"North Wind" - Litvinova's performance: audience reviews, features and actors

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

In May 2017, the long-awaited premiere of the play "The North Wind" took place on the stage of the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater. The author of the play and director is Renata Litvinova. This name is enough to ensure maximum attention to the performance from critics and the public. According to reviews of Litvinova's play "The North Wind", it was the most discussed and intriguing premiere of the season.

Renata Litvinova is a phenomenon in art

Renata Litvinova first made herself known back in the nineties. Since then, this talented and extraordinary woman has never ceased to amaze fans with her creativity, way of thinking and sophisticated beauty. Renata - Honored Artist of Russia, laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation, playwright, director and actress. Whatever Renata Litvinova creates, be it a role, a film or a play, there is an inimitable author's style in everything.

Litvinova is always on her own, unlike anyone else. She doesn'tafraid to tell the viewer about the secret, not afraid to share through his work a special vision of reality and attitude to the world. Litvinov is, in a sense, always outrageous. But shocking is not ostentatious, not artificial, not an end in itself. It's just that it is very unusual, not always clear, but invariably attractive. Even in her unfading subtle beauty there is some kind of mysticism. Judging by the reviews of Litvinova's performance "The North Wind", in her new work she again forces the viewer to leave the usual comfort zone.

"North Wind" - director Litvinova's theatrical debut

The play "The North Wind" is the debut of Renata Litvinova as a theater scriptwriter and director. Litvinova loves long-term cooperation with people who work with her on the same wavelength and feel well what the author wants to say. So it happened in the play "Northern Wind". The cast are Boris Plotnikov, Pavel Tabakov, Sofia Zaika, Yana Sexse, Maria Fomina. One of the main roles was brilliantly played by the oldest actress of the Moscow Art Theater Raisa Maksimova. Another discovery for the viewer was Valentina Ivanova, the permanent administrator of the Moscow Art Theater and a professional actress. It so happened that the premiere of "Northern Wind" became a full-fledged debut for Ivanova.

Director Litvinova is true to herself in the artistic design of the performance. There is symbolic minimalism in everything. The costumes of the heroes are made in black and gray by the extraordinary Gosha Rubchinsky. The decorations are also dominated by black. At the very beginning of the performance, the audienceit is unusual to look at the heroes in black clothes against the backdrop of black scenery. But, as always happens with the works of Litvinova, very soon the audience is captured by the "North Wind" - Renata's New Year's madness. The effect is enhanced by lighting solutions and special effects: snow and fog. According to the author, this performance is absurd, surreal, fantasy on the eternal theme of the search for love. The music for the production was written by the talented Zemfira, an old muse and friend of Litvinova.

Phantasmagoria about wind, death and love

The play takes place somewhere in Europe in the middle of the last century. For many years, members of the same family have been gathering at the unchanged New Year's table, from generation to generation. This is where the "normality" of the plot ends. In the North Wind, the clock strikes the thirteenth hour every day at midnight, bending space and time. Thanks to an extra hour, the head of the family, Alice, constantly deceives Death, who mistakenly takes someone else each time.

Benedict finds Love and immediately loses it due to ridiculous tragic circumstances. Fanny receives a telegram about her own death even before the fatal plane crash. Margarita, who invented this damned extra hour, herself dies five minutes after meeting her lover. The heroes of the play constantly gain and lose, make mistakes and lose, miss and confuse everything, love and die. Some heroes come to replace others, everything is constantly changing. Only the elusive Love, the mad North Wind and the pedantic Death remain eternal. HerselfRenata Litvinova called her work a phantasmagoria about wind, death and love.

Music as continuation of action

The music for the play "Northern Wind" was written by the incomparable Zemfira. She and Renata Litvinova have been close friends and co-creators for many years. Zemfira, like no one else, feels the mystical and mysterious world of Renata.

Therefore, the music in the performance does not accompany the action, but continues it, telling without words about the wind, love and death. According to audience reviews, music occupies a very important place in Litvinova's play "The North Wind", it is harmonious, gentle and causes inexplicable excitement in the audience.

Reviews and impressions

The performance is called by many a bright theatrical event, impressions and reflections after watching which do not let go for several days. Audience reviews of Litvinova's play "The North Wind" are full of delight. It is rare to find such unanimous acceptance of a theatrical production by the public. Even those who do not quite understand the metaphors and allegories of this phantasmagoria note the exciting and magical atmosphere that prevails in the hall. Spectators note the excellent stage design, the brilliant play of the actors and their own complete immersion in what is happening.

Critics also welcomed the premiere. Excellent reviews have been written about the play "Northern Wind". Theatergoers note that notes of the author's previous works are captured in the production. It is a continuation of Renata's creative conversationabout the eternal search for love. It is especially noted that the appearance of Litvinova herself on stage in the role of Margarita brings unusual and such recognizable colors to the overall action. In the reviews of Renata Litvinova's play "North Wind" there is regret that all this crazy windy blizzard ends too quickly.

Love and Death

In the work of Renata Litvinova, love and death are always present side by side. Without love, life has no meaning, but death is also noble and just in its mission. They are inseparable and eternal, like life itself. There is a lot of sadness, fatal events and deep reflections in Renata's works. But judging by the reviews of Litvinova's play "The North Wind", the audience leaves the hall thoughtful and inspired. Despite the eternal search for love and the inevitability of death, life is beautiful and invincible.