I really liked the performance. Magnificent play of artists and eternal life questions: “What is love?”, “Is it good to lie if it is very necessary for survival?”, “What if you are not understood or loved?”, “Do you always need to tell the truth? » and many others that we ask ourselves and try to find a solution to the existing problems. The stage perfectly shows the possible answers and the consequences that different answers to the main questions faced by the characters of the play can lead to. A. Vampilova. There are many funny, sad moments, those that make you think and re-evaluate our current life, which has not changed much in terms of human relations since the writing of the play.
Victor SUKHORUKOV is an amazing artist, always different, able to convey the most complex range of feelings and experiences - in the role Sarafanova a very gentle and loving father who believes in people, needs understanding and love, does not always receive it and wants everyone to be happy. Busygin(Evgeny TSYGANOV) conquers with his ability to believe in the truth of his words and inability to leave a person who needs his help and love. Trust him unconditionally, even if he's lying. Silvia(Evgeny STYCHKIN) is very sincere, musical, groovy and a great enthusiast, although (if necessary) he can change his mind in order to avoid trouble. Nina(Eugenia KREGZHDE) - charm itself, a gentle and romantic being who makes a responsible decision not to marry without love is worthy of respect! Vasenka(Vasily SIMONOV) causes pity because of his unrequited love and tries to get out of the situation with dignity, but thereby hurts his father and makes his relatives worry. Makarska(Olga LOMONOSOVA) - of course, a bitch, but she also needs love, which is perfectly reflected by the actress, sometimes pitying the poor lover Vasenka, who is much younger than her, and not a couple at all. A Kudimov(Roman POLYANSKY) always wants to be extremely honest and keep his word in any situation, is that good? As experience shows, not always ...
I also want to say that I really liked the clouds at the very beginning of the performance. They even turned out to be symbolic ... The performance is not at all an entertaining one, but a full-fledged one with good scenery and wonderful music - very soulful and lyrical, touching to the core. Many thanks to all the artists for the pleasure they gave, the opportunity to empathize with the characters, to think about their own lives and actions. I recommend it to anyone who wants to relax, laugh, mourn along with the heroes of the play and decide for themselves how they would act in such a situation.
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Time, probably, is now ... Vain, hasty, pragmatic, too material. I would like to find my island, where it is always warm and cozy, where only relatives and close people will be, where you will be accepted as you are. The creators of the play “The Elder Son” tried to embody a world where the echoes of the hustle and bustle of a big city do not reach, where all people are relatives to each other and where it is impossible to get by buying a ticket for a regular train...
In the famous play by Vampilov, young people, accidentally getting into someone else's house, find themselves in the thick of things. The story, starting with deceit, oddly enough, leads ... to Love. A performance about mutual understanding, about the vulnerability of bright people and about their only rightness in this life!
Each generation will see itself in the characters: adults will nostalgic for the values lost in society. Young people recognize themselves in a love story, get carried away by their prototypes, who do not immediately believe in the sincerity of feelings. Children, no matter how “mature” they may be, will receive another key to understanding their parents.
The play, called a comedy by the playwright, is designed to bring us hope on the verge of tears, bright tears ... Masterfully staged by director Safonov, it is devoid of signs of any era and transferred to our time! Artists - a brilliant composition, not only for avid theatergoers.
Theater about the performance
Oleg Tabakov called this performance "a story about the birth of capitalism in feudal Russia." Russia, on the other hand, is shown here as a hopelessly dense country, with the champing mud of Russian roads (on which the characters move, pulling on special boots), and the same devastation of shabby landowners' estates with their dense owners, who are in insanity. In the final, all of them finally fall into a friendly hibernation - personifying the whole miserable, dormant Russia. Only the living horses behind them do not sleep and chew their hay, reminding us of the legendary "troika bird". But it is precisely for Chichikov's "adventure" that spectators flock to the "Snuffbox", since Sergei Bezrukov in his role becomes the main event of this spectacle. He portrays an absurd Russian man, although he gave birth to the idea of "business on dead souls", but he does not understand well what to do with this idea, and implements it with great fear. Starting his strange business, he himself does not believe in its success and goes crazy with each new victory. And asking the landlords to sell him the dead, he faints from uncertainty in his enterprise. He is infinitely weak and hilariously funny. Small and fidgety, constantly sweating, with frightened hairs stuck to his skull, he spins in front of us like a wound up top, himself poorly aware of where and why he is rushing and what is the true goal of his entrepreneurship. In his fussy and nervous movements there is something Chaplinian and at the same time deeply ours, Russian. The famous Gogol landowners are shown to us in unexpectedly fresh colors, surprising with the new palette of their community. The box, performed by Olga Blok-Mirimskaya, emerges like a playful beast, seducing Chichikov with loud Ukrainian songs. In the role of Sobakevich, the elegant Boris Plotnikov confuses us with comme il faut manners. Plushkin is played by Oleg Tabakov himself, as always, bathing in grotesque tones and feeling like a true king on stage. Chichikov circles all of them around his finger, but no one knows where his path ultimately lies.
