Vibrations of past stories

Why are the best audiences students? What is more important, classics or modern plays? Youth theater - is it for young spectators or for young actors? Semyon Spivak about how he started, about relationships with actors and with titles.

He has headed the Youth Theater on Fontanka for twenty years. During this time, the theater became popular not only in St. Petersburg, but also in Moscow, and often tours in Europe. Semyon Spivak told our correspondent Andrey Morozov about how he began his career as a director, his relationship with actors and why he doesn’t mind titles.

— Do you like to discover new names of playwrights or stage classics?

- I need something else. If the play contains a particle of my feelings, then I stage it. I have no intention of revealing any names. It is important for me that the play is close to me. There is a circle of close authors: Chekhov, Moliere, Bulgakov.

But I realized long ago that there can be no calculation in art. Life goes on, and some topics become closer, some further away. I also staged a play by the young playwright Alexei Shipenko, and am now rehearsing a play by Eduardo de Filippo.

- Soul is soul, but all around is the grin of capitalism, all around is money, money...

— Have you been to our theater? They probably noticed that there are 320 more seats, so many are sitting in the aisles. I think you can earn money honestly.

— Your theater is called Youth. Is it because it is for young people or because the troupe is young?

— This question is asked often. I answer like this. There is no theater with an address, there is a theater that raises a problem. Therefore, the name of our theater should be treated simply: it says Molodezhny.

Who is the main authority for Nikolai Kolyada? How to build a theater house? Why doesn't Kolyada leave the Urals? What qualities does a playwright have? How are plays written?

Nikolai Kolyada: “In our house...”

In Moscow there is the Lenkom Theater, it used to be called the Lenin Komsomol Theater, then the name was left as a brand. You can also answer wittily: according to a UNESCO report, a young person is considered up to forty-five years of age.

We love our audience very much, we know them. We have a huge percentage of viewers from students. Why are students the best audience?

Because they are not burdened with family, they are open to accepting some important things. Then this thirst to understand someone else’s soul goes away, children are born, and everyday life begins. It seems to me that young people go where they are not manipulated, where they are not lied to, where they do not want to impose something or pass one thing off as another. We try to talk about simple things in simple human language.

— You have been running the theater for twenty years. Can we say that you have your own theater?

- I hope so. When I arrived, one actress asked me: “What kind of theater will you build?” I then answered: “Spivak’s Theatre.”

— Do you have your own students?

— We have already released three courses at the Theater Academy. We have a school, many of my students joined the theater troupe.

We are building a theater that gives people strength. It's no secret that there are theaters that select them. We are building a bright theater that awakens the soul.

I believe that there is a religious form of the concept of the soul, and there is a secular one. Not everyone goes to church, but anyone can come to the theater. Theater can be more alive than life itself.

— Do you know what your students are thinking? Do they have a desire to earn more money, since their profession gives them popularity?

— Those who act in films, in leading roles, earn a lot of money. I’m ashamed to say what the salary of an artist who has the title “people’s” is.

“Tell me, what’s so shameful about that?”

- Thirteen thousand.

-Who should be ashamed?

- To me. The government doesn't seem to really understand what we're doing.

— Some time ago, at the instigation of government officials, they discussed the possible closure of repertory theaters. How did you feel about this idea?

— I am for repertory theater. Stanislavski discovered not only his own system. He also created a new theater organization. Supporters of entrepreneurial enterprise do not attach any importance to this.

Remember how a few years ago the World Hockey Championship was held in St. Petersburg in the new Ice Palace. All our stars from the NHL came to play for Russia. But in order to play, they had only three days. As a result, they lost to everyone, even the weakest teams. Here is an example of an enterprise.

I have not seen a single high-level enterprise performance. This is simply impossible. It is clear that the enterprise is done in order to make money. Today even the viewer understands this.

“Nevertheless, officials insisted on reforming the theater.

- You know, there are people who understand music, and there are those who don’t hear it. So it is with the theater. Maybe the officials had the wrong advisers?

A similar reform was carried out in France. Now, when we go there on tour, French artists confess to us: “How we envy you.” Once upon a time we did not have very good radios, televisions, refrigerators, we were not dressed in Hugo Boss costumes, but we had a wonderful theater.

These are difficult times, all over the world the word “money” is on the first line in ratings. In fact, we simply don’t know what happened before us, what did Moses do with those who, while he was away to talk with God, danced around the golden calf? He began to kill them. Those who wrote great books understood that money should not be put first. This makes things worse for everyone; a kind of disunity sets in.

In 1987, when we staged “Dear Elena Sergeevna,” people bought real estate. But I don't regret not buying it. What can we rely on in our colorful world? To great books, before which we are just grains of sand. These books are eternal reference books; you can find any answer in them.

— But how do you like communicating with current officials?

— Many of them, fortunately, are intelligent people. The personality of our governor is often discussed, but Valentina Ivanovna did a lot for the Youth Theater. We have a new theater building. This means she understands the value of what we create.

