A sad picture appears to the inquisitive gaze of an attentive viewer: The theater is dying. He perishes, wanting to please the mass, inexperienced spectator, brought up by accessible spectacles. The spectator destroys the theatre, and the theater destroys the spectator. The process is mutual. The understanding viewer leaves, the actor-educator leaves. Theater for the needs, "people hawala". This is the general picture, now - particular.

"I was none at the archer" - I visited the respected (almost in absentia - I visited only once, I saw "Mysterious Variations", I liked it terribly then!) I Mayakovsky Theater (March 13, 2006). After the charming film "Marriage", with Borisov and Petrenko, my soul wanted to see the play live, and here are the impressions, in order.

On the stage - a full range of artificial greenery, which "for wood and fat are brought to us" from industrious China, and which has already set the teeth on edge for everyone who happens to be in public places - libraries, clinics, etc., through which a certain "secret" of theatricality publicly guillotined!

The author's text was abused, as they say, "in a perverted form, with special cynicism": the accuracy and harmony of Gogol's style was dispelled from nowhere and by what right, taken replicas, tirades ... Conscientious "co-authors" in such a case would write in the poster - " Based on the..."!

The action itself is also teeming with various, in most cases - little artistic inserts and "thinking for Gogol." All my attempts to extinguish the rejection of what was happening were ruined every episode, starting with "trifles", even if we assume their admissibility in the theater, to outright "mistakes", unforgivable on the professional stage. The thoroughness of working out all sorts of details is almost at the level of Hollywood concepts about Russia. Complete ignorance and misunderstanding of everything that concerns the era (this was not the usual "timeless" or "modern" production for the current theater!): the culture of life, etiquette, morals - simply outraged!
Sloppiness in historical and logical correspondences, ignorance in musical culture (and the music sounded a lot and different) could not be justified.

The acting also didn't impress me, by and large. Pleased with one M. Filippov (Kochkarev) with his usual freedom, simplicity and variety of "colors".
Nemolyaeva (Fekla), with the worst diction - shocked with a screech, hysteria, worthy of the "stars" of the "Full House" program popular in certain circles. In general, the whole production is replete with begging of audience chuckles that your "panopticon" is Petrosyan!

Simonova (Agafya Tikh.) - also lost the charm of the role of her early film works, that anguish and hysteria appeared, which is now passed off as temperament.
Smirnov (Podkolesin) played himself, in the tradition of blatant performance. Very well, thoughtfully and seriously, he began the last monologue, but soon strayed into the old "rails".

In some places, Okhlupin (Yashnitsa) was also good, "gave the truth", as Mordvinov said, but how far all this was from what was desired and sought !!!

Where is now that "great Slightly" in acting, what touched those actors so much? Where is the "getting used" to the image and "denying oneself"? Where is the feeling, the transmission of the era? Everywhere eclecticism, "large grinding" ...

However, the viewer is good too! Judging by some reactions to what is happening, a good half of the viewers are not familiar with the literary source, they only caught the plot, gleefully bellowed at "sucked from the finger" jokes, of a very dubious nature ...

"It's bitter for me, bitter" - he wailed like a best man at a wedding.

Upcoming dates:

actors Cast: Irina Pegova, Svetlana Kolpakova, Olga Barnet, Evgenia Dobrovolskaya, Marianna Schultz, Stanislav Duzhnikov, Yuri Stoyanov, Sergey Belyaev, Valery Troshin, Pavel Vashchilin and others.

Duration: 2 hours 50 minutes with 1 intermission

Ticket price from 850 Rub.

or by phone

Photo of the performance:

Gogol's comedy at Chekhov's Moscow Art Theater

On the stage of the Moscow Art Theatre. Chekhov's sparkling comedy by Gogol performance Marriage played with new colors. Igor Zolotovitsky acts as a stage director. The roles are played by such honored masters of comedy and classics as Stanislav Duzhnikov, Evgenia Dobrovolskaya, Irina Pegova and Yuri Stoyanov. An excellent selection of actors suggests that an unforgettable performance awaits you.

