On April 13 and 14, the Stanislavsky Electrotheatre will host the premiere of The Maids of Sunset Boulevard. The theater's leading actor and director Vladimir Korenev tells how the production was created, what makes scenography interesting and what experiments attract him.

Vladimir Korenev is one of the most prominent and prominent figures in Russian cinema. Back in the 1960s, he fell in love with the audience thanks to the role of Ichthyander in the film "Amphibian Man". His peers wanted to be like his hero, and his peers bombarded the handsome actor with love letters.

More than 50 years ago, Korenev came to the Moscow Drama Theater named after K.S. Stanislavsky and eventually became a leading actor. The new life of the theater called "Stanislavsky Electrotheatre" began in 2015 with the fantastic performance "The Blue Bird", in which Vladimir Korenev and his wife Aleftina Konstantinova played the main roles - the boy Tiltil and the girl Mitil. The new production of The Maids of Sunset Boulevard Theater is the actor's first directorial work on his native stage.

- Vladimir Borisovich, your performance is based on two works at once - the play by Jean Genet "The Maids" and the film "Sunset Boulevard" by Billy Wilder. What did you take into your story from each of them? What is your performance about?

- The performance will have to be watched - and only after that everything will be clear. In a nutshell, this cannot be explained if a person has not seen Wilder's film and has not read the play. To be honest, I would be surprised if someone read it - I met her myself at the age of 60. This is a very complex piece. A very rich woman, Madame, lives in a luxurious apartment, along with her two maids - young girls, the sisters Solange and Claire. Madame has a lover who is put behind bars. The maids like the lifestyle of the mistress, they are captivated by all this glamor. It becomes their obsession.

I thought that the boundaries of this story need to be pushed. What if the main character is not just a rich woman whose lifestyle is envied and admired by many, but a really talented person, star, actress? And so two servant girls fell in love with her screen images, got into her house, trying to do something for her. And she pushes them around, she doesn't need them at all. And she herself is not needed by anyone, as it turned out. They begin to hate her and realize the tragedy that happened to them. That's what I tried to bring, to put it simply, in this performance.

- In our country, the play "The Servants" gained great fame thanks to the production of Roman Viktyuk. Have you seen this performance?

Yes, and not just once. He is very successful, wonderful, handsome, he has traveled all over the world with tours.

- Roman Grigoryevich has a mixture of kabuki theater, improvisation and dance ...

- Indeed, he made a performance of existential form, where the form is the content. But what happened, what happened in this story itself? Roman Grigoryevich solved the problem not with the help of the language of drama theater, but with the help of the language of plasticity, almost ballet. I was very interested in this story, I wanted to work on it. I often asked myself the question: why is this play not played in other theaters? After all, it can be really really beautiful.

- But visually your performance is not inferior to the production of Roman Grigorievich. For example, you have very interesting decorations made of black and white recycled plastic bags.

— Yes, it was suggested by Anastasia Nefedova, the main artist. The idea is unusual, I did not immediately support it, because I understood what I would get from my artists when they saw the scenery and costumes. Gradually, everyone got used to it, and they began to like them.

But the main thing is the play. I am grateful to the artistic director of the theater, Boris Yukhananov, who gave me the opportunity to experiment on this very dangerous material, because nothing is worth failing on such a play. I decided to do what is close to the people of my profession. I have seen a lot in the life of female fans, fangirls who persecute our brother. What drives them? Why do they submit their lives to this?

- After the role of Ichthyander in the film "Amphibian Man", you also fell insanely popular. Is it true that letters from fans came to you in such quantities that they had to be put in boxes from under the refrigerators?

- Is it true. But I did not answer, there were too many of them. To do this, I would have to abandon all my other affairs. Although it happened that I answered very rare letters, in the event that what was written hooked me. And so, you know, not philosophers write to young actors, but young girls who just fell in love with the image you created. But it was nice, of course, that they treated me so well.

- Is such fame a difficult test or vice versa?

