Born June 12, 1950. Father - Polunin Ivan Pavlovich. Mother - Polunina Maria Nikolaevna, trade worker. Wife - Ushakova Elena Dmitrievna, actress, works with her husband. Children: Ushakov Dmitry; Polunin Pavel, studying at a music school in St. Petersburg; Polunin Ivan, plays on stage with his parents.
He is spoken of as a genius, his performances are called classics, and there are passionate admirers all over the world. All this now that he was fifty.
And it all started in childhood, in the small town of Novosil, in the Oryol region. In the classroom, he thought about his own and rarely listened to teachers. He has retained this to this day: he always thinks about his own, although he still learned to listen over the years. Especially the auditorium. He hears the breath of everyone in it, because his performance changes depending on this breath.
Intermittent excited breathing of the hall can provoke his most unexpected unplanned trick. And then he can go straight to the viewer. Or suddenly an incredible huge pause hangs over the hall. Treatises can be written about Polunin's pauses, for they contain all his wisdom. In a pause, he - a mime - knows how to say everything that cannot be said either with words or actions.
He was often expelled from school lessons for being inattentive and constantly making the whole class laugh with his hilarious antics. In the 2nd or 3rd grade, he first saw the film "The Kid" with Chaplin. But my mother did not let me watch it to the end: the film was on television late at night, and she turned off the TV. He cried until morning. And a few months later I was already walking in huge shoes, with a cane, Chaplin's gait around the school. And then he began to compose all sorts of things and show them. First in the yard to friends, then at regional competitions. Despite the fact that he spent part of the lessons in the schoolyard, he graduated from school and went to Leningrad with the secret hope of entering a theater institute.
Maria Nikolaevna was not happy with this choice, she wanted her son to become an engineer. It was not possible to enter the theater institute, in his own words, because of "some sounds that he did not pronounce." I had to study engineering.
But the engineering career did not take place. Vyacheslav left the institute and entered the Leningrad Institute of Culture, where he later began to teach. His Leningrad period was marked by the creation in 1968 of the first group with the beautiful name "Litsedei" and independent studies of the then new art of pantomime.
Passion for pantomime arose not just as a tribute to fashion. Her smooth movements replaced the often too definite, and therefore almost meaningless at that time, word. When everything and everyone was subject to censorship, when every word had to be flooded, pantomime remained free. All this, including the failure in the entrance exams to the theater institute, provoked Vyacheslav Polunin's interest in the silent art of mimes.
The then "Litsedei", headed by Polunin, successfully worked in the field of eccentric comic pantomime. They were invited to large joint concerts and even on television. Vyacheslav spent all his free time in libraries, where he was seriously engaged in self-education. He still spends every free moment with a book. Going to the bookstore is a whole ritual.
Among these books there are a huge number of art albums, because painting, sculpture, architecture, design, graphics, caricature are the most important food for his imagination. And this fantasy gives birth to its own pictures on the stage, which have nothing to do with imitation and repetition.
The turning point for Vyacheslav was the New Year - 1981. He called the editorial office of the "New Year's Light" and said that he had a completely new number. True, there was no number by that moment, but there was a premonition, a premonition. There was a hunch that a new character was needed, unlike anyone else. Thus Asisyai was born - a small, naive and quivering little man in a yellow overall with a red scarf and red shaggy slippers. He was born exactly when Polunin's miniatures received recognition, and their author himself received various prizes, including second place at the All-Union Variety Artists Competition. I was born because there was an irresistible need to break through to something new, unknown, unusual.
From that moment on, moving towards the unknown, sometimes seemingly unreal, became the norm for him, the answer to many, sometimes very difficult situations in life and work.
In 1982, Polunin gathered about 800 mime artists from all over the country in Leningrad for the Mime Parade, which has now become a legend. In 1985, at the festival of youth and students, within which a pantomime and clowning workshop was organized, he brought clowns to Moscow from the then still inaccessible West, among whom were the titled "king of fools" Django Edwards from Holland and the most shockingly serious and caustic - Franz Josef Bogner from Germany.
