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Vakhtangov Theater A Crazy Day or The Marriage of Figaro. Crazy day, or the marriage of Figaro

Ticket prices:
Balcony 950-1300 rubles
Mezzanine 1100-1400 rubles
Amphitheater 1100-1600 rubles
Benoir 1600-2600 rubles
Parterre 1000-3700 rubles

Stage director - Vladimir Mirzoev
Set designer - Anastasia Bugaeva
Costume designer - Alla Kozhenkova
Lighting designer - Maya Shavdatuashvili
Composer - Faustas Lathenas
Musical director - Tatyana Agayeva
Choreographer - Artur Oshchepkov
Make-up artist - Olga Kalyavina
Sound engineers - Anatoly Ibragimov, Ruslan Knushevitsky
Assistant director - Marina Marchenko

Characters and performers:
Count Almaviva - Maxim Sukhanov
Countess, his wife - Marina Esipenko, Anna Antonova
Figaro, Count's Valet - Leonid Bichevin, Dmitry Solomykin, Pavel Popov
Suzanna, the Countess's chambermaid - Polina Kuzminskaya, Lada Churovskaya
Marcelina - Marina Esipenko, Vera Novikova
Cherubino, the Count's page - Maxim Sevrinovsky
Basil, music teacher - Eldar Tramov
Bartolo, doctor - Ruben Simonov, Oleg Lopukhov
Don Guzman Briduazon, judge - Alexander Pavlov
Doubleman, court secretary - Eldar Tramov
Antonio, gardener - Alexander Galevsky
Fanchetta, his daughter - Asya Domskaya, Polina Chernyshova

Artists from the theater orchestra take part in the performance:
Mikhail Ainetdinov
Valeria Dmitrieva
Polina Evlanova
Olga Zhevlakova
Vladimir Sveshnikov
Evgeny Poltorakov
Nikolay Myziko

Beaumarchais's immortal creation, which has not lost its charm, energy, wit and intrigue over time, is known to many. Another of A. Pushkin’s characters said that this work is an excellent remedy for gloomy thoughts and can lift the mood like champagne wine. Much water has flowed under the bridge since then, but today it is unlikely that anyone would think of challenging the opinion of the great poet. A crazy day or a Figaro wedding is a great way to disconnect from the everyday hustle and bustle and lift your spirits.

And even despite the fact that Figaro in modern perception is not at all a symbol of the coming revolution, which actually outraged the upper classes of Paris during the premiere of the play, this hero attracts attention with his independence, resourcefulness and thirst for truth. Figaro is an intelligent man of the new time, new ethical principles conflict with outdated traditions.

Why "Crazy Day..."? What else can you call a day on which everything was intertwined in such an intricate way that the resolution of these intricacies required incredible efforts of the main character, thanks to whom, in fact, everything was resolved in the best possible way.

The design of the performance does not correspond to the era in which the work was created. Vladimir Mirzoev presented this story through modern views and reveals the mores of modern society.

Tickets to the Vakhtangov Theater are always a gift to yourself and your loved ones.

16+

Stage director - Vladimir Mirzoev

Set designer - Anastasia Bugaeva

Costume designer - Alla Kozhenkova

Lighting designer - Maya Shavdatuashvili

Composer - Faustas Lathenas

Musical director - Tatyana Agayeva

Choreographer - Artur Oshchepkov

Make-up artist - Olga Kalyavina

Sound engineers - Anatoly Ibragimov, Ruslan Knushevitsky

Assistant director - Marina Marchenko

Characters and performers:

Count Almaviva - Maxim Sukhanov

Countess, his wife - Marina Esipenko, Anna Antonova

Figaro - Count's Valet - Leonid Bichevin, Pavel Popov

Suzanna - Countess's chambermaid - Polina Kuzminskaya, Lada Churovskaya

Marcelina - Marina Esipenko, Vera Novikova

Cherubino, the Count's page - Maxim Sevrinovsky

Basil, music teacher - Eldar Tramov

Bartolo, doctor - Ruben Simonov, Oleg Lopukhov

Don Guzman Briduazon, judge - Alexander Pavlov

Doubleman, court secretary - Eldar Tramov

Antonio, gardener - Alexander Galevsky

Fanchetta, his daughter - Asya Domskaya, Polina Chernyshova

Artists from the theater orchestra take part in the performance:

Mikhail Ainetdinov, Valeria Dmitrieva, Polina Evlanova, Olga Zhevlakova, Vladimir Sveshnikov, Evgeniy Poltorakov, Nikolai Myzikov

The performance features music by W. Mozart, G. Rossini, L. Boccherini, I. Bach

“If dark thoughts come to your mind, open a bottle of champagne, or re-read The Marriage of Figaro,” advises one of the characters in “Little Tragedies” A.S. Pushkin. Years and centuries have passed, but even today it is not a sin to take the advice of the great poet. The charm of Beaumarchais's comedy has not faded; its energy, excitement, irony, humor, and virtuosity of intrigue seem to have gained even greater sharpness and brilliance over the years. And although Figaro is interesting to us today not as a harbinger of the revolution, which outraged the ruling class in Paris at the time of the premiere of the play, the folk hero attracts with his independence, resourcefulness, and the restless spirit of a truth-seeker.