- The question, rather, is not to get sick of it. When they say "copper pipes", they mean a test of success. And it can be very scary. But somehow I got through. Next to me were wise parents, good friends. And then comes the understanding that it is also necessary to correspond to this popularity. You can live your whole life as a narcissist, looking in the mirror: “How God rewarded me, what a handsome man I am!” Or you can strive for something more. Here, for example, is Misha Kozakov, who also played in Amphibian Man. Handsome, popular, he could always remain in this role and not need anything. And he began to direct, make films. "Pokrovsky Gates" is a wonderful picture. You begin to respect a person when you see that he uses his talents, and not just his appearance.

“It turned out to be a completely different story”

Is The Maids of Sunset Boulevard your directorial debut?

- Not really. For example, I staged the play "Dangerous Liaisons" based on the novel by Choderlos de Laclos at the Arkhangelsk Theater (Arkhangelsk Drama Theater named after M.V. Lomonosov. - Note.mos. en). This is a large theatre, with 1,500 seats. The audience accepted the production, there were full houses. I also headed the Department of Theater Arts at the Institute for Humanitarian Education and Information Technologies for 12 years, every year I staged several performances with graduate students. And how many excerpts I put on - just do not count. So it's not really a debut. I just do what I like, and I have this opportunity.

- Which side do you feel more comfortable with - being a director or an actor?

And it's almost impossible to separate. What do actors and directors do? Psychological analysis. What is the joy of an actor? In that he has the ability to swim in the ocean of proposed circumstances that the author creates. Every day they are different. It's the same with the director. As a rule, most often the director leaves the actor. Maybe I wanted to try something new. When you put on a performance, you still internally lose for all the actors, you check this story for yourself. In art, everything depends on your personality. The more unlike the others, the better. The more you differ from some recognized norms, the more interesting it is for others.

Let me tell you a story about this. Once a young playwright came to Konstantin Stanislavsky and said: "Give me some interesting topic for the play." He answers him: “Well, here you are: the young man went abroad, is returning, and at this time his girlfriend fell in love with another.” The playwright says, "But that's banal." And Stanislavsky objects: “Alexander Griboyedov wrote Woe from Wit on this subject.” Do you see how important it is to be able to look at the world differently? I think it's wonderful. So I got a completely different story about the maids.

- Will you put something else in the near future?

“I don't know how it will go. Whether the performance will be successful, you never know. I hope he enjoys it. I can only say that we did it with great interest and love. We tried to make it understandable, so that the viewer would be excited by the story. If it works out, I hope Boris Yuryevich will give me something else to stage, which I like. I also want to say that my actors play fantastically great. I'm proud of what they do. I don't know who else could play this complex story so easily and freely.

"My wife is an actress better than me"

- One of the roles is played by your daughter Irina, and in the play "The Blue Bird" you go on stage with your wife Aleftina Konstantinova. Is it true what they say that it is more difficult to work with relatives?

- It depends. My daughter has a very difficult character. When we fight with her, sparks fly in all directions! She is a very independent person. And the wife is just an outstanding artist. It so happened that we very rarely played together in the same performances, somehow it didn’t work out. But she's just a wonderful actress, much better than me.

- The play "The Blue Bird" is a hit of the Stanislavsky Electrotheatre. When Boris Yukhananov invited you to participate, did you immediately agree? Or did the project seem too radical to you?

— When Boris Yurievich (Yukhananov - approx. site) first time talking about it, I was shocked. I asked him: “But how to be a boy at my age?” He says: "When you come to the children's theater, you know that this role is played by an actress." She speaks in a childish voice - and after five minutes the viewer gets used to it. These are the terms of the game.

Then Yukhananov said: “You and your wife went the same way that these brother and sister went, they also went to seek happiness, this is our whole life. And when your story intersects with the story of this boy and girl, the viewer will think and reflect on what awaits these heroes next.

- For you, this is not only the role of a seven-year-old boy, but also your memories, your personal stories.