Vyacheslav Polunin became the organizer of the All-Union Street Theater Festival in Leningrad (1987). More than 200 participants, including children and critics, were abandoned on a desert island in the Gulf of Finland. From this island, boat trips were organized to different parts of Leningrad and the region, during which the actors of plastic and clown theaters mastered the difficult art of street comedians.
In 1988, the "Actors", who created five performances during their existence - "Dreamers", "Churdaks", "From the Life of Insects", "Asisyai Revue" and "Catastrophe", - celebrated the 20th anniversary of their theater with their own funeral, believing Stanislavsky, who said that the theater is dying after 20 years of its existence. On the occasion of the funeral, the first All-Union "Congress of Fools" was convened, during which it was discussed in detail whether the great stage reformer was right. The funeral took place in all forms: first, speeches at the coffin, or rather, coffins; then a mourning procession through the streets and, finally, a solemn rafting of burning coffins along the Neva.
In 1989, a miracle happened, whose name is "Caravan of Peace", a European festival of street theaters. It was a unique theatrical city on wheels that plied the roads of Europe for half a year. Polunin's efforts made possible the implementation of this project, which has not been equaled either before or after ...
Then the "Academy of Fools" was created, which launched a grandiose project to revive the carnival culture in Russia, the traditions of which, it turns out, were preserved in Polunin's homeland. Vyacheslav spent the first stage of the project at his own expense. There was no money for the second stage, and then he left Russia on tour around the world. These tours have been going on for more than seven years.
Today Polunin lives in London, where he rents a large house. But his main home is in a car in which not only his family and his friends and colleagues travel the world with him, but also a library and a video library, which a serious collector can envy. His books and films live in the same wagon trailer, scenery and props are based, and a workshop is equipped. Always with you a small TV with a VCR, a complete office equipment that can be deployed anywhere.
The Western press called Russian clown Vyacheslav Polunin "the best clown of the world", "the best clown of the era", he received the most prestigious theater awards in different countries, including the Edinburgh Golden Angel, the Spanish Golden Nose, and the Laurence Olivier Award. At home, in Russia, in 2000 he was awarded the Triumph Prize.
V. Polunin has a lot of new ideas and plans in his head. This is the work together with I. Shemyakin on the performance "Diabolo", and the hope to organize the International Theater Olympiad in Moscow in 2002 with the support of the capital's mayor's office. “Let’s invite folk, street, square theaters, mimes, circus performers, jugglers,” Polunin dreams, “and we’ll learn something like that. I love to have a crazy, reckless life, endless improvisations ... "
Polunin works very hard and does not know how to rest. But he knows how to live in pleasure - both on stage and outside it. He can be tough, prudent, invulnerable, but only because, in essence, he, like any real artist, is both vulnerable, and not very adapted, and reverent. He is the person who creates the holiday.
Actor, director, clown, People's Artist of Russia Vyacheslav Ivanovich Polunin was born on June 12, 1950 in the town of Novosil, Orel Region, in a family of employees.
Even at school, he was passionate about clowning, but he did not receive a professional circus education. After school, he worked at a factory, then entered the Faculty of Economics of Leningrad State University, from which he left the third year. Graduated from the Leningrad State Institute of Culture. N. K. Krupskaya (St. Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts), Variety Department of GITIS.
In 1968 at the Palace of Culture. Lensoviet Polunin created a pantomime studio, from which the clown mime theater "Litsedei" eventually grew. By the beginning of 1971, the core of the future theater was formed. In 1974, the first performance was released, in 1975 - the play "Actors". Since 1981, the theater has been working on the stage of the Youth Palace in Leningrad. During its existence, the performances "Dreamers", "Churdaki", "From the Life of Insects", "Asisyai Revue", "Catastrophe", a musical miniature "Blue-blue-blue Canary" were created, fifteen programs were released.
Among the programs created by Polunin are "Carnival", "Baden Baden", "Night on Bald Mountain", "Diabolo", "Snow Action".
