Premiere of “Khanuma”: Georgia on the stage of the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater turned out to be plastic

There are plays, performances based on which in the history of the theater are considered, firstly, better than the plays themselves, and secondly, as reference ones. Taking them to the stage today, if not suicide, then something close to it. These works include the Georgian “Khanuma”, written by Avksentiy Tsagareli in 1882, but which became unconditionally a textbook thanks to the performance of Georgy Tovstonogov, released by him back in the Leningrad Bolshoi Theater in 1972. As well as the translation of Racer and Konstantinov, who skillfully worked with the interlinear.

That, the former “Khanuma”, can now be enjoyed on the Internet – time is powerless over it. Moscow Art Theater Chekhov decided on a deadly number – he released “Khanuma” under the name “Avlabar, or New Khanuma”, calling for the production of the kamikaze director Viktor Kramer from St. Petersburg. What came of it, observed the columnist “MK”.

The hall is clearly overloaded – it can be seen with the naked eye, almost hanging on the chandeliers. After the recent premiere of “Uncle Vanya”, which, alas, distinguished itself only by an interesting scenery, there is hope that the old comedy from the Caucasus Mountains will improve the impression of the 2023 season at the Art Theater. Moreover, putting it on the agenda today, as they say, has finally resumed flights to Georgia. And then the Moscow Art Theater. Chekhov, despite the still bleak relations between the former fraternal republics, and now countries, decided to light it in Georgian.

And now the theatrical light has already illuminated a huge stone that hung heavily over the stage, on which several toy houses fit so crookedly, but comfortably – a favorite technique in the puppet theater. The light carefully worked out the relief of the stone, creating the illusion of a natural, natural material, on which the artist Viktor Kramer, who is the director, placed his quarter of old Tiflis at the end of the 19th century – Avlabar. A quiet song swam: “As soon as I close my eyes, you stand before me …”. In general, the first impression is the most good.

But after about 15 minutes, something began to confuse. What? So you can’t say right away, but the further, the clearer the understanding came that confusion was going on literally in all the main positions. The first is text. The theater, for some serious reason, abandoned the old translation and ordered a new one, with which two authors, Andrei Galanov and Shaban Muslimov, had already worked. For the texts of the songs, of which there seem to be more in the production than words, there are also two – Maria Beznosova and Vladimir Rudnev. And the plot seems to be set out, and the dialogues are written, but only there is no game in them, a spark that gives birth to beauty, paradox, theatricality on the stage, which is so comedy. Here the lyricists definitely lost to Racer and Konstantinov, beating them only in the plane of jokes.

So, to the question of the sister of the protagonist – Tekle (Maria Zorina), how to bring to life after yesterday’s playboy brother, his servant Timote (Armen Arushanyan) answers:

– You can insert paper between his fingers and set it on fire. You can put a copper cauldron on his head and hit him with a hammer.

When the heavy body of Prince Vaso Pantyashvili (Arthur Vakha) was nevertheless reanimated by collective rotations, he made a toast:

— I remember this boy from the cradle, when he sucked his mother’s beautiful breasts.

What Tekle is indignant at:

– What a shame – one prince is a drunkard, the other is a teacher. Let’s say it’s their hobby.

The authors are clearly under illusions about the suitability of their texts for the theater, if we use today’s vocabulary, slang. In this case, neither the “bachelor-entertainer” nor the “radiant goat with the title of prince” work for the performance, rather, they make you wince: “What kind of bad taste?”

The lyrics themselves are not bad, sometimes figurative, but they ignored the laws of a musical or a musical performance, which the Moscow Art Theater “Khanuma” claims.

However, the genre affiliation here is also very conditional: “Khanuma” is not a musical due to the lack of hits, catchy phrases in arias, duets, and especially in ensembles. If this is a comedy of position, then with jokes and simply lined up positions, it also did not work out. And some, like the scene with Sona’s dress in the first act, are not lined up at all. And certainly not vaudeville, although Tsagareli’s play is designated as a vaudeville comedy, that is, the complexity of a double level. Not overpowered and the first.

In Avlabar, an ensemble of actors did not work out with Khanuma. The director, who is also an artist, Kramer, who loves so much, and, admittedly, knows how to impress with large structures, visual effects, reduced all work with the artists to the layout of the scenes. The exit of the main character Khanuma is arranged as a phenomenon in some show – Irina Pegova appears as a diva with a raised hand and broadcasts with all her victorious air: “Here I am”, sings, floats on a swing under the grate.

And moreover, the work of the actress does not leave the feeling that she is the main one at this Georgian holiday, she rules the ball. And why is she more heroic than her competitor in the marriage business Kabato (Yanina Kolesnichenko)? This, however, can be said about other actors, and strong ones, but, judging by their existence on the stage, left to their own devices.

While in one scene the heroes fought to the death with a wedding dress, I remembered from anguish that a few years ago at the Moscow Art Theater School (course of Zolotovitsky and Zemtsov) they encroached on Khanuma, and it turned out bright, hurricane straight. She was taken to St. Petersburg, and the student performance was accepted with a bang by a strict audience.

Meanwhile, the stone, hanging dead above the stage of the second act, no longer looks like a stone, but a huge overgrown tumor, inflatable, of course. Her role in the performance is completely unseemly: having taken the attention, she literally squeezed all the mise-en-scènes into the middle of the stage or proscenium, from which the feeling of speed, the faithful companion of the comedy of situations, was increasingly gone.

And what is completely absent in the performance is Georgia, which, thanks to Tsagareli’s vaudeville comedy, we love, and continue to love, despite the bad-political-today. An extra crowd of nine kinto (the traditional name for small peddlers) does not save. The music of two composers (Sergei Chekryzhov, Dmitry Chuvilev), although partially stylized as Georgian melodies, does not add color. As well as the dances staged by Irina Kashuba and the costumes by Evgenia Panfilova. Finally, the accent – Georgian or Caucasian in general, demonstrates some of the artists, while the other works without it. Some kind of plastic Georgia, like a fake wine – the bottle, label, color of the drink match, but the taste is not the same.

Oddly enough, one Arthur Vakha, whom everyone takes for an ethnic Georgian, which he is not, has an accent that looks natural. It was his ruined prince, who wanted to improve the situation at the expense of a successful marriage, who needed a matchmaker, who, with the appearance of a trainer, entered the “cage”, where everyone diligently sang, danced, and ruined everything. Here’s a new “Khanuma” came out at the Art Theater. And I could decorate the poster of some prosperous enterprise.

However, there is one indisputable success – a song performed a cappella at the beginning and at the end of the performance: “As soon as I close my eyes, you stand before me! As soon as I open my eyes, you swim above the eyelashes. True, the author of this magical verse from the century before last – Grigol Orbeliani – was not listed in the program for some reason.