At an emotional farewell, Sergei Puskepalis was compared with Jean Gabin and was applauded

On September 22, the city of Yaroslavl said goodbye to the artistic director of the Yaroslavl Drama Theater. F. Volkov, director and beloved by the audience actor Sergei Vytauto Puskepalis, who tragically died in a car accident on the 201st kilometer of the M-8 highway near Rostov-Veliky two days ago.

On the eve of the farewell ceremony, which was to be held at the Volkovskiy Theatre, the city authorities announced that on that day the streets adjacent to the theater would be closed to traffic. Many users of the city forum considered such a measure unnecessary – and in vain … Yaroslavtsev said goodbye to the director so much that the queue did not fit in the theater building and occupied a fair part of the street at the main entrance.

The farewell itself took place in the auditorium of the theater. There were two coffins on the stage: Sergei Puskepalis himself and Alexander Sinitsin, the driver of the same “armored car” who died together with the actor, who worked as a driver in the Volkovsky Theater for 20 years. A guard of honor near them was carried by cadets of military schools and the actors themselves of the troupe of the Volkovsky Drama Theater.

Yaroslavl spectators, among whom was seen the former governor of the Yaroslavl region Anatoly Lisitsyn, passed through the auditorium immersed in twilight and laid flowers at the last refuges of the actor and driver. And on the screen behind the scenes, photographs changed: Puskepalis at a rehearsal, together with the troupe on tour in Gorlovka, with his wife, with the Golden Bear prize statuette …

– I still have no understanding that Sergei is no more, – says the rector of the Yaroslavl Theater Institute Sergei Kutsenko. “He left on takeoff. I see wreaths with my eyes, but I still can’t believe it. He seems to have left for the shooting again, and we are waiting for him.

But – alas! There is some kind of global injustice in the fact that the most honest, most talented and bright people leave first. All friends of Sergey Puskepalis spoke about it.

“Sergey lived all his life, carrying fire, and lit everyone around with his energy,” says his friend Vadim Kuzovkin. – He was a fighter in life, and you can say about him, with the words from the song, that “he didn’t return from the battle yesterday” … After all, on the 20th I was waiting for him in Petrovsk, I had to get into that same “armored car” to go along with Sergey to Donbass. And so… I couldn’t wait. To be honest, I was afraid that Sergey would be tempted by the capital’s glory and opportunities and leave for Moscow in the future. But no – he stayed in Yaroslavl forever.

The fact that Sergei Puskepalis can be considered fallen in combat post was also mentioned by the Deputy Chairman of the Regional Duma Viktor Volonchunas:

– Sergei was a brave man, like his driver – Alexander Sinitsyn, a participant in the hostilities in Afghanistan. Together they were not afraid to go to a hot spot in the Donbass. They died in action.

Among those who came to say goodbye to Sergey Puskepalis were colleagues by profession, including the famous film actor, and now a State Duma deputy Nikolai Burlyaev:

– When such a strong and bright person leaves, there remains the hope that “there” he will be as bright and strong as he is here. Our officials very often make mistakes in personnel, but with Sergey it is just that rare case when they put a person in a place where he could and wanted to work and achieve success. He flared up as an artist in the years of market turmoil and did not go out like many others, but continued to raise the Russian theater. He, like Jean Gabin, expressed the spirit of the people and was a guide even when he did not play in the theater.

The recognition of the talent of the actor, which was shown by the Yaroslavl audience on this mournful day, was also noted by the chairman of the Public Chamber of the Yaroslavl Region, Sergei Solovyov:

– Yaroslavl residents are usually very demanding of “strangers” and do not trust them very much. But Sergei Puskepalis, having become the chief director, managed to become his own person for our city in three years of managing the theater.

– Sergei had the talent to “make friends” of people, – says his friend Vitaly Eliseev, – he could unite around him a variety of people: actors, engineers, military, and convince everyone. I could find a common language with both a barbecue man and an astronaut. He said more than once that everyone has their own Truth, and there is only one Truth, and at the same time he loved the saying: “everything is clear.” And in his life everything was really clear … until the very end.

“He raised the bar of theatrical craft to a new level,” recalls Airat Tukhmatullin, former director of Volkovsky, and now director of the Moscow Art Theater. Chekhov, – He created a theatrical exchange, thanks to which many young artists were able to find their theatrical niche. And he was worried about the fate of the old actors, who, having left the theater due to their age, are left with nothing. He was a unique artist. And I asked his wife to put in the coffin the icon of St. Demetrius of Rostov, who is considered the patron saint of actors.

The request of Airat Tukhmatullin was respected, and after the civil memorial service at the Volkov Theater, the coffin with the body of Sergei Puskepalis was taken by the male actors in their arms to the Kazan convent for the funeral service.

On this last journey, the audience escorted the artistic director, as is customary in the theatrical tradition, with applause.