In 1982, Polunin gathered in Leningrad about 800 pantomime artists from all over the country for the Mime Parade, and in 1985 he organized a Pantomime and Clownery Workshop in Moscow, timed to coincide with the XII International Festival of Youth and Students, at the opening of which, at the invitation of Polunin, they arrived the most famous clowns in the world, including Django Edwards from Holland and Franz Josef Bogner from Germany.
In 1987, Vyacheslav Polunin organized the All-Union Festival of Street Theaters in Leningrad, which brought together over 200 actors of plastic and clown theaters.
In 1988, having celebrated its 20th anniversary with its own funeral, on the occasion of which the first All-Union "Congress of Fools" was convened, the Theater "Litsedei" ceased to exist.
In 1989, on the initiative of Polunin, a unique project "Caravan of the World" was launched - a theater on wheels, which organized circus performances in European cities for six months.
In 1990, the united theater of European countries "The Wall" was created.
In 1993 he left Russia for Canada in Cirque du Soleil. Since 1994 he has lived in England, worked at the Hackney Theater in London, and now lives near Paris.
In 2001, he organized a clowning festival in Russia as part of the Third Theater Olympiad - "Ship of Fools".
Vyacheslav Polunin is a man of the world. He leads the life of a wandering clown, visited countries that have a very deep cultural tradition associated with clowning, comedy, fairground, folk theater.
On January 24, 2013, Russian Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky announced that Vyacheslav Polunin would become artistic director.
Vyacheslav Polunin - People's Artist of Russia (2001), winner of the second prize of the All-Union Variety Artists Competition (1979); laureate of the Lenin Komsomol Prize (1987), laureate of theatrical awards: the Edinburgh Golden Angel (1997), the Spanish Golden Nose, the Laurence Olivier Prize, the national independent Triumph Prize (2000), the Tsarskoye Selo Art Prize laureate (2000), laureate K.S. Stanislavsky and many other highest theatrical awards.
For the show "Live Rainbow" the Queen of Great Britain awarded Polunin the title of "Honorary Citizen of London".
Vyacheslav Polunin is married and has three sons.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources
It is difficult to imagine Asisaya, who has been known to everyone since childhood, as a husband and father - but Slava Polunin copes with these roles as brilliantly as with others - a clown, mime, theater director and author of the Snow Show. Not every woman could withstand his nomadic lifestyle, but Polunin found one for whom this is only a joy.
Actor
The fate of Slava Polunin was predetermined by a single evening when a 10-year-old boy saw a silent movie with Charlie Chaplin on TV. The film was running late, and my mother did not allow me to watch the story to the end - from a sudden return to reality, Slava cried until the morning, and the next day he was already walking around the yard in huge boots and with a cane. 
This art in the USSR was very fashionable and almost unknown - Polunin turned out to be a pioneer. Very soon, he began to create one after another pantomime studios, in which he improved his skills himself and taught others. This is how his “Litsedei” appeared.
Clown
Enthusiast memes led by Polunin quickly became popular: they were invited to group concerts and shown on TV. Slava gave up unnecessary studies and devoted himself to self-education: “We did everything improvisationally, but then I immediately ran to the books and figured out what commedia dell'arte is, Chinese theater and so on. My library was constantly growing, ”Polunin recalled. He arranged his personal life on the job: his first wife, Galina, also worked at the Actors, so they did not part for a second.
Asisyay
On the eve of the new 1981, Polunin realized that he had to give the viewer something new - and boldly promised that this "something" would be ready for the filming of "New Year's Light". "Asisyai" was born quickly and during the first appearance in front of the public was nameless. Seeing a funny little man in a yellow jumpsuit, some child in the hall shouted: “Asisyai!” Polunin liked the name."Asisyai" made him truly famous: with these numbers, he first toured the Union, and then began to organize international "Mim-parades", festivals of street theaters and Congresses of Fools. He was on the road all year round - how to organize family life in such conditions? But Polunin succeeded.
Clown and clowness
Lena Ushakova was a clowness-ballerina - very fragile and graceful. Polunin could not pass by such beauty. His wife Galina saw that their marriage was bursting at the seams, and she was the first to leave - both from her husband and from the Lyceums. And Lena eventually became for Slava not only the love of her life, but also the “left and right hand” in the theater.
