“The Living and the Dead” at the Gogol Theater

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Polina Agureeva staged the play “The Living and the Dead. Soldiers are not born” based on the novel by Konstantin Simonov for the anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad. The premiere took place at the Winter Arts Festival under the direction of Yuri Bashmet on the stage of the Gogol Theatre. On February 2, 2023, on the day of the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Battle of Stalingrad, the pre-premiere performance took place in the hero city of Volgograd.

“Do we understand today that this figure is not just a date on the calendar? This is an event of great historical importance and grandeur, behind which stands the life of a HUMAN. Thinking about it today is perhaps more important than in previous decades. By this date, our performance has been staged. Simonov’s novel “The Living and the Dead” was written from the inside of those events. This is a complex synthesis of artistic truth and almost documentary accuracy in depicting military reality. Believe this book. The war in the book is comprehended philosophically – both in its greatness, and in its absurdities and contradictions … ”- Polina herself, who was born in Volgograd, said on the eve of the premiere.

The dramatic action of the performance unfolds in unique scenery: on the steps of two stairs that rise from the proscenium to the back of the stage. The musicians of the Moscow Soloists chamber ensemble under the direction of the People’s Artist of the USSR Yuri Bashmet are also sitting here, who accompany the production with their professional “status” of improvisers.

Costume designer Pavel Alekhin dressed the musicians in tunics, earflaps, riding breeches, felt boots and boots. Scenography by Maria Mitrofanova and video mapping by Ilya Starilov capaciously complement the action, representing how a huge number of human destinies and lives, thrown into the Volga meat grinder, “grind” in the millstones of war.

Konstantin Simonov wrote: “… Stalingrad is ahead. There are 25 German divisions in an ice trap. They sit and wait… And what can they expect in the environment? Our assault? Miracle? Doom? Yes, all together. What are they doing there on New Year’s Eve in their icy holes? What do they feel, what do they hope for?

Cast: Ilya Shakunov, Maxim Litovchenko, Alexei Vertkov, Nikolay Chindyaikin, Yuri Belyaev, Ivan Dobronravov, Fedor Malyshev, Varvara Nasonova, Vladimir Kochetkov, Alexander Vedmensky, Tamara Razorennova, Anton Romm, Sergei Khachaturov, Evgeny Dubovskoy.

The music of Maestro Bashmet and his team is an independent expressive unit of the play “The Living and the Dead” – a dramatic minor. At the initiative of Yuri Abramovich, an original quote from Schubert’s Fantasia for 2 Pianos was used in the finale of the narration. Newsreel footage of those killed in the Battle of Stalingrad ended with the sound of the introduction quart and the fantasy theme performed by the duet of musical geniuses Svyatoslav Richter and Benjamin Britten.

The repeated jamming of the gramophone record at the end of the performance is like an alarm to us today, who should remember the value of human life.