The funeral service took place in her native theater, and many colleagues came to say a few farewell words to Nina Mikhailovna.
Among them was Galina Volchek, who has headed Sovremennik for many years. Those present noticed that Galina Borisovna looked exhausted and sick.
84-year-old Volchek was brought to the funeral ceremony in a wheelchair. She barely held back tears and hid her swollen eyes under dark glasses. Galina Borisovna looked so sick that many thought she was paralyzed.
In fact, the famous actress and director has not been able to fully walk for several years due to severe back pain.
Experts diagnosed Galina Volchek with an intervertebral hernia. Discs weakened by a herniation poorly fix the vertebrae of the body along the physiological axis, increasing the load on the muscles and causing unbearable pain. With this diagnosis, emergency surgery is sometimes prescribed.
Galina Borisovna turned for help to the Israeli Center for Spinal Surgery, where one of the world's most famous specialists in this field, surgeon Ilya Pekarsky, works.
At one time, he performed spinal surgery on Evgeni Plushenko, helped Stanislav Govorukhin and other Russian stars. The main problem is that Volchek does not have a very strong heart, so the operation can lead to fatal consequences.
In recent years, Volchek has been admitted to the intensive care unit several times with various diagnoses. The position of artistic director of a complex creative team brings stress and nervous situations every day.
Published 12/19/18 22:06Putin came to Sovremennik to congratulate Galina Volchek on her anniversary.
Today, December 19, theater and film legend Galina Volchek celebrates her 85th birthday, 60 of which she gave to her beloved Sovremennik Theater. Among his many friends and acquaintances, Russian President Vladimir Putin stopped by to personally congratulate Volchek on his anniversary.
The Russian leader arrived at the historical theater building on Chistoprudny Boulevard, which is opening after reconstruction. Volchek answered the president that there was no need for congratulations, but he did not agree with her.
“It’s definitely necessary, because it’s an opportunity intkbbach and sum up some results, and say words of gratitude to you for your contribution to national culture and to world culture,” the president said, handing her a bouquet of flowers, a painting and a book.
Putin also asked if there were any comments regarding the reconstruction of the building. The artistic director noted that there are no comments so far, but first we need to move and get comfortable. Volchek also invited Putin to watch the performance at Sovremennik.
Let us note that today in the play “Two on a Swing” at the Sovremennik Theater, Kirill Safonov plays with Kristina Orbakaite, who replaced Chulpan Khamatova. As Volchek shared, she was dumbfounded by the behavior of the actress, because of which the play, which was drawing full houses, almost closed, writes Kommersant.
The thing is that some time ago Chulpan approached Volchek and said that “trouble had happened” to her and she was temporarily unable to continue working in the theater for medical reasons for at least six months. At the same time, she vowed not to act anywhere, asking permission only for concert activities in order to somehow survive.
“But not even a month had passed since I found out that Chulpan was rehearsing in a theater in Moscow, then I found out that she was rehearsing in Riga at the same time, and somewhere else...” said Volchek.
The director was simply speechless from such deceit on the part of the famous actress.
“It didn’t just offend or hurt me. I realized that I had to say goodbye to this performance, that’s all. Then I thought: “No, I don’t have the right, since the audience believed so and went like that... And Kirill... Well, how in general... No, this is impossible." But who will play? I understood that replacing Chulpan Khamatova is not just difficult, that it is very difficult..." concluded Volchek.
It is noteworthy that, unexpectedly for everyone, the performer showed such strong acting talent that Galina Borisovna herself, who had seen everything on stage, was moved to tears.
“This was the first time in my theater... Suddenly I burst into tears and couldn’t stop,” admitted Volchek.
People who have noticed drastic changes in both the appearance of the actress and artistic director, and her lifestyle are trying to answer these and many other questions. the site tried to understand the situation and will give a reasoning answer to the question “Why in a wheelchair.”
Galina Volchek's health status
In fact, there is no need to panic; the woman feels quite self-sufficient. There are many health problems, but at her advanced age this is normal. Yesterday, December 19, the artist turned 85 years old. She managed to outlive the old-timers of Sovremennik, among whom we remember Oleg Efremov, Nina Doroshina, Oleg Tabakov... Moreover, Galina Borisovna is older than all those who started their acting career with her many years ago: Valentin Gaft, Liya Akhedzhakova, Marina Neelova...
Consequently, Galina Volchek devoted her entire life, her entire creative career to the theater, which opened back in 1956. She was one of the founders of the cultural institution, and after the death of Oleg Efremov, she took his place, becoming the artistic director of Sovremennik.
62 years of faithful and dedicated service for the benefit of the theater and audience could not but affect the health of the People's Artist. Lately she has been using a wheelchair, but Galina did not give any information about why she ended up in it.
However, the editors of JoinfoMedia became aware of the reasons why the artistic director spends most of his time in a vehicle. For the first time, Galina Borisovna was noticed in a stroller in 2017 in the Kremlin at an award ceremony. It was then that rumors like “paralyzed” began to arise, but everything turned out to be completely different.
Galina Volchek can move all her limbs without hindrance. The only reason she uses a wheelchair is because of back problems. She was diagnosed with an intervertebral hernia. Considering her body weight and constant physical stress, it is extremely difficult for the artist to walk without support due to pain. At the same time, the theater noted that since 2014 the pain has been increasing. For a long time she struggled with her condition, then decided to take care of herself and her health by moving to a wheelchair.
Typically, such situations require surgical intervention. However, given that spinal surgery is considered one of the most dangerous, the artistic director refused it, especially since no one will give a 100% guarantee anyway. She also refused because of a heart condition, and the intense and stressful work in the theater for so many years also affected her nervous system, which is why she also began to have problems with her lungs, and later led to hypertension.
Nevertheless, despite the entire “track record” of illnesses, Galina Volchek, at 85 years old, continues her creative activity; she knows what the viewer needs and how to convey the idea to the actor, in which her experience as a chief director undoubtedly helped her. And even skirmishes with Chulpan Khamatova did not throw one of the best Russian artists of both the last and present century off track.
Deception of Chulpan Khamatova
The other day, Galina Volchek shared with the press a story that happened to her and Chulpan Khamatova. It turns out that Kristina Orbakaite plays one of the leading roles in the play “Two on a Swing” for a reason. She replaced the talented Chulpan Khamatova.
The performance, which was a success, almost closed due to one incident. Chulpan came to Galina Borisovna and told her that she needed a creative break for six months. She can't rehearse, perform, play, nothing. Volchek entered into the situation and, of course, as one of the best artists of her theater, she allowed her to take a break. But under the agreement that these six months the actress with Tatar roots will not take part in productions anywhere. Meanwhile, the star of “Moon Dad” disobeyed her director and simultaneously took up other work in other theaters.
As a result, after reflection, Galina Volchek decides to take on the role of Chulpan, whom she has loved since the release of the film “Scarecrow,” in the play. And according to the artistic director, she made the right decision, since Pugacheva’s daughter is doing an excellent job in her new role.
It should be noted that Galina Borisovna does not hold a grudge against Chulpan; moreover, she continues to claim that Khamatova is a very talented artist, but, of course, they don’t act that way.
Main photo: about.theatre
