Psychic Theater: Yuri Butusov's voice was heard at the Moscow Art Theater
Butusov's real voice in the audience, a production that never happened at the Vakhtangov Theater, Sergei Volkov in the role of Prince Myshkin — rumors have already spread in theatrical circles that there is, in fact, an unrealized Butusovsky play at the Moscow Art Theater, which was released posthumously. There is indeed a roll call, and there is his student who was supposed to play the main role in it, but it is still an independent work. The star of Vakhtangov, the Moscow Art Theater and the Theater of Nations, Volkov staged "Idiots" according to his own plan and invited Anna Chipovskaya, Danil Steklov and Polina Romanova to play there. About why the premiere became a sensation in the life of theatrical Moscow — in the material of Izvestia.
I will not part with Dostoevsky
"Idiots" instead of "Idiot". The first thing that comes to mind is a Lars von Trier film, not a Dostoevsky novel. Moreover, there has already been a high—profile theatrical production based on this work in Moscow - at the Gogol Center, always with full houses. However, there will also be full houses on the Small Stage of the Moscow Art Theater, although it is based on a Russian novel.
There are only four artists on stage, who play several characters from a populous classic work. Each character is insane, but pretends to be normal. And only Myshkin, played by Sergey Volkov himself, does not pretend to be anyone. He suffers from a mental disorder, not like everyone else, but declares it quite openly.
Sergey Volkov is 32 years old, he is still poorly known in the cinema, but in the theater he is a superstar. He won the Golden Mask for the role of Bertolt Brecht in the play "Cabaret Brecht" at the Leningrad City Council Theater. He plays at the Theater of Nations, the Vakhtangov Theater (his best role there was Peer Gynt, it's a pity that the play was closed), and a year ago Alexey Mizgirev invited him to a play for the Moscow Art Theater DAMASOBACHKA. The film director reinterpreted Chekhov's story, and Volkov played the role of Gurov, the one played by Alexei Batalov in the movie.
The actor has already tried his hand at directing. In particular, he staged the play "Crime and Punishment" by Dostoevsky at the St. Petersburg Lensovet Theater. At that time, Sergey Volkov was 20 years old. And he is still "sick" of Fyodor Mikhailovich.
"For me, Dostoevsky is a part of my worldview," Sergei Volkov confessed. — His understanding of language, ethics, and the depths of human content that can be found in the art form has always been in tune with me. Therefore, I never wanted to part with him.
Murder in blue tones
He began his search for the role of Myshkin Volkov on the stage of the Vakhtangov Theater. Yuri Butusov planned to stage Dostoevsky there, work began, rehearsals were underway, and the premiere was scheduled to take place in 2023. But it didn't happen. Butusov left, and this summer he tragically died on vacation in Bulgaria. According to Sergei Volkov, Yuri Butusov knew that he was planning to stage Dostoevsky, but demanded that it in no way overlap with what they were doing in Vakhtangov.
— He was going to direct "Idiot" himself, — says Sergey Volkov. — I promised that it would be as different texts as possible, there would be something else, and a different form.
The young director kept his promise to the teacher. The shape turned out to be really different. It was implemented with the approval of Konstantin Khabensky, who was shown a sketch of the future performance.
The action takes place in Rogozhin's apartment. He wanted to renovate it so that Nastasya Filippovna would like it here. The walls are covered with newspapers and damp plaster. There are splashes of blue paint, naive drawings of animals and the inscription "St. Petersburg – Switzerland". Three-liter jars are placed all over the room. This is an imitation of the "Zhdanov liquid" — a means to destroy the stench. The fact is that the director decided to start the narrative from the end. In this apartment, Rogozhin had already killed Nastasya Filippovna. Flasks — so that the smell of corpses does not spread through the house.
But the audience will understand this later: while they are sitting down, the hero of Sergei Volkov, Prince Myshkin, is looking at them from the stage all the time. Then the others appear on the stage — they are smeared with blue paint. Anna Chipovskaya as Nastasia Filippovna, Polina Romanova as Aglaya, Danil Steklov as Rogozhin. But these are not all heroes. Volkov set the task for the actors to act out more scenes with the participation of other characters. Which sometimes looked comical: like a split personality or mimicry. "What nonsense! What does this nonsense mean, in your opinion?"- perplexed by the general's wife Epanchina, for whom Polina Romanova basses in the image of Aglaya.
Anna Chipovskaya speaks not only for Nastasia Filippovna, but also parodies her benefactor, the tyrant Athanasius Ivanovich Totsky.
"Only the victim has the right to laugh and sneer at an act of violence," says the actress. — That's why no one but Nastasia can play Totsky anymore.
The main beauty, for whose heart men are fighting, appears not in crinolines and corsets, but in a black pantsuit with a square haircut, rough men's shoes and a hat. But Rogozhin is a pure intellectual, as if he had just come from the library. A young man with round horn-rimmed glasses, his hands and face blue from the paint. Just an artist who ran out of the studio and forgot to wash his face.
Choi and microphones for heroes
As a hint of the general madness, the musical design of the play. Mozart is next to Tsoi. Rogozhin is wooing, and in the audience he shouts: "When your girlfriend is sick." He dances uncontrollably, scattering flowers.
— Rogozhin lives in each of us, in some more, in others less, — says Danil Steklov. — I didn't want to make it cliched. Only in the finale we made fun of it a little bit, and he will appear in a fur coat with a beard. No one knows what he really looked like. Even Dostoevsky described him differently than Rogozhin is often portrayed in theater and cinema. That's why I wanted to look for something tender, vulnerable, and human in him.
Sergey Volkov offered this independent work to Anna Chipovskaya, Polina Romanova and Danil Steklov six months ago. The basis of the concept was that after Nastasia Filippovna's murder, all participants in these events are visited by visions and fantasies.
— Seryozha amazes me, he rehearsed as an actor and as a director at the same time. In my opinion, he never sat in the gym at all, he didn't watch anything," says Anna Chipovskaya. — He will fall to the floor, turn around and look with one eye at what we are doing there. At the same time, after each run, he remembers all the remarks that he wanted to say. Well, Caesar!
In the play, the director focuses on his character. His Myshkin gets lost in seizures, and then disappears completely, eaten away by the disease. Therefore, he does not pronounce his monologue in the finale, but rather blurts it out. Like the speech of a madman.
While watching, you catch yourself thinking that a little madness turns out to be contagious. And you're surprised, even if you know the text well and have seen other productions of The Idiot, and there are a lot of them in Russia, including the opera at the GABT. The only annoying thing is the sound, even in a Small hall. I want to hear live voices, without microphones. Involuntarily, I remember my predecessors, the Moscow Art Museum mastodons, who brought the great and mighty to the last rows of the gallery.
The performance ends with a symbolic bow to the teacher. In the finale of the play, the voice of Yuri Butusov is heard, a recording from the rehearsal of "The Idiot" at the Vakhtangov Theater, which was saved by Sergei Volkov. And it acts very strongly, to the point of trembling.
Those who want to see the "Idiots" should be patient. All tickets, even for January, have already been sold out. Now it's only in February.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
