Andrey Moguchy suddenly appointed the first performance of "Three Fat Men" (not counting the student pre-premiere show) on the 26th - putting a big pig on the Alexandrian Fokin, who had the premiere of "Schweik" planned for that day long before.
The theme of the play, taken from a wonderful book by Yuri Olesha, is, I must say, the most powerful. Because the director's constant penchant for buffoonery, absurdism, circus art, children's consciousness - like OBERIU - has long been known. And indeed, the performance (i.e. the first episode; in the future we will have a theatrical series, which I have not yet decided for myself, I will go - I won’t go, because the sequel almost always turns out worse than the original version) turned out to be interesting.
Entering the hall, first of all you see a rope stretched over the hall from the left box of the directorate to the middle of the second tier. It is clear that Tibul must pass through it. Then you see some kind of nonsense on the stage: tables littered with rubbish - either traces of the fat men's erratic food, or space chemicals from the future. With the beginning of the performance, it turns out that this is the neglected office of Gaspard Arneri. Everything connected with Dr. Gaspard is very painful and resembles the play "Not Hamlet", staged by the Mighty in the "Comedian's Shelter" based on the play by Vladimir Sorokin. Just like there, a long lecture sounds full of nonsense, and you immediately want to leave - but you don’t need to do this, because the doctor will start crawling along the wall like an insect, and then the rebels will burst right into his scientific office, government troops will break the walls with a cannon ( which is a cannon on one side and a field kitchen on the other), right on the stage, the soldiers will begin to shoot the rebellious people, and the heroes of the resistance will blow themselves up together with the soldiers. But all this is not serious: then all the dead will get up, dance and march home, for we, earthlings, are being watched by an alien mind - much more developed than ours - and a straight line will be drawn from Olesha to "It's hard to be a god", and so that everyone it was clear in the hall that it was decorated in the style of Star Wars. But the style of "Star Wars" is immediately broken by the glamor and beauty of saving the world: the alien mind, it turns out, is represented by three pink ladies and a flock of young girls. Girls are dumb and ladies are wise. The girls are something like an ancient choir: they sing about what they see, and the ladies direct the course of history. All clear? But very bright and very effective.
The second part of the performance is dedicated to Uncle Augusto's circus, everything is cool and circus-like. The numbers that are shown on the stage are designed in the spirit of Kharms - they are not shown, Augusto the entertainer talks about them, but when Suok appears - the "girl with red hair" (revolutionary Malvina, presumably), she will soar over the dome on some then the revolutionary trapeze will wave red flags, reminiscent of the gymnast girls who built pyramids from young revolutionary bodies at concerts of the twenties. State power will appear directly in the circus: the first official (like the prime minister, but with a long braid - solid feminism can be seen in the performance of the Mighty), the Minister of War, all hung with medals (a hint at the perestroika fairy tale by Leonid Filatov: "All hung like a Christmas tree, On the back - and even then there are six of them!") and the Minister of Entertainment (a hint of Minister Medinsky can be seen in the performance of the Mighty). Of course, all the circus performers will be shot, only Gaspard Arneri and Suok will survive. And the main revolutionary Tibul, brandishing something like a PPSh, is so stupid and straightforward that he can only walk on a tightrope (a hint of the stupidity of all and all kinds of revolutions can be seen in the performance of the Mighty). And that's not very good - they will shoot him on this rope, although I personally am not sure that he will not come to life (along with the rest of the circus performers in the second or at least the third part of the performance). For a snack: the door curtains of the circus tent are made of some slogans in honor of the anniversaries of October, the Suok costume is sewn from some kind of velvet banner like the official banners of Soviet organizations and the sickle and hammer clearly stand out on it, and the caps of the "Moths of Knowledge" are fools from the future - on the one hand, ladies' hats a la the twenties, on the other hand, Soviet police helmets with a star. They point to this star, telling about the events in the Square of the Star and causing healthy laughter in the hall (although the Square of the Star in Olesha's novel is, of course, the Parisian Etoile).
In general, as always in the performances of the Mighty, this is madness, but talented madness. The mighty one is not able to generate philosophical meanings, all the more so he is not able to reflect on revolutionary values and in general about anything (it’s cool that Olesha’s novel is just an intellectual reflection on the revolution and the revolutionary myth, which is why the novel became so popular during the thaw - when a film was made on it with a young Batalov in the title role). But he has a childish spontaneity (that's how he reads a novel today), which, however, has a downside - childish vulgarity. In this opus of the Mighty there is a minimum of vulgarity, and there is more than enough bright theatricality, so it's interesting to watch.
And, of course, there is nothing more different than the Mighty and the traditions of the BDT (a lot has already been written about this, it hardly makes sense to develop this thesis). In addition, the old and young BDT troupe have to break themselves, because the theater of the Mighty is not the theater of an actor at all. The actor for this expressionist theater means even less than for the theater of Lev Dodin. I don't know if Marina Ignatova and Elena Popova, People's Artists of the Russian Federation, are interested in playing "pink ladies" - they managed to play a lot both in the time of the late Tovstonogov and in the time of Chkheidze. But I'm almost sure that stupid "moths" from the future are not at all what Polina Tolstun, who became widely known thanks to Temur Chkheidze's "Uncle's Dream", could achieve on the theater stage. A new "Uncle's Dream", not to mention the marvelous "Arcadia" of the late 1990s, Andrei Moguchiy will not stage, a fact.