Crazy day... The style of the play should probably be sought in the “crazy day” that fell on the heads of the participants in this story, when everything was intertwined, confused, and thanks to the efforts of the hero, happily resolved, and the right of the first night, which previously belonged to the Count, today faces intransigence Figaro, a man of new times, new ethical laws. The conflict is in the contradiction of a modern intelligent personality with customs and practices that have outlived their usefulness.

The design and costumes do not correspond to the time the comedy was written. The director tries to present this story through the prism of modernity, depicting the morals of society, teaching and entertaining.

Director of the play Vladimir Mirzoev:

The old masters liked to give two versions of the title of one text. Next to the magical “if” there is often a magical “or”. I value this variability of theater and culture in general. Moreover, the second part of the title of Beaumarchais’s masterpiece could have fallen off, like our ancestor’s tail, as unnecessary. Insanity is the main category we want to play with today. I would remove both “marriage” and even the intriguer “Figaro” from the poster if it did not confuse the viewer.

You used to stand in front of the ocean of classical drama and try to feel something, to catch your wave. But this is not fashion, no, it is not a question of which way the wind blows. When choosing material, the main thing for me is the theme. In “Crazy Day,” I saw an opportunity for a very important conversation. About how modern man is forced to submit to archaic practices, how the elite mentally cannot keep up with a society that is rapidly being updated. After all, the time vector is still directed to the future. But Beaumarchais's anthropology is not didactic - it is a cheerful vitamin hidden among the sweet berries of eroticism, dressing up, theatrical play. We, like children, swallow juicy, clever text without noticing its complex meanings.

Having easily pulled our heroes out of the era of feudalism, we, however, did not place them in the world of gadgets and free love. Our performance is not modernization in the strict sense of the word. But eclecticism, dynamics and, most importantly. The madness here is quite in the spirit of current postmodernism. Isn’t it true that life itself today looks like a strange collage of mythologies, customs, misconceptions. Therefore, Mozart and Rossini can easily visit the African leader, sit by the fire, and drink a cup of coffee. Sometimes it is difficult to understand what century we find ourselves in: either in the mid-20th, or in the 17th, or in the 21st.

As Oleg Nikolaevich Efremov liked to say (in different situations): “What do you want? - that's life". And sometimes the phrase sounded different: “What do you want? - This is a theatre".

The duration of the performance is 3 hours with one intermission.

Photo by Vladimir Fedorenko / RIA Novosti

Roman Dolzhansky.. "Crazy Day, or The Marriage of Figaro" at the Vakhtangov Theater ( Kommersant, 09.15.2014).

Gleb Sitkovsky. . “The Marriage of Figaro” at the Vakhtangov Theater did without marriage and almost without Figaro ( Vedomosti, 09.15.2014).

Grigory Zaslavsky. . The Vakhtangov Theater opened the season with the premiere of The Marriage of Figaro ( NG, 09.15.2014).

Marina Raikina. . The first premiere of the season was played at the Vakhtangov Theater ( MK, 09.12.2014).

Alena Karas. "Crazy Day" at the Theater. Vakhtangov will not be crowned with the marriage of Figaro ( RG, 09/17/2014).

Elena Dyakova. . At the Vakhtangov Theater - Vladimir Mirzoev and “The Marriage of Figaro” ( Novaya Gazeta, 09/17/2014).

Crazy Day, or The Marriage of Figaro. Staged by Vladimir Mirzoev. Theater named after Vakhtangov. Press about the performance

Kommersant, September 15, 2014

Madness with pressure

"Crazy Day, or The Marriage of Figaro" at the Vakhtangov Theater

The Vakhtangov Theater opened the season with a premiere - Beaumarchais's comedy "Crazy Day, or The Marriage of Figaro" directed by Vladimir Mirzoev. Narrated by ROMAN DOLZHANSKY.

In advance of the premiere, the director made an important remark, depriving the reviewers of the opportunity to express a simple but important guess after the performance. When staging Beaumarchais, Vladimir Mirzoev persistently discarded the second, more well-known part of the title of Beaumarchais's great comedy - he made a play not about marriage and not about Figaro, but about a crazy day. More precisely, just about madness. Which overtook the characters of the famous play unknown why, unknown when and unknown where - the stage action of the new performance of the Vakhtangov Theater is devoid of recognizable circumstances of place and time. And the circumstance of the mode of action here is, by and large, one - precisely the one that is inspired by the title of the play.