They got married on the run: during the break between tours, they came to the registry office and asked to paint them right now. The employee asked if they were artists? “We are clowns,” was the answer. “If we don’t do it now, we won’t have time,” Polunin added seriously. The whole procedure took half an hour on the strength - and for such an express wedding he was a little ashamed in front of Lena. He promised that one day they would have a real celebration, with guests and a white dress of the bride. She had to wait 20 years, during which they managed to become parents of three sons, without stopping the tour. “My theater and my family are one and the same. So it happened in the old days, when artists wandered all their lives. The core of my troupe is five people: me, my wife and three sons. Our family is in perpetual motion. Most often, we live for two years in one country, then, when it gets boring, we move to another, ”Polunin said in 1997. The opportunity to get married came in 2005, when the Actors were touring the Hawaiian Islands. The days were busy with rehearsals and performances, but the nights were free!
55-year-old Polunin (he continues to be called “Glory”, despite his age) put on a suit for the first time in his life, and Lena - a white dress. The wedding party was held right on the beach. He kept one promise, the second remained: that one day they would have a place where they could finally unpack their suitcases.
The creator of one of the most successful and popular clown entreprises in the world and the very popular play "Snow Symphony" on American Broadway has repeatedly been included in the Forbes magazine rating as a highly paid representative of Russian show business. Vyacheslav Polunin is probably the most charming member of this list. Now he lives in the suburbs of Paris, in a large house, which is noisy, like in a circus tent.
early years
Vyacheslav Polunin was born on June 12, 1950 in the Oryol region, in the small village of Novosil. Parents - Ivan Pavlovich and Maria Nikolaevna - were trade workers. As a child, Vyacheslav read a lot and constantly invented something. I never bought games, I did everything with my own hands according to the plots of the books I read. For his creative activity he received many school diplomas and awards.
When he was ten years old, he became interested in what is now considered a land art form of art. He built eight-story huts in the nearby forest, in winter - entire cities of snow. And once he made a huge three-meter slingshot, on which rubber from motorcycle cameras and a leather hat went. From it, Slava shot a large carrot or a piece of brick. The shell flew far, across the entire field.
Vyacheslav Polunin says that he was lucky with the teacher Nina Mikhailovna in the House of Pioneers, who gave children complete freedom of creativity and helped them develop. He spent all his free evenings there. Children organized KVN, evenings of rest, every weekend local residents came to the House of Pioneers, because interesting impressions awaited them there.
I want to be a clown
As a child, he was very fond of comedies. The local cinema was opposite the school. The huge barn in which the movies were shown had a window on the side. Vyacheslav Polunin, since there was no money, asked some person who had a ticket to move the curtain a little. Through this crack, the boy watched many films, including cult Soviet films: "Jolly Fellows", "Ivan Brovkin in the Virgin Lands" and "Pitkin's Adventures in the Hospital".
He especially liked comedies, which he simply "absorbed". Then the boy retold them, portrayed the characters of the film in their faces, explained the plot and showed what and how the characters did. But most of all, Vyacheslav Polunin was struck by Charlie Chaplin, whose film "The Kid" considers the best picture of all times and peoples. However, Marcel Marceau played a decisive role in choosing a profession and even a way of life. Seeing the great mime on TV, a few days later he portrayed a pantomime in the yard. Then he got on the school stage, then played in all kinds of productions of a local scale, and so he got to St. Petersburg.
Finding a profession
After leaving school, Vyacheslav Polunin went to Leningrad to enter the theater school. At the interview, he was told that he did not pronounce 33 letters. Then he thought, if he cannot pronounce, then there is no need, he will do what he likes - pantomime. True, at first he began studying at a technical institute. However, he never became an engineer, he decided to start all over again and entered the Institute of Culture, where he later even taught for some time.
The first success came to Vyacheslav at the All-Union Variety Artists Competition, where he performed in a duet with Sasha Skvortsov. The second prize of the competition was presented to them by Arkady Raikin. The comedians had a dozen successful miniatures, which were well received by the audience. The duet became famous, but, as Vyacheslav Polunin himself said, although the audience was delighted - a sea of applause, they were forgotten after two days, because the characters were not interesting, did not create their own world and characters.