But the theater on the Fontanka seems to be developing in its own new way. And Andrei Moguchy, when he finishes with "Fat Men", can be advised to take a closer look at the German expressionists of the twenties - starting with Ernst Toller. These will be texts that are very close to him in spirit, and completely unknown in modern theater circles. PR explosion guaranteed.
The play Three Fat Men is a famous story of the struggle for freedom. The fairy-tale country was at the mercy of the evil and narrow-minded fat men, who established very strange orders in it. But who can resist all this? And will the wandering artists who decide to defeat the hated rulers achieve the desired result?
It is easy to understand that the cult story of the Soviet writer Yuri Olesha served as the basis for this production. This work has a bright and noticeably similar story to a fairy tale. It is rich in interesting turns of events and subtle irony over everything that is familiar to almost every one of us. The author in his work very talentedly ridicules the evils of society known to all. And his characters are surprisingly alive and very similar to us. All this made the story famous during the life of its creator. She has gained international recognition over time. The children's fairy tale has been translated into many languages of the world. It has been adapted and staged many times. But even today, the number of people who want to order tickets for the play Three Fat Men is very large. And it's easy to explain. After all, a fascinating story told by an eminent writer may well be relevant and understandable even today. After all, its main essence is not the revolutionary ideas that once glorified it, and the importance of love and friendship.
This performance will be the premiere of this theatrical season. It was created by an excellent acting troupe. At the same time, the authors of this production managed not only to choose a successful cast of performers, but also to make the story more modern.
Premiere at the Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theatre. Moreover, the premiere is long-awaited, without any exaggeration, because it was planned for last year, on the centenary of the revolution.
This is a play by the artistic director of the theater Andrei Moguchy “Three Fat Men. Episode one. Insurrection". The title immediately guesses the source - the famous fairy tale by Yuri Olesha, but fantastic notes sound even more clearly, in the manner of some Sci-Fi blockbuster. And not in vain - the performance will have a second episode, but already in February. Pavel Bogdanov was one of the first to see the new performance at the dress rehearsal
Many years ago, during a scientific experiment, a port was opened to another dimension, a clot of dark cosmic energy T-3 penetrated the Earth, turning people's lives into chaos full of senseless evil.
This is how the official description of the performance looks like, the rehearsals of which were held in the strictest secrecy. Scenes were written and rewritten, until the last moment even the structure of the production was unclear. Now these are two independent performances. But maybe three or four.
And by their name “Episode One. Uprising" and "Episode Two. Iron Heart” is already clear: this version of Andrei the Mighty will cause serious controversy. Even the way the performance was conceived breaks the established stereotypes.
Now it's hard to believe, but once "Three Fat Men" were received by critics without much enthusiasm. Yuri Olesha was accused of having created not a world of human feelings, but a world of things, that through his works a person cannot be seen.
Perhaps, unwittingly, the creators of the new version of "Three Fat Men" confirm this thesis with their scenography. In a world where so many objects are piled up, where a person looks like a midget, faces and characters are erased. But not everyone agrees to be puppets in the hands of experienced puppeteers.
It is obvious to many that something needs to be done. Here's what no one knows. After all, the boundaries of good and evil no longer exist. And the distance from fearlessness to irresponsibility is much less than one might imagine. Like the tightrope walker Tibul, who calls people to the barricades with a machine gun in his hands, just not thinking about the fact that blood will definitely be shed.
Performance for youth. So, Andrei Moguchiy himself characterizes his work. That is why the energy of burlesque, which literally overflows, does not look like a poser excess here. On the contrary, it is quite organic in the cocktail of fairy tale, dystopia and buffoonery that we see on stage. This is probably the ideal comic book formula where the main character uses unlimited powers and achieves victory. There is only one problem: where to get these opportunities in reality?
The performance is based on the staging of the famous and beloved novel by Yuri Olesha "Three Fat Men", written by the author for the Moscow Art Theater in 1930. The novel has many successful stage incarnations, and its film adaptation has become a favorite for several generations of viewers. The choice of a literary basis for the new performance is not accidental. On the stage of the "Sphere" there are always only works of the highest literary standard, an open circular space without division into a stage and a hall, the external similarity of the theater stage with a circus arena will create an atmosphere of a booth of wandering artists in which the performance will unfold. Acrobatic stunts, vocals, plastique and acting performed by young artists and experienced stage masters will be a wonderful gift for theater lovers of all ages. The play "Three Fat Men" in the best traditions of the theater will involve both adults and children in the sphere of communication. Children will discover the work of Yuri Olesha, adults will be able to take a fresh look at a familiar story.
