But who I don’t envy now is Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. The man was really unlucky. On the one hand, they hate him at school, on the other hand, they remove all trash about his, well, let’s hide it, good works.
If Nikolai Vasilyevich had seen these mediocre films, he would have burned all his plays, stories and novels, and not just “Dead Souls-2”.
What should those who want high-quality book visualization do? My advice is to go to the theater. Fortunately, Gogol is treated with care and love there. And although they interpret him in a director’s way, at least in the spirit of his plays and stories. I want to tell you about 4 Moscow performances, after which you will definitely look at Nikolai Vasilyevich differently: carefully and with respect.
"The Inspector General" in the theater in the South-West
A must see for all schoolchildren who struggle with the play “The Inspector General” in 8th or 9th grade. I know from my own experience that these strange tasks: “Why was Khlestakov mistaken for an auditor?”, and “describe the image of the Governor in the work,” or the meaning of the silent scene, do not at all add to Gogol’s popularity in the eyes of tortured students.
I just want to say: why are you asking all these stupid questions, just go to the theater in the South-West and you will understand everything.
Firstly, this is a very funny performance. I hope that during the premiere we laughed as loudly and as much as the audience does in the theater in the South-West.
Secondly, there was an excellent duet there. Khlestakov is an undoubted creative success of actor Anton Belov. He spun everyone around so much that the devil himself couldn’t unravel them. And you say why, why. Because he plays well. And people believe. And what a weak little worm he appeared at first, how pitifully he bleated - adorable. Then he got so excited that he couldn’t keep up, and he got all the energy he could from where he could.
But Oleg Leushin himself is responsible for the image of the Mayor. Usually Anton Antonovich is a lump of a man, a powerful character in the play. Leushin plays a smart, dexterous, enterprising man, but rather ordinary. He really feels sorry for him when the deception is revealed.
Yes, even the theme of the little man was heard in the form of a monologue by Dobchinsky. And I felt so sorry for everyone, you thought, why is life so hopeless in Russia, should I start a blog? Or Instagram. Well, at least somehow, otherwise not at all.
Yes, it won’t work to expose children to the morals of bureaucratic Russia, I’m afraid. So what. But you will get a good attitude towards the author, and, of course, towards the theater too.
"Marriage" in the theater in the South-West
A must see not only for schoolchildren and adults who want to watch Gogol on stage, not only for all theater fans in the South-West, and “Marriage” is a cult performance, but also for those who want to pump up their abs while enjoying art. 2 hours of continuous muscle work are provided.
Only men play in it. Even the female roles are given to them. Alexander Gorshkov as Agafya Tikhonovna and Andrei Sannikov as the Matchmaker. And this is great. Funny terrible. There are many memorable scenes and dialogues; in fact, the whole play is like that.
In the role of Podkolesin - Oleg Leushin. In the role of the Devil-Tempter Kochkarev - Alexey Matoshin.
“Viy” on the new stage of the Teatrium
A must see for those who are looking for a high-quality modern thriller on the theme of “Viya” and do not find it in our cinema (and if I’m not mistaken, then there are at least three opuses already).
But it would seem. Ideal scenario. The hero (Khoma Brut) finds himself in a closed, strange world, in which the daughter of the local boss is a witch. So what do we have? Some kind of nonsense, and not scary at that. But in the Teatrium you will definitely tickle your nerves. Every minute it becomes more and more scary and interesting, and in the end, as expected, there is a certain twist that turns the entire prevailing opinion on the topic of “Viya” upside down. And what especially captivated me was that there was a hint for the action.
The play “Players” in the theater in the South-West
Must see after 16 years. In fact, Gleb and I don’t follow age restrictions, but the staff of the theater in the South-West still advised us to come see the performance later. And the description and reviews look tempting.
"Thugs", dir. Kirill Serebrennikov
The first high-profile performance and the hallmark of the theater was “Thugs” by Kirill Serebrennikov, based on the work of Zakhar Prilepin about left-wing opposition youth with a touch of anarchy.
Serebernnikov staged this performance together with his students from the Moscow Art Theater School, who later formed the troupe of the Gogol Center. It was a revolutionary hit then: at the peak of the swamp protests, when this agenda was still in demand. The play is about young passionaries who have a bad life in Rus', who wanted change, perhaps in radical ways. Confession of the new humiliated and insulted.