- What is the answer?

- Gratitude. Maybe by summer we will start working under normal human conditions. I can take you around the old theater building, and you will see how difficult our life is. And it’s probably noticeable in my pencil case office.

— They won’t ask you to do something like propaganda in support of the construction of the Okhta Center?

“I think we won’t do a play on this topic.” Every person has good decisions and controversial ones. You see how vigorously this project is discussed in society.

The artistic director of the Vakhtangov Theater, director Rimas Tuminas, talks about performances in Lithuania and Moscow, about working in both his native and cousin’s group. I wish I could figure out all these theatrical family ties!

Rimas Tuminas: “My task is not to feed, but to awaken taste...”

The Russian people live in the dream of a good Tsar. When I came to the theater twenty years ago, I also encountered this. I am interested in Eastern philosophy and understand that we expect a decision from a leader, first of all. The ancients believed that the decision of leaders should be optimal, that is, one in which the least number of people would suffer.

When they say that as a result of the construction of the Okhta Center, investments will flow into St. Petersburg, my soul begins to jump. Of course, I understand that this center does not really fit into the architectural ensemble, but, on the other hand, I am sad to see how St. Petersburg is turning gray. We went on tour to very beautiful cities: Paris, Stockholm, Buenos Aires, but I have never seen anything more beautiful than St. Petersburg. And this aging handsome man needs treatment, and very expensive treatment.

— Are the young artists of your theater spoiled by popularity?

— We have many famous actors, they are popular in St. Petersburg. In the spring we were on tour in Moscow, the hall was packed, we couldn’t get tickets. There was good press and wonderful meetings with the audience.

Moscow loves our theater.

We have wonderful young people who understand why they go on stage... No one has yet canceled the Ten Commandments. If we believe that it is very important, then others will believe it too. This may sound a little romantic, but at least we believe it. We have our own audience. Those who come to us are looking for love, joy, support within themselves - who are looking for themselves. There are many such people.

— Romance is romance, but it’s no secret that there are directors who treat actors like Karabas-Barabas.

— We live as a theater family. Just like they lived in the theater of Moliere or Shakespeare. In general, real theater tends to live as a family, in the broader sense of the word. We are all very close to each other and it is very difficult.

- What is the danger here?

— In difficult moments it can be difficult to make a decision.

— How do you maintain the authority of the director at such moments?

“For some reason they think that it is based on the fact that artists should be afraid, but it grows out of the result. For an artist, a full house of spectators and self-realization are important. I try to ensure that every artist in the theater has leading roles, so that he understands that he is loved and respected.

- It turns out?

— Eighty percent of the troupe are cast in leading roles. Young artists, coming to the theater, become part of the family; if it doesn’t work out, then they will not be able to enter the theater. Because there are people of the same blood, and there are people of different blood.

- So, in your theater everyone has the same blood?

- It turns out so.

— Can you work with any artists or only with your own?

- If the artist believes me, then with anyone.

— Does it happen that artists don’t trust the director?

— This happened to me in Moscow. “You have to feel it inside,” I told one artist. “Stop it,” he answered. “What do you mean inside?”

Artists are different, just like artists. For example, Kustodiev, his paintings have their own themes, their own colors. But Petrov-Vodkin, with his tricolor, has others, they are rougher, more primitive, in his paintings there is an almost parable-like super-thought. Relatively speaking, it will be difficult for an artist, if he is a fan of Petrov-Vodkin, to understand Kustodiev.

— Recently, public conflicts between actors and directors have become more frequent. What do you think is the reason for the actors' demand to change the main directors?

- Fear. We also had conflicts, but they were not made public.

When the chief director left the Youth Theater, he mentioned my name, and the committee appointed me artistic director. I brought with me fifteen artists from the Lenconcert Theater, and there were already fifteen artists in the Molodezhny Theater.

I immediately promised myself that I would be the same with everyone: both those who came with me and those who were already in the theater. Immediately “my” artists thought that I had betrayed them, and others thought that I had agreed with my artists that I would play such a game with them. And I fell between two gears. They say that when Stalin wanted to destroy the theater, he united two theaters.

— I also remember “Orchestra Rehearsal” by Fellini.

— Artists tend to think that they can do without a conductor. It is known that in Moscow and St. Petersburg there are theaters run by artists.

In my opinion, the acting profession is acting, and the directing profession is directing. The director conveys his idea through another person, this is the whole complexity, but this is also the harmony.

It seems to me that when a new artistic director comes to the theater, he should be given carte blanche for at least three years. In three years something can be built, and the director can figure out which artist is closer to him. When such a thought is expressed, people get offended.

- Yes, and the times are not those when everything could be solved by hitting your fist on the table...

“Now you need to have divine patience.” There is nothing worse than war in a creative team.

There are different ways of forming theater. But the performance is not born without pain. I would like everything to be done easily, but it doesn’t work that way. Sometimes the body just can't handle it. Especially at graduation—the heart, the pressure, and the stomach can’t stand it. Almost all artists go to a gastroenterologist with an ulcer.