The plot of the production is well known to avid theater-goers and connoisseurs of classical Russian literature. Court adviser Podkolesin is determined to marry. His financial situation and age contribute to this important step in life. However, everything rests on the natural indecision and doubts of Podkolesin.

At some point, the main character seeks the services of Fyokla Ivanovna, a professional matchmaker who knows her business perfectly. She finds a bride for the counselor rather quickly. Podkolesin should become the husband of 27-year-old Agafya Tikhonovna, the daughter of a merchant. Unfortunately for the main character, Agafya Tikhonovna dreams of marrying a nobleman.

Friend Kochkarev, who was also married by Fyokla Ivanovna, dispels Podkolesin's doubts. They persuade the main character to go to visit Agafya Tikhonovna. At home, the future bride has several more contenders for her hand and heart. Kochkarev removes his friend's rivals, and Agafya Tikhonovna, anticipating the wedding, goes to change clothes for the wedding. However, Podkolesin is again tormented by doubts. At the very last moment, he jumps out the window and runs away from his bride. You can place an order on our website tickets for marriage to the Moscow Art Theater named after Chekhov, choice online or by phone through an operator.

Magnificent monologues and dialogues, comedy of positions, excellent actors - all this predetermined the success of the production. The scenery and costumes authentically demonstrate the life of Russia of that era. For this, we must separately thank the artist of the performance.

Tickets for Marriage

To order or buy tickets to the performance Marriage to the Moscow Art Theater named after A.P. Chekhov, you just need to call us or fill out the order form and place an order, after receiving your application, our consultants will call you back and prompt you with a choice.

| MARRIAGE (Based on the work of N.V. Gogol)

MARRIAGE (Based on the work of N.V. Gogol)

Based on the work of N.V. Gogol.

A distinctive feature of this performance "Marriage" is the direct presence of the Author on the stage. Nikolai Gogol quotes excerpts from "Selected Places of Correspondence with Friends" and, thanks to this, the well-known comedy acquires a completely new sound, preserving the flavor of Gogol's word...

"Marriage" or "an absolutely incredible event in two acts" - one of the most cheerful plays by Nikolai Gogol. Initially, Gogol wanted to call the play simply "Grooms", and move the action to the village. But when "Marriage" took on a complete shape, the events of the play moved to St. Petersburg.

Screen adaptation of Gogol's works is always an event. And if "Marriage" is staged by the Moscow Lenkom Theater, then this is one of the most coveted performances for the entire theatrical audience of the capital. It can be stated with certainty that tickets scatter on him in an instant.

"Marriage"- a real encyclopedia of the Russian soul. Not without reason, the permanent head of the Lenkom Theater, Mark Zakharov, said that before Chekhov and Dostoevsky, only Gogol managed to bring to light "the hidden traits of our character, and most importantly, our eternal complexes."

The play boasts a brilliant cast (and this is another reason why tickets disperse so quickly). The role of Agafya Tikhonovna is played by the People's Artist of Russia and laureate of the State Prize of Russia Alexandra Zakharova. Overwhelmed by doubts, Podkolesin will be performed by People's Artist of Russia Viktor Rakov. Leonid Bronevoy will play the executor Yaichnitsa, and Alexander Zbruev will play the role of retired infantry officer Anuchkin.

Like any other production by Mark Zakharov, the classic play receives a new modern interpretation. "Marriage" has been successfully taking place on the Lenkom stage since 2007, and during this time the cast has changed several times. At various times, Inna Churikova and Oleg Yankovsky took part in the production.

Tickets to the performance "Marriage" can always be purchased on our website.

Ticket prices from 2000 rubles to 7500 rubles.

Staged by Mark ZAKHAROV;

Director: Alexey MOLOSTOV;

Composer: Sergey RUDNITSKY;

Costume designer: Valentina KOMOLOVA.