"Idiots", dir. Kirill Serebrennikov
“The Idiots” became one of the most high-profile productions based on European film scripts. New idiots under the leadership of Oksana Fandera gathered for trial in modern Russia: they are enemies, they are strangers, they are the fifth column. Provocation and shocking, everything that Pavlensky and Pussy Riot showed on the street is now on stage. The play was successfully shown this year as part of the prestigious Avignon Film Festival.
"Brothers", dir. Alexey Mizgirev
Another of the series of such theatrical interpretations of film scripts was the production of “Brothers” based on the film “Rocco and His Brothers” by Visconti. It is also important that this was the theatrical debut of the Russian director Alexei Mizgirev, the author of the acclaimed film “Tambourine-Drum”.
Naturally, these brothers also changed their Milan registration to Moscow, thanks to the efforts of Mizgirev and playwright Durnenkov. The visiting heroes are placed in the harsh conditions of metropolitan life, where they must fight for a place in the sun. And the tougher the better. Their method is fights without rules. About how to survive in a big city, to remain people and brothers - that’s what this human tragedy by Mizgirev is about. Very brutal, powerful and vital. A production where every minute you feel like you’re on a powder keg. After all, the hall looks like an arena for fights without rules. Life in a modern metropolis, you see, is similar to this sport. In general, “Brothers” deservedly became a hit and Mizgirev’s success on stage. And again, this experiment happened right here. If you haven’t seen it yet, go to the Gogol Center this week, “Brothers” is being shown these days. Don't miss the chance to see one of the best productions.
"Metamorphosis", dir. David Bobe
One of the most poetic productions of the theater is “Metamorphoses” based on Ovid. This performance was staged by Serebrennikov's friend and partner, French director David Bobet. Scenes from Ovid's poem are transformed here into a multimedia performance. The authors managed to create a whole picture of the world: in one performance they combined the eternal and the actual, the divine and the worldly.
"(M)disciple", dir. Kirill Serebrennikov
An important production of recent times is Martyr. About insulting the feelings of believers and the difficulties of education, frankly and to the point. This is a performance based on the play by Mayenburg. About a boy who lives by his own rules. The one who rebels speaks about his moral standards. He knows what is good and what is bad. But the question is who will get this student.
“Who Lives Well in Rus'”, dir. Kirill Serebrennikov
Modern men from adjacent villages who came together on a high street and decided to find out who was living a happy, comfortable life in Rus'. Modern landowners, officials, priests, merchants, boyars, ministers, the tsar in the end?
They prepared thoroughly for this performance: the actors and the director repeated the route of those peasants, and the result of what they saw was presented at the Gogol Center.
Archetypes are tenacious, the national spirit, slavery, hunger, hope, eternal patience and, of course, serfdom - all this is eternal. Serebrennikov shows this very subtly. This is where that senseless and merciless “Russian world” that people love to talk about today is born. And no one really fully understands what he is like. Or what are those very notorious spiritual bonds of ours? But here they are - compassion, humility, passivity, hope for a miracle, eternal drunkenness, servility and complete reconciliation with fate and reality. Nothing bright or optimistic.
The production is also multi-genre: Nekrasov, and verbatim, and even a whole ballet in the second part, where men in a drunken night go into their expressive psychological breakaway dance, which most accurately conveys that pain, that breakdown that is always in Rus'. The men's dance continues with a cry for a woman's happiness, a powerful monologue by the Moscow Art Theater actress Evgenia Dobrovolskaya. This, of course, is the most powerful thing in the play, a statement about the lot of women, and, in fact, about all of our Rus', wretched and abundant.
The result is a real encyclopedia of Russian life. After the performance you leave with a heavy heart, but still with some kind of nagging feeling and the feeling that all this is not just like that. It turns out, as in Shevchuk, about our homeland, let them shout - it’s ugly, but we like it, even though it’s not beautiful.
The very idea of staging film scripts in the theater instead of plays is incredibly good and really expands all sorts of horizons. This is proven, for example, by Alexey Mizgirev’s “Brothers”, shown at the Gogol Center the day before, based on the classic film by Visconti. Serebrennikov took on Lars von Trier. And exactly what Trier is, and not for the specific script for the 1998 film: let’s say, the very aesthetics of “Dogma” and direct quotes from “Dogville” in the new performance of the Gogol Center are indicated much more significantly than the intimate subtleties of “The Idiots”.
Trier's story goes like this. A group of marginalized people living together somewhere on the outskirts emerges from time to time into society. They portray the mentally ill, testing society for tolerance, and get bonuses from this - a free dinner in a restaurant or donations from compassionate citizens. At home, they also pretend to be idiots, but they do it for completely different purposes: to discover the absence of falsehood in themselves and gain true freedom. But no one can reach the end of this quest for freedom purely physically - this is where the story ends. However, there are subtleties that make the whole point. Close-ups with quiet tears of joy and despair throughout the film substantiate the horrifying pathology of the ending, which is very personal, intimate, and human.
