“Days of Our Lives” by Leonid Andreev in “Praktika”: everyone died on the same day

At the Praktika Theater there is a premiere of “Days of Our Lives” based on the play by Leonid Andreev. This is a new version of the popular play staged in the course of Marina Brusnikina and Sergei Shchedrin at the Moscow Art Theater School. The young actors have already scattered to different theaters, but continue to gather together in a small basement space and perform a student play directed by Arseny Meshcheryakov.

The drama by Leonid Andreev, published in 1908, which was staged at the Korsh Theater and continues to be staged to this day, is considered autobiographical. Its hero, student Glukhovtsev, is almost Leonid Andreev himself. In the new reading, it is almost a comedy, if not for the unexpected ending, not the same as in the original source.

The play takes place in Moscow in the 90s of the 19th century. The heroes are students. A young couple in love – Glukhovtsev and his chosen one Olga Nikolaevna – admires Moscow from the heights of the Sparrow Hills. And so they feel good, and nothing foretells trouble. The imaginary dome of the Temple of the Savior gleams in the sun. Olga is a tremulous, sensitive young lady. She is afraid of Glukhovtsev’s comrades. Students love beer and are not averse to drinking vodka, but drunk people scare Olenka.

It would seem that there is nothing funny in the fact that a student fell in love with a sincere and pure young lady, who turned out to be a kept woman, and her mother is not happy with her daughter’s choice. She has someone in mind with money and position. She sells her daughter to wealthy men. Still funny. How can one seriously pronounce such remarks now: “I ask you, woman, no matter what your name is, love my Kolya.” Nikolai Glukhovtsev, performed by Nikita Yazykov, is cramped in the small space of “Praktika” – he is such a hero. He looks naively stupid, which is not like Ivanushka the Fool. Olga Nikolaevna’s cheeks are flushed like red apples. And And they talk enthusiastically and pathetically. And here the supposed genre takes a turn. Director Arseny Meshcheryakov uses techniques that seem to have already been tested in the productions of Leonid Andreev’s plays, but the result is unexpected.

Space is conditional. Flat and lifeless trees resemble a fairy-tale forest. This is the only matinee for children to play in. Anna Grebennikova and Ekaterina Erdene are responsible for the set design, costumes and makeup, which sets the tone here. The actors seem to be covered in chalk. Their faces are thoroughly whitened. Now such a trend has begun, popping up where it is necessary and where it is not necessary. Young actors change the scenery themselves, as is usually the case in drama schools. No one has been bronzed yet. Everyone is ardent and passionate, and this is the main advantage of a student performance.

Arseny Meshcheryakov is a student of Andrei Moguchy, graduated from the Russian Institute of Performing Arts, but previously studied at the Moscow School of New Cinema with Arthur Aristakisyan. More often it happens the other way around – people leave the theater for the cinema. Arseny worked at the Bolshoi Drama Theater and staged at the Volkov Theater in Yaroslavl.

In “Days of Our Lives” he pays special attention to the plasticity of the characters. Every gesture, every look here is incompatible with life. The characters exist as if in slow motion, and the pair of lovers seem to have appeared from a popular print. Human life is defiantly theatrical, caricatured. The heroes chatter as if they don’t have time to say something important, they grimace on the verge of clownery, just in case some joker makes itself known. That’s what will happen.

The directors of the theater declare: “By releasing Days of Our Lives, the Praktika Theater supports young artists and discovers new names.” This is true, but most of the graduates of Brusnikina and Shchedrin’s workshop were sent to the capital’s theaters. Brusnikinsky” is already a brand. They look closely at them, go to their performances, and they justify the advance of trust. But in big theaters we still have to wait for serious roles, although someone has already received them. In “Practice” there is a chance to do something that may not be permissible on the academic stage.

Olga Nikolaevna was played by Margarita Yakimova, a graduate of Brusnikina and Shchedrin’s workshop in 2023, now an actress at the Moscow Art Theater. Chekhov, who performed there in several performances. She plays Lyubasha in “Polar Disease” directed by Marina Brusnikina, Lizonka in the benefit performance for Stanislav Lyubshin “The Third Bell, Gentlemen!”

Nikita Yazykov, who played Nikolai Glukhovtsev, from the same course, was accepted into the troupe of the Moscow Theater. Vl. Mayakovsky, he just played Henry in “Another Fairy Tale” with Sergei Ursulyak, he was filming the series “Epidemic”.

Ilya Kozyrev’s Onuphry is very funny – with a painted mustache, permanently drunk. We can rejoice – we have a great comedian. He also plays on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater in “The Village of Fools” by Marina Brusnikina, and at the Theater on Malaya Bronnaya in “Veronica” by Konstantin Bogomolov.

Funny and ridiculous, similar to Tumbler Zinaida Vasilievna from Alina Rachkovskaya, who is already getting leading roles in films.

Ulyana Mikhailova and Alexandra Shnyreva alternately play Anna Ivanovna in “Days of Our Lives” and replace each other in “The Cherry Orchard” at the Taganka Theater in the role of Anya. Sofia Petrova, who plays Olga Nikolaevna’s mother, works in a slightly different, semi-decadent manner. The actress’s face is almost impossible to see in the semi-darkness of the interiors, but she can say a lot with the bend of her arms and shoulders, and her intonation.

The text is funny, the ending is tragic. The knot of insoluble problems will be cut by a random person – Grigory Mironov (Arseniy Kasperovich). Take out the gun and you’re done. Everyone died on the same day. The lovers dreamed about this.