European vision of the production of Boris Godunov

MOSCOW. The greatness of Russian classics was shown by Peter Stein, an outstanding German director. It was very challenging. Everyone was waiting for a production from the theater of Alexander Kalyagin Et Cetera with bated breath. No one could predict what the German director would try to show us.

Pushkin’s drama Boris Godunov was supposed to be a test play. The drama was written by the poet with great inspiration in 1825.

The place where the work was written is the village of Mikhailovskoye, very poetic. Amazing beauty of nature, which inspires the writing of works. After all, before there was no mobile communication, Internet and satellite television, which means that there was only one thing left - to write, and in between cases to flirt with the daughters of the neighbors of the landowners, peasants, and of course, drink wine.

Peter Stein decided to show the famous Pushkin creation on the stage of the Moscow theater Et Cetera after 190 years.

The production was very close to the original. Perhaps Stein did not dare to include his vision of drama in this production. Today, many directors are trying in every way to twist the plot, dilute it with modern slang. Middle Ages characters can communicate using mobile phones.

The Russian drama in the vision of Peter Stein was shown in the original, as Pushkin saw it, describing historical events in the time of Godunov. And that is great! The viewer has the opportunity to see Pushkin as he was, thanks to the German director Peter Stein, who fell in love with Russia and the works of her remarkable poets and playwrights.

Some templates were still used. After all, foreigners think that Russians drink all the time. Although it is a good-natured people, but a little gloomy. Men are presented to them in fur clothes surrounded by female beauty.

In the production of Boris Godunov, the priests allow themselves to blaspheme, the characters are fairly expressed and drink. Female individuals are shown disenfranchised and completely subordinate to muzhiks. The commoners are dressed in gloomy rags, and the boyars in long robes, similar to a coat with a collar.

Costumes deserve special attention in the production. A native of Austria, Anna-Maria Heinreich, was responsible for the costume design. She surpassed herself. The costumes in Moscow were perfectly matched to fit the impression. Each costume was a small work of art. Everything was in its place, every little thing.

Anna-Maria Heinreich tried to bring a piece of European vision into the clothes of Russian characters, but this did not spoil the overall impression, but on the contrary brought her own zest. But Peter Stein did not lag behind. The performance was spectacular, with a large scale. It can be described in three lines.

1. Dullness and gloom

To create that atmosphere of gloom and gloom that reigned at that time, the German director and the stage designer Ferdenand Wegenbauer could. Russia was perceived then: a gloomy and clogged Kingdom, devoid of the sun. The extras perfectly recreated the image of the people. With a chaotic movement, the actors worked clearly, and each ended up in the place where it should have been. The professionalism of the director was felt. An amazing episode can be called the moment when a commoner throws her newborn child to the ground so that he begins to cry along with people who pray. For Vera’s sake, slaughtered, uneducated people were ready for anything. There are few female roles in the production, mainly a male director’s project, which is particularly gloomy.

2. Mystery

Pushkin always managed to keep the reader’s attention. And Stein was able to keep the viewer’s attention. But how? The drama itself is amazing. She reveals the games of thrones. After all, Boris, dying, did not answer whether he was to blame for the death of Tsarevich Dmitry, or, according to the main version of the investigation, the wolves tore him up? Pushkin perfectly keeps the intrigue.

3. Regency

This is how we see Boris Godunov performed by Vladimir Simonov: regal, majestic. Costumes show all the beauty of the fabric of that time, they shimmer, shine. The set design in a production cost a considerable amount.

Boris Godunov’s brocade clothing and the throne, women’s suits and kokoshniki decorated with a huge number of iridescent beads, large bowls with heads from where the water flows… The performance is performed in 3D, the action takes place on three platforms at once, and the whole background in a black curtain is all majestic and Really. This performance will appeal to fans of the classic genre. Such a performance will not be interesting for children, gloom and gloom will not make a good impression on them, so they can be safely left at home. And to come and immerse ourselves in the era of the reign of the great "Boris Godunov."

Lilia Ladova