Actors in the play:

Agafya Tikhonovna, merchant's daughter, bride: Alexandra ZAKHAROVA;

Arina Panteilemonovna, aunt: Natalya ZAYAKINA;

Podkolesin, employee, court adviser: Viktor RAKOV;

Kochkarev, friend of Podkolesin: Ivan AGAPOV;

Anuchkin, retired infantry officer: Alexander ZBRUEV;

Zhevakin, sailor: Alexander SIRIN, Dmitry PEVTSOV;

and also: Vladimir ZHUCHKOV, Oleg ZARIPOV/Anatoly ABRAMOV, Mikhail ZHIGLOV/Zhanna TEREKHOVA/Alexander GRUZDEV, Alexander SAMSONOV/

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Marriage. Mayakovsky Theatre. Press about the play

Kommersant, September 7, 2002

Eggnog

"Marriage" by Sergei Artsibashev at the Mayakovsky Theater

The Moscow Mayakovsky Theater opened the season of Gogol's "Marriage" - the first performance of the new artistic director of the theater, Sergei Artsibashev. Kommersant columnist ROMAN DOLZHANSKY discovered that the performance was riveted according to Gogol's recipe for male beauty from the same play: if Nikanor Ivanovich's lips were put to Ivan Kuzmich's nose, and so on.

A few years ago, Sergei Artsibashev already staged "The Marriage" in his small Theater on Pokrovka, with the participation of actors from the Mayakovsky Theater. And now he decided to use the resources of the popularity of the new troupe in the same play, and immediately and completely - all the roles, except for episodic ones, were played at the premiere by folk artists, favorites of the public. One look at the playbill was enough to imagine with disgust a parade of frank benefit numbers, into which an immortal comedy with so many famous faces would inevitably turn into. Moreover, on the stage of the theater, the star of which has been steadily declining towards the horizon in recent years, and the audience has recently had to be grabbed literally by the tail. After all, the Great Hall must be filled, and the time in the yard is known.

But Sergei Artsibashev has not yet been spoiled by the position: he is still more of a director than a manager. True, the director is not the most courageous, so moderate and accurate and even, one might say, obliging, moreover, in relation to any tastes. And he does not intend to indulge only those who are accustomed to going to the theater like a zoo - to stare at living stars, he does not intend to. Therefore, his "Marriage" is a strange combination of several possible versions of this play at once.

Firstly, Gogol's play can be played the way it has been played from time immemorial - as a comedy of characters. Each theater is free to choose the degree of fatness of their outline to taste. It is this half-variety "performance within a performance" entrusted to the trio of unfortunate suitors. Each of them is condensed to a caricature, reminiscent of textbook Soviet illustrations for Gogol, and the scene of the presentation to the bride resembles an amateur art concert. Igor Okhlupin draws vowels, strokes his stomach and shows a trick. Alexander Lazarev goggles, walks with a wobbling gait and performs a sports dance with a ribbon. Ramses Dzhabrailov growls temperamentally, rushes around the stage like a lively and starts squatting. Matchmaker Svetlana Nemolyaeva joins their group with her voice exercises. So lovers of revived telepersons have something to profit from.

Well, even Gogol is supposed to let the mystics in. I'm not sure that many of her fans now visit the Mayakovsky Theater, but The Marriage also takes into account the needs of a notorious minority. There is, however, quite a bit of mystery here, and Mikhail Filippova Kochkarev and artist Oleg Sheintsis are responsible for this area of ​​work, turning the stage into a winter garden with numerous mirrors. From this behind the looking-glass, the images of suitors appear to Agafya Tikhonovna, from there the obtrusive-possessed Kochkarev persuades her to marry, and there, in the mirror, and not through the window, Igor Kostolevsky - Podkolesin jumps in the finale.