Explosion of popularity
In 1968, Polunin creates a famous all over the country. Real success came to him in the form of the clown Asisyai. Vyacheslav Polunin says that there was an "explosion" when he first came out in a yellow short suit with a nose and played a number with the phone. After this number was shown on TV, Slava did not pay anywhere else in taxis and restaurants, such a fantastic love overtook this image.
Then there were other numbers: "Sad Canary" ("Blue-Blue-Blue Canary"), "Nizya". Vyacheslav Polunin and the Litsedei group became popular favorites. However, at some point they became crowded within the same team, and Polunin offered to work separately for some time.
Cirque du Soleil
In 1982, Vyacheslav Polunin organized a mime parade in Leningrad, which brought together about 800 pantomime artists. In 1987, he held the All-Union Festival of Street Theaters, and in 1989 - a caravan of street comedians, from which the European traditional festival of street theaters "Caravan of the World" began. Wandering artists traveled half of Europe with concerts. Together with Rolan Bykov, Polunin became the initiator of the organization "Academy of Fools".
When the difficult years of perestroika began, Polunin began to think about where to wait out these difficult times. He always dreamed of working in a circus, and so he called the best of them - Cirque du Soleil. Of course, he had been known there for a long time and they were very happy that Asisyai wanted to work for them. So he flew to Montreal, but a year later he was bored. The famous team worked like a machine: everything according to the script, no improvisation.
"Yellow Mill"
When he was released from the circus, he decided to work in London. I called the director of the Hackney Empire Theater (where Charlie Chaplin's career began) and asked to be hosted for a year with his performance. He was given a stage for 40 performances a year. The Living Rainbow performances were a huge success. For this show, Vyacheslav Polunin was awarded the title of "Honorary Citizen of London" by the Queen of England.
Then there was New York, where Polunin gave a thousand performances in Union Square. For nine months he tried to sign a contract with the producers, but he was not satisfied with the tough conditions. And then, together with his Australian colleagues, he simply rented the Union Square Theatre, in the basement of which they made a Russian club. Photos of Vyacheslav Polunin from these performances adorned many city newspapers.
When it came to choose a place of residence, the artist settled on Paris - at that time the producer offered him a contract for three years in this city. The actor said that he would agree: "But then you buy and equip the Mill, and I leave you as a slave for three years." In general, from the well-aimed and funny statements of Vyacheslav Polunin, you can make a whole humorous collection.
Since 2013, Polunin worked for several years as the head of the St. Petersburg circus. Now the artist is engaged in new projects, touring a lot around the world.
personal information
Vyacheslav Polunin is married to actress Elena Ushakova, who works with him. The couple has three children:
- Ushakov Dmitry - works as technical director of the Polunin Theater;
- Ivan Polunin - also works as an artist, in the same theater;
- Pavel Polunin is a musician.
Now the Polunins' house is located near Paris, as the head of the family says, he chose the place so that the distance was no more than 30 minutes from the airport and high-speed train, otherwise friends would not be able to call. True, they live there no more than three months a year, they spend the same amount in Russia. Every year they make a two-month tour of Siberia, they definitely visit Moscow, St. Petersburg and Sochi.
Summer 1987. On tour in Anapa, a few hours before the performance, the “Litsedei” went to the beach right in clown outfits and makeup.
The fans, stunned with happiness, rushed to the idols for autographs, but they, not paying attention to anyone, silently marched to the sea. In the hands of sticks, supporting over their heads a blue silk fabric - their own "sky" measuring 40 square meters. m. They entered the water in a slender row, just like Pushkin's 33 heroes, only instead of uncle Chernomor - Vyacheslav Polunin. There is a commotion on the beach. But the clowns, without stopping, continue to go into the sea: now the water is already up to their chest, up to their chin ... A few more seconds - and only blue silk remains on the water. A minute passes, another, five - there are no "Litsedei"!
