appearance of these two characters does not create a conflict, but becomes a conditional device that allows them, together with the viewer, to become witnesses of what is happening. This formal device does not determine the meaning of the play, but only helps to understand it.
A critical situation is being created. She is quite critical in and of itself: Nina is getting married and is going to leave for Khabarovsk, Vasenka, in love, does stupid things and almost leaves school and home. Someone has to stay with the father. It was here that the “elder brother” just turned up. It performs in their relationship the role of a catalyst, an accelerator of the reaction. A new person, to whom they present their versions and whose support they seek. So do both Nina and her father, at whose request Busygin is talking to Vasenka.
As Busygin ceases to be a stranger in this family, gets used to its relationship, in place of his former community with Silva, an opposition is revealed. At the superficial, external level, there is no fundamental difference between them. Silva is more cheeky, Busygin is gloomier and more distrustful. It is he who owns the aphorism: “People have thick skin, and it is not so easy to break through it. You have to lie properly, only then will they believe you and sympathize with you. And, following this aphorism, it is Busygin who invents a story with his eldest son. Silva at the end of the play warns the Sarafanovs that they are dealing with a repeat offender. He almost believes it himself. And in the first act, he modestly stipulated that theft was not his genre. The difference between the heroes is in deeper, human qualities, which Busygin finds in himself and Silva does not find.
Silva in the play belongs to too prominent a place to be so easy to get rid of him, exposing him in burnt pants. The reader easily accepts the comic reduction of this image, but throughout the play he sympathizes with him, applauding the performer, but extending his friendly attitude to the street-colloquial wit of the character himself. In Silva, the reader finds the charm of modernity, of today, and with pleasure catches familiar conversational notes.
The play "Elder Son" was originally called "Suburb". Perhaps such a name is more connected with meaning than a new, neutral one. The fact that the action takes place in the suburbs is important. Waves of “vanity”, although they reach here, are already fading, taking on quieter, family forms. "Vanity" for the heroes of Vampilov is any situation in which relationships get out of control of a person, begin to dictate their own repetitive rhythm to him.
In the play "Duck Hunt" there is a return move - from the suburbs to the city.
One of the heroines says: “Yesterday, when we were moving, I get into the car and think: well, that's it. Hello, Aunt Moti and Uncle Petya. Farewell suburbia, we're going to Broadway." On this "Broadway" quite big city where there is a central bureau of technical information, the action takes place. The hero, Zilov, is working in the information bureau. At least that's where he goes to work. The heroes of Vampilov do not suffer from lack of time. True, Zilov, having received a letter from his father, could not get out to a small town, but not because he was in time trouble. This is what he says: “From dad. Let's see what the old fool writes (reads). Well, well... Oh, my God. Again he dies. (Retracting from the letter). Pay attention, once or twice a year, as a rule, the old man lies down to die ... ".
This time, my father died. Rhythm presupposes orderliness, meaningfulness of movement. The heroes of the play "Duck Hunt" are in a state of constant and pointless movement - "vanity". In this play, Vampilov continued the type of “relationship drama” already begun earlier, but here the hero’s getting used to is not a new one for him, but a well-lived, too familiar situation. In the play, Zilov, like Busygin, becomes a witness to events, his attitude towards which changes in the course of action, but, unlike Busygin, he becomes a witness to the events of not someone else's, but his own life.
Deprived of a specific plot, which is replaced by a biographical sequence of scenes from the life of Zilov, the play "Duck Hunt" is subject to a very harsh dramaturgy. The dramatic rigidity of the play is not in an exact and unambiguous plot scheme: what follows from what - but in the certainty of the dialogue and reactions of all the characters in each individual episode.
It may seem that the general logic disappears, especially in the scene, at first glance, an unprovoked, illogical scandal that Zilov arranges for his friends and without which the play would not have taken place. Indeed, how to justify this sudden and inadequate reaction of the hero to irritation? In one of the remarks, the author warns in advance of the possibility of an obvious, but not dramatic, random explanation: "Despite the drunk, Zilov is still in a sober mind and solid memory." And when the indignant guests disperse, the remark follows: "Only now he is finally getting drunk." Zilov arranges a scandal in his right mind and firm memory, although why he does this, he himself will not be able to explain in the morning: “Scandal - yes, I remember the scandal ... Why arranged it? Yes, and I myself think - why? I don’t think I can understand – the devil knows why!..” It is the absence of explanations and conclusions in the play in general and in each particular episode that creates the impression of an accident of what is happening. But the random, unexplained course of events creates a situation for a person, which Vampilov called "vanity". Events in the play are random, but they are closed in the non-random effect caused by them. The tension of each scene does not sink into the sand, does not disappear, but gradually accumulates, is transferred to the hero and is resolved in the final scandal, when the reaction seems, at first glance, to be unconditioned. Zilov's breakdown occurs due to a combination of motives ...
