More than 30 years later, “Heart of a Dog” was staged again at the Moscow Youth Theater.
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Director Anton Fedorov performed surgery on the dog, and before us is a two-legged beast
At the Moscow Youth Theater – the premiere of “Heart of a Dog” based on Bulgakov’s story. It is a bold step on the part of the director and author of the dramatization, Anton Fedorov, to take on what once became a landmark of this theater. The performance, directed by Henrietta Yanovskaya and artist Sergei Barkhin, was an incredible event in 1987.
Spectators came to see it from different cities. I remember how, having one seat for two (students were given entrance tickets), we took turns occupying the only chair.
The current artistic director of the Moscow Youth Theater, Henrietta Yanovskaya, was once the first to retrieve Bulgakov’s story after 70 years of forced oblivion. Then almost no one read it, and Vladimir Bortko’s film of the same name was released after the theatrical premiere. The dramatization was made by playwright Alexander Chervinsky, using the motifs of “Fatal Eggs” and the voices of the streets of that time. The momentary sound was supported by the powerful scenography of Sergei Barkhin. The stage was littered with black ash that resembled foliage. And these were “high truths.”
The current premiere was attended by the performers of the roles of Preobrazhensky and Sharikov, Viktor Ryzhakov and Alexander Vdovin. Yanovskaya’s performance was densely populated, even characters from the opera “Aida” appeared in it. More than 30 years have passed, and the new generation, as we like to say, has the right to a new version of the classics. Anton Fedorov masters textbook prose as living matter and “low truths.” The text is informed by subsequent readings of Bulgakov. A certain hybrid was born.
On the stage is a house with crumbling walls and worn-out wallpaper. Devastation is already in our heads, but Professor Preobrazhensky is unsuccessfully trying to maintain the appearance of what has irretrievably disappeared. Here they dine at a well-set table with silver cutlery, and they take care of the cleanliness of the front rooms. A world on the verge of destruction was built on stage by artist Vanya Bowden, who has worked with Anton Fedorov more than once.
Professor Preobrazhensky is played by Igor Gordin. He himself is moth-eaten – in a master’s coat with a beaver collar, muttering something under his breath. There is something lifeless about him. The burping “coming boor” Sharikov was played by 26-year-old Andrei Maksimov, a student of Kama Ginkas, who recently joined the troupe of the Moscow Youth Theater. Popularity came to him with the TV series “Fisher” and “The Boy’s Word” (the role of Yellow).
The characters move like animated characters. The technique is interesting, but once used by Fedorov, it only works once. The first to appear on stage is a large and handsome dog. Sharik will soon have to merge into one flesh with the proletarian Klim Chugunkin. From a timid hybrid, this strange creature will turn into a fiend of hell.
Preobrazhensky’s large apartment miraculously survived in the midst of a raging world, amid general densification. This cannot go on for long. You really can’t live alone in several rooms. And Sharikov needs socialization. A new world is coming. The closet trembles spectacularly from the “Kalinka-Malinka” rushing from the top floor, performed by a choir of neighbors. Sounds like “Hey, let’s go whoop.” This is not “Aida” at the Bolshoi.
At first, everything is buried in shallow water, reminiscent of a theatrical skit. Deliberate muttering gives way to funny intonation, recently tested by Anton Fedorov in the play “Madame Bovary.” If a dog is buried in the hay scattered on the front stage, then you can joke about “Dog in the manger.” Then the jokes will disappear somewhere. They will be replaced by a feeling of anxiety, it will seem that everything is happening not to Bulgakov’s heroes, but to us. In the finale, Sharikov will put on a dog’s skin and go to the people. Both scary and sorry for the unfortunate one. Who is guilty?
In the doorway there is a screen where life is in full swing, shadows and black and white frames flicker. Modern cinema, willingly or unwillingly, dissects Bulgakov’s ideas, evoking sympathy for the “Poor and Unfortunate,” as Yorgas Lanthimos, who recently received an Oscar, called his characters and the film. He also talks about a medical experiment that results in a woman with the mind of a child. “The Shape of Water” by Guillermo del Toro, inspired by the Soviet film “Amphibian Man,” also explores the idea of crossing the incompatible.
Newspaper headline:
Sharikov on the hay
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