Needless to say, madness is a category akin to theatrical writing itself, and from its frightening depths, dreamers of different eras have more than once pushed genuine stage masterpieces into the light of day. But this in no way applies to the performance of the Vakhtangov Theater. Of course, one can explain the destruction of simple logical connections between the events of the play, the disorderly, fragmented dynamics of the performance and the randomness of the actors' reactions by general madness. Vladimir Mirzoev, who has worked at the Vakhtangov Theater more than once, is not one of those directors who cares about the authenticity of the stage world. He is a master of bizarre puzzles and paradoxical moves; there is always some kind of madness going on on his stage, but usually it is arranged in such a way that you understand: the director turns the world inside out with skill. Maybe he’s fooling us, but maybe he’s looking beyond the terrible edge that only he can see.

In this case, Vladimir Mirzoev, it seems, made an annoying mistake: he began to look for edges where they do not exist or where they are not the point. Let the stage setting (artist Anastasia Bugaeva) look like a many times enlarged children's construction set made of plywood. In the finale, let a phallic-shaped object, similar to an exotic fruit, descend from above. Let people's social rituals be violated: the court hearing on the lawsuit between Marcelina and Figaro takes place in the form of a feast, the explanation of Almaviva and Figaro is accompanied by the bloody butchering of a dead animal, and Figaro himself is easily ready to torture the sleepwalking Fanchetta. Let everything in this little world work poorly: the staircase, which Count Almaviva must importantly descend, begins to arrive either in the wrong place or in vain. But all the substitutions remain nothing more than absurdities, because there is no trace left of the clear motives that guide Beaumarchais’s heroes.

The main character of this play is not the model-looking dummy Figaro (Dmitry Solomykin), but Count Almaviva. Well, simply because he is played by Maxim Sukhanov, without whose participation it is difficult to imagine Vladimir Mirzoev’s performances. Sukhanov shows another variation of a strange character, who has been wandering from one Mirzoev’s work to another for many years, at the same time a charming and repulsive type, a capricious thug, a loose-lipped and spoiled joker with a forever pinched voice and dangerous bestial habits. If we talk about other acting works (and by and large there is nothing more to talk about), the young student Maxim Sevrinovsky, who plays Cherubino, is memorable, and if there was less “variety” in his role, it would be very good.

However, the annoying entrepreneurial pressure with which Vakhtangovites of different generations, including Marina Esipenko and Alexander Galevsky, rule the craft in “Crazy Day” is easy to explain: something needs to be filled with semantic voids. And it’s better to have pointless comedy in some episodes than jokes worthy of a bad skit, with which in other episodes they try to get reactions from the audience: when it is revealed that Figaro’s real name is Emanuel, a recognizable melody from the erotic film “Emmanuel” sounds, and the count’s response is “What is it here?” “strong echo,” followed by a striking answer: “This is the echo of Moscow.”

Vedomosti, September 15, 2014

Gleb Sitkovsky

Figaro, don't get married

“The Marriage of Figaro” at the Vakhtangov Theater did without marriage and almost without Figaro

In the play “Crazy Day, or The Marriage of Figaro,” staged by Vladimir Mirzoev at the Theater. Vakhtangov, the main character was not Figaro, but Count Almaviva performed by Maxim Sukhanov.

This is already the second Beaumarchais in a year, but there is so little in common between the performances of Evgeny Pisarev at the Pushkin Theater (released in May) and Vladimir Mirzoev at the Vakhtangov Theater that it seems that we are looking at two different plays. How did Suzanne sing at Beaumarchais? “Here the voice of reason is mixed with the sparkle of light chatter”? So nothing got mixed up. For the voice of reason, come to the Pushkin Theater, for light and half-crazy chatter - to the Vakhtangovites.

The difference will be striking even if you don’t look at the stage, but simply compare the directors’ statements. Pisarev, for example, winced at the word “crazy” and got rid of the first part of the title, leaving only “The Marriage of Figaro” on the poster. This is understandable: his performance is all moderation and accuracy. Mirzoev, on the contrary, admits: “I would have removed both the “marriage” and even the intriguer Figaro from the poster, if it had not confused the viewer.”

I don’t know why Mirzoev was afraid. Confusing the viewer is his signature directorial feature, and “Crazy Day” was no exception to the rule. But the fact that Mirzoev will quietly wrap up the wedding of Figaro and Suzanne will really become clear not at the first glance at the poster, but only at the end of the performance. The rest of the characters were also unlucky: the mass matrimonial ringing was simply canceled - after all, this would mean the triumph of reason and the end of all madness. And the director wants the madness to not end, so that they rush after us. Therefore, he will limit himself to forcing the saddened Almaviva to pout his lips guiltily in the finale and say: “I won’t do it again.” Which, of course, no one will believe.

