The play "Emilia Galotti" by Gabriella Tuminayte on the stage of "Contemporary"

MOSCOW. The premiere of the play “Emilia Galotti” staged at the Lessing tragedy of the same name, which took place at the Sovremennik Theater, was a great success. The play based on a play written more than two centuries ago was staged by Lithuanian director Gabriella Tuminaitė, invited last year by the theater’s artistic director Galina Volchek.

The reason for the invitation was the project "Experiments" organized by Galina Volchek, intended for the work of young directors. During the month of participation in the project, Gabriella Tuminayte, working together with the actors of the Sovremennik Theater, prepared a draft version of the play. After his show, Galina Volchek made an offer to Tuminayte to continue rehearsals for the inclusion of "Emilia Galotti" in the repertoire of the theater.

The premiere performance staged by Gabriella Tuminait has significant differences from the first production of the play, which took place in the German city of Braunschweig in 1772. Then the story of the unfortunate fate of the young heroine of the play was told with all the details in five acts. For modern theater in this form, Lessing’s play is unacceptable.

However, Gabriella Tuminayte made a bold decision - in her production, the performance took only two hours, turning from an old-fashioned drama into a farce, so precise in meaning and cruel that the audience becomes both funny and scary.

The main connoisseurs of the director’s work at the premiere were the father of Gabriella, the artistic director of the Vakhtangov Theater Rimas Tuminas, who was present at the premiere. Actors of Sovremennik engaged in the play played virtuoso, for which they were awarded flowers and deserved applause in the messenger of the play. In the role of the unhappy heroine of the play - the naive and virtuous Emilia Galotti, the stage was a wonderful actress Daria Belousova.

Ludmila Trautmane