“Uncle Vanya” was given ballet skirts

The premiere of “Uncle Vanya” was shown at the Art Theater in Kamergersky. This play by A.P. Chekhov is a landmark for the Moscow Art Theater, it was first staged here in 1899 by the founders of the theater, during the life of the author. Then there were Soviet productions, the current one, it seems, is the fourth in a row, directed by Denis Azarov, who until recently was listed among radical artists. From the premiere – the columnist “MK”.

The intrigue of the new version of Chekhov’s play excited theater-goers even before it appeared on the stage. First of all, this was associated with the choice of artists for the main roles, which even then seemed strange to many. So, for the role of Ivan Petrovich Voinitsky in the Moscow Art Theater, Sergei Epishev was invited, who at one time in the Vakhtangov Theater and in the same production played an unnamed worker, an awkward, hefty silent man. Was very there. But what worker would not dream of becoming Uncle Vanya?

But the point is not even that the actor previously acted in second and third roles – here the texture also matters: after all, the height is 206 cm, after all. To match him, they picked up Elena Andreevna – Svetlana Kolpakova, a rather tall, large girl, and also not noticed in the main roles. The role of her husband, Professor Serebryakov, was given by the director to Vanguard Leontiev, an actor of great talent, but of modest stature. However, it is possible that such a cast was made not only out of a desire to experiment with texture (and the Hamlets in the domestic theater were short and fat, and even now Ophelia beats all records in the Moscow City Council Theater in terms of waist size), but still more out of a desire to discover new names . Is anyone against it?

Scenes from village life in four acts (as Chekhov himself defined his play) begin beautifully. Even more. First, a pale and round moon floats from left to right across the curtain, on which a forest has frozen in photo printing, for which the soul hurts another hero of the play, the county doctor Astrov. After the photo forest floated up, it already appeared naturally. The effect of Nikolai Simonov’s scenography turned out to be twofold: the forest is a house, the house is a forest. The manor house, made of even boards the color of wet sand, descended from under the grate like a curtain – from the proscenium to her pier. I counted six or seven plans for such a house-forest, the boards of which are not tightly fitted one to the other, but with good gaps between them, through which light poured, warm, atmospheric, and flooded the entire space. Such decoration deserves applause, helps and can save any production.

The visual beauty created by the artist was supported by the choreographer (Anna Zakusova). According to the director’s idea, she staged a waltz for young peasants and peasant women, which they performed in whole or in fragments throughout the entire performance. “And what does “Uncle Vanya” and peasants with dances have to do with it?” – Asked an inappropriate question by those who know the play almost by heart, have seen more than one of its incarnations in more than one theater in Russia and even the world (Chekhov has always been attractive to the stage and screen). Well, those who have not yet discovered this subtle, full of drama play, probably were not surprised: where the landowners are, there are the peasants. They can also dance instead of getting drunk and being naughty.

By the way, the waltz as music (written by Kirill Taushkin) is quite pretty, and it was even funny to watch how young artists, and most likely students of the Moscow Art Theater School, in Giselle’s airy skirts and rough boots, which Giselle has can’t, hang in the arms of guys in undershirts and caps. However, the choreographic element in Chekhov’s play was explained further by the image of Maria Vasilievna, the mother of the protagonist (Daria Yurskaya). Director Azarov, it seems, took pity on the respectable lady, a passionate admirer of art, and developed a modest image of a lady, giving her the opportunity to graciously educate the servants. She told them: “You are welcome, essay,” and they told her: “Sorry.” They stand at attention, setting the limbs in everyday situations, as in a dance class – legs in the first or second position, the arm in front of you and an arc above your head.

Nevertheless, such a dance overture, anticipating the drama of Ivan Petrovich Voinitsky, as well as other inhabitants of the landowner’s estate, did not even look offensive in relation to the classics. And thanks for that. But, in the end, not for the sake of dancing, for the sake of almost a century and a half, “Uncle Vanya” is brought onto the stage. But for some reason, only this trifling prank of the director the next day reminded me of the Moscow Art Theater Uncle Vanya. Why, I think, is the theme of the hero “lost life, lost life …” touched less than some kind of dance episode in a luxurious scenery?

Because about the lost life, about loneliness, that as everyday life, already at the mental level of an eternally dissatisfied with everything Russian person, you can’t tell with chips alone by external effects. You won’t touch the soul of the modern viewer either with Astrov’s drunken scene in the first act, played by Pavel Chinarev peddling, to the point of physical disgrace, as in the next series. Not the hysteria of Uncle Vanya in the scene of Serebryakov’s departure in the second, where everything is external. Not a swing on long chains, where Elena Andreevna (Svetlana Kolpakova), tired of everything and everything, sits. And the forests that Astrov saves to the best of his ability (now as a symbol of the green agenda, which Chekhov did not think about), are also not a pity.

“Uncle Vanya” at the Moscow Art Theater showed one common problem, which in the director’s workshop under the new conditions will become more and more obvious. The radical approach to the classics, which directors, including Denis Azarov, practiced fearlessly, but more often without much result a year ago, is objectively fed up. And besides, today, out of caution, it is not particularly welcomed by the leadership of any theater. And playing according to the rules of the new, and not at all radical theater with a set of well-known clichés, many do not succeed. Well, the casting in the new Moscow Art Theater performance, which raised questions even at the start, did not all make it into the top ten.

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 28994 dated March 22, 2023

Newspaper headline:
“Uncle Vanya” was given ballet skirts