Stage director: Vyacheslav Stasenko.
Albert Ramsdel Henry Jr.
Actors: Irina Bodar, Viktor Nademyanov, Anzhelika Kislitsyna and others.
Viewing location: Kiev Academic Regional Music and Drama Theater named after. P. K. Saksagansky (Bila Tserkva).
Date of visit: December 16, 2011.
Ticket price: 30 hryvnia (2nd row of stalls).
“The relationship between a man and his dog is sanctified by nature.
Whom nature has united, let no woman separate!”
November 26, 28 and 30 at KAOMDT them. P. Sagsagansky held the premiere of the play “Sylvia” by Albert Henry Jr. directed by director Vyacheslav Stasenok (“The Third Word”, “The Leaning Tower of Pisa”, “Kaidasheva Family”).
on the picture: as Sylvia - Irina Bondar
“Sylvia” is a lyrical comedy about love inside an unusual triangle, where there is she, he and a dog. The main conflict is tied between two spouses - Greg and Kate, who live in Manhattan. At first glance, this is a rather prosperous family: a house, a stable job, the youngest son has already gone to college ... But one day, after an unpleasant conversation with his boss, Greg, tormented by a flock of unfulfilled youthful hopes, was walking in the park, where Sylvia nailed to him - young but lonely dog. Greg takes Sylvia home, where a loud scandal awaits him with his wife, who does not intend to put up with such an invasion of her territory. She rightfully sees Sylvia as a competitor for Greg's attention. Kate immediately warns her opponent that this will be a life-and-death fight...
The author, as usual, put the verbal expression of the main problem of the play into the mouth of one of the characters, the dog lover Tom, who says to Greg, carried away by his new girlfriend: “Women get a dog - nothing. Another child. They have a maternal feeling for the dog. Men are another matter. When I come home in the evening, I have to remind myself: first kiss your wife, then caress the Boatswain.”
Sylvia was played by Irina Bondar. Probably, the gods heard our prayers, because she finally proved that she was not at all enslaved by the role of a simple girl, a victim of circumstances (as, for example, in the role of Gali in the play “Chasing Two Hares” or Melashka in “Kaidash's Family”). Irina Bondar brilliantly, I'm not afraid of this word, lived the role of a playful and naughty, but loving and devoted dog. To be honest, we were extremely surprised to learn that the Saksagans were putting on “Sylvia”, because not every actress can play a talking dog, mind you, not at a children's matinee, but in a world-class play. Hence the prejudice, skepticism, and inner readiness for “underplaying” or “overplaying” ... But Irina Bondar surpassed all the wildest expectations. She turned out such a funny, touching and real dog. Bravo, Irina!
Among the few characters in the play, I also remember the crazy psychiatrist who counsels Greg and Kate. The gender of the doctor was impossible to determine due to the male costume and stage makeup. Either a man with a female voice, or a woman with a mustache ... Naturally, such bewilderment among the audience was provoked by the author and director for a reason that we, of course, will not reveal to you in advance. But the feeling that this hero evokes, to put it mildly, is not pleasant. A creature of indeterminate sex naturally arouses alertness and even disgust in a healthy person. In “Sylvia” by Vyacheslav Stasenok, this hero came out rather grotesque and, moreover, repulsive.
The play “Sylvia” assumes that the viewer has at least a general idea of the plot. Otherwise, bewilderment arises (as in the case of our neighbors on the left): why is this girl climbing on all fours and sniffing corners? why is she lying at the feet of this man, and why is he scratching behind her ear? Well, at least the leash was attached to the hand-paw of Sylvia, and not to the collar-ribbon, otherwise in the eyes of unprepared spectators it would have been too much ...
We felt at ease, having read Albert Henry's play before. Contrary to popular belief that it’s not interesting to know everything in advance, in this case it was very useful, because it helped to understand Stasenko’s director’s idea and his vision of the main conflict, made it possible to notice and evaluate the specific techniques thanks to which the director was able to adapt the American “everyday” plot to the perception of our viewer. For example, from the stage of the theater. Saksagansky, you will not hear the “salty” joke about the Republicans that is present in the original text, but you will hear the well-known song by Irina Bilyk, which, if I may say so, is not often heard in Manhattan.
The so-called “advanced” parents surprised again. Well, why, one wonders, to bring children of preschool age to “adult” performances? No, we understand the good intention of starting a child's acquaintance with the beautiful almost from the womb, but why bring it to fanaticism? So comical, but completely untimely situations happen ... Dialogue in the hall during the performance (heard through five rows):
- Mom, where is the dog?
“Here she is, my daughter…
- No, no, mom! It's a girl!
…and (after a few minutes):
- Mom, why is she running back and forth?
As a result, the family left the hall in the middle of the second act. We can only be surprised. Especially - perseverance of the child. The girl survived for an hour and a half ...