As Polunin later said, scuba gear was laid on the bottom of the sea to prepare the trick. Having plunged into the water, the artists put on masks and remained at the bottom. And sunbathers, having recovered from the first shock, began to act: some ran to look for rescuers, others began to dive themselves. It probably took about ten minutes before the clowns began to move back: first, the "sky" on sticks rose, then heads appeared ... The "actors" went out onto land. There was applause.
Born from trash
There is a blizzard outside the window. December 1980 in Leningrad turned out to be cold and snowy. Vyacheslav sits at home and peers intently into the mirror. On his face is either an evil smile, or universal sadness, or a terrible mask. Traveling through the looking glass, Polunin is looking for a new image. The day before, he called Central Television and said that he had an amazing miniature, which must be included in the New Year's Light. The editors immediately invited him to shoot.
Polunin lied: he didn’t have a new number - he just really wanted to participate in Ogonyok. Until now, speaking on TV, for example, in the program “Around Laughter”, he showed only pantomimes that caused a smile, but were quickly forgotten. And he was looking for an image that the audience will not be able to forget.
He recalled how, at the age of 10, he was amazed when he saw the silent film "Baby" with. I sat as if spellbound in front of the TV and only the third time I heard my mother's strict: "It's time to sleep." Click - and together with the light from the screen, a little man in big boots disappeared. I wanted to grab him and leave him with me, but blackness was already looking at the boy, reflecting himself, frozen in front of the TV, and half of his mother standing next to him. The boy went to his room, lay down on the bed, but could not sleep for a long time.
When I grew up, I reviewed all the films with the participation of the great artist more than once. And now Polunin wanted to come up with something in the same vein: funny and sad.
Vyacheslav's eyes were attracted by a bright spot. In the mirror, he saw a yellow jumpsuit hanging on a hanger behind him - loose, straight, without much embellishment. The waist was to be emphasized by a wide black belt. I remembered: my wife brought from familiar designers, hung it up and, admiring, joked:
Girlfriends will see - they will burst with envy!
Polunin got up and tried it on himself ... Fantasy earned further: white makeup is needed. Ovals above the eyes will create the effect of raised eyebrows in surprise. Something is still missing. On the dressing table is an imported deodorant with a red cap. He put it to his nose and smiled, looking in the mirror: here he is, the long-awaited new hero.
The next day, the “yellow man” of Slava Polunin took the stage of the Lyceum Theater. And from the hall some child shouted: “Asisyai!” Liked the word. Useful, decided the clown. He had already begun to think about the future interlude.
I love to have different things lying around the house, a sort of rubbish, ”Vyacheslav admitted. Eisenstein said that every thing has a meaning. Just in those days, I caught my eye on an old telephone lying in the corner. And I suddenly thought that this means of communication actually separates people. And then the idea came to mind about a person who calls himself, pretending to be talking animatedly. It could be his memories of the past, and unfulfilled dreams ...
Miniature "Telephone Conversation" Polunin and took to Moscow to the "Spark".
Since then, Asisya and I have been inseparable, - Polunin admits. He is who I would like to be.
To the registry office with backpacks
Can you sign us up right now? - asked a guy with a huge backpack on his shoulders, looking into the office of the registry office administrator.
The woman looked at him in astonishment, at the shyly smiling girl next to her, and at the other tourists standing a little further, by the window. “We have been together for a long time, but now we want to formalize the relationship,” said Slava Polunin. - True, there is not enough time, about half an hour. We have a concert tonight.
Are you artists?
Yes, we are clowns, he replied.
The administrator smiled.
So are you just kidding?
But the girl answered seriously:
No. If we don't do it now, we won't have time...
Slava and Lena left the registry office as husband and wife.
... Colleagues immediately called Lena Ushakova Fuji - because she looks like a Japanese woman. Clowness-ballerina - fragile, graceful. It was impossible not to fall in love with her. So Polunin could not.
He was already married then. They lived with Galina for several years, not parting for a day, because she also worked in the "Actors". But when the marriage crackled, Galina left the team. But Lena remained, becoming for Polunin over time, as he himself says, "both left and right hand."
