Chekhov motive

On the Simonovskaya stage of the Theater. Evg. Vakhtangov, the premiere of the play “The Jumper” based on the story of A.P. Chekhov took place. It was staged by Aidar Zabbarov, together with the artist Bulat Ibragimov, continuing the tradition of this particular stage, where young directors interpret classical works, translating them into theatrical language.

Chekhov was not chosen by chance, because the theater has been faithful to this author since the beginning of its creation. Back in 1921, Evgeny Vakhtangov staged A. P. Chekhov’s Evening, which premiered on November 15, 1921, two days after the birth of the new theater, which took place on November 13 of the same year.

In 2020, a student of Sergei Zhenovach, Aidar Zabbarov, presented a sketch based on Chekhov’s story “Fish Love” and, as a director, was invited to the legendary theater to stage a now full-fledged performance, choosing “The Jumper”.

Here is what the director said about the motives for his choice: “This work has been in my director’s portfolio since the third year of GITIS. We had a semester dedicated to the work of Anton Pavlovich. I was just working on Jumper. Then this sketch did not reach the show, but the desire to return to the text was firmly planted. So it’s kind of a gestalt. In “The Jumper” I found such a moment, for which, in my opinion, it is worth inventing a play. For some, it will seem insignificant, but for me it is the key and reveals the main essence of the work. Initially, Anton Pavlovich called the story “The Great Man”, but at the last moment he wrote to the editor and asked to be replaced with “The Jumper”. As you remember, in the final, when Dymov fell ill, all his fellow doctors came to him without saying a word. Day and night they were on duty at the bedside of the patient. They tried to do everything possible to save him, but, alas. However, in this “defeat”, in my opinion, their victory is hidden. I saw a real brotherhood, a rallying of people in the face of trouble, people who ended up in Dymov’s house out of love, at the call of their hearts. For me, this is the most valuable…”

It was precisely this motive of human unity in the face of a real disaster that became the basis for creating the performance. The final scene, when his colleagues run and run to the dying doctor Dymov, dropping their coats and overcoats on Olga Ivanovna’s hands, and she bends down under a pile of this unbearable burden, becoming a real embodiment of the idea of ​​both Chekhov and the director about rallying people before trouble. And the cute jumper on the occasion became its participant.

Chekhov’s story in this performance is boldly dissected by the director into separate scenes that contrast with each other, just like his characters. Dr. Dymov, a man devoted to his vocation to the end, for some reason fell in love with the narrow-minded, dressing up in the image of a sort of socialite with attempts at her own place in art: either an artist, or a singer, or a musician. Her lightness, obsession with people of art leads to treason, betrayal. The duet of Evgenia Ivashova and Jan Gakharmanov is beautiful precisely because of this discrepancy in everything. A windy, fickle jumper who does not spare her husband – an amazing person and professional. He works, even in the morgue, taking time away from science to provide his stupid wife with a comfortable, easy life. He gives himself without a trace to his chosen vocation (in the first scene of the play, he endlessly looks through the x-rays of tuberculosis patients). And next to her is Olga Ivanovna, singing romances with the guests, and then chasing her lover, the artist Ryabovsky, who left her with her sketches. He is played by Yuri Polyak. He plays interestingly, brightly, his hero and a new passion chooses a shockingly bright appearance, in a blood-colored dress with an endless train. Painter!

The performance “The Jumper”, although staged in a chamber hall, with its scenography gives a real picture of what is happening. The living room with a smooth floor, on which Olga Ivanovna dances with guests, is transformed into a dissecting room with the dead lying on metal tables. A powerful metaphor for human existence. Chekhov’s motive…

Irina Shvedova.

Photos courtesy of the theatre’s press office.