He and Evgenia Simonova, who appeared here as a bride, are entrusted with the third component of the performance - a lyrical, sad story. Once upon a time, at the Theater on Malaya Bronnaya, Anatoly Efros discovered that Gogol's funny comedy, subtitled "an absolutely incredible event," can be played as a sad story about little lonely people who were suddenly beckoned by the ghost of happiness, but very soon abandoned. Now Kostolevsky and Simonova are playing about the same topic. Approximately - because the lyrics in Artsibashev's "Marriage" are not brought to convincing strength, left in timid sketches and divorces, and besides, they are diluted (perhaps the director wanted them to be condensed) with a whole anthology of Russian romances, which the characters get better at singing at every opportunity. case. And a whole choir of courtyard people comes to their aid. Since the performance is framed precisely by romance melancholy (“Shut up, sadness, be quiet”) and candles, it can be assumed that it was the lyrical theme that was intimate for the director, but he was embarrassed to make a choice in favor of old-fashioned sincerity. He woke up in him, after all, a manager responsible for filling the cash desk. It turned out to be something like a cultural enterprise. And after all, the audience returned to the theater. But some others who have not read Gogol. "Oh, now he'll change his mind!" – when Igor Kostolevsky delivered his final monologue, the spectator sitting next to me held her breath from fear. Like looking into the water.

Newstime, July 9, 2002

Marina Davydova

Theater of easy virtue

Stars of "Mayakovka" played Gogol's "Marriage"

Within the framework of the MIFF, the film by Istvan Szabo "Opinion of the Sides" was shown. The action takes place immediately after the end of World War II. The complex and contradictory process of the denazification of Germany occupied by the allied forces is shown. In one of the main roles is the intellectual Hollywood batch Harvey Keitel. The film is somewhat constructed and not Szabo's best, but that's not the point. At some point, next to the restrained Keitel, Oleg Tabakov appears on the screen as a Russian intellectual who sold out to the Soviet regime. Tabakov's role is small, but in four minutes of screen time he manages to play to his fullest, overtake Keitel on the turns and demonstrate all his 15 stomps, 19 slaps and 48 acting clichés. “What are you trying to do, man,” Tabakov seems to be saying to Keitel, “that’s how you need to play. You won’t get through this fucking audience otherwise, what would they understand in art!” There is a tragic paradox. The representative of the Russian acting school, who left the Moscow Art Theater overcoat and is now the head of the Moscow Art Theater, demonstrates to the Hollywood star a lesson in playing against the Stanislavsky system, while the smart, subtle and full of acting nobility star looks like a living embodiment of this very system.

At the sight of such a language, one does not dare to make claims to the stars of the Mayakovsky Theater who played in the premiere "Marriage", who also do not climb into their pockets for their 48 stamps. Firstly, they never swore allegiance to the Moscow Art Theater traditions. They played themselves in Andrei Goncharov's performances, commercial in form and highly spiritual in declarations, and in recent years, when the artistic director was no longer in shape, they completely ran around the entreprises. Secondly, there is no Keitel next to them.

The difference between the two ways of being an actor can be explained with the help of an everyday analogy. Imagine a well-bred woman next to a woman of easy virtue and guess which of them will attract more attention. At the same time, an ill-mannered woman can be a written beauty, just like an artist playing with stomps and swats can be a miracle how talented (who would doubt the talent of Oleg Tabakov). It's just that there are some social conventions - they don't behave like that in a decent society. But if you care not about reputation, but about momentary success, then of course ... Then it's another matter. Just do not be offended if you are called a bad word. This is part of the rules of the game. Including theatrical.

Sergei Artsibashev, who until recently headed the tiny Theater on Pokrovka, and now who has also shouldered the academic colossus of them. Mayakovsky, success was needed. Fast. Momentary. He had to return the runaway artists to the theater, and the audience to the hall. He returned. In The Marriage (Artsibashev has already staged this play on the stage of the Pokrovka Theater and even received a State Prize for it), all the available stars of Mayakovka are employed and they all play without exception as a woman of easy virtue.

