Perm Youth Theater responded to accusations of “insufficient patriotism”

The management of the Perm Theater for Young Spectators responded to an angry letter from an indignant Perm resident who saw in the premiere performance “War and Peace. Natasha Rostova’s first ball” “insufficient patriotism” and discrediting the image of the Russian warrior in the scenes where commander Kutuzov is having lunch against the backdrop of the battle, and the participants in the Battle of Borodino are attacking the French over the bodies of their dead comrades. In response to a complaint that, in general, raised a local scandal to the federal level, the theater made public its vision of the situation and the meanings invested by the creators in their performance. MK publishes key points from this document.

“In response to the appeal received… let us explain the theater’s position. We are alarmed and bewildered by the tension and far-fetchedness of the arguments of the author of the letter,” writes the director of the Youth Theater Artem Ageev. The theater director answers the viewer on all points of the “accusation”, using quotes from the source text. The output is a kind of “catechism”: an objection is a detailed answer to it.

Criticism:

– “Artists portraying Russian soldiers sing during the war “we are having fun today.” Now, when our valiant wars (meaning warriors. – I.V.) are fighting for the Fatherland, it’s wild to hear such phrases from the lips of Russian soldiers.”

Theater response:

– Supporting the morale of front-line comrades with a perky song is a Russian tradition, which is vividly captured in the texts of Denis Davydov and Leo Tolstoy. Evidence has been preserved that from the time of Peter the Great in the Russian troops there were choir companies, which, right during the battle, performed the “Kalinka-Malinka”, frivolous in content, but uplifting in music. It is not for nothing that “Kalinka-Malinka” is a permanent number in the repertoire of the Russian Army Ensemble named after A. V. Alexandrov. Knowing the character of the Russian people, we can assume that during the battles on Kalka and on the Kulikovo Field, cheerful songs were heard among the Russian troops.

Historians emphasize that on the eve of the Battle of Borodino, inspiration and anticipation reigned in the ranks of the Russian army of the opportunity to finally repulse the enemy after long and grueling retreats. On the official website of the Battle of Borodino panorama museum we find several illustrative quotes.

F.N. Glinka wrote: “…Our soldiers wanted, asked for a fight. Approaching Smolensk, they shouted: “We see the beards of our fathers, it’s time to fight.”

On the eve of the Battle of Borodino, the soldiers refused the wine portion prescribed before the battle, saying: “Thank you for the honor! We weren’t prepared for this: it’s not the kind of day tomorrow!”

Criticism:

“At the same time, the artists turn their weapons into the audience and aim at us, the spectators, as if we were the enemies.”

Theater response:

– The perception of dramatic action by each viewer is subjective. The artistic technique used in this scene directly connects the audience to the anxious atmosphere of anticipation of the battle. Moreover, it is in this scene that the text of the soldier’s song sounds:

“The hundred follow the hundred, forgetting about death,

We’re having fun today – tremble, devils!

It’s not the time to feel sorry for yourself, and it’s a matter of honor –

Uninvited enemies of the tribe will be executed on the spot.

And today he will meet death, and everything will be rewarded!

It’s time to answer for everything and get even!

For the death of innocents, for humiliation,

There is no forgiveness for them for cities in ruins!”

As we see, in this text, through artistic imagery, that inspiration and sense of the soldiers’ own moral rightness is created, which eyewitness accounts tell us about.

Criticism:

– “Then the performance shows a scene of Russian soldiers dying, and other Russian soldiers walking over the corpses of killed soldiers. Is this how real soldiers behave? Is a Russian soldier like dirt underfoot?

Theater response:

– Let’s turn again to the website of the Battle of Borodino Museum. In the battle for the Shevardinsky redoubt, the artillerymen bravely sacrificed themselves, steadfastly following the instructions of General A.I. Kutaisov, the chief of all Russian artillery. On the eve of Borodin, he wrote: “Let them take you with guns, but fire the last grape shot at point-blank range.”

When the French occupied the Shevardinsky redoubt after the retreat of our troops, a terrible picture appeared before their eyes. An eyewitness wrote: “The many corpses lying in heaps testified to the vigorous resistance and efforts of our soldiers. The parapets were destroyed in many places; the Russian guns behind were thrown from their carriages and overturned; the artillerymen who served them lay right there dead…” (S. P. Griois)

M. Yu. Lermontov surprisingly accurately conveyed what the participants in the Battle of Borodino saw and felt: “With insane courage the enemy advanced on our batteries; drenched in streams of blood, they crossed over to the enemy, and were again fought back by us – and so on several times. Bitterness and rage, despair and revenge entered into a bloody battle with all the horrors of all-destroying death. The roar of a thousand guns, rifle fire – all this merged into one continuous roar…”

By the end of the battle, Russian troops abandoned their positions near the village of Semenovskoye and on Kurgan Heights. The French soldiers who occupied Raevsky’s battery were amazed by what they saw: “The inside of the redoubt was terrible; the corpses were piled on top of each other… I noticed among this chaos the corpse of a Russian artilleryman, who had three orders in his buttonhole: it seemed that the brave man was still breathing; in one hand he held a fragment of a saber, and with the other he tightly embraced the cannon, which he had served so well. …The soldiers occupying the redoubt chose to die rather than surrender.”

Realizing the impossibility of a straightforward reproduction of the tragic events of the battle, the director uses artistic expression to create endless rows of Russian heroes who are ready to stand for their Motherland to the end. At the same time, the directors make a reference to the erudition and observation of the modern viewer, who knows that, while carrying out a combat mission, the fighters stubbornly move forward, and the killed and wounded are then collected by ambulance squads. This is exactly how the sequence of scenes in the play is built.

Criticism:

– Also, the image of the commander Kutuzov is presented in a defamatory manner in the play. During an intense battle, Kutuzov in the play sits on the edge of the stage, eating and drinking, as if he doesn’t care about the soldiers or the outcome of the battle.

Theater response:

– In the play, the commander chewing sauerkraut is as close to the people as possible. There is no greatness where there is no simplicity – in the words of Tolstoy. Kutuzov is cast as a people’s commander, contrasted in the production with high-society lions praising Napoleon and everything French. To create a dead, ceremonial image of Kutuzov means to go against historical truth and the very spirit of the great novel.

The theater states that their goal was to “convey the magnitude of the tragedy” of the War of 1812, assuring that the scenes of the Battle of Borodino in the play “War and Peace. Natasha Rostova’s first ball,” we quote, “awakens in the audience feelings of belonging to the bitter loss and at the same time pride from the emotional awareness of the fact that the number of heroes of the Fatherland is endless.” At this stage, it is known that the viewer did not send a repeated complaint (after the official response from the Youth Theater) to the Internet reception of the governor of the Perm Territory. MK will monitor the situation.