The play "The Old Maid": audience reviews, actors and performance duration

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

For the first time with the story described in the play by Nadezhda Ptushkina "While she was dying", Russian viewers met in 2000 in the film "Come see me". It was staged by Oleg Yankovsky and Mikhail Agranovich. But earlier, the production center "TeatrDom" presented the play "The Old Maid", reviews of which were very warm. This touching story was remembered by the audience for its thin storyline. It combines times long past and today's realities. The actors involved in the play "The Old Maid" need no introduction: Inna Churikova, Alexander Mikhailov, Tatyana Vasilyeva.

Strange story

The film "Come see me" appeared at a time when rivers of blood were pouring from TV screens, "brothers" were measuredthe steepness and intricacy of finger configurations at gatherings, the symbol of this era was "Gangster Petersburg", and another life remained somewhere in the past. And the fact that the famous actor Yankovsky and director Agranovich undertook the development of such a strange plot for that era was inexplicable.

The lead actor explained this cinematic twist:

It was a "test of the pen." In the stream of monstrously black cinema, I suddenly wanted to shoot some kind, bright story, I wanted some kind of fairy tale and kindness. Although I profess and love another movie.

But the idea hit the mark: at the "Vyborg Account" competition in 2001, the film became the winner. And since then, it has been shown before New Year's Eve almost as regularly as "our everything" - "Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!".

Storyline

The plot of the film and play "The Old Maid" with Churikova, Mikhailov and Vasilyeva in the lead roles is quite common in the context of Russian ideas about sudden happiness, which is explained by the annual New Year's Eve screening of Eldar Ryazanov's comedy.

There lives a family consisting of a woman Tatyana and her sick mother Sofya Ivanovna, who has been confined to a wheelchair for 10 years. Their existence is filled with silence, caring for each other, old memories and acceptance of life as it is.

Tatiana has never been married and is considered an old maid. And since she has long crossed the line of 45 years (in the play -55 years old) and her social circle consists of her mother and colleagues at work, then the hope of arranging her personal life in her soul has long died. Her days are alike and consist of her job duties at work and her evenings with her mother.

The celebration of the New Year each time takes place according to a long-established ritual: Tatyana decorates the Christmas tree with old (still glass) toys, each of which is associated with a certain memory. And together with Sofia Ivanovna they return to the past, where there was happiness and everyone was alive and well…

Probably, it is the atmosphere of old memories, so subtly conveyed both in the film and in the play "The Old Maid" (and the reviews confirm this), that make this production so close to almost all age categories of the audience.

And then comes the moment to use the word "suddenly"…

Heart-to-heart talk

So, everything is predetermined and goes its own way, but Sofia Ivanovna, a week before the New Year, begins to overcome bad premonitions about the imminent departure from this world. This is not surprising: the age of the elderly lady is respectable, her he alth is not good, and all that is still able to keep her on this earth is maternal feelings and concern for her daughter, who will be left completely alone. Sofya Ivanovna resolutely starts discussing this unpleasant but possible reality with Tatyana.

This very moment of the play "The Old Maid", according to the audience, is considered the beginning of the dynamic unwinding of the storyline. The play of actresses Churikova and Vasilyeva (who is sometimes replaced by ZinaidaCharcot) requires filigree accuracy in conveying the shades of mood of each of the heroines.

An unexpected visitor

Sofya Ivanovna (Tatiana Vasilyeva) looks at life quite realistically: she understands that the existence that her daughter is forced to accept does not contribute to establishing long-term relationships with men. But she really wants the situation to somehow change and she could leave her Tanya in safe hands.

If you carefully observe the dialogue between mother and daughter, you can catch in the smallest intonation shades and mise-en-scenes the diametrically opposite desires of one and the other. Sofya Ivanovna is determined to make a complete "inventory" of Tatyana's fate, and she, in turn, does everything in her power to translate this conversation into a familiar and safe household channel. This is a very subtle psychological moment in which the characters of both heroines are revealed: a strong-willed and persistent mother and a soft and patient daughter.

At this point, the dialogue is interrupted: first due to the fact that the lights went out, and then due to a sudden knock on the door. A new character appears on the scene - Igor, who mixed up the address. It reminds us of something…

Two views on the role

The hero of Alexander Mikhailov appears at first as a kind of aging hero-lover, which, according to reviews of the play "The Old Maid", does not suit the actor at all. If we compare the drawing of the role presented by Oleg Yankovsky in the film "Come see me" and the programcharacter of the same Igor performed by Mikhailov, you can see a significant difference.

The hero of Yankovsky is ironic, practical, a little selfish and organic as an experienced womanizer. He observes with some interest himself, finding himself in a strange position, solving the question along the way: does he like being in an unusual role for himself or not? We can say that his Igor is both a participant and a spectator in this situation.

Mikhailov: role drawing

A completely different Igor performed by Alexander Mikhailov in the play "The Old Maid" with Churikova. Reviews about the figure of this role are very different. To some viewers, the hero looks like a character from the movie "Love and Doves".