Igor Kostolevsky (Podkolesin) again froze somewhere between the nameless star and the star of captivating happiness. Evgenia Simonova again portrays the princess, somewhat shabby and hardened by life, but still folding her lips into a bow. Mikhail Filippov (one of the strongest and most high-quality artists of Mayakovka) demonstrates in the role of Kochkarev another version of Napoleon's quick mind (the theatergoers remember his starring role in the Efros performance of the same name). From the usual role of a suffering woman, Svetlana Nemolyaeva is somewhat knocked out in the role of a matchmaker. She plays for no reason at all, but at the same time she makes such faces and demonstrates such ease of stage behavior that it’s time to write her a yellow ticket. The grooms are not far behind - Alexander Lazarev (Anuchkin), who is busy with his face, Ramses Dzhabrailov (Zhevakin), who is funny, and I. Kashintsev (Scrambled eggs), who is trying to give his appearance a degree.

What is especially captivating in Artsibashev's performance is frankness.

Gogol's self-acting comedy is not overshadowed by any, even the most trifling director's concept, but is decorated with the most uncomplicated gags and interludes. The matchmaker pretends to be a ficus. The tall Lazarev with the short Dzhabrailov portray a couple a la Pat and Patachon, and together with Kashintsev-Fried, they think for three, hiding in the wilds of indoor plants. In the scene of the show, Fried eggs shows a trick with an egg and a chicken, Zhevakin dances "Apple", Anuchkin performs an exercise with a ribbon, Podkolesin reads a rhyme. Agafya Tikhonovna herself floats down the stage like a white swan and generously presents the suitors with pickles.

The pauses between the interludes are filled with the songs of numerous servants who, from nowhere, have come in commercial quantities in a not very prosperous merchant's house. Not particularly in accordance with the meaning of what is happening on the stage, the servants now drag out “Separation, separation,” then start dancing. Closer to the final, Artsibashev lets lyricism and silence into the performance (“Shut up, sadness, be quiet,” the choir sings soulfully), but after all that you have seen, you no longer believe either sadness or lyrics.

The only thing that has to do with art in this performance is, as always, the amazing scenery by Oleg Sheintsis. He turns the stage of the Mayakovsky Theater into a puppet theater stage. Behind its translucent curtain, which is crowned with two funny figures - men and women, a funny painted world is hidden. And if you believe not the logic of the performance (because it has no logic), but the meaning of the set design, we could be told a story about how the thin and vulnerable Podkolesin (he is the only one sitting in front of the curtain at first) got into the world of funny, but fake puppets, and then jumped out of there (and not through the window, but, which is important, into the mirror). They could turn Gogol into Hoffmann. Saturate everyday, but in many ways mysterious comedy with the romantic theme of dolls and people, reflections and mirrors. They could, but they did not tell and did not saturate. There was once. There might not be enough time for 48 stamps. Theaters of easy virtue are not supposed to exchange for such trifles.

As a consolation, we can say that the audience usually quickly falls in love with these theaters, but almost never marry them. They jump out the history window and run away. Marriage, if you please, is a serious matter.

Novye Izvestia, July 17, 2002

Elena Yampolskaya

Shut up, deja vu, shut up...

The last major premiere of the outgoing season "Marriage" by Sergei Artsibashev

July. Friday. Evening. City center. Intoxicating heat. And under such a combination of unfavorable circumstances - a festive revival at the brick tower of "Mayakovka". "Marriage" is not subject to climatic hardships, because almost all current local stars are listed in its poster. A win-win. If the stars are harnessed, then someone needs it. The public first.

For the last performance of Artsibashev's "Marriage", only tickets for the second tier remained in free sale. There are four vertical flights of stairs of sixteen steps each. Grandmothers-theatre-goers, who can afford 30-50 re for a ticket, disappear along the way with parting groans. "Mayakovka", thus, runs the risk of losing the most grateful, devoted and enthusiastic audience.

It's time to put the Red Tower for reconstruction. Worn armchairs, tightly shifted rows between which even an elegant person is not able to squeeze, photographs of actors that have not changed since the shaggy seventy years, closeness in the hall (those who did not give up on the stairs can try again during the performance), gray ceiling, dirty walls, shabby doors, a disgraceful toilet - brrr ... Okay, the new artistic director is a punchy person, one must think he will fix it.