Yes, especially since my life with my wife was not very simple. In front of Aleftina, her mother was killed - during the war years. And I have seen so much in my life, both sad and tragic. But, of course, there was also happiness. Boris Yuryevich is absolutely right: The Blue Bird is a completely non-childish work. There is an old Hollywood movie based on this work, starring Elizabeth Taylor. I think the picture is a failure, because it is not clear what age it is designed for. And our performance is for adult audiences. And Maurice Maeterlinck is a really serious philosopher. He wrote this play for reflection. And Boris Yuryevich came up with an absolutely innovative move: I do not portray something on stage, I am an ordinary person who talks to the audience.

Yukhananov's performances, not being a big fan of them, nevertheless, I watched from time to time: such an unthinkable fantasy in theaters is rare. From the very beginning, the Electrotheatre wanted to see what the director is doing now, when he is responsible not only for his personal work, but also, as a leader, for the entire creative process.

In addition, the Electrotheatre is a globally rebuilt Stanislavsky Theater, which, in the old days, I often visited, knowing there not only the auditorium and foyer, but also the backstage. I wanted to see what happened from the theater after its global reconstruction.
It turned out, in general, well. Of course, you will have to get used to eclecticism, the combination of deep antiquity and avant-garde, but there is much more space for the public, and since tickets are checked directly at the entrance to the hall, it is possible to drop into the dressing room, leaf through theatrical literature in the kiosk, eat a pie and visit the toilet ( very cozy!).
The hall now combines the former (outside, did not go up) balcony and a stepped amphitheater with chairs. The last one is not very elegant…. But, apparently, the theater needs it in this form.

As for the performance...
It is stated that the duration of part 1 of The Blue Bird, which we watched, is 3 hours and 30 minutes. In fact, it lasts longer - perhaps due to the fact that the intermissions are not short. During the second intermission, everyone was asked to leave the hall; perhaps it was required in order to catch a school of cute ... flying sharks nesting under the ceiling.

The production combines the text of the classic work by Maurice Maeterlinck, the memoirs of the actor Vladimir Korenev (Ichthyander!) and his wife, Aleftina Konstantinova, as well as many, many other things invented by Boris Yukhananov - for example, the same flying sharks; dancing of funny penguins; the appearance of Tarkovsky and Fellini, as well as the Demon on high "hooves"; the birth of the Souls of objects, taking place in the traditions of the Noh theater; reading chapters from "Eugene Onegin" in Chinese ... well, and, in general, a lot of other things.

In general, I really liked it, and considerable hours of action flew by unnoticed, although for me it was all not quite evenly ... It was simply breathtaking and I wanted to prolong the charm, then - like the Gorky Baron, exclaim: “Next!”.

For example, the birth of Souls even tired me... But the big scene before that, when the minutes appearing one after another added up to hours - and into hours, as a measure of time, and into a mechanism that shows this time ... in general, it was a beautiful scene.

Most of the images that were born before our eyes were beautiful. Then there was an endless round dance of giant Christmas tree decorations (and a wonderful: “Frozen, poor? Go there ...”, after which the toys disappeared). That - the father of the hero, a handsome man in a white admiral's overcoat, danced to the song of the quartet "Accord". That is Grandfather and Grandmother, beautiful as the Greek Gods, rejuvenated and prettier, but so immeasurably yearning in their eternal sleep.
And what wonderful crows roamed the stage!..

Fairy tale. And suddenly - a completely everyday story, an anecdote, interactive with the audience ...
Not only Maeterlinck's Grandfather and Grandmother rose from oblivion, but also the actors who once appeared on the stage of the Stanislavsky Theater ...

Well, if we philosophize, then yesterday we saw a story about how “the gloomy abyss is on the edge”, at the edge of a life-burning fire, you can stop for a moment ... cling to the edge of your memory for some trifle - a bowl beaten by you, a couple of words spoken in a dance, an old book taken down from a shelf, a “bearded” anecdote… and not only to keep oneself in the ranks of the living, but also to draw closer to us those dear ones who once left us and “went farther than overseas”…

Will I go to watch the remaining two parts of the trilogy? I will go (especially if they invite me again).
It is desirable - a little later, so that I can fit in what I undoubtedly liked and think about what caused bewilderment.