Lena joked for twenty years, saying that she would not forgive me for our “wedding in half an hour,” Vyacheslav laughs. “And I kept promising that one day we would celebrate it properly. And on the eve
New, 2005 "Litsedei" went to the Hawaiian Islands. They gave two concerts a day. But the nights were ours! It was there that I arranged the wedding celebration. All the theater, about 15 people, gathered on the endless beach and had fun until the morning. Lena dressed up in a white dress, as a bride should. And I bought a suit. First in life.
Still paying for Blue Canary
Dad, how did you come up with this number? How?! - admiring Polunin walks on the heels of one of his artists, Robert Gorodetsky, asking again and again: - No, how did you come up with that?!
Pope Gorodetsky was nicknamed in the team just for his age. He is already 43, he is 10 years older than Polunin and sees many things differently. Going through records at home, Robert stumbled upon an old disc. The inscription read: “Maria Koseva and Nikola Tomov, “Blue Canary” (translated from English - “sad canary”).
An old song written in the early 1950s by musician Vincent Fiorino was sung by the Bulgarian duo in bad Italian, with English words inserted into the chorus.
What they sing about, Gorodetsky found out later, when experts tried to translate:
The sad canary waits in vain
That the one who has gone far will return to the nest ...
And at that moment, he was hooked by the music. When the chorus sounded - “Blue, blue, blue canary”, a picture arose before my eyes: two clowns sing, playing along with themselves on small harmonicas. The third stands between them with a net - why not? - and looks around in amazement ... Sitting down at the table, Robert quickly sketches the picture that has arisen in his imagination, sketches out sketches of costumes. “Gorodetsky, and you are a genius!” Polunin told him the next day. The number was included in the program, then it was shown on TV. It was 1983.
Glory still pays me very good royalties, ”Gorodetsky once said.
Burn all clothing immediately!
April 25, 1986 "Litsedei" went to Kyiv. All night they discussed the plot of the short film "In case of fire, call 01", which they decided to shoot between concerts.
And on the morning of the 26th, rumpled, sleepy, stepped onto the platform. The artists drove around the city, settled in a hotel, and then went to the theater and rehearsed until the evening. No one had any idea that some hundred kilometers away at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant there was an accident.
The next morning, dressed in firefighting gear, they went outside to shoot the first scene of the film. There were surprisingly few people on the street. And some woman, not paying attention to the makeup, seriously asked:
And what, sons, did something explode with us too?
Having heard about the accident at some station, the artists were not particularly worried - anything can happen. They realized that the situation was really serious only when they returned to the hotel and the organizer of the tour began to beg not to cancel the concert. “Yes, many residents have already left,” he said, “but others have remained. And the tickets for the performances were sold out a long time ago! No one could have imagined the full scale of the tragedy then. "Litsedei" remained in Kyiv.
We had a full house on the very first evening, - Leonid Leikin, the artist of Litsedeev, tells TN. - On the stage of the theater where we performed, "pockets" for scenery were arranged, locked doors led from them to the street. The public, unable to get tickets, hacked these exits and ended up on stage. Polunin decided not to expel anyone - he seated them on the edge. So we performed every evening. They checked clothes and shoes for radiation - the devices squealed and crackled. We were advised to drink red wine. And so they were saved. Returning to Leningrad, they came to the hospital to check. And we were told: all the clothes in which you were there must be burned immediately.
Instead of an anniversary - a funeral
1987th. Saint Petersburg. Every evening he comes to the performances of the Lyceums. And then, waiting for Polunin at the service entrance, he sneaks after him, like some kind of spy. A graduate of a veterinary institute, bald, awkward, one day he will still decide. He would come to the Lyceum studio and show excerpts from their own performances: he knew them all by heart. Polunin will not only take him to the theater, but even let him live.
His wonderful wife Lenochka allocated a place in the hallway of their cramped apartment, - Anvar Libabov recalled. - I slept on a chest.
On April 1, 1987, Libabov was solemnly accepted into the staff of the clown troupe. And exactly one year later, on April 1, 1988, together with other artists, Anwar took part in the funeral.