So, there is nothing similar in Serebrennikov’s performance. Through the efforts of playwright Valery Pecheykin, the plot outline was projected onto modern Moscow with all the ensuing quotes from the Pussy Riot trial, with a model of the Kremlin and a blue bucket on the stage. As a result, the themes of homophobia, slave consciousness and the totalitarian regime completely outweighed the uncertain attempts to capture the moment of initiation of human consciousness through the experience of immersion in “abnormality”. That is, the play turned out to be about the fact that there is no life in Russia, and it turned out to be closer in spirit to Palahniuk than to Trier. If it weren't for the completely inappropriate but absolutely Trier-esque stunning ending (describing it here would be an unwanted spoiler).
The bar was set high - the performance had to be created according to the principles of a theatrical analogue of the Dogma-95 manifesto, written for the performance by Serebrennikov himself. That is: without artistic light; only with visible sound sources; without specially created props, scenery and costumes; without actions “that have to be imitated on stage,” etc. In fact, literally all the points of the manifesto turned out to be violated: the light is the most artistic (except without frills); Die Antwoord sounds perky from speakers that aren't easy to spot; white lines on the floor in place of the walls - perhaps quoting Trier, but still also a kind of decoration, not to mention the abundance of colorful costumes - from BDSM to ballet tutus; Almost everything is “imitated” - from coping with minor needs (no one in Serebrennikov really pees, unlike, by the way, Trier’s characters) to madness (which Trier simply doesn’t have in the film for obvious reasons). The existence of the actors is far from everyday - the lines sound as theatrical and bold as the gestures that accompany them. In this sense, the actor Oleg Gushchin revealed himself very well in several theatrical, well-caricatured roles; He is especially memorable in the images of an uncouth laborer and a Soviet official. Another thing is that this theatricality has nothing to do with Dogma. But, alas, there was no real psychological existence for the actors here.
In Trier, technical techniques stemming from the Dogma manifesto work to reveal universal human qualities; this is, as it were, a dialogue with civilization as such. While Serebrennikov, on the contrary, is increasingly striving for specifics: he is creating political theater about a specific political situation in a very specific Moscow. Which in itself is not bad. Only Trier has nothing to do with it.
The play “Little Tragedies” is a real phenomenon. It perfectly combines classic and modern, poetry and rap. The complete performance will appeal to both teenagers and older people - everyone will find something close to their hearts in it.
About the play “Little Tragedies”
The classics of Russian literature are considered the “foundation” of the Gogol Center’s activities. The team often presents little-known, but attention-seeking stories and tales by such authors as Saltykov-Shchedrin, Goncharov or Nekrasov. The modern interpretation looks fresh, and this is what attracts viewers.
Plot
In total, the performance consists of four main works: “The Stone Guest”, “Mozart and Salieri”, “A Feast during the Plague” and “The Miserly Knight”. An important feature is that the director does not try to change the script; he does not make any changes to the original text at all.
The heroes of “The Stone Guest” appear before the audience in an unusual role. According to the plot, Dona Anna and Don Guan meet in late old age and realize that their happiness has been irretrievably lost.
The main character of the play “The Miserly Knight” has changed most interestingly - but how exactly, the viewer will find out for himself, because this is the main intrigue. The characters in A Feast in Time of Plague have also aged noticeably - they are having a party in a nursing home, remembering past adventures.
This is not the first time that the production “Little Tragedies” has been shown in Moscow. The work of Kirill Serebrennikov was first shown on September 15, 2017. In 2018, “Little Tragedies” will be presented to the public several more times, which means that viewers still have the opportunity to enjoy the acting and the deep soundtrack.
Who took part
The rapper Husky took part in the play “Little Tragedies” at the Gogol Center (he performed in the prologue to the play). His music organically fit into the narrative and complemented it, conveying the emotions of the characters. The director of the production is Kirill Serebryannikov, who is also the artistic director of the Gogol Center.
In addition to this performance, he became the director of several films, received the Golden Mask Award, and was nominated for the Golden Lion and the Golden Bough. Serebryannikov is remembered as the director of the plays “(M)Student”, “Harlequin”, “Baroque”, “Without Fear” and others. Other works of the author were also remembered by the audience for their non-standard narration, vivid characters and images.