Fire, Bread, Time and Demon.
Costumes by Anastasia Nefedova -

The world remembers Maeterlinck primarily as the author of the children's fairy-tale extravaganza "The Blue Bird", which has been triumphantly on the stages of the world for more than a hundred years. The play was first staged by the Moscow Art Theater; this production became one of the landmark events of the century. The history of its creation is amazing and incredible...

Theater and playwright

They called me;
I went out. Man dressed in black
Bowing politely, ordered
Me Requiem and disappeared.
A.S. Pushkin. "Mozart and Salieri"

The doorbell interrupted Maeterlinck's work. He left. The stranger said in French with a Russian accent: "Here's a check for you ..." - and named the amount of several thousand francs.

Maeterlinck recalled: “... My play The Blue Bird was performed by special order of the Moscow Art Theater and represents the true story of the famous theater. A stranger came to me and said: “Write a supposedly fantastic play for the tenth anniversary of the Moscow Art Theater. This means that you will receive material on the history of our theater, use this material without deviating from the facts of reality, but clothe the very facts in fantastic forms. ...Tiltil and Mitil I created from the inspirers of the theater: gentlemen Nemirovich-Stanislavsky. The image of the ingenuous neighbor Berlengo, who then turns into a fairy sorceress, was remade by me from a certain Mr. Morozov (philanthropist Savva Morozov), who all the time played the role of a good genius in relation to the Art Theater ... This is how I portray him, changing only the gender. ... The name was formed like this. The charming writer Chekhov gave the Art Theater his play "The Seagull". This play became the soul of the Art Theatre... In a word, I conscientiously tried to depict the history of the Art Theatre, but how I did it, let others judge” (“Russian Word”, 1908, October 14th, Tuesday).

Did Stanislavsky know about this secret order? He recalled: "Maeterlinck entrusted us with his play on the recommendation of the French, unknown to me." For two years, the unpublished manuscript of The Blue Bird "was at the disposal of the Art Theatre, but the performance was shown only in the autumn of 1908, during the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Moscow Art Theater." Moreover, Stanislavsky, admiring Maeterlinck's fairy tale, abandoned the style of children's extravaganzas, ignored all the author's remarks and created something “mysterious, terrible, beautiful, incomprehensible” on the stage, what life surrounds a person and what captivated the director in the play. Surprisingly, Maeterlinck was delighted, and in a letter to Stanislavsky in November 1910 he wrote: "I knew that I owed you a lot, but I did not imagine that I owed you everything." True, he did not see the play, but the playwright's wife did.

Fate

Maurice Polydor Marie Bernard Maeterlinck was born in 1862, exactly a century and a half ago. A writer, playwright and philosopher, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911 "for his many-sided literary activity, and especially his dramatic works, distinguished by the richness of imagination and poetic fantasy." From birth, he found himself on the border of two worlds and cultures: in a prosperous prosperous family, in the Flemish province - in the Belgian city of Ghent, in the conditions of a naively cozy, old-fashioned chaste life, but in close proximity to France and Paris. Mother tongue is French.

At the insistence of his father in Paris, he studied law and there he became interested in the work of symbolist poets. Becoming a pioneer in the field of "new drama", an outstanding theorist and playwright of the European Symbolist theater, he created an aesthetic theory and published it in the book Treasures of the Humble. In his work he often turned to biblical, fairy tale and historical subjects. Fame brought him a play-tale "Princess Malene"; one-act plays "Unbidden", "Blind"; the drama "Peleas and Melisande" - "the dramaturgy of silence, allusions and omissions", as critics dubbed it.