The Marriage was Artsibashev's most famous performance at the Pokrovka Theatre. Sergei Nikolaevich decided to reinforce his obvious career growth (like, from titular advisers and suddenly granted to civilians) by repeating his past success. The watched viewer is haunted by a feeling of deja vu: we have already seen all this. In the same way, Kostolevsky-Podkolesin's feet soared in the basin, Filippov-Kochkarev was seething with excitement in the same way, and only for a minute both of them froze touchingly, fascinated by the pictures of family life; and the girls in canvas sundresses endlessly wound up "Separation you, separation ...": and there was a winter garden from Oleg Sheintsis - domestic subtropics (grooms among pots and tubs for three think and smell some kind of ficus); and the mirror shone just as dimly, where at first the voluptuous male snouts appear to Agafya Tikhonovna, and then Podkolesin glimpses through the looking-glass, not through the window ...

The main joy of the audience - Ramses Dzhabrailov, Zhevakin again galloped like a nimble little sparrow. Dzhabrailov is a magnificent actor, at the same time characteristic and powerful, he would play Mikhoels in some movie, their external resemblance is so striking. Zhevakin was a diamond in that Marriage, and has remained an adornment of the current one.

"Marriage", it is both in Gogol and in Artsibashev about one thing - about the fear of change. What is, that is not enough, and it is scary to shake the well-established edifice of life. Well, how does it fall apart? Artsibashev may not be Podkolyosin, with his only passion for slandering and being good, but he is also in no hurry to head into the pool. He made his debut in a new place as a copy of an old performance. "Marriage" was not a risky project from the beginning: it's a trifling matter - to travel on solid stars. To the great talent of Dzhabrailov, add the masculine charm of Filippov and add to this the undying popularity of the eternal youth Kostolevsky ...

What has changed in "Marriage"?

The matchmaker has changed - there was Inna Ulyanova, there was Svetlana Nemolyaeva. They waved equally. Fekla Ivanovna famously drinks vodka, "Am I to blame ..." loudly performs, and if there is any danger - her fingers are splayed - she herself will pretend to be a palm tree.

The girl Kuperdyagina has been updated: Elena Starodub played her at Pokrovka, and Evgenia Simonova played at Mayakovka. A hoarse bassline, a long, thoughtful sitting in lace pantaloons, later covered with a vast crinoline, broken plasticity. Seriously on the verge of tediousness. Something between a clockwork doll and a woman on a teapot.

Retired officer Anuchkin - Alexander Lazarev. Insinuating, sweet-voiced. Rooster walk. Together with Zhevakin, who barely reaches his waist, it looks especially comical.

Executor Fried eggs - Igor Okhlupin. With a false belly, on poorly bending legs, round and sluggish, according to the gastronomic surname ...

Artsibashev's acting company, like the previous time, did a good job - and in every sense of the word. The idyll at the peak of the first act is such that now everyone will marry each other, leaving aside ranks and services to the fatherland. Mendelssohn's march sounds more and more confident, the characters fight in the ecstasy of mating fever. And happiness was so possible, so close...

There is, however, a change that immediately catches the eye. "Marriage" take two turned out to be much more vulgar than its original five years ago. Songs-dances, round dances-streamlets now clearly obscure the tender piercing, for which everything was once started: a spark slipped between the weak-willed Podkolesin and Agafya Tikhonovna, but could not set fire to the raw material, flared up and went out. The fire does not want to flare up, that's the whole conversation. Podkolyosin is not afraid to marry, but to fall in love, to open his soul to an outsider, incomprehensible being, to entrust his peace of mind to the hands of others. Kostolevsky played Podkolesin as a fool, but in reality the court adviser is wiser than many. He is equally afraid of happiness and unhappiness, because both are inseparable. Rare (and best) moments of this performance tremble on a sob, on a sigh, on a crystal tear.

