Performance "Northern Wind": reviews, actors, content

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

Reviews about the play "The North Wind" at the Moscow Art Theater usually begin with a mention of Renata Litvinova and often contain only praises or, conversely, statements full of envy and anger about her, and not at all about the production. No less often they speak about Zemfira, who was engaged in the musical arrangement of the action.

"Northern Wind" is a very interesting and original performance, which is often forgotten to mention, carried away by the personality of Litvinova, not only by the audience, but also by professional critics.

What is the play about?

The play "Northern Wind", reviews of which are full of contradictions and rarely filled with substantive content, seems to someone underground, arthouse - a matter of taste. It is possible that this is due to the lack of a clear plot, the time of action and the reality of what is happening on the stage. Moreover, the production is reminiscent of the well-known American film "Groundhog Day", but, of course, with much more pronounced mysticism, tragedy, anguish and pathos.

In fact, going to the Moscow Art Theater. A. P. Chekhov"The North Wind" is a gothic fairy tale for adults, plunging with its mood to the same place where the works of Hoffmann send. Minimalism in the scenery and costumes, the blue light of spotlights and musical accompaniment only reinforce the unreality of events, evoking the idea that everything that happens on stage is only a dream of one of the characters or the viewer himself.

The action takes place somewhere and sometime. Although the annotations for the play "The North Wind", and the reviews too, placed the production in the middle of the last century and placed it in Western Europe - there is nothing on the stage that would unequivocally indicate this.

The plot itself, paradoxically, is full of dynamism, something is constantly happening on the stage with the characters. The action takes place around one family on New Year's day. Members of this family managed to get the "thirteenth hour." It is the “thirteenth”, and not the “twenty-fifth”, since the mystical binding of what is happening is made to an additional strike of the chimes.

There are two types of characters in the performance - permanent and coming. Visitors are family members. They fuss, do something, deceive Death and look for Love, get sick and die, live, drink and eat, come and go. In parallel with them, there are also permanent heroes, who are just the main characters. These are Death, Love and the North Wind. By the end of the performance, it becomes unambiguous and completely clear only that the whole performance was just about them - about Wind, Death and Love.

Bwhat genre?

The play "Northern Wind" at the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater reviews ranked as different genres of theatrical art, from farce to tragedy. Critics also did not come to a consensus on this issue, although the fact that the genre is being discussed is somewhat surprising.

The fact is that the author has clearly defined the genre - this is a phantasmagoria. Accordingly, if there is a definition of the author, then there can be no other options.

What is unique? Are there any restrictions?

The play "Northern Wind" in the reviews of viewers and critics is associated with only two names - Litvinova and Ramazanova, although the action captures the viewer's breath thanks to the work of completely different people. The success of the production is the merit of each of the artists.

There are more than ten actors on stage, each of whom is personally acquainted with the author, one way or another has either worked with her or maintains friendly relations. The play, which became the material for this performance, has no analogues. It is written off from specific people whom the author placed in her fantasies.

This is both the strength of the performance and its vulnerability, because it is impossible to even think about replacing the artist in such a situation. Each image was written for a specific person, and in some ways it was written off from the performer. This gives the characters a unique veracity and realism that goes against the general mystical and fairy-tale atmosphere of the scene.

The costumes for the production were created by Gosha Rubchinsky, and Litvinova herself was engaged in scenography. In the register of the theater repertoire, the performance is listed asdramatic, the same is indicated on the posters. Age limit - "18+".

What do they say about the performance?

The play "Northern Wind" collects completely different reviews. The one thing that most of them have in common, whether their content is enthusiastic or negative, is their inherent bias and "emphasis" on the individual.

There are negative responses that say something lengthy: “the most ushlep performance”, “I love Kafka at the Gogol Center”, “I love the absurd and the grotesque, but this performance sucks” and so on. When you read such statements, however, as well as completely opposite ones, there is a doubt that the writers were looking at the stage at all.

“The North Wind” is a performance that is greatly harmed by star names in its announcements and on posters. Of course, the names of Litvinova and Ramazanova attract the viewer, guaranteeing ticket sales, which are by no means cheap - the average cost is 10,000 rubles. But these names interfere with the performance itself, influencing what is written about it, and forming an initially incorrect and biased attitude.

This production needs to go and watch, not focusing on the "valuable opinions" left by someone.