But there are many more who liked this "old man" for his solidity, sense of humor, in which there is no sarcasm; as well as ill-concealed kindness, which is why Russian men are so valued. And if Oleg Yankovsky has a hero with cool energy, then Mikhailov's Igor, despite all his attempts to appear detached, is a sincere person.

As for the circumstances due to which the meeting of two solitudes took place, they are quite familiar to the Russian audience: I went to one woman, but ended up in another…

Look for a woman

So, the intrigue is as follows: a respectable man, single and we althy, goes to visit his young mistress, who is 30 years (at least) younger than him. At the address indicated on the piece of paper, hediscovers not a nymph waiting for him, but a woman of Balzac age, who, by a strange coincidence, is also called Tatyana. And there are no other ladies with that name in the apartment anymore. The woman kindly tells him that there are several houses with that number and even hands him a candle for safe descent down the stairs (the light, as we remember, was turned off).

But Igor, that's the name of our ladies' man, not having time to move a few steps, hears the exclamation of a lady who twisted her leg on a banana peel lying on the floor. He, like a gentleman, offers her his help. She initially refuses, but after a few minutes the thought occurs to her that the last days of her dying mother can be brightened up by the thought of the arranged fate of her daughter. Appealing to the Christian mercy of a random acquaintance, Tatyana invites him to play along with her in a play for Sofia Ivanovna and receives his consent.

Reviews of the play "The Old Maid" with Churikova in the title role indicate that the actress perfectly conveyed the whole gamut of feelings of her heroine: it was embarrassment, perseverance, self-irony, and fear of rejection. Many viewers write that they watched with interest the development of events in this episode: the duo Churikov - Mikhailov was a model of acting.

Acting trio

For any theatre, the play "The Old Maid", registered in the repertoire, means that actors with a high level of professionalism serve as part of the troupe.

Confirmation of this is the excellent teamwork of the trioChurikov, Mikhailov, Vasilyev (or Charcot). In it, everyone leads their part in such a way that it is an equal partner performance, and not a solo number of one of them.

Even if you have not seen the play "The Old Maid" with Churikova, Mikhailov and Vasilyeva, reviews about it can fully convey the atmosphere of home comfort and mutual care that the actors managed to create.

I would like to talk about the game of Tatyana Vasilyeva especially. This actress is versatile and very accurately conveyed the essence of the role that she played both on the screen and on stage. It would seem, how can you reveal the character of the heroine, who is in a wheelchair almost all the time? Vasilyeva succeeded, despite the fact that she only had the opportunity to use gestures and intonation: in the film "Come See Me" there is an opportunity to see the expression of the actress's eyes in close-ups. And it becomes clear why the hero of Oleg Yankovsky, with all his irony, could not resist the mild influence of this look.

Meeting and acquaintance

So, the hero crosses the threshold of the house, which is the "kingdom of women". The first thing he does is call his young passion on the phone to warn her of being late and explain his reason. Of course, this is the standard phrase "I'm in a meeting." The girl turned out to be not so stupid: she called back to the number from which the call was made (her phone was with a determinant). Another Tatyana picked up the receiver, and after a few phrasesthe face began to change, reflecting the complex play of thought. Inna Churikova in this episode demonstrated all the shades of emotions that an intelligent lady could experience, whose main interlocutors were the books of the classics, including Dickens.

About Obscene Items

About the acting game of Churikova, Mikhailov and Vasilyeva in the play "The Old Maid", reviews regarding this moment are ambiguous. In particular, some viewers reproach Inna Mikhailovna for a single utterance of a swear word. However, let's try to look at this episode from a different angle: the actress pronounces this word as if she were reading it in a classic literary text.

That is, it was said in an even voice, without an energy component, as if the heroine did not understand at all what exactly she was repeating after her interlocutor on the other end of the telephone receiver.

Perhaps, it was not vulgarity, as some viewers tried to present Churikova's game, but a quite consciously used acting technique.

The Forgotten World

The world, in which the hero of A. Mikhailov finds himself unexpectedly, returns him to the atmosphere of long-forgotten relationships, where the main thing is the quiet joy of the opportunity to do something for a loved one. In the play "The Old Maid", which lasts about three hours, nothing is said about the life of the protagonist until he appears in this apartment.

However, it can be assumed, based on the traits of his character, that sometime in his lifeevents occurred that completely changed its course and view of it. Having established certain boundaries that he does not allow anyone to cross, Igor periodically entertains himself with non-binding intrigues. That's why he was so attracted to communication with these two women: they are warm, calm and you can be yourself.

It was this atmosphere that the actors managed to convey so well that the audience felt it, as evidenced by the reviews.

For peace of mind

Further developments you probably know or guess about what will happen on New Year's Eve…

Even if you've seen the movie, be sure to find the opportunity to visit the play "The Old Maid". In the Queen of the Moscow Region, it will go on February 11 at the TsDK im. M. I. Kalinina.

And on March 24, 2019, viewers will be able to see their favorite artists in the Vyborgsky Palace of Culture along Komissara Smirnova Street, 15. The nearest metro stop is Ploshad Lenina in St. Petersburg. The play "The Old Maid", according to reviews, is one of those productions that are called "leaving nature".