Irina Apeksimova played a capricious lady in an uninterrupted dream

Mumu is man’s friend

Theater Festival. Chekhov, in co-production with the Taganka Theater staged the play “Mumu” based on the story of the same name by Ivan Turgenev. Director from Armenia Narine Grigoryan made an hour and a half stage version of the textbook work with immersion in the world of the deaf and mute Gerasim.

Thanks to the founder of the Chekhov Festival, Valery Shadrin, who once brought together young directors from the CIS countries in Moscow, Narine Grigoryan had the opportunity to see the performances of the world’s best directors and take part in master classes. She is a well-known theater and film actress in Armenia.

In the film “Eve” by Iranian director Anahit Abad, she played the main role and received an award for it at the “Kinoshock” festival in Anapa. Soon we will see Narine in the role of the mother of Charles Aznavour – the shooting is taking place in France. She worked as a director at the Yerevan Puppet Theater and the Pantomime Theater, and now directs the Hamazgain Theater named after. S. Sargsyan. The Pyshka based on Maupassant staged there took part in the Chekhov Theater Festival in 2021.

Narine loves Russian classics, she was brought up on it and she herself chose Mumu for the production. We see what is happening, we perceive it as if from the face of the deaf-mute Gerasim, who is able to catch only rustles and creaks. And we, together with him, are immersed in this silence. There is no Gerasim on the stage, and life returns in all its polyphony, with cries and songs. Mighty Gerasim. Fortunately, a real giant was found in the Taganka Theater.

The word for the director is not the most important thing, the intonation is more important. Much is built on plasticity and gesture. The choreographer from Armenia Yuri Kostanyan worked with the actors. In “Mumu” he used elements of folk dance and folk craft. Servants periodically seem to fall out of real time and begin to move like wooden Bogorodsk toys. The most famous of them is “Blacksmiths”, where a peasant and a bear, mounted on parallel bars, hit the anvil with sledgehammers.

It was the Bogorodsk toy that determined the color scheme of the costumes, sets the rhythm of life for the inhabitants of the anthill. The whole structure, built by stage designer and costume designer Victoria Riedo-Oganesyan, who is also from Armenia, resembles a doll house. On its top floor, the lady performed by Irina Apeksimova almost around the clock rests. As soon as she wakes up from her sleep and asks for tea – and it will certainly turn out to be either too cold or too hot, then Brownian motion begins. The insignificant people living below, as if wound up, are trying to appease the capricious lady. And she’s still dead. While lying on the bed, she is not seen or heard. It wakes up – it’s like God’s dandelion. Nearby are loyal and miserable hangers-on, always ready to fulfill any whim.

In the depths of the scenery there is a small orchestra conducted by composer Artem Kim. In the international project “Mumu” he is declared as a representative of Uzbekistan. For many years he has been associated with the Tashkent theater “Ilkhom”, where he worked with Mark Weil. He also collaborated with the Nieuw Ensemble from the Netherlands. His joint performance with Vladimir Pankov opened the Edinburgh Theater Festival. As conceived by Artem, Gerasim is associated with the double bass, Mumu with the flute.

There is no actual dog here. There is a touching girl jumping around Gerasim as soon as he picks up a broom. Mumu was gently and plastically accurately played by actress Alexandra Khovanskaya. At some moments, she really resembles a small dog, as soon as she lies down at the feet of Gerasim.

And he has another attachment – the meek Tatyana, endlessly washing clothes. She is ready for any blows of fate. We must marry the eternally drunken Kapiton – she will, if the mistress orders. Their mutual sympathy with Gerasim will not be long. Tatyana was played by Daria Avratinskaya, who surprised with excellent preparation, almost ballet training, which is rarely seen in dramatic actresses. Plastically and musically complex performance has become a test of strength for many Taganka artists. It turned out that there is potential.