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- He came to the family with kindness: the Moscow Art Theater presented "The Eldest Son"
He came to the family with kindness: the Moscow Art Theater presented "The Eldest Son"
To re-read Alexander Vampilov's play "The Eldest Son" is a very difficult task. The text is a fertile one for directors, but it has been staged so many times in theaters, and, of course, the reference Soviet film with Leonov, Karachentsov and Boyarsky also presses authority. Andrei Kalinin took a risk and created on the chamber New Stage of the Moscow Art Theatre a surprisingly light, bright, "lamp" performance, at which the audience, like the hero of the play Busygin, thaw their souls - "Izvestia" was convinced of this at the premiere. The production has everything for success - warm humor, wonderful music, strong acting cast - People's Artist of Russia Alexander Semchev and young actors who are not lost against his background.
Bollywood in Russian
The plot of "The Eldest Son" is reminiscent of an Indian film, but instead of the bright colors of Bollywood - gray landscapes of a small Russian provincial town. Two guys - a student Vladimir Busygin and sales agent Semyon Sevostyanov nicknamed Silva after a fun party escort girls home and eventually late for the last train. Ona chilly fall night they find themselves without a roof over their heads, looking for a place to stay until morning, and end up in the apartment of the Sarafanov family - father Andrei Grigorievich lives there with his son Vasenka and daughter Nina. In order that the owners do not throw them out on the street, Busygin appears to be the illegitimate son of Andrei Grigorievich. This lie brings great changes to all the heroes, makes them take a new look at their relationship with each other. "All men are brothers" - the phrase that Busygin ironically utters at the beginning of the play takes on meaning for him.
Director Andrei Kalinin, who usually experiments with texts, this time staged Vampilov's play in its pure form, without bills. Even Silva sings with a guitar exactly those songs written by the author. Boyarsky in the movie played his own stuff as well.
- This text is beautiful in itself - its dynamics, composition, whirlwind scenes are so harmoniously arranged that it is a pleasure to work with him - said Kalinin. - Of course, there is an aspect that the material is so hackneyed - when you rehearse, you always remember the movie and other productions, and it is a great difficulty.
However, the director found an original solution - he imagined that everything that happens is the fantasy of the elder Sarafanov. His children scattered - his daughter rushed to seek personal happiness, his son ran away from unrequited love. And here he is alone in the apartment, watching Indian movies on TV, is in some oblivion, in his dream.
The light, somewhat ephemeral atmosphere of the production corresponds to this interpretation. The stage is not overloaded with decorations - there was no task to go into a domestic theater. There are black curtains, white doors, a bench, a street lamp, and a home-made plafond. In some of the mise-en-scenes a carpet, a Soviet transistor and a television set, and an armchair are added - atmospheric things that add to the "lamplight" of the play.
- I wanted to create a poetic structure in which the situations themselves work. Everything is quite conventional around and there is no attachment to any time. The main thing is to "open up" the actors so that they are not prevented from working with their feelings and techniques," explained the director.
And the wonderful music by composer Andrei Besogonov, which sounds in the production, according to the director's idea, is an oratorio, which throughout his life has been composed by Andrei Grigorievich Sarafanov, a musician and loser who plays the clarinet. And here it finally took shape in his dreams and fantasies.
A little naive about the main thing
The play is multifaceted because it's about real people who are different in different circumstances. But certainly one of its important themes is the relationship between fathers and children.
- At the final point, Sarafanov Senior gives away wishful thinking and says: if I love you, then you are my children. I myself am a father, I have a son, and these feelings are very close to me, rereading these words, I could not hold back a tear, - admitted Andrei Kalinin.
And Alexander Semchev noted that in working on the image of Andrei Grigorievich Sarafanov came from his personal experience of communicating with children.
- The most important thing for me in this character - my love for children. First of all, my personal experience, which I tried to bring here, is important. But on the other hand, I was trying to get away from angelicness in his faith and gullibility. I wanted to make him somehow smarter, - said the People's Artist.
Sarafanov Alexander Semchev is not at all similar to the character from the movie played by Yevgeny Leonov. The actor noted that he did not even revisit the Soviet movie hit, he wanted to create his own image.
- The main thing - to work without inventing any hero - neither gait, nor manner of speech. And the more honest it will be, the more multifaceted. And Sarafanov is a multifaceted character, and here the accents can be set in different ways: offenses, his worthlessness, reflection- all this can be played, - he explained.
Chamber New Stage allows actors to work not with broad strokes, but very delicately. But this is a great responsibility and difficulty, because the falsity here will be visible to every spectator, even from the last row.
Kirill Vlasov, who played Busygin, is proud to be the first performer of this role at the Moscow Art Theatre.
- There are quite a lot of performances of "The Eldest Son" in Russia, but, as it turns out, neither in the Soviet Moscow Art Theater, nor in the MHT it has never been staged, - said the actor.
His Busygin at the beginning of the play - an embittered, stale-hearted soulless guy - in such a strange way finds his family, his people, and thaws out. Perhaps it seems a bit naive, but that's the beauty of both the play and the production.
- All the themes that are touched uponin this play are generally banal, but maybe they are the most important: love, family, and the health of loved ones. We do not want to twist something, and we want to really live this wonderful text, - notes Kirill Vlasov.
"Elder Son" at the MHT is a parable, which wonderful actors make authentic for the audience. After viewing remains such a cozy aftertaste. Not catharsis, not purification - no shocks, but at the same time you leave the hall as if different.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
