In the Barnaul drama, the premiere of the play "Man of the Earth" dedicated to Vasily Shukshin

BARNAUL. In the framework of the festival held in Altai, known as the “Shukshin days”, the long-awaited event took place - on July 20 the performance “Man of the Earth” was presented in the Barnaul drama. The author of the idea of creating a musical-dramatic work is the famous metropolitan director Anton Zhukov. He is the author of the script and his director on the stage of the drama.

To play the role of Shukshin, the director invited Andrei Merzlikin, an actor of theater and cinema, well known to the audience. During the performance, which lasted about three hours, the audience saw on the stage a story-reminder of the most important milestones of the biography of the writer and artist, who glorified the Altai Territory.

In the first part of “Man of the Earth”, memories were heard of Vasily Shukshin’s childhood, studying at school and technical school, his attitude to his mother. The second part of the play told the audience about the formation of Vasily Shukshin as a director and writer. This included a story about studying at VGIK, a story about the first movie role, about the directorial debut.

For many viewers, memories of the problems that Shukshin had in his relations with his close colleagues, thoughts about life expressed by the writer in his diaries became a revelation. The play was based on letters and diaries belonging to Vasily Shukshin, memories of his friends, fragments of which were read by Andrei Merzlikin. His reading was accompanied by music performed by the Siberia Orchestra.

At the same time, on the screen located on the stage, viewers saw excerpts from films shot with the participation of Shukshin, newsreels. The music for the performance was also written by Anton Zhukov, whose main profession is conductor. The production was attended by the academic choir of Barnaul. The audience warmly received the performance, each piece of it completed the applause.

Ludmila Trautmane © Gallerix.ru