The Vakhtangov Theater performed performances near the Black Sea

Pushkin is cool

Theater named after Vakhtangov is finishing its tour in Gelendzhik, and it became the first capital theater to perform in the pearl of this Black Sea resort – in Kabardinka. In the theater, built in the ancient style, the Vakhtangov actors performed two of their hit performances for adults and children – “The Queen of Spades” and “The Tale of the Priest and His Worker Balda.”

In Gelendzhik, where even in the off-season, it seems that there is everything for relaxation – the sea, pleasure boats, restaurants and other pleasures, there is no drama theater. Visiting enterprises work on the stage of the Palace of Culture, at the entrance to which there is a bust of Vasily Lanovoy. The famous artist loved to relax here. So, oddly enough, the only theater is in the village of Kabardinka, two steps from the seashore. It is located in the unique cultural complex Old Park, created twenty-three years ago by the writer Alexander Alekseev. Here, among the architectural objects of different civilizations, a theater built according to the ancient Greek principle has been operating and actively developing for six years. The hall with 150 seats is built like an amphitheater in six rows, with a good view, a round orchestra-like stage and ideal acoustics.

The tour was opened by Evgeny Knyazev, who played his marvelous solo performance “The Queen of Spades” for two evenings, accompanied by a quartet of musicians. The audience did not breathe when, playing on the same intonations and deftly changing images, the artist, slightly ironically, read in a high voice for the countess: “The old countess was sitting in her room in front of the mirror. Three girls surrounded her. One was holding a jar of blush. The other is a box of hairpins. And the third is a tall cap with ribbons of fiery color…” And he immediately “turned on” the lower case when he spoke on behalf of Hermann, who decided to find out by any means the countess’s three treasured cards – “Three, seven, ace.” At these words, something especially mystical arose in the hall.

Although before the start of the performance, during a short rehearsal, Evgeny Knyazev remembered how director Pyotr Fomenko staged his “Queen of Spades” many years ago at Vakhtangovsky, and the young artist Knyazev played that same military engineer Hermann.

Pyotr Naumovich told us that there is no mysticism in Pushkin’s story, everything is made up. It’s just that the average person decided to enter into a battle with fate. Like: “Now, fate, I will defeat you.” But with fate you can’t do that.

And I also remembered an incident related to his one-man performance, which he showed at the Moscow Philharmonic two years ago. Then he received a letter from a spectator who told him how with difficulty she brought her teenage son to listen to Pushkin’s work, but he resisted and insisted that he hated Pushkin.

He sat turning away from the stage and with all his appearance showed how disgusted he was to be here,” the artist says, laughing, parodying an angry teenager. “However, gradually his body slowly turned towards me and towards the end he was sitting, staring at the stage. When it was all over, he turned to his mother and said, “Thank you for bringing me here. It turns out that Pushkin is cool.”

In the ancient theater in Kabardinka, the spectator stood up and did not let go of Knyazev for a long time. Well, the funny musical story played on Saturday morning based on Pushkin’s fairy tale “About the Priest and His Worker Balda” brought pleasure to the little residents of Kabardinka and Gelendzhik. Even the mayor of Gelendzhik, Alexey Bogodistov, came with his two twins. Well, the artists Oleg Lopukhov and Nikolai Romanovsky with three musicians did everything to give the little viewer a holiday. As is customary to do at the Vakhtangov Theater at any performance.