As for the “schemer Figaro”, whom Mirzoev was going to remove from the poster, he was, in fact, crossed out from the play. Firstly, before us is no intriguer, but simply a naive and enthusiastic young man who, due to his headlessness, would be completely lost without the cunning Suzanne (Lada Churovskaya). And secondly, his role is greatly reduced and, as soon as Almaviva - Sukhanov appears on the stage, Figaro is hopelessly dwarfed against his background. Leonid Bichevin (in other performances of the count's valet both Dmitry Solomykin and Pavel Popov can play) plays not the role of a servant, but a service role. In turn, Count Almaviva is not just the master of the house, but also the master of the situation. There is a well-known logic in this: Beaumarchais’s Figaro is the embodiment of popular common sense, and Almaviva’s count’s arbitrariness threatens to make not only one day, but the entire world order insane. If the director does not value boring rationality at all and wants to turn his performance into an apology for theatrical madness, then what? Then long live chaos, free love and Count Almaviva.

A worthy successor to Almaviva’s work is Cherubino (Maxim Sevrinovsky; in another cast this role is played by Vasilisa Sukhanova), ready to sleep with all female representatives not only on stage, but also in the hall (“I love you, parter! I love you, balcony!” “- he screams in a paroxysm of all-conquering lust, while other participants in the play are trying to tie him up). In a sense, “Crazy Day”, staged by Mirzoev, is somewhat reminiscent of his old play “Don Juan and Sganarelle” at the Vakhtangov Theater, where the main voluptuous man of all times was played by the same Maxim Sukhanov. The lustful master is again opposed by a prudent servant, but the director’s sympathies are again on the side of the former.

Other parallels can be drawn between Mirzoev’s Moliere and Mirzoev’s Beaumarchais: before us, as nine years ago, is an eclectic musical show, where a cheerful song is always more important than boring classical lines. Then they sang the blues, now they give preference to sophisticated blatnyak or songs based on Beranger’s poems, but the essence is the same: the performance turns into a collection of daring gags and pop numbers that completely obscure the meaning of what is happening. But why does Mirzoev need any sense when he has Sukhanov? Chaos rules, madness reigns, fun reigns supreme. Who would just explain why this all-conquering thoughtless and crazy fun at some point becomes terribly boring?

NG, September 15, 2014

Grigory Zaslavsky

Power is disgusting, like Almaviva's hands

The Vakhtangov Theater opened the season with the premiere of The Marriage of Figaro

Vladimir Mirzoev’s performance “Crazy Day, or The Marriage of Figaro”, which was staged at the Academic Theater. Vakhtangov opened a new season - this is the second recent premiere in Moscow of this comedy by Beaumarchais. The play has just been released at the Theater. Pushkin, which amazed even the seasoned with its operatic scope. As if starting from the “namesakes”, the Vakhtangov Theater decided to impress with modesty, perhaps not in expenses, but in stage design: the plywood that makes up the movable structure was not even painted, leaving the public the opportunity to enjoy the natural beauty.

A theater critic is used to giving meaning to what is happening on stage; in fact, this is his job. And if in the play called “Crazy Day, or The Marriage of Figaro,” the director gives much more attention and space to Count Almaviva, and not to Figaro at all, there is, of course, some important meaning in this. It remains to understand which one.

A careful reading of the program may lead to some guesses: there is only one Count Almaviva in the play, Maxim Sukhanov, and for the role of the count’s valet Figaro there are as many as three actors announced, who will play in turn. This gives reason to assume that director Vladimir Mirzoev had no doubts about Almaviva, but he was unable to settle on just one Figaro. So it’s not at all a matter of some exceptional employment in the television series of Leonid Bichevin, who at the premiere - due to this very current serial fame - received flowers more than all other performers. Although he played more modestly than many. Such is television fame.

Regarding the director’s doubts, this is, naturally, just a guess, an assumption based, among other things, on some uncertainty of the role. With Almaviva in the play everything is clear, with Figaro nothing is clear. He comes out to the public in a fast dance, after which he is naked to the waist, remaining in leather pants. In another performance, leather pants and a naked torso could tell a lot about the hero, but here they seem to tell nothing.

“Figaro here, Figaro there” - this is what everyone knows about this character in Beaumarchais’s comedy. Someone will also remember that Pushkin believed - not himself, but through the mouth of one of the heroes of one of the small tragedies - that this comedy was so funny that reading it could dispel sad thoughts.

In Vladimir Mirzoev's play, at least for now, Count Almaviva, performed by Maxim Sukhanov, and the Countess, played by Marina Esipenko on the first evening, exist separately, all the others - separately, on their own. Eyewitnesses who had the opportunity to compare the first two performances say that on the second evening Esipenko no longer played the Countess, but Marceline, and was even better, even freer. Eyewitnesses can be trusted. In the role of the Countess, at least at the premiere, Esipenko felt a bit cramped, as if she didn’t have enough air to play. And only Sukhanov was free, he was the only one who breathed deeply, played recklessly, with the usual and forgivable excess.