... The brass band of the Leningrad Military District played. Three coffins stood vertically on the stage. Artists came out of each, played their roles - the best numbers of the "Lycedeev"! - and "lay down" back.
This is how the clown mime theater celebrated its 20th anniversary in an unconventional way. Shortly before the anniversary, Polunin quoted Stanislavsky's words to his colleagues that every theater dies after 20 years of existence. And announced the preparations for the funeral.
After the performance, we carried the coffins down the street, they contained various newspaper publications about us, posters, ads, all sorts of waste paper, - Libabov continues to tell TN. - All this was set on fire and launched along the Neva. It turned out spectacular!
Head teacher - granddaughter Mia
- Mia, come here! - Polunin calls his five-year-old granddaughter in a mysterious whisper. - Look! He pulls the string, the room plunges into twilight, and the moon rises to the ceiling, into the starry sky. Then he touches another rope - and the sun rises. Mia claps her hands: her grandfather is a wizard!
Communicating with children, you can discover a lot for yourself, Polunin is convinced. So, for example, he once spied on his son when he was talking to his toys. And the first performance of "Litsedei" - "Dreamers" - was staged after a whole year watching the kids playing on the playground. When his children Dima, Pasha and Vanya were small, he and his wife first tied them backstage for the duration of the performance. But none of his sons liked it. And then Polunin decided: let them crawl around the stage! And the children became part of the play. Spectators were delighted when little men chased balloons, climbed into the arms of adult clowns or ... fell asleep.
For his only adored granddaughter, Polunin arranged a magical room in his four-story workshop near Paris. Two doors lead here: one is large, for adults, the second is small, it is embedded in a large one, but opens with its own key. The clown brings toys to this room from all over the world. Here you can play for hours!
A few years ago, he turned an old mill into a workshop. There is also a Nostalgia room. Old photographs hang on the walls. And everything - every cup, every doorknob - is in lace, which Elena knitted. And the toilet in the workshop is the travel room. Suitcases are painted on the walls, maps hang on which the countries visited by the Polunin family are marked with arrows. When you open the toilet door, a locomotive whistle sounds.
Until the age of 50, Polunin managed to travel the whole world. Then he told his wife that it was time to settle down and choose the city in which they want to live. But they didn't succeed. They have an apartment in St. Petersburg, a theater center in Moscow, an official office in London, and an apartment in New York. And in France - a workshop and ... Mia.
I have never seen her cry, she laughs all the time. She thinks that all people live like that in the world, - says Vyacheslav. - In this, Mia is my teacher.
Grandfather and granddaughter often walk only together. And now they are walking through the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris, and he says:
Do you know that I only sleep on a magic pillow? It has a handle, like a suitcase, and when I fall asleep, I always hold on tightly to it. Suddenly I dream that I'm flying? And then I definitely won’t fall and hit!
Mia laughs:
Grandfather, will you give me such a pillow?
He answers:
Of course, I have four of them!
Photo: Gennady Usoev, ITAR TASS, RIA Novosti
Vyacheslav Polunin
Zodiac sign: Twins
Family: wife - Elena, actress; children - Dmitry (29 years old), technical director of the Polunin Theater, Pavel (28 years old), musician, Ivan (23 years old), artist of the Polunin Theater; granddaughter - Mia (5 years old)
Education: Graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Culture. Krupskaya, variety department of GITIS
Career: in 1968 he organized the mime theater "Litsedei". In 1991 he became an artist of the Canadian Cirque du Soleil. In 1993 he assembled a new troupe. Organizer of the Mime Parade (1982), the All-Union Festival of Street Theaters (1987), the First All-Union Festival Congress of Fools (1988), the European Festival of Street Theaters Caravan of Peace (1989). He staged 30 show performances: Dreamers (1969), Jackass (1982), Diablo (1999), SNOW Show (2000), Castles in the Air (2007), etc. He acted in films: Only in the music hall "(1980)," Never-failing "(1983)," How to become a star "(1986)," Hello, fools! (1996) and others.
People's Artist of Russia. For the show "Living Rainbow", Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain awarded him the title of "Honorary Citizen of London"