This is the fourth performance in a row by the Bila Tserkva Theater. Saksagansky pleasantly surprises and inspires. Not every production of the capital's theaters is so touching. It happens that you watch something today: and you seem to like it, but tomorrow you wake up and don’t remember. And the performances of the Saxaghan people are not out of their heads for several days. Everything, it would seem, is extremely simple, but, at the same time, damn brilliant.
At night, after Sylvia, I woke up and thought: “Hmm, but the troupe of the brilliant Molière did not immediately get on the stage of the Royal Theater ... Previously, they traveled year after year along the dusty roads of France, amusing the provincial audience with their signature farces.”
It's only the beginning…
The tours of the Norilsk Polar Drama Theater have faded and sparkled in Krasnoyarsk. For three weeks, the Norilsk people worked to a full house - in the hall of the Theater. Pushkin, where there were performances, there were no empty seats! And now it remains only to remember the past holiday. Towards the end, the theater presented Albert Gurney's romantic comedy Sylvia.
The director of the performance, People's Artist of Russia Alexander Zykov once admitted that he does not like to stage comedies in their purest form. He is interested when everything on the stage is like in life - the funny side by side with the sad. So it is in Sylvia - there are a lot of comical moments in the play. But there is also enough drama here: the homeless mongrel Sylvia, whom the compassionate Greg brought to his house, causes a conflict between him and his wife Kate. And who would want to face the problem of choice: a beloved wife or a beloved dog? One can only sympathize with the main character.
By the way, last season this performance called “Sit! Lie! Be in love!" staged at the Krasnoyarsk House of Actors by director Andrey Maksimov. In his production, the artists of the theater named after. Pushkin, and it was very interesting to compare both versions.
The performance of the Norilsk people is definitely brighter in terms of musical design. Alexander Zykov chose the music for it himself: it seemed to him that Sylvia should be precisely jazz. And how famously his males dance to traditional jazz rhythms! Zykov said that a year ago, at the Fyodor Volkov Festival in Yaroslavl, local theatergoers who were used to calm, unhurried conversations on stage were simply dumbfounded by this cascade of dog passions - for about fifteen minutes there was simply catastrophic silence in the hall! But the Norilsk people managed to break through the ice, and the theater was awarded the prestigious Volkov Prize. The same performance a couple of years ago was recognized as the best at the regional festival "Theatrical Spring" in Krasnoyarsk.
The director also successfully introduced two scenes that are missing in the play: the dog wedding scene and the harsh scene of Sylvia's sterilization. And both of them go to the same tune - Gershwin's "Summertime". But if love accompanies the gentle duet of Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald, then the operation takes place under the hysterical anguish of Janis Joplin. Which further emphasizes the tragedy of the transition.
I'm not a big fan of the dog tribe, but in the Zykov version, my sympathies are on the side of Greg (Honored Artist of Russia Sergei Rebriy) and Sylvia (Anna Titova). Kate, played by Ludmila Kaevitzer, seems like a petty and stupid bitch - and how could the passionate dog lover Greg endure her for so long? Yes, and agreed to give Sylvia?! The latter is hard to believe.
In Maximov's production, Kate elicits much more sympathy. And, I think, the main reason here is in the masterful play of the Honored Artist of Russia Galina Salamatova. In her performance, Kate is a woman who is forcibly imposed by her unlucky husband (Honored Artist of Russia Viktor Losyanov) with a creature that is absolutely not close and unpleasant to her. Yes, Greg has the right to have a pet in the house. But this is not only his home... Salamatova plays in such a way that her character's reluctance to tolerate a dog in the house does not seem like empty selfishness. And a step towards her husband, when Sylvia still remains in the family, causes even more respect. And this is exactly how Kate should be, about whom Greg tells Sylvia that he waited two years for her to marry him: "Kate is worth it."
As for Sylvia herself, there is nothing to discuss here - Maria Alekseeva (Krasnoyarsk Sylvia) cannot be compared with Anna Titova. Her role is just a feeble imitation of Titova's acting. She is inferior to her in everything - both in plasticity and in emotionality, not to mention the costumes: the move, when the sleazy denim tramp Sylvia appears in the bright costume of a well-groomed domestic dog, was originally used in Alexander Zykov's performance. And such obvious plagiarism is definitely not in favor of Maximov's production.