In 1940, Maeterlinck fled from the German occupation in the United States, returned to France after the war in 1947; died in Nice in 1949. Lived 87 years! This is what good genes mean, childhood and youth among fields, forests and gardens in peaceful Flanders.

bee carrying honey

A flourishing, full-blooded, true Fleming, outwardly he resembled the images of the great son of Flanders Rubens, and in character - the ardent, witty and life-loving hero of the legends of his homeland Thiel Ulenspiegel, the winner in many adventures "funny, brave and glorious in Flanders and other countries." The world seemed to him a flowering garden, which Maeterlinck told about in books about bees, ants, termites and about the mind of flowers. Maeterlinck himself lived in this all-planetary garden, like a bee praised by him: it was given to him to collect the fragrant honey of hopes and justifications, and he fulfilled his mission to the end. A bee carrying honey cannot release a stinger. A writer with a consciousness of happiness cannot blame and blaspheme. His biographer Nikolai Minsky noted: “Maeterlinck’s eyes, blinded by bright visions of the future, do not notice the fleeting clouds of the present. But perhaps the poet is right: his visions will seem real and true in the future.

Many are surprised by the appearance of the complex thinker Maeterlinck in Flanders, because the Belgian people, according to the prevailing opinion in Europe, basically always consisted of hardworking and honest materialists without higher spiritual needs. However, Maeterlinck, comparing the sacrifice of Belgium to save civilization with the greatest feats of antiquity, proves that the Belgians surpassed all known heroes: sacrifice their hearths, wives and children. By refusing to fight, they could gain everything and lose nothing - except honor. History has known individual people who sacrificed their lives and the lives of loved ones for the sake of honor. But for an entire nation to consciously sacrifice itself for an invisible good, this has never happened anywhere.” The world saw the soul of Belgium emerging from the fire of trials selfless and fearless. The soul of the Belgian people was expressed in the genius of Maeterlinck. What is on the mind of the people is on the tongue of the poet.

Magic cap

For more than a century, The Blue Bird has remained the only play in the world that, with its depth of intent, raises children to understand the most complex truths, and with the brightness of its form allows adults to look at the world through children's eyes. How many generations of children sang: “We follow the Blue Bird in a friendly line”?.. A fairy tale knows no age. She lives in eternity. However, perhaps, after all, Maeterlinck's play was originally written for adults? The children captured her later and have not let her go to this day.

In this tale is the wisdom of the Apostle Paul: "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God." The prideful wisdom that comes from the human mind is worthless. Genuine “wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceful, modest, obedient, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and unfeigned.” Childish, perhaps ... But that's how it is.

Actually, the "Blue Bird" is a symbol of happiness, which the heroes are looking for everywhere, in the past and the future, in the realm of day and night, not noticing that this happiness is in their home.

On the night before Christmas, the brother and sister, Tiltil and Mitil, are visited by the fairy Berilyun. The fairy's granddaughter is sick, only the mysterious Blue Bird can save her. Why is the girl sick? "She wants to be happy." The Fairy sends the children in search of the Bluebird, the bird of happiness. To help Tiltil, the fairy gives a magic cap that allows you to see the invisible, what is hidden from ordinary eyes, but only accessible to the eyes of the heart: the souls of Milk, Bread, Sugar, Fire, Water and Light, as well as Dog and Cat. The souls liberated by children - symbols of good and evil, courage and cowardice, love and falsehood - go with the heroes of the fairy tale. Some gladly come to the aid of children, others (Cat and Night) try to interfere ...

In search of happiness

Children enter the Land of Memories, where they meet those who have already left this world. Then they find themselves in the palace of the Queen of the Night, the keeper of all the secrets of Nature; in the Kingdom of the Future, where the souls of those who are yet to be born live; in the Gardens of Beatitudes is a haven of human desires, from the lowest to the most sublime, and it turns out that in addition to the Bliss of Satisfied Vanity, there is also the Great Joy of Being Just and the Great Joy of Contemplating the Beautiful.

In the Land of Remembrance, children learn: "The remembered dead live as happily as if they had not died." And in the Palace of the Night, the unsolved mysteries of Nature are revealed to the children. But they want Happiness, Bliss! Only... who would have thought?! In the magical Gardens of Bliss there are harmful Bliss from which one must escape: Bliss to be sudden, Knowing nothing, Sleeping more than necessary... Children learn to see and feel others, beautiful and kind Bliss: Bliss to be a child, Bliss to be healthy, Breathe air, Loving parents, Bliss of Sunny Days, Rain... And there are also Great Joys: To be Fair, Kind, Joy to think, Joy of Tomorrow's Work and Maternal Love...