How to buy tickets to the show
If you want to buy tickets for “Little Tragedies” at the Gogol Center, contact our agency. We offer fast and completely free delivery of printed tickets, several different payment methods (card, transfer, cash).
When you buy tickets to “Little Tragedies” in a group of ten or more people, you get a discount. We have been successfully working for more than ten years and are always ready to advise you on all issues that arise, including the choice of locations.
“Little Tragedies” is truly worth watching. If you want to experience real delight from non-standard images and immerse yourself in the world of “futuristic” classics, be sure to attend the performance. A charge of positive emotions is guaranteed. We hope you enjoy this production!
I visited the Gogol Center for the first time and watched the production of “(M)Student”. The performance is based on a play by German author Marius von Mayenburg, adapted for Russian audiences. In 2016, the director of the play, Kirill Serebrennikov, made the film “The Apprentice” based on it with almost the same cast, except for the leading actor. The play received five nominations for the Golden Mask theater award in the year of its release. The film was awarded a prize in the Un Certain Regard program at the Cannes Film Festival, as well as at other foreign and domestic film forums.
Actors of the play “(M)Student” bowing
About the performance
“(M)Student” is a modern and relevant performance by the Gogol Center; it touches on quite painful topics that society cannot and does not like to talk about. We must pay tribute to the courage of the artistic director and director, who was not afraid to speak out so directly and openly about the processes taking place in society.
The play Martyr tells about an ordinary student, like a schoolboy, who turned the Bible into an instrument of influence and actually subjugated both his school and home environment. No one wants or knows how to argue with him and resist him. No one except the school psychologist - she is also a biology teacher.
Scene from the play “(M)student”
In the play “Martyr” there are many recognizable and realistic situations: misunderstanding between a son and a single mother, children’s cruelty towards the weak, intolerance of teachers towards everything new, endless hypocrisy of adults in front of teenagers whom they consider still children. And children, taking advantage of this, easily manipulate adults.
“(M)the Apprentice” is not an entertaining performance; it makes you think about global trends and your own behavior in this world. For example, after the performance for several days I tried on the situation from both sides: how to prove something to a clinically stubborn person and how to convey and explain to your opponent your position if you are considered clinically stubborn. And, of course, one of the main problems of our time: where is the line beyond which preaching goodness becomes intolerance, and freedom becomes permissiveness? And what exactly can you do if madness around you becomes the norm?
The Gogol Center is more than a theater, it is a space that brings together several types of art. It is no coincidence that at the reception desk you are greeted with the following expression of the Gogol Center’s credo:
In addition to theatrical performances, the Gogol Center hosts film screenings, lectures, discussions, concerts and exhibitions, and the Gogol Books bookstore and the N cafe are open to visitors throughout the day. Here you can while away the time at the bookshelf
You can arrange a photo shoot in the Gogol Center’s signature studio, and you can pick up the title of the play and take a photo with it
Here you will find another point for doing good deeds.
Instructions on the lid
The cafe, like the entire space of the Gogol Center, is decorated with images and quotes of famous theater figures
True, the prices here are not small, but I was somewhat consoled by the huge portions of pies and their excellent taste))
In addition to the cafe, there is also a bar with stronger drinks
The Gogol Center has several halls, I was in the Great Hall. These wooden gates lead to it
There are no balconies or boxes in the Great Hall; the entire hall consists of a stalls and an amphitheater. Notice in the next photo how gentle the slope of the stalls is - the spectators are sitting next to each other with a slight difference in height. As a result, the view of the stage is not very convenient
The amphitheater is much steeper in slope. Here, pay attention to the absence of the usual chairs: seats are indicated by cushions on wooden steps. I can’t say how comfortable it is to sit in such places, I’ll have to try it next time))
The advantage of the Gogol Center is the ability to buy tickets through the website, without visiting the box office.
And one more important feature of the Gogol Center: performances, especially on weekdays, start mostly at 20.00, sometimes even at 20.30. So be careful when purchasing tickets and on the day of your visit.
How to get to the Gogol Center
The closest way to the Gogol Center is from the Kurskaya metro station. From the Circle Line you need to follow the sign for the exit to the city to long-distance trains and to the Gogol Theater (when moving from Taganskaya to Komsomolskaya, this is at the head of the train). From the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line you need to follow the signs to Kazakova Street (when moving from the center, this is to the head of the train). A simple guide: from both lines you should enter an underground vestibule with a huge stone flower in the center. Directly from this lobby go through the turnstiles into the underground tunnel under the railway tracks of the Kursk station. In the tunnel follow the signs to Kazakova street