Evgenia Kregzhde, Viktor Sukhorukov and Evgeny Stychkin in a scene from the play "The Elder Son".
The Blagoveshchensk Hall welcomes the artists and the jury of the Amur Autumn. © instagram.com/svscena
The festival continues in Blagoveshchensk, presenting to the local public both the latest Russian cinema and fresh non-repertory theatrical performances. Moreover, the latter are divided into two categories: pure "fun" - and performances that claim to be deep, "with meaning". In the second category, there are no competitors for "The Elder Son" - another staging of the famous play by Alexander Vampilov, carried out by the Free Stage theater company. The director of the performance is the rather famous Pavel Safonov, who once staged, for example, at the Theater. Evg. Vakhtangov "The Seagull", known for his other metropolitan works. He did not lose his reputation in the "commercial" enterprise (after all, this is how many still relate to the enterprise). His new production favorably differs from other "brothers" presented at the festival - the thoughtfulness of stage decisions, careful study of images and some, one might say, inherent rigor of the material.
Viktor Sukhorukov in the play "The Elder Son".
And the material, the play itself, is, of course, well known to everyone - it is unlikely that there were at least a dozen people in the hall who would not be aware of the plot (however, it may not be so, but you want to think only the best about people ). The famous television film by Vitaly Melnikov (a native of the Amur Territory, by the way) has been known to many since childhood, remembered by repeated repetitions, it is simply impossible not to look back at it, again referring to the history of the Sarafanov family. Especially in this regard, of course, the performer of the main role "gets" - whom everyone, willy-nilly, will begin to compare with the great Yevgeny Leonov, for whom "The Elder Son" has become the most beneficial performance. No, we remember, of course, in that film both Karachentsov and Boyarsky, and Kryuchkova and Egorova, but it was Leonov who took all the main attention in that film adaptation - incredibly touching, gentle, sincere. Not every artist will decide to enter into a “competition” with him, even if it is in absentia. This time, Viktor Sukhorukov took a chance - and did not lose.
Yevgeny Stychkin in the play "The Elder Son".
This role is very suitable for Sukhorukov - a bit of a blissful person, abandoned by his wife and giving himself all to his children. Not everything, of course, turned out in life the way he wanted, and it turned out to be impossible to equally please both his son and daughter - and now they are already striving to fly out of their native nest, to start an independent life, and far from their own home. Already in the text of Vampilov, Shakespearean notes are heard with a slight echo, but Sukhorukov turns this disguised theme of King Lear, rejected by everyone, to full volume. He does not play either a Soviet citizen or a modern one (the time given in the performance is rather arbitrary, especially in terms of costumes) - he decides his Sarafanov as a tragic character out of time, out of social signs. That is why he so desperately accepts the "fatal accident" that underlies the plot - his alleged "son", who suddenly appeared on the threshold one night.
Yevgenia Kregzhde, Viktor Sukhorukov and Yevgeny Stychkin in a scene from the play "The Elder Son".
Cautious distrust, giving way to boundless trust, and then almost instantly flowing into passionate paternal love - the artist is not afraid of such sharp emotional swings, but, on the contrary, very successfully uses them to his advantage. The role allows him to present to the viewer the whole palette of his possibilities, in which there is a place for both funny clowning and furious anguish - all that modern cinema does not always take from an actor. In this situation, there is a great danger of overplaying, overdoing it - and it cannot be said that Sukhorukov completely avoids it. Here, the immutable laws of the enterprise, designed primarily for an audience not spoiled by the Moscow Art Theater, are already affecting: everything should be at least a little, but too much - both the music is louder and the acting strokes are fatter. However, the master is a master because even some “flaws” (albeit not noticeable by everyone) he still wants to forgive as soon as possible - because in general the image turned out to be very convincing and solid.
Yevgeny Pronin in the play "The Elder Son".
They try to match the leading artist and his younger colleagues. Here, first of all, I would like to single out Evgeny Stychkin, who for some reason does not play Busygin (although one could unquestioningly believe in such a relationship), but Silva. Playing bright, fun, sweeping, eccentric. Sometimes, of course, with his brightness, he frankly pulls the blanket over himself - but it seems somehow stupid to scold him for such, let's say, pranks. In addition, he is not the only one - the director's decision puts a strong emphasis on the image of Nina, Sarafanov's daughter, who, with the groom ready, suddenly falls in love with the "elder brother" who suddenly appeared. This role is played by Yevgenia Kregzhde, also an actress of the Vakhtangov Theater (“Uncle Vanya”, “Demons”), popular among the people thanks to the sketch “Give youth!”, And who recently played a small but interesting role in one of the best films of this year - “Geographer drank the globe." On the theatrical stage, she embodies a girl both decisive and timid, modest, but seductive. And so one should have seemed to object that in Soviet times, girls were unlikely to wear such short dresses, but they don’t want to. Especially when you watch what is happening from the front row.
Evgenia Kregzhde in the play "The Elder Son".