However, today's Moscow public doesn't give a damn about a crystal tear. Not lyrics, but all sorts of "get it right, shoulder" are stormily welcomed by the audience. Suppose the main musical theme, "Shut up, sadness, be quiet ...", as a cry for unfulfilled hopes, is quite appropriate, and Zhevakin's "Apple" of the sea wolf is logically justified, but Lazarev's exercises with a gymnastic ribbon or Simonova's dance with a rose in her teeth - already beyond. Artsibashev squeezed out of "Mayakovka" all the amateur performances that this troupe is capable of. However, what's the point in blaming if the "Marriage" ends with a ten-minute standing ovation? People go to the drama theater, apparently secretly dreaming of a variety show.

Izvestia, July 9, 2002

Alexey Filippov

"Marriage" soft-boiled

The director prepared the play according to the audience's favorite recipe

Andrei Goncharov, who directed the Mayakovsky Theater for many years, staged peppy performances full of incendiary zongs and dances. Sergei Artsibashev, who inherited his chair, heads the tiny theater "On Pokrovka" - there are quiet and lyrical productions, whose motto could be the words "soul and spirituality." Gogol's "Marriage" was the first performance by Artsibashev, the artistic director of "Mayakovka", and in it he had to solve several important tasks at once.

It was necessary to preserve the corporate style of the theater and at the same time not to lose its own director's face, to return the stars that had scattered around the entreprises to the stage, and - this is the main thing! - give a reason for the full house. He succeeded in this: the pre-premiere took place a day ago, and the hall was packed, extra tickets were asked at the entrance, and after the last remark they applauded furiously.

Sergei Artsibashev is a sincere and at the same time extremely simple-minded director, he literally understands the tasks facing him and solves them with great thoroughness. Artsibashev cannot turn into Goncharov - he was distinguished by a frantic temperament, and the new artistic director is a balanced person - and at first the Marriage is about the soul. A dark translucent curtain, candlelight, guitar plucking, romance lines... This is from the Na Pokrovka theater with its craving for nostalgic flair. When the curtain opens, the conversation will change.

Artsibashev is not a tough director, venerable actors love him because he gives them the opportunity to play, to show themselves to the public, because he puts on performances for them. Here the director showed the audience the entire host of "Mayakov" stars: Igor Kostolevsky and Mikhail Filippov, Evgeny Simonov and Alexander Lazarev, Ramses Dzhabrailov and Svetlana Nemolyaeva. Each of them has their own manner, and the artists ride it without sparing the spurs. There is no question of the soul and spirituality here - a farce reigns on the stage.

Everyone plays sharply, with bold pressure. Mikhail Filippov (Kochkarev) sobs, speaking of the “executives” that his friend Podkolesin can bestow on humanity: after the second sob, his cheek begins to tremble. Svetlana Nemolyaeva diligently comics, portraying the old Moscow matchmaker Fyokla Ivanovna, crumbling into ladylike antics and shakish accents; Igor Kostolevsky (Podkolesin), sluggish and thoughtful, his dreamy hero is constantly trying to freeze in an antique pose. The hall rejoices when Alexander Lazarev (Anuchkin) enters the stage on half-bent legs - people applaud both the clown mask and their favorite artist; they applaud, as always, the charming Yevgenia Simonova, who plays the merchant's daughter Agafya Tikhonovna, Podkolyosin's bride... And then a small folklore ensemble jumps onto the stage - Sergei Artsibashev stylizes the play under the Mayakovsky Theater brand.

And so it will go: songs, dances, Gogol flavored with directorial finds (grooms show funny tricks, one of the folklore youths takes pictures of everyone with an ancient camera). The performance turns into a cheerful and cheerful show, sustained in the national spirit, where the songs beloved by the country are sung, and at the same time they also play: famous artists exaggerate their masks and demonstrate them to the gratefully clapping public.

Much distinguishes "Marriage" from Goncharov's performances. The former artistic director of the Mayakovsky Theater was an energetic and furious person: there was always an internal directorial plot in his works, they were firmly knocked down and rushed to the finale as if spurred on. And "Marriage" moves towards him slowly, waddling, after the last remarks again returning to the soul beloved by Sergei Artsibashev. Podkolesin will jump out the window, the twilight will descend, the lights will light up, a beautiful romance will sound: "Melancholy, sadness, / Hopes are dead, / There is no friend /, Be silent, sadness, be silent ..."

