Theater Contemporary, "Enemies: A Story of Love": reviews about the play, the plot, actors

The Sovremennik Theater was founded in the 1950sthe last century in Moscow. The head of the theater is Oleg Efremov. Although at that time the theater was only a group of artists, united in the desire to achieve a common goal. Namely - to declare yourself, about your work and express your protest against formalism, which recently stood at the head of art. The initial difficulties in the functioning of the theatrical association gave rise to his ascetic style. There was no permanent venue for performances by the artistic collective, they roamed from the theater to the theater. While in 1964 "Contemporary" did not receive the title of state theater, and 10 years later the company did not settle in the mansion on Chistoprudniy Boulevard. It is now located and "Contemporary". At the time of the theater's justification, its leader was already Galina Volchek, she still manages the work of the theater.

Features of the work of the Sovremennik Theater

Over the 50-year history of its existence, the theater has becomeis well known not only to Muscovites, but also to the inhabitants of foreign countries. The program of performances is based on the academic traditions of the Moscow Art Academic Theater, the application of Stanislavsky's method (which is so alien to formalism) and the production of Russian plays. Today on the stage of Sovremennik you can see plays by Russian authors (A. Chekhov, A. Volodin), and foreign ones, such as William Gibson, Bernard Shaw, Simon Stevens.

The success of theater visitors is justified by the fact that the collective of Sovremennik seeks to show the truth in art, and does it in a language understandable to a modern person.

The story of love between enemies

Of the current productions, we recommendTo stop the choice on performance on product of the winner of the Nobel Prize Башевиса-Зингера "Enemies. Love story". For the first time the production was done in Israel, and on the stage of the Moscow theater the number was put up recently. But the leadership has already received a lot of positive reviews about the play "Enemies. Love story "in" Contemporary ".

Summary of the novel

History tells about the fate of Jews, a miraclesurvived during the Nazi occupation. Events unfold in America after the war. The main character of the play is Herman Broder. Military chaos, which reigned during the events of the novel in Poland, deprived Herman of his wife and children. His servant, Jadwiga, rescued him from death for a long time.

Out of gratitude, Broder took her in marriage. At the same time, he starts an affair with Maria, her compatriot, who soon becomes pregnant. Naturally, Masha demands that Herman take her as his wife. In this already difficult situation, he suddenly finds out that his wife Tamara, whom he considered dead was alive! What the hero will do in this situation, you can find out by visiting the performance in the theater.

How did the idea for the production come about?

The idea of ​​staging a performance based on Isaac's novelBashevis-Singer was created by the managing theater of Galina Volchek right after reading the work "Enemies: A Story of Love." The entangled, but life story did not leave her thoughts. And it was he who inspired her to decide to include the play in the repertoire of "Contemporary". Galina Volchek shared that she was impressed by the expressiveness of the main female roles and the character of the protagonist, and immediately assumed which actors of the troupe could easily cope with them. She in her response about the play "Enemies. The story of love "in" Contemporary "said that the opportunity to create images of heroes of history on the stage, became for the employees of the artistic collective a valuable experience in their career.

Search nominations of the director

Going back a bit, it is worth noting thatFor a long time the work on the production was "frozen". Since to work on the work required a director, who under the force would be to convey the atmosphere of history, while retaining all the nuances of the original story. This director was Evgeni Arie. Galina Volchek, meeting with him during a tour abroad, offered to take part in the work on the play.

Aryeh in the recall of the play "Enemies. Love story "in" Contemporary "noted that he gladly accepted the offer to do work on the play. He stressed that the theme of the war and its destructive consequences is a red thread throughout the history of mankind. The desire to reveal such a serious topic in the work requires responsibility. Eugene Arye is satisfied with the results of the work of the theater team under his leadership and hopes that the production will not leave the spectator indifferent.

Features of the work on the production

Artistic staff of the theater is availablekey moments of the plot, so that the viewer could feel the atmosphere of post-war America that reigned on the scene. He presented the viewer with his own view of the novel. A lot of effort in creating images of heroes was made by stenographer and dresser Semen Pastukh. Composer Avi Benjamin supplemented the situation with appropriate music, and light designer Damir Ismagilov introduced lighting in such a way that each stage of the production looks like Renaissance paintings. Above the choreography "Enemies. The story of love "worked Nikolai Androsov.

As we have already noted, Yevgeny Arie was involved in the production, along with assistants Olga Sultanova and Oleg Plaksin.

The contribution of theater actors to work

Now we will note the work of the actor's troupe. In creating the production, special attention was paid to the composition of the actors. Only masters of their work were attracted to the work.

The role of Herman Broder went to actor SergeiYushkevich. At first glance, the image of an entangled man in dealing with girls is pretty simple. Only if you do not take into account that the confusion occurs in a difficult war period, and the man in his hands has a number from the concentration camp. These circumstances, of course, complicated the task of the actor Sergei Yushkevich.

He was not the only one set to playso ambiguous character. The same can be said about the character of the actress Alena Babenko. The image of the sympathetic servant Jadwiga is of particular interest. How will she behave in a situation where she was only given hope for happiness and immediately deprived of it? How will the two characters interact? Actress Alena Babenko in order to fully experience the nature of her heroine, who comes from Poland, even went to her home.

The next character, perhaps, is the deepestpoints of view of the experience. In the play "Enemies. Love Story "Eugene Simonov was invited to play the missing wife of the main character. It fell to create the image of a man who, after suffering, refuses to perceive himself alive.

On the contrary, in the drama "Enemies. Love story »Chulpan Khamatova had to convey the image of a character who was eager to live and give life, despite the horrors of wartime.

What did the show appeal to the audience?

The play absorbed all the creative passion andthe intensity with which its creators worked. The dramatization causes the contemplator genuine emotions, carries with it the plot and the atmosphere. The heroes of the play, with hope in their soul, seek the meaning of existence, which they were deprived of by war. They are buried in memories and dreams of a better life. The hero, looking for shelter from his fears, finds him in the person of the female image: the image of devotion (Yadvig), the image of passion (Masha) and the image of the mother (Tamara). The social themes touched upon in the production acquire a new reading, stirring up the viewer's consciousness.

Theatrical and simply an art connoisseurto visit this theater and personally see the power of that creative energy that comes to the viewer during the production. Visitors state in the reviews about the play "Enemies: the love story" in Sovremennik, that the joint work of the director, stage director, decorator, actors will force you to plunge into a completely different world. You will feel yourself in the place of heroes and experience all the sorrows and joys along with them.