Knowing the liberal views of the director, one can assume that he was warmed by this idea - to present the authorities in the image of Almaviva, depraved, lustful, stupid, in the end. What is his gift to Suzanne worth - golden metal pendants, which he hides under a long camisole, wearing it like a belt with a codpiece. Knowing about the director’s protest sentiments, you have no doubt that the noisy drum roll with which the actors complete the first act of the play is the very “bell” that rings for us all. No, these drums beat for a reason! And when the second act begins with Almaviva picking at the carcass of a roe deer or deer he is skinning, when his hands are covered in blood up to his elbows, then it’s clear who it’s about and what it’s about. No, there are no hints about anyone in particular, here we are talking about how the authorities in the person of Almaviva indifferently deal with their subjects. There is no doubt that just as dispassionately, while conducting an extraneous conversation along the way, he could have butchered Figaro, if he had fallen under the knife... This combination of two states - indifference and lustful passion, manifesting itself in a series of many small physical actions at once, Sukhanov plays incomparably, bringing the audience to laughter. As always, what is striking in his performance is the combination of some special physical freedom and the simultaneous calculation of all movements, all muscle contractions and memorable grimaces.

The theater critic exists as if to ruin people's mood. The audience sits, laughs, rejoices, and then he appears, who reports that there is nothing to be happy about: the director repeats himself, the play has an obvious bias towards one actor, and the most striking one ends up being a scene that is not in the play at all. What is there to be happy about?! A plywood set (designer: Anastasia Bugaeva), the simplicity of which comes into sharp conflict with the particular generosity and brightness of the existence of Sukhanov and Esipenko, but is very much in harmony with the organic “shading” (for now!) of the performances of many other actors involved in the play? She is not happy - the audience who knows and loves Mirzoev has managed to get used to some original, sometimes incredible and even completely unbearable designs that Alla Kozhenkova usually came up with for Mirzoev. In “Figaro” they left her only the costumes, but, looking at the stage, it seems that not all of them were invented by her.

The premiere audience rejoiced at the gag that Almaviva and Sukhanov allowed themselves. Swearing at his wife, for example, he promised to deprive her of everything - water, food and - in this list of vital things - Parmesan. Other, less sophisticated spectators treated what was happening on stage as life lessons: the company sitting behind me - two couples - spent the entire performance lively discussing the events of the play. "Cool!" – the female voice rejoiced at how cleverly the countess’s bedroom hid the page Cherubino from the count. "No!" – the man answered this dryly. "Do not you like it?" - with a slight hint of bitterness. - “No, I’m just shaking my head.”

MK, September 12, 2014

Marina Raikina

Butcher's Mad Day Almaviva

The first premiere of the season was played at the Vakhtangov Theater

"Figaro is here, Figaro is there." Wherever they now stage “Crazy Day, or The Marriage of Figaro”! It seemed like they had just passed it in Pushkinsky; in a month and a half he is coming to Obraztsovsky. Well, today Vakhtangovsky’s Figaro has already come to the fore - the premiere was played on the opening day of the season. This “Figaro”, directed by Vladimir Mirzoev, will go down in history as a piece of plywood. In Vakhtangovsky, the MK observer was very surprised.

At the first mention of Beaumarchais’s immortal comedy, a number of synonyms appear: luxurious, chic, sparkling, enchanting. First of all, they are applied to scenery, of which many have been seen, live and on recording, by specialists and amateurs. Leventhal had luxurious, inventive decorations in Satire and Sheintzis in Lenkom, where Figaro still plays to sold-out houses. Zinoviy Margolin performed on an operatic scale at the Pushkinsky, but I’m not talking about foreign productions at all. Obviously, tired of the redundancy of scenographic emotion, Vladimir Mirzoev, together with the artist Anastasia Bugaeva, decided to go against the grain, and it must be admitted that they succeeded one hundred percent. “Figaro” in Vakhtangovsky... how can I put this more precisely... reduced to a thin layer of plywood.

And this is not a figure of speech designed to emphasize the sophistication and sophistication of the work for gourmets - there is minimalism, bordering on the modesty of country real estate in a Shanghai-class village. There is nothing bad about plywood as a material (what kind of stage worlds have not been built from it!), but here, like nowhere else, you understand the role of scenery in the success and fate of the performance. The set is a frame, a context that supports, feeds, develops, deepens and complements the direction, the work of the costume designer... In “Crazy Day...” Bugaeva’s set does everything the same, only with a “not” particle. Well, “champagne” from Beaumarchais doesn’t fit with her plywood. Even if it is a truly crazy day, like a mirror reflection of any day in Russian reality.