When, at the end of the scene of the Azure Kingdom of the Moscow Art Theater, a “joyful choir of mothers” was suddenly heard from the unknown depths towards unborn souls from an unknown depth, the audience “tears squeezed their hearts”.

The Kingdom of the Future in the play is a hymn to man and Time, to future inventors, scientists, philosophers who will make humanity happy, who have yet to be born. So where is the Blue Bird, in the distant future?

Returning home at the end of the play, Tiltil finds her ... in his room: this is a simple dove in a cage. “Yes, this is my turtledove! shouts Tyltil enthusiastically. “Why, when I left, she was not so blue! .. Why, this is the Blue Bird that we were looking for! .. We followed her to such a distance, and it turns out that she is here! ..” Tyltil gives the turtledove to the girl next door, and she recovers. And the neighbor herself is surprisingly similar to the fairy Berilyuna! This is how brother and sister find true happiness - in good deeds, simple blessings and joys. This is how childishly unsophisticated "wisdom descending from above."

In many ancient cultures, happiness took the form of a bird. It's hard to catch and even harder to keep. All the blue birds that Tiltil finds lose their magical blueness in the light of day, and he is forced to continue his search. "The color of heaven, the blue color" calls the heroes on a difficult path. “The only Blue Bird that endures daylight, you haven’t caught yet... She flew away somewhere else... But we will find her,” the Soul of Light says to Tyltil after another failure. The campaign of Tiltil and his sister Mitil for the Blue Bird turns out to be a search for a way to himself, to what a person should become. And this search is endless. For, as Pythagoras said: "Do not chase happiness: it is always in yourself."

"...Like a child's dream"

It's amazing how many events happened after the premiere of The Blue Bird at the Moscow Art Theater: the performance survived the First World War, the revolution, the Civil War, collectivization, industrialization, 1937. Surprisingly, Stalin saw it and did not take it off. And then the Marxists didn't shoot her. The Blue Bird survived the Second World War, perestroika, the dashing nineties and remained alive.

The glory of the first performance was fairly shared by the director Konstantin Stanislavsky, the composer Ilya Sats and the artist Vladimir Yegorov, whose scenography was largely transferred even to the 1976 film. Stanislavsky set the tone for many years: "The blue bird should be naive, simple, light, cheerful, cheerful and ghostly, like a child's dream, and at the same time majestic." He, having decided to show the souls and deities of the other world on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater, filled the performance with incredible tricks for that time: the characters broke off their fingers, which grew again; cymbals danced under the cover of night; milk, bread, fire, water revived.

The director paid special attention to costumes and make-up, which played an important role in creating fabulous images and have remained almost unchanged to this day. People of any age who have ever been lucky enough to see this performance, gratefully remember it all their lives. Actor Alexei Batalov claims: “I have never seen anything childish, except for The Blue Bird, in my life.” An anonymous viewer once wrote in the guest book of the Moscow Art Theater Theater: “When everyone around is talking about profit, Maurice Maeterlinck dares to talk about the important. Otherwise, you can't breathe."

By the way

Maeterlinck once remarked: “Usually we lack not happiness itself, but the ability to be happy.” And one more thing: “Humanity was created in order to be happy. I hope the day will come when everyone will be happy and wise.” Maeterlinck himself was happy.

Anatoly Korolev, writer, especially for RIA-Novosti.

These days, the Russian theater is celebrating an unusual date - the centenary of the staging of the play "The Blue Bird" by Konstantin Sergeevich Stanislavsky. This is the only play staged by the great reformer on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater, which has survived to this day (now this performance is on the stage of the Gorky Moscow Art Theater, under the direction of T. Doronina). And although, of course, over the past years the production has changed a lot, the scenery and costumes have been updated, the pattern of roles has changed, the main thing is that the secret has survived in Maeterlinck's fairy tale, the spirit of the production has been preserved. So over the years, the aroma of cognac is preserved and strengthened.

