Zheleznyak and Yakunina played one role for two in Lenkom

The theme of the premiere performance at Lenkom is indicated from the very first mise-en-scene, when a small orchestra passes through the entire hall with music, and the presenter – a professional cynic in a green tailcoat – begins to sing the hit of the Soviet era “Parental home, the beginning of the beginning, you are a reliable pier in my life “. And although the American play, born from a screenplay, was originally translated as “Road Tomorrow”, the premiere performance could just as well be called “Parents’ House” and even “Fathers and Sons.”

Actually, this play was preserved in the history of the Soviet theater thanks to the performance of the 70s “Further – silence” with the participation of Faina Ranevskaya and Rostislav Plyatt, heroes whom their own children eventually ruthlessly send to the almshouse. No one remembers the children, that is, the artists who played them – the great old men from Moscow eclipsed everyone then. From their farewell in the final, the hall sobbed and could not understand how such wonderful, bright old people could have such bastard children? In the last quarter of the 20th century, this could only be justified from an ideological point of view: the world of a purebred will turn anyone into a beast and a murderer.

How to interpret such material in the first quarter of the 21st century? Anton Yakovlev, a debutant on the Lenkom stage, offered his own, quite convincing and original version. “The Last Train” is a performance within a performance where the participants (mostly young people) look at what is happening from the outside, commenting on the topic of the relationship between fathers and children, which has not lost its relevance at all times.

An open move was presented from the very beginning: the presenter (Pavel Kapitonov, Alexei Skuratov), ​​singing into the microphone about the “parental home” and “the beginning of the beginnings” and specifying that the matter, in fact, takes place in America in the 30s. He also dictates to critics how to write a review of the performance: “So the station is a meeting place. Station – loneliness in the crowd. And the station and the road theme on the Lenkom stage are in all their glory – in vaulted metal ceilings, the sounds of a rushing train, and the furniture is designed by Harry Hummel in the form of travel trunks: a table, a sofa, chairs and even a bar counter are plywood suitcases and wardrobe trunks of different sizes. which have long since become antiques.

An open reception, on the other hand, “turns off” a serious theater for a couple of minutes with its invisible rearrangements of scenery and other stage secrets. The start and end of the reshuffle is publicly announced, and as it goes on, Lucy’s and Bark’s children take turns telling their traumatic childhood stories. And who didn’t have them?

“I grew up to be a good boy. I loved dad, mom, ice cream, summer, – George (Dmitry Gizbrekht, Sergey Piotrovsky), the oldest of the children, Lucy’s favorite, begins into the microphone at the left portal. – Until this aunt asked: “Who do you love more – dad or mom?”

Everyone has their own story, by the way, not the fruit of the writings of the playwright Sergei Plotov, who is working on a dramatization, but real stories from the childhood of the actors. Stories as an addition to the topic, as an immersion in it, and not just a way to fill in the gaps. Only the youngest of the children – Robert (Andrey Mironov, Andrey Garist) will read a romantic verse.

And these kids, raised by the wonderful Lucy and Bark, cannot solve the problem of how to help their beloved old people who find themselves in a difficult financial situation: their big house (“the beginning of the beginnings”) is mortgaged for debts, and the payment deadline is overdue. And it turns out that none of the children can take them in, that they can’t even rent a little room for them under the stairs, so that the parents, who have never lived without each other for a day, do not separate. Cruel world, cruel customs.

Director Yakovlev ordered the roles in such a way that Bark has one performer – Viktor Rakov, and Lucy has two of them – but what! Olesya Zheleznyak and Anna Yakunina. Both are characteristic, understanding the secrets of the comedy genre, although a real drama is unfolding on the stage. The more interesting is the result of their work, as they say, on resistance. Two different personalities and each of the actresses brings her own to the image of Lucy. In Yakunina’s game, there is a premonition of trouble, which she skillfully disguises with bravado, a cascade. In Zheleznyak, who hides her comic talent in every possible way (but it now and then treacherously comes through both in tone and gesture), her touchingness, absurdity and some kind of childish insecurity come to the fore. Both are beautiful in partnership with Viktor Rakov, who reveals himself as a white clown. Separated from his wife, he seriously jokes with either the doctor (Andrey Leonov, Vladimir Eremin), or his daughter Kora (Alisa Sapegina, Anastasia Marchuk).

— Bark, you know how to make a holiday out of everything! Lucy says at their farewell meeting. Both, realizing that they will never see each other again, live a happy day from their youth, when the children were small, and they themselves were happy fools. Now their cute kids have grown up and somehow become bad adults. Why? The play does not give an answer, it must be taken for granted. Rather, they are the darkness that manifests the light of others.

The policy of working in several casts, adopted in the theater by Mark Varshaver after the departure of Mark Zakharov, continues and yields results. The Last Train is proof of that. Here, with the exception of Bark’s role, everyone has a different cast. Judging by the first screenings, naturally accompanied by excitement, we can say with confidence that young actors get a chance to leave the crowd for supporting roles. There are unexpected discoveries: Dmitry Gizbrekht, in the role of the eldest of the children, who, thanks to his expressive texture, the directors used more as plastic paint, showed himself as a dramatic actor. Together with him, his stage wife, Alla Yuganova, works wonderfully: her Anita is alluring, gentle and very dangerous. Their “bad guys” are drawn quite thinly, and the game shows a volume that, perhaps, is not incorporated in the play. In this regard, Andrey Mironov is also successful in the role of the younger Robert. Well, the adult generation of Lenkom confirmed its class in The Last Train – Vladimir Yumatov, Pavel Kapitonov, Andrei Leonov, Alexei Skuratov.

The finale of “The Last Train” is rather bright than tragic, as it was in the play “Further – Silence”. The musical major that accompanies the appearance of all the characters on the proscenium dries up the tears that have appeared in the eyes of the viewer. But, it turns out, not for long – the disturbing sound of a train rushing at speed taps out with carriage wheels: “old age does not pass anyone. Call your parents.” And this is always more relevant than any agenda.