The first opening of the season of Moscow theaters

The traditional gathering of the troupe was held at the theater “At the Nikitsky Gates”. Mark Rozovsky spoke about upcoming plans in the fortieth season.

In the anniversary year, eight premieres will be presented, six of which will be prepared by the artistic director himself. The next one is September 23rd. This is the play “Transfiguration” about the poets of the Silver Age. Also, Rozovsky will stage his own play “Micha” – about the tragic fate and work of the Jewish actor, director Solomon Mikhoels. Also in the plans is a performance for children “Kashtanka”. The music for it will be written by Maxim Dunayevsky. They will also restore the production of “Be Healthy Schoolboy” – about the soldiers of the Great Patriotic War based on the prose of Bulat Okudzhava.

The main event of the season will be Don Quixote based on the play by Mikhail Bulgakov. The performance will be presented on the theater’s birthday – March 27.

“Don Quixote is perhaps the most Russian character in world culture, yes, this is Cervantes, yes, this is Spain, yes, this is Bulgakov’s understanding, so to speak, of this hero, a hero who is considered crazy, maybe he is really crazy, but he a poet, and he believes in the triumph of justice,” Mark Rozovsky, artistic director of the Moscow theater “At the Nikitsky Gates”, People’s Artist of Russia, told reporters at a gathering of the troupe.

On the New Stage, the next performance is “Transfiguration”, a play by the artistic director himself, written during the covid period. It is dedicated to the poets of the Silver Age, their fates: Valery Bryusov, Andrei Bely, Nina Petrovskaya and the character “Mask”. Another premiere is Swallowing a Boa Constrictor, where an anti-fascist theme sounds. This play is staged by two young directors: Rodion Vyushkin and Sergey Uustalu.

There will also be a separate repertoire on the Old Stage: a one-man show based on the work of the American playwright George Brant “Detached” and a comedy by Yasmina Reza, called “Tooth for a Tooth” in the director’s interpretation of Victoria Dotsenko.

In the new season, the series of poetic-centric productions “Tape of Poetry” will continue: Brodsky will be released in the fall, Mayakovsky in March, and Sasha Cherny is planned for May-June 2023.

In the evening on the opening day of the season, an open-air performance “Songs of our yard” was held. An unusual and incredibly exciting action is played out in the courtyard of the theater according to very special laws – an open-air theater. This yard goes on with its own life: quarrels and reconciliations, hanging clothes on the clothesline, a gramophone all over the street, the whistle of pigeon houses, smoking men, women in dressing gowns and curlers.

The performance has been staged since 1996 and can rightly be called the first immersive production. All spectators participate in the performance, because everyone sings along with the actors, drinks and snacks. Drinks and snacks are provided by the theater: vodka and crackers. All sincerely communicate, and then sing. They sing “old songs about the main thing.” These are the songs of our childhood and youth, the songs of our parents, grandfathers and grandmothers. They reflect everything – the history of our country and the life of several generations.

Have a good season at the theater “At the Nikitsky Gate”!

Vladimir Sabadash.

Photo by Svetlana Yurieva