And just some kind of plywood wall at the back of the stage with other plywood pieces attached to it, like sashes, and one wooden staircase coming out of the wings - but the style doesn’t fit at all, like fawn-colored dresses suit the face of the Mayoress in Gogol’s play . Is it possible that the work of a set designer could undermine the design of an experienced craftsman? It turns out that you have to have talent for the performance to stagger like the deck of a ship when rocking: all its components are lost against the plywood background - costumes (designer Alla Kozhenkova), acting, although if we consider everything and everyone separately, then there are no special complaints. And yet…

The genre of “Crazy Day” is a farce, largely built on actor improvisation. But not all artists master improvisation as a well-rehearsed action: Maxim Sukhanov, who performed the role of Count Almaviva, succeeded best here. Actually, thanks to his charisma, special texture, humor and gift of improvisation, he became (whether the director wanted it or not is unclear) the living center of the plywood structure. Here he comes out on the stairs - old, shaggy, lustful. Intonations, pauses, reactions to partners, relaxation in the muscles, a sly smile... And from the very first minutes the audience is captivated by his inexplicable charm. Even vulgarities are forgiven to the favorite, which they try not to notice, like a fly that for some reason landed on a luxurious dish. And it goes without saying that they somehow forget about the main character, whose name is imprinted in the title of the comedy: he is just a reason to look at the count. How he sings a chanson with incredible charm, clings to his wife’s maid, guts a silicone roe deer - a cleaver and blood on his hands, like a butcher’s. Irresistible!

But with Figaro there was no luck. The director, under Sukhanov alone, appointed three performers for this role at once. Taking into account the density of Vakhtangovsky’s repertoire, the performance will be performed no more often than once a month. That is, studio member Pavel Popov, young actors Leonid Bechevin and Dmitry Solomykin have a chance to appear in Figaro two or three times a season. The chance is unenviable in every sense of the word: they won’t show themselves and won’t grow in the role.

And one more mystery: why does a cute little orchestra, which will brighten up the shortcomings of any production with live sound, need to be hidden behind plywood? It is clear that no one thought about the musicians, but there is no need to tell even a non-specialist in acoustics about the sound wave with a plywood obstacle in the way.

RG, September 17, 2014

Alena Karas

There will be no wedding!

"Crazy Day" at the Theater. Vakhtangov will not be crowned with the marriage of Figaro

Vladimir Mirzoev was often mistaken for a theatrical entertainer who looked at a work of art through such an outlandish prism, as if he had a kaleidoscope before his eyes. Those who saw his “Inspector General” will never forget how Khlestakov-Sukhanov turned into a godfather and magician, who bewitched the whole world with his mantras and passes. We will not continue this list of outlandish Mirzoev’s metamorphoses. You already guessed that “The Marriage of Figaro” was no exception.

Moreover, Mirzoev deprived the play of the wedding itself, if it were his will, he would have left only “Crazy Day” from the title itself, depriving it of the second part - “The Marriage of Figaro”. The director himself graciously notified the audience and the writing fraternity about this, giving a hint to his vision. But if (for box office reasons) he kept the title, he completely removed the marriage from the action, and deprived Figaro himself of the role inherent in him in Beaumarchais. Here he - a shining, charming, handsome playboy (Dmitry Solomykin) - does not lead an intrigue at all, but, on the contrary, becomes an object of other people's manipulations. Mirzoev, who composed a new play for Maxim Sukhanov, has a different center in the play - played by his main actor, Count Almaviva. It is he who sets the rules in his crazy looking glass, and not just for one day, but for all time.

In full accordance with the spirit of Vakhtangov’s stage, Mirzoev and artist Anastasia Bugaeva transform the space into a “poor” plywood construction set, the main element of which is a maddened staircase that goes out of place and at the wrong time - a symbol of the meaningless, but still indestructible power of the signor. A servant who dared to argue on equal terms and even contradict the sovereign, either providing him with piquant services or demanding new rights for himself, aroused the wrath of the king and a revolutionary outburst of the public in the 18th century.

Now he has been returned by Mirzoev to his former place - there is no smell of democracy here, although the servant and his cunning girlfriend behave seemingly impudently, even freedom-loving. But no matter what rights they win for themselves and their friends, young Cherubino (the eccentric and fiery Maxim Sevrinovsky) will go to war, the energetic Suzanna (Lada Churovskaya) will improve her cunning to avoid a night with the count, and Figaro himself will diplomatically and humbly cover up in London, the unseemly actions of his overlord. The “right of the first night,” the right to turn the lives of one’s subjects into an endless crazy day, is forever secured by one character - the hero of Maxim Sukhanov.

Capricious, full of childish spontaneity and sadistic inclinations, naive and touchy, his Count Almaviva has the outlines of a camp godfather and a market jester, familiar from the actor’s previous works. Whoever he dresses up as, whoever he appears to himself and those around him, his role is unchanged - he knows that everything here is subordinated to his unlimited will, which has already gone completely off the rails, and therefore he plays around so bestially, so innocently and insidiously, almost with his lover tenderly looking at the next victim.

Mirzoev, often much more elegant in his decisions, here uncontrollably breaks into the unbridled element of the skit, as if he was spurred on by the nearby premiere of “Boris Godunov” staged by Konstantin Bogomolov. In his “black cabbage”, the butcher Almaviva voluptuously butchers the carcass of a killed animal, passing the offal to a servant, sighs for Parmesan, and in the scene of a date with the imaginary Suzanne he hears the echo of Moscow everywhere.

The actors of the Vakhtangov Theater are pushing with all their might, every now and then breaking into a square comedy, and Mirzoev, it seems, is just what he needs. Stilted intonations, plywood walls, there is no time for subtleties - the “backsides” of democracy are so pitifully covered, its illusions about the possibilities of social equality are so ridiculous.

And the drums beat, and the main drummer Almaviva beats on the stretched skin passionately and inspiredly, and just as harmoniously (they worked together a long time ago) his vassal ensemble beats after him. An exciting show - after all, we worked together a long time ago.

Novaya Gazeta, September 17, 2014

Elena Dyakova

Almaviva is not one of the counts

At the Vakhtangov Theater - Vladimir Mirzoev and “The Marriage of Figaro”

The premiere opened the season. Count Almaviva - Maxim Sukhanov. He again delights not only with the level, but also with the range of his acting: from the madmen of the Russian Civil War in Lopushansky’s film “Role” - to this... gilded and swollen, like a Versace sofa.

But, in fact, what the “old regime” is like is its symbol, Count Almaviva.

Figaro & Suzanna (Dmitry Solomykin and Lada Churovskaya) shine with health and sanity. Dexterous, light, dressed with thoughtful shabby chic in the shops of Berlin and Copenhagen - yesterday's interns of European universities and backpackers of European capitals, today's 30-year-old crackers, business people of new times - are clearly ready to take fate into their own hands.

Like other characters of their generation: the bespectacled hipster Cherubino (Maxim Sevrinovsky), slightly squinting at Woody Allen characters; hardened spy and slanderer Basil (Eldar Tramov) with an exit aria from Bérenger “Mr. Iscariot, patriot of patriots” (and all the corresponding associations). Oddly enough: in “The Marriage of Figaro” by Vladimir Mirzoev, all of them, including the irreconcilable antagonists, form - in a certain sense - a single circle.

And Count Almaviva Sukhanova looks like a whole flock of pop stars, pillars of the Duma and famous artists. Southern dialect, puffy cheeks, the sincerity of a rich bandit “at home”, Soviet-style patriarchy, where hand washes hand - because how could it be otherwise? - complete inapplicability in any civilized world... and obvious decrepitude. And a quick collapse.

But the circle of people of the new era will still not be born - because it completely depends on the old. With crumbs, juices, and personal service from Count Almaviva, the new era lives on.

And in this, the advanced golden boy Cherubino, the advanced top manager of the count's estate Figaro and the advanced beauty stylist Suzanna are united.

Social meanings are clearly outlined. The pain and shame are already visible in the physical contrast between the count and his civilized poultry yard. But the beauty of the performance is that all of the above is not shouted in the audience’s face with the poster-like anger of a political cabaret. Precisely (unlike a number of contemporaries), the director and the Vakhtangovites said to themselves: they’d be fooled with everyone, in the end... We have theater here, a more important matter. And then the play began!

Still, and precisely - the comedy of Beaumarchais was staged first of all. Light, precise, played with champagne inspiration by everyone involved in large and small roles. (Sometimes the same champagne mood leads the troupe to the side: almost everyone rushes to the ramp for 45 seconds of the benefit performance... but the festive bustle is dearer to me than the dull working out of the “episodes”.) And the effects here are theatrical: here the count skins an antlered deer, with with the unforgettable skill of youth, playing with knives, throwing bloody intestines and blisters into a basin respectfully offered by Figaro, threatening and provoking, knocking information out of the clever barber... The count’s hands are covered in blood up to the wrist...

And above their heads hangs the main artifact of the laconic decoration: a huge bale, made up of a mass of large and small bundles, bags, reserves, savings, plans, dowries... From righteously and unjustly acquired things. From the wealth and treasures, from the hopes of everyone who lives in the house.

The pathetic, funny, squirrel and hedgehog common book of destinies hangs over the count’s crown.

And if this bale ever crashes, it will destroy all aspirations. Yes, and it will kill everyone.

But there is no such episode in The Marriage of Figaro. A wise, cynical, earthly comedy flies to the finale, shining now with completely modern gags, now with the coquetry of the Countess (Anna Antonova), who very accurately plays the Grande Dame of Moscow 2014, now with the sarcasm of Sukhanov. The audience laughs. The Vakhtangov season is open.

A charming comedy by Beaumarchais, the action of which Vladimir Mirzoev transferred to modern times.

Director of the play Vladimir Mirzoev: The old masters liked to give two versions of the title of one text. Next to the magical “if” there is often a magical “or”. I value this variability of theater and culture in general. Moreover, the second part of the title of Beaumarchais’s masterpiece could have fallen off, like our ancestor’s tail, as unnecessary. Insanity is the main category we want to play with today. I would remove both “marriage” and even the intriguer “Figaro” from the poster if it did not confuse the viewer. You used to stand in front of the ocean of classical drama and try to feel something, to catch your wave. But this is not fashion, no, it is not a question of which way the wind blows. When choosing material, the main thing for me is the theme. In “Crazy Day,” I saw an opportunity for a very important conversation. About how modern man is forced to submit to archaic practices, how the elite mentally cannot keep up with a society that is rapidly being updated. After all, the time vector is still directed to the future. But Beaumarchais's anthropology is not didactic - it is a cheerful vitamin hidden among the sweet berries of eroticism, dressing up, theatrical play. We, like children, swallow juicy, clever text without noticing its complex meanings. Having easily pulled our heroes out of the era of feudalism, we, however, did not place them in the world of gadgets and free love. Our performance is not modernization in the strict sense of the word. But eclecticism, dynamics and, most importantly. The madness here is quite in the spirit of current postmodernism. Isn't it true that life itself today looks like a strange collage - mythologies, customs, misconceptions. Therefore, Mozart and Rossini can easily visit the African leader, sit by the fire, and drink a cup of coffee. Sometimes it is difficult to understand which century we find ourselves in: either in the middle 20th , or in 17th , or in 21st .

Cover photo of the play Crazy Day, or the Marriage of Figaro: Crazy Day, or the Marriage of Figaro, source: vakhtangov.ru.

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When choosing a performance, I played it safe - I wanted something guaranteed to be funny, and something so familiar was a guarantee that I wouldn’t jump blindly into some unknown genre and wouldn’t suffer for three hours on my legal day off.

I love watching "Crazy Day or The Marriage of Figaro" staged by the Satire Theater on the "Culture" channel. It is shown about twice a year, and I have watched it about two hundred times already. I know every phrase there. It was filmed in 1974 and has already faded, but I believe that someday it will be painted like the old cartoons, because this is an immortal production. Many actors are no longer with us, but... but... they are with us. Just imagine that in the role of Count Almaviva is Alexander Shirvindt, and in the role of Figaro is no less than Andrei Mironov!

Therefore, how is it possible to outdo this production?! Of course not. But not really.

At the Vakhtangov Theater, the role of Count Almaviva is played by Maxim Sukhanov (something familiar!?, right? I thought so too). The whole performance rests on him. Every word and phrase of his is unexpected, funny and original. At the same time, the play is played quite close to the text, not counting newfangled innovations, such as “there is such a strange echo here...” - “this is the Echo of Moscow.” Even knowing this play by heart, you sit in suspense, WHAT exactly Sukhanov will say, or HOW he will say it! In a word, I am delighted with him, how great he is! He's brilliant.

In fact, it's like this:

And whoever came up with his dandelion hairstyle for this performance is also a genius.

He played in such films as: “Burnt by the Sun”, “Land of the Deaf”, “Children of the Arbat”, “It is not recommended to offend women”, “Inhabited Island”, and many others. At the Vakhtangov Theater he played in the plays "Amphitryon", "Cyrano de Bergerac" and "Lear", at the Stanislavsky Theater he glorified his name with the role of Khlestakov.

Of course, it's quite difficult for the actor playing Figaro. It is unrealistic to compare with Mironov; moreover, the role of a romantic lover is always not very profitable, it seems flat and one-sided. Well, he loves and suffers, there’s nothing interesting about that. Mironov brought a touch of depravity to this role; it was clear that his Figaro was not Romeo at all, not the idealistic Don Quixote, but a completely self-aware, seasoned horseradish man, ready to go over heads if necessary. That’s why it’s probably interesting to look at such a Figaro. There is no such thing in the production of the Vakhtangov troupe.

But we can note the performance of the actor playing the role of Cherubino, Maxim Sevrinovsky. There is something about him... Not just a trembling young page, but a trembling young page with whom it might be interesting, hmm-ghm.

Countess Almaviva was surprised. In my favorite production from 1974, she’s just a kind little wife (performed by Vera Vasilyeva), she’s all so correct (although she gets into trouble with Cherubino), and in Vakhtangov’s version Almaviva (A. Antonova) seems to be “on substances”, all so modernized by migraines and insomnia. It's funny, in a word.

In short, I'm absolutely delighted! So I recommend it, I highly recommend it!