In fact, we have a miracle.

None of the pearls of Stanislavsky has come down to us, but this diamond has survived. Perhaps only one "Princess Turandot", staged in the 1920s by Vakhtangov, can compete with Stanislavsky's masterpiece in terms of the duration of its existence on the stage.

The secret of such a long success has several clues.

Most often, Stanislavsky was very serious, rehearsals dragged on for years. Each scene has been tested hundreds of times. Like a jeweler, the director peered into the scene, as if in the face of a diamond during cutting, and then suddenly the great worker took a break.

"From time to time it should
Have a glass of Clicquot!”

For him it was - I quote - “my rest, my joke, which is occasionally necessary for an artist. The French chansonette sings ... (read above).

In part, this story is reminiscent of the case of young Stevenson, who could not sign for a long time and wrote dull philosophical novels that he could not complete to the end, and suddenly the publisher offered to write him something light, adventure, for teenagers. For boys?! trembled Stevenson and, returning home, in one gulp wrote his first masterpiece, Treasure Island. Why in one gulp? Because he was freed from the heavy burden of the initial attitudes to write seriously.

So, having decided to almost play pranks, drink a glass of Clicquot, create a play for children, Stanislavsky first decided to go to the author himself, to Maurice Maeterlinck in France, who then lived 6 hours from Paris.

I (remembers Stanislavsky) got ready to go in Russian: with a lot of packages and all sorts of gifts. Wrote a magnificent greeting on the cuff ...

But, alas, no one met him at the station, and, as a sin, there was not a single porter on the platform. With an armful of bundles, Stanislavsky went to the parking lot, where drivers crowded. Then they demanded a ticket from him, as is customary in the West. The bundles scattered. And then some brave driver in a gray coat and a driver's cap rushed to collect things. He asked in French: Monsieur Stanislavsky? He got into the car and sped away at a terrible speed.

Frightened by the speed, Stanislavsky sat without saying a word, and only half an hour later he decided to ask the driver: how is Herr Maeterlinck?

Maeterlinck? - exclaimed the driver in surprise, - I am Maeterlinck!

Stanislavsky threw up his hands, and both of them laughed long and loudly.

This unexpected reprimand became the capital letter for the further work of Stanislavsky, who always could not remember his acquaintance with Maeterlinck without laughing. A smile, irony, and its eternal companions - sadness and melancholy - penetrated the performance.

Letting go of the reins, Stanislavsky did the job easily and naturally. He even allowed the actors to improvise, while he himself focused on inventing magic. He did not want to stage just a children's fairy tale, but began to compose a magical parable about the expansion of space, about the journey of children beyond the limits of the world, to the secrets of life.

Black velvet helped him in this setup.

Stanislavsky first decided to try the magic of this fabric, which - one has only to cover a thing, whether an actor, with a piece of black velvet - makes objects invisible. The velvet gave the scene the appearance of a mysterious abyss, which is hidden behind an ordinary set of objects: behind a table, behind a bed, behind a tub for dough, behind a fire in the hearth. the charm of the dawn, which still retains the purity of the diamond and the brilliance of the cut and illuminated us with rays of magic.

The premiere took place in the autumn of 1908.

The production designer was a wonderful master V. Egorov.

The music was composed by the composer I. Sats.

Sister and brother, Mitil and Tiltyl were played by A. Koonen and S. Khalyutina.

The role of the Cat was played by the great I. Moskvin. V. Luzhsky played the faithful and stupid Dog, V. Gribunin played the lush Bread, A. Gorev played the brittle Sugar, and M. Lilina played the part of the fairy.

The story was a resounding success with both children and adults.

The critic noted that "the tears squeezed the hearts of the audience."

The perfection of the work done by Stanislavsky easily, without exhaustion, with brilliance in the spirit of Mozart, provided the Blue Bird with that unprecedentedly long life, the centenary of which the Russian theater is celebrating today.

The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors