The Stas Namin Theater in St. Petersburg showed the play "New York. 80s. We!"

ST. PETERSBURG. The Stas Namin Theater for the first time showed a performance to Petersburg audiences based on an autobiographical play written by Mikhail Shemyakin. A talented artist working in almost all genres of art (painting, sculpture, stage design), turned to drama. The author of the idea to create a play by Shemyakin “New York. The 80s. We! ”Was Stas Namin. Its premiere took place almost a year ago, but the performance has not yet been seen in St. Petersburg.

Over the course of three evenings, the performance was a success on the New Stage of Aleksandrinka. On the stage for more than two hours there was a story about people, by the will of fate, who in the 80s became “exiles from the USSR”. The characters of the play were famous emigrants, thanks to whom New York in those years became a city with a special climate created by representatives of the Russian intelligentsia.

These were writers, scientists and artists, whose names became known throughout the world. The elite audience of New York applauded at the performances of Nuriev and Baryshnikov, held in Manhattan, admired the works of Ernst Unknown. Among the characters in the play there is also the author of the play, who knows firsthand about the life of the emigration of those years.

Mikhail Shemyakin was also forced to leave St. Petersburg. The first city to accept the disgraced artist was Paris, and then he decided to settle in New York. The author of the play talks about the importance of the topic raised in the play. In those years, forced emigrants had no hope of seeing Russia; they understood that this was parting with the country, with relatives and friends, for life.

Petersburg spectators had a unique opportunity - in the touring performances on the stage were two Shemyakins. The author of the play was in the role of the narrator, and Oleg Litskevich, the theater’s actor, created the image of an emigrant artist.

Ludmila Trautmane © Gallerix.ru