Also in the play are artists Yevgeny Pronin (Busygin), Igor Nevedrov (Vasenka), Olga Lomonosova (Makarskaya), Roman Polyansky (Kudimov). The ensemble turns out of them well-coordinated, deserving, albeit not always enthusiastic, but honest compliments. Thanks to the common work, the performance looks good, it is accepted by the audience with great excitement. By and large, at the moment the jury of the festival "Amur Autumn" and there is no one else to choose from - and "The Elder Son" is, in fact, the only favorite here.
Tour poster of the play.
The “elder son” of Viktor Sukhorukov can be found in Israel.
It would seem that after the talented, vivid and memorable film adaptation of the famous Vampilov’s play “The Elder Son” in 1976 with the brilliant Leonovs in the title role, only a very risky or very talented artist will again take up this image. Both these qualities were organically embodied by the popular theater and film actor, "brother-2" and "poor, poor Pavel", People's Artist of Russia Viktor Sukhorukov. In May, Israeli theatergoers will see him in the role of Sarafanov Sr. in the play "The Elder Son", staged by the famous Russian director Pavel Safonov.
The performance based on one of the best plays by Alexander Vampilov “The Elder Son” arrives in Israel, as they say, “from the ship to the ball” - its premiere took place at the very end of last year on the stage of the Theater. Vakhtangov and was a resounding success. The well-known story about the musician Sarafanov, whose family comes to a sassy young man who “jokingly” calls himself the eldest son of a musician and gradually becomes the hope and support of a crumbling house, was read in their own way by the director Pavel Safonov and the leading masters of the modern Russian stage. The play is well known to the general public from the film of the same name, in which Nikolai Karachentsov, Mikhail Boyarsky, Svetlana Kryuchkova and, of course, Yevgeny Leonov, whose role is still called one of the most successful, brilliantly played the main roles.
Sukhorukov really created his own version of the image of the blessed, in the opinion of his wife who left him, musician and raised him downright to Gogol's heights. As a result, the eternal Gogol theme of the little man sounded differently. His hero is not a loser, as in the majority of dramatizations, but a talented person who was humiliated and then not allowed to rise. Genuine persecution and vulnerability, half-forgotten today, by Sukhorukov is reproduced with jeweler's precision. Already at the first glance at his hero, at his first remarks, it becomes clear what kind of person this Sarafanov is.
The lead actor once remarked that for him the role of Sarafanov is a kind of milestone in his acting career:
– With it, for me, perhaps, maturity began. I have never had such a job. Sarafanov is a lonely man crushed by everyday life. For me, in this image, the theme of talent, unclaimed and abandoned, is very important. Sarafanov is such a modern Gogol Akaki Akakievich, humiliated by everyone, but still retaining both the ability to love and talent, he experienced a lot, - the actor believes.
The rest of the performers involved in the production were by no means lost against the background of the master. And these are young, but accomplished artists known for their bright work in the theater and cinema: Olga Lomonosova (Makarskaya) from the Other Theatre, Evgenia Kregzhde (Nina) from the Vakhtangov Theater, Evgeny Tsyganov (Busygin) from the Fomenko Theater, Roman Polyansky (Kudimov ), and Igor Nevedrov (Vasenka) and Evgeny Stychkin (Silva) collaborate with several Moscow troupes at once. Of course, all of them were attracted by the excellent play and brilliantly written roles. It is not the first time that the experienced director Pavel Safonov has turned to Vampilov's dramaturgy. He is well known to theatergoers from performances at the Theater. Vakhtangov (“The Seagull” by A.P. Chekhov), the Theater on Malaya Bronnaya (“Tartuffe” by Moliere), in “Another Theater” (“Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” by T. Stoppard, “Orpheus and Eurydice” by J. Anouilh).
“Those who come to the “Elder Son” will feel catharsis and enjoy it, Viktor Sukhorukov promises. - The history of the world, Hollywood and eternal: the theme of delusion, the theme of acquisition, the theme of courage, the theme of orphanage, and most importantly - forgiveness. I don’t think that we deliberately composed a story with a great company of actors, specially invented it for the needs of the public, because Vampilov offered us a miraculous story that would be understandable to everyone.
To take on a play that has been repeatedly staged, including in the cinema, is an unconditional creative courage. That and more interesting will be the tour of this performance in Israel. The venerable actors took upon themselves the responsibility of interpreting the well-known, but bottomless story for interpretations in their own way and achieved success with the public and favor with the critics. They went on a bold experiment in the name of the memory of one of the best playwrights. In the name of the triumph of his ideas and talent. In the name of family, love and human dignity. In the name of the father and the Elder Son!
The performances of "The Elder Son" with the People's Artist of Russia Viktor Sukhorukov in the title role will take place:
- May 22, Wednesday, at 20.00 - in Jerusalem (“Teatron Yerushalayim”, hall “Sharover”);
- May 24, Friday, at 20.00 - in Haifa (“Theatron ha-Tzaphon”);
- May 25, Saturday, at 20.30 - in Tel Aviv (Gesher Theatre, Noga Hall);
- May 26, Sunday, at 20.00 - in Beersheba (Center for Performing Arts, large hall).
The organizer of the Israeli tour of the play “Elder Son” is the production company YM Production under the direction of Mark Yurik.
