Two months before the premiere, at a meeting with journalists, he emphasized: “Pushkin has a historical novel, but I will have a novel about youth.” He also admitted that he wanted to look at this work through how young people find themselves in the vicissitudes of time, how they withstand circumstances and behave in difficult conditions, what human dignity is. Now we can say for sure: the plan was a success. Finding themselves on the brink of life and death, the main characters pass all tests with honor.
The daughter of the captain, commandant of the Belogorsk fortress, Masha Mironova, is played in the play in different casts by two actresses: Irina Unagaeva and Violetta Kotulevskaya. The girls admit: their Masha is not exactly the same as described in the book.
“In the book, she is more lyrical, tender, often faints and cries,” says Irina Unagaeva about her role. “We moved away from this a little. Still, it’s probably more interesting to look at a strong person who struggles with obstacles, and doesn’t pass.”
“If you look at how many trials the poor girl has had to endure in such a short period, only a truly captain’s daughter can cope with this,” says Violetta Kotulevskaya.
Masha Mironova, performed by Violetta, really turned out to be quite energetic and decisive. In some episodes, she resembles her imperious, rude and loud-voiced mother, captain Vasilisa Egorovna, brilliantly played by Irina Shalimova. In her relationship with her lover Pyotr Grinev, she takes care of him and nurses him after being wounded in a duel. At the same time, she can easily transform into a mischievous and frivolous girl. In one of the episodes, he and Petya are fooling around on the floor, gluing candy wrappers to each other’s cheeks and foreheads. It is difficult to imagine that Masha, shy and brought up in strictness, behaved so freely at Pushkin’s. But this is why it is a novel about youth, because everything is allowed in it.
Pyotr Grinev, who just yesterday was chasing pigeons and playing leapfrog with the yard boys, and now, at the whim of his father, a retired prime major, is forced to pull his weight in a distant steppe garrison, appears before the viewer in the form of a pampered schoolboy. White downy mittens hanging with elastic bands from the sleeves of his quite modern sheepskin coat give a certain caricature to his appearance. If you don’t know at what time the events described in “The Captain’s Daughter” took place, it is difficult to determine this by the young man’s costume. However, the authors did not strive for such recognition. According to the set designer and costume designer Karine Bulgach (Novosibirsk), they deliberately portrayed Grinev as a high school student to emphasize that he is young and has everything ahead of him. It doesn’t matter what century this young man lived in, what matters is that he existed and his career was connected with military affairs.
Finding himself in an extreme situation, the natural nobleman Grinev shows himself to be a brave, responsible, honest officer. “Take care of your honor from a young age,” he was taught from childhood. To Pugachev’s proposal to go over to his side, he replies: he swore allegiance to the Empress, so he cannot serve him. The role turned out to be so close to the actor Alexei Berezovsky, who himself was not far from his hero in age, that he admitted:
– This is me if I lived 225 years ago. Both my character and I make moral choices in life towards conscience and honor.
Photo: Valentina Pichurina/RG
The leader of the peasant uprising, rebel and impostor Emelyan Pugachev is played by Ivan Shalimanov. The actor saw a fatalist in his hero: he knows that he will die, but still rushes forward, sparing no effort and blood. It was not easy to play him, he notes, it was an extremely emotional role.
“In general, I’m very light, lively and agile, but here I had to break myself a little so that a slightly different character would emerge,” says Ivan. “So heavy, deep and thorough.”
The images of the serf servant Savelich, accompanying Grinev (Ivan Sergeev), and the coachman (Sergei Zhurakovsky) will be remembered. The roles are episodic, but the actors played them so vividly and naturally, as if they had lived their lives.
Photo: Valentina Pichurina/RG
There are few decorations and they are quite simple. On the stage there are tables, chairs, a wardrobe, a symbolic dry tree. Why it is there, everyone can figure out for themselves.
The performance was created with the support of the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives. Together with the regional branch of the National Treasure Charitable Foundation, the theater decided to show it also on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Funds raised from ticket sales will be used to provide targeted assistance to people with disabilities.
Source: rg.ru