And yet, what I liked more about Andrey Maksimov's performance was the absence of two characters, who, although they add comedy to the play, can be perfectly dispensed with. As demonstrated by Maximov. Gurney is said to have stipulated in the text of the play that the roles of Tom the dog lover, Kate's girlfriend Phyllis and the psychiatrist Leslie must be played by the same actor. I don't know, maybe it is. In any case, in Zykov's version, Alexander Glushkov plays all these roles - and his characters turned out to be frankly exaggerated, especially Leslie and Phyllis. However, in the groovy Norilsk performance, the actor's comedy only reinforces the comedic plan (but Kate in the scene with Phyllis looks like a fool as a fool due to this!). Of the three characters, Maksimov has only Tom left (Honored Artist of Tatarstan Nikolai Kozak) - and Tom is not a grotesque parody, but a sincere dog lover who tries to explain to himself and Greg why they have such unbridled love for these creatures: “You and I are biophiles - lovers of all living things. It's all about the genes." This decision of this role, in my opinion, makes the performance deeper and more penetrating. And Nikolai Kozak is so organic in the role of Tom that now, after his departure from Krasnoyarsk, it is difficult to imagine who will replace the actor in this performance. As well as in his other roles in the theater. Pushkin. But that is another story.
Elena Konovalova
"Silvia" tells of a married couple in which the husband took a homeless dog into the house with sharp opposition from his wife. The author of the play is the American writer and playwright Albert Gurney. The play was first staged in 1995 by John Tillinger.
The plot of the play
City NY, 1990s. Greg, a middle-class man, finds a dog on the street named Silvia(indicated on the collar) and imbued with sympathy for her. The dog is represented in the play by a woman. He takes the dog into the house where he and his wife Kate live together while their children study away from home. The wife actively dislikes her husband's find, but she agrees to leave Sylvia for a few days until she can be placed somewhere. In the future, Greg spends a lot of time with the dog at the expense of work duties. On the advice of a stranger he met at the dog park, Greg spayed Sylvia, but she still adores her new owner.
Meanwhile, the relationship between the spouses is deteriorating. Sylvia and Kate become jealous of each other, and Kate turns to a psychologist. The psychologist is desperate about this situation, and his only advice is to buy a gun and shoot the dog.
Kate receives an invitation to work in London and come there with her husband. Of course, Greg would like to take Sylvia too, but for the dogs in England a six-month quarantine. Reluctantly, Greg tells Sylvia that she will have to move into a country family. At the last moment, Kate wants to say goodbye to Sylvia, and then, after a touching scene, her attitude towards the dog changes dramatically.
In the final scene, the actors tell the audience about subsequent events. Sylvia is euthanized many years later after a serious illness, and Kate and Greg keep her memory.
Productions in Russia
In Russia, the play was staged under the title "What do men want?", directed by Olga Shvedova.
Also, the performance "Sylvia" is in the repertoire of the Yaroslavl Chamber Theater.
Performance "You are my God!" at the St. Petersburg theater "Buff". Director - Maria Nemirovskaya (Israel). Starring: Z.A. Russia Murad Sultaniyazov (Greg), Anna Korshuk (Kate), Z.A. Russian Elena Vorobey and Ksenia Andreeva (Sylvia).
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An excerpt characterizing Sylvia (play)
“About your case,” Prince Andrei turned again to Boris, “we will talk later, and he looked back at Rostov. - You come to me after the show, we will do everything that will be possible.And, glancing around the room, he turned to Rostov, whom he did not deign to notice the position of childish irresistible embarrassment, turning into bitterness, and said:
- You seem to be talking about the Shengraben case? You were there?
“I was there,” Rostov said with anger, as if by this he wanted to offend the adjutant.
Bolkonsky noticed the state of the hussar, and it seemed funny to him. He smiled slightly contemptuously.
- Yes! Lots of stories about this stuff!
“Yes, stories,” Rostov spoke loudly, looking at Boris and then Bolkonsky with furious eyes, “yes, there are many stories, but our stories are the stories of those who were in the very fire of the enemy, our stories have weight, and not stories of those staff thugs who receive awards without doing anything.
“Which do you suppose I belong to?” - calmly and especially pleasantly smiling, said Prince Andrei.
A strange feeling of anger and at the same time respect for the calmness of this figure was united at that time in the soul of Rostov.
“I’m not talking about you,” he said, “I don’t know you and, I confess, I don’t want to know. I'm talking about staff in general.
“And I’ll tell you what,” Prince Andrei interrupted him with calm authority in his voice. - You want to insult me, and I am ready to agree with you that this is very easy to do if you do not have sufficient respect for yourself; but you will agree that both the time and place are very badly chosen for this. One of these days we will all have to be in a big, more serious duel, and besides, Drubetskaya, who says that he is your old friend, is not at all to blame for the fact that my physiognomy had the misfortune not to please you. However,” he said, getting up, “you know my name and you know where to find me; but do not forget,” he added, “that I do not consider myself or you offended at all, and my advice, as a man older than you, is to leave this matter without consequences. So on Friday, after the show, I'm waiting for you, Drubetskoy; goodbye, ”concluded Prince Andrei and went out, bowing to both.
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