There is little sense here, but the audience will clap furiously: how not to feel sorry for the charming Evgenia Simonova, abandoned by the cruel Igor Kostolevsky? ..

Rossiyskaya Gazeta, July 15, 2002

Alena Karas

Playing in the old theater

Sergei Artsibashev cloned "Marriage" on the big stage

SUMMER premiere of the theater. Mayakovsky was formed by accident: for some reason, the theater did not go on tour, as a result of which Muscovites and numerous guests of the capital were able to watch the performance two months ahead of schedule.

For his first meeting with the theater, its new chief director Sergei Artsibashev did not take risks and took Gogol's play "The Marriage", which has been running with great success for several years at the theater on Pokrovka directed by him. Yes, and some actors already know the play: Igor Kostolevsky and Mikhail Filippov play exactly the same roles in Pokrovka as in Mayakovka - Podkolesin and Kochkarev, respectively.

The benevolent summer audience greeted Artsibashev's work with delight.

It is understandable. The guest genius of Lenkom, Oleg Sheintsis, turned the scene into a kind of genre painting of the 19th century: he narrowed the mirror of the stage by half to form a narrow horizontal strip. Deprived of heaven and in general of any space above their heads, squeezed on all sides by ficuses, palm trees and other tropical vegetation in tubs, the characters of "The Marriage" are a comically touching, senseless and touching parade of famous Gogol's "masks". Remembering the traditions of the old theatre, Artsibashev turns their every appearance into a spectacular entre. Anuchkin (Alexander Lazarev) and Zhivakin (Ramses Dzhabrailov) form a classic farcical couple: a lanky fellow under the auspices of a touching little man. The comically majestic Fried Eggs (Ivan Okhlupin) and the fussy Fyokla Ivanovna (Svetlana Nemolyaeva) complete this parade-alle of Gogol masks. Tastyly played roles remind of the best times of the Russian theater, as they are described in history books, of the traditions of Zhivokini, Sadovsky and Shchepkin, of the theater - a satirist and a lawyer, of the justification of a little man and everything that literature teachers love to talk about with such rapture .

Artsibashev stylizes this space of an old theater with pleasure and taste, arranging frontal mise-en-scenes, seating the suitors in a "pictorial" way. Complementing this play in the ingenuous theater of past eras are popular romances and folk songs performed by the main characters and the choir of "girls and lads" in folk costumes.

Agafya Tikhonovna is played by Evgenia Simonov. She hides her worries and grotesque doubts with business-like commanding shouts, as if she were not a merchant at all, but a major's daughter. However, even while screaming and suddenly calming down, she is filled with pity for herself and her unfortunate suitors. Zhivakin, performed by the brilliant lyrical comedian Ramses Dzhabrailov, lives in the play with the same compassion for the world. As always, the lordly, lazy-graceful and capriciously charming Kostolevsky - Podkolesin also causes a lot of positive emotions. A slight dissonance in this touchingly popular-genre-pleasant Gogol is the beast Kochkarev - Mikhail Filippov - businesslike and temperamental, obsessed with a sudden itch to marry his comrade as soon as possible.

There is no infernal, romantic spirit, except for the mirror-window into which Agafya looks, in the play. Nor is there anything that Anatoliy Efros once thought up, when he made "The Marriage" "great," that is, he arranged everything in such a way that, in the face of Gogol's characters, the whole world and himself became excruciatingly sorry.

Instead, Artsibashev arranged on the stage of the theater. Mayakovsky worthy, high-quality, moderately entertaining, moderately serious game in the good old theater. True, in the good old theater, great texts and actors were able to shock and turn the minds of entire generations. In the Mayakovsky Theater, no one expected such an effect. Treated with good professionalism. So it’s not a shame to take the children to the performance.