“Living Souls” appeared in St. Petersburg: in memory of Rudolf Furmanov

Last weekend in St. Petersburg, the Russian Entreprise Theater named after Andrei Mironov celebrated a double anniversary – 35 years of the theater itself and 85 years of its founder, Rudolf Furmanov, without whom the theater, alas, is working for the second season. The spectacle, which lasted two and a half hours, flew by in one breath and did not look like an anniversary event. MK columnist with details from St. Petersburg.

“Enterprise? What is an enterprise? Is it a hack? ” — they spoke with doubt and sensing something was wrong about the theater when it first appeared in the city on the Neva, where there were always plenty of famous theaters and famous artists working in them. And here is this impudent impostor who took the name of Andrei Mironov. And at its head – who is this Rudolf Furmanov? Some radio engineer obsessed with theatre.

But it was this techie, madly in love with artists and theater as such, who in 1988 managed to be the first to create a theater operating according to an unusual model for Russia, combining the principle of the Russian repertory theater and the contract system. And over 35 years, he produced more than a hundred performances, mainly based on Russian classics, established the Figaro Prize, held an acting song competition named after Andrei Mironov in St. Petersburg together with the Moscow jury, and thereby also preserved the memory of the outstanding actor and his friend. Finally, over 35 years, he has discovered new acting and directing names, not being afraid to provide them with a platform for bold ideas.

And the entire 35-year journey of the theater and its leader, the temperamental, demonic Rudolf Davydovich, was presented in the play “Living Souls,” which was dedicated to the double anniversary.

The performance for the occasion turned out to be amazing and subtle. And not a performance, but a multi-layered composition, performed with ease. On a very small stage, characters from different productions from different years collided, plays intertwined, flew apart – witty and sonorous, only to intertwine even more tightly a minute later. Chichikovs in masks from “Dead Souls” from 1993 swore and made peace with exactly the same Chichikovs, but from the play of 2022. The Chichikovs (Mikhail Cherkashin and Alexander Vasiliev) led the evening, introducing various directors, actors with their stories at the Mironov Theater, and everything miraculously returned every time to Rudolf Furmanov, whom everyone, without exception, in and outside the theater called as a child – simply Rudik.

And at times he, indeed, looked like a child, uncontrollable in his desires and ready to do anything to fulfill these desires. In such a desperate readiness, he often resembled a restless demon – terrible in anger or frighteningly quiet (go figure what was on his mind), then playing a comedy into which everyone was drawn under the influence of his charming charisma.

In “Living Souls” there was no place for speeches, insert numbers and everything that usually accompanies anniversary celebrations. The bright, talented performance, staged by director Vlad Furmanov, Rudik’s son, constantly changed intonation – from irony to tenderness, from reflection to a sharp joke, from confession to commentary. The characters of different plays with their own texts changed, and before our eyes it was as if a single play was being born – “Entertainment – cockroach races! (from “Running”) “Why get up early? When you sleep, at least you don’t feel life. And then, there are good dreams” (“Days of Our Lives”). “Do you believe in mediumship? So I believe. Mediums are everywhere, they are among us. Nobody knows where they are, but they are there. By the way, the other day, one sick old woman took and moved a stone wall… (“Fruits of Enlightenment”).

Images of the history of the theater were replaced on the screen, and their essence on stage was continued by real and acting people – directors (Yuri Tsurkan, Alexander Barmak, Alexey Morozov), actors (Arkady Koval, Nelly Popova, Evgeny Baranov, Nikolai Dick, Sergey Russkin). And just as a balloon filled with air before taking off, so the action in honor of Furmanov was filled with love. Not loud, not ostentatious, but genuine and from the heart, which is not often seen in the theater world.

They sang ditties for him (a trio of legendary St. Petersburg actresses – Sokolov, Zakharov, Lozhkina), and the comic Ksenia Katalymova, who sang to Edith Piaf, sent the audience into hysterics. “And “Chanel Baba” is my call sign. And Rudik said, don’t cry. Don’t be afraid, I’m not an executioner.” And “I’ll fall, I’ll fall, I’ll fall,” the audience sang with Ksenia with inspiration.

The artists read letters to him, which contained words that were not expressed to Rudik during his lifetime, belated, because, as Olga Ostroumova accurately noted: “In life, we do not understand with whom we are walking next.” And Svetlana Nemolyaeva generally called him “a slave of actors.” “And he loved the actors so much that it was impossible to refuse him,” admitted this actress, charming in all respects.

Moscow actors, directors, cameramen, whom Furmanov always invited to his theater (Vsevolod Shilovsky, Lyudmila Chursina, Igor Klebanov), spoke briefly from their seats to the camera only at the end of the action. Leading actor of the Satire Theater Yuri Vasiliev brought a gift from Alexander Shirvindt – a smoking pipe from his famous collection. But not a personal one, but a genuine film rarity: Ostap Bender’s pipe from the television film “The Twelve Chairs” by Mark Zakharov.

“Giving me this pipe, Alexander Anatolyevich said that Andryusha smoked it several times on camera,” said Vasiliev.

Well, Alexander Oleshko, who elegantly led the Moscow block of the evening, quoted Shakespeare: “My love has no bottom, and my kindness is like the vastness of the sea./The more I spend, the more boundless and richer I become.”

The evening with “Living Souls” showed that the theater ship named after Andrei Mironov, built by the amazing man Rudolf Furmanov, continues to sail confidently and beautifully.