— Does it happen that actors leave the theater?

— Sometimes we lost actors, they went to other theaters. This is how theatrical life works.

— Did you leave on your own or asked to leave?

- Differently. Now we have an artist playing, whom Kirill Lavrov once invited to the BDT. He works at the BDT and plays for us.

— You’ve been running the theater for so many years that they probably look you in the face, and everything you say will, in the opinion of those around you, be brilliant and magnificent? Isn't it boring to be a master?

— I do yoga, I have a teacher in Madrid. Thanks to yoga, the concept of “master” has been crowded out of my consciousness.

— Do you allow the possibility of arguing with you?

— People argue with me, I allow people to express their points of view. The rehearsal may take a little longer, but they can offer interesting solutions, more interesting than mine.

Over seven years of practicing yoga, I developed the concept of relativity in the sense of what I am worth.

- Is she special?

- Not what we all know. This is breathing yoga, it cleanses everything in the body, especially thoughts.

- How did you come to this?

— I met the teacher by chance, although nothing happens by chance in life. I guess I was thinking about where I should develop next.

— Don’t you have the feeling that your hands are full and the next performances can be done like pie?

“It takes a lot of confidence to hear a performance.” What if I hear something wrong? This is real torture.

When I rehearse, I communicate with few people; I try to protect myself from any communication, especially at graduation. I can sleep for two to three hours. There is a certain feeling that you are giving birth like a woman.

Creativity is a very complex thing. Sometimes you feel great love for your profession, and sometimes you feel great hatred and fear before coming to rehearsal.

Interviewed by Andrey Morozov

SEND:

Related articles:

• The wrong life of Victor Ginzburg. Leave to stay.
• Must see. Woody Allen's favorite films.
• Leonid Gaidai: laughter through tears.
• “Spirit of Fire”: they did it right. Review of the main new products of the festival.
• Marlborough block. Leonid Gaidai, the genius of Soviet comedy, would have turned 97 years old at the end of January this year.
• Phantom of "Potz". Almost thirty years ago, at the turn of the epoch, the only film adaptation of Alexander Vvedensky was made.
• Must see: Luca Guadagnino's favorite films. A selection of cult inspiring films.
• Soft skin. About a talented French director.
• Murder and psychedelics. 11 cool films from Danish film director Nicolas Winding Refn.
• Mistress of the red house. They feared Gundareva for her sharp tongue.

Emilia Spivak

Theater and film actress Emilia Spivak | Photo: uznayvse.ru

Both Maryana and Emilia Spivak grew up in creative families, which undoubtedly influenced their choice of profession. Emilia was born in 1981 in Leningrad. Her father Semyon (Solomon) Spivak is a famous Soviet director, head of the State Youth Theater on Fontanka, and her mother was involved in housekeeping and raising her daughter. Since childhood, Emilia went to various clubs, went in for sports, dance and music. Her father often took her to the theater with him, and at the age of 12 she performed on stage for the first time, reciting poetry at a celebration dedicated to the theater’s anniversary. In her youth, Emilia was very shy and timid, and her father had to work a lot with her, teaching her the basics of the acting profession - he only saw his daughter as an actress in the future!

Director Semyon Spivak and his daughter Emilia | Photo: 24smi.org

Nevertheless, Emilia Spivak doubted her choice of profession for some time - in high school she wanted to become a lawyer, but quickly realized that she did not have the necessary qualities to achieve success in this field of activity - first of all, balance and prudence. But she still became a lawyer - not in real life, but on the set. It was in this image that the whole country recognized her when, in her 2nd year at the St. Petersburg State Academy of Theater Arts, she was offered the role of lawyer Zhenya in the series “Secrets of the Investigation.”

Semyon Spivak told what animals think and talk about

“Observations on human nature, in two acts,” is how the genre is designated in the program. The characters are turkeys, parrots, lemmings, cats, cows... 10 stories about the life of animals: “Three wild turkeys waiting for corn cobs”, “Dialogue of lemmings”, “Groundhog at the window”, “Mousetrap” and so on.

What does the playwright think about animals? “They are our brothers, they are like us! They experience very similar emotions, at least this can be said about mammals and, possibly, about birds. They love, they hate, they are afraid, they are happy, they play, they are jealous, their feelings can be hurt, they forgive you or they don’t forgive you. I think no decent person believes that animals do not experience the same emotions as we do. The only thing is that we can gesture and speak the language. I give animals a voice. This is a play where a person does everything possible to imagine what animals are really thinking... It is written for those who need it.”

The actors are not wearing cat or mouse costumes, no paws, tails, or beaks. And we didn’t go to the zoo while working on the play to refresh our memory of the animals’ habits. The characters are animals, and the play is about relationships between people.

Don Nigro wrote:

— The playwright has an extremely negative attitude towards the use of animal costumes. The feeling of the inner life of animals should be expressed through acting. No one should walk on fours. And it would be good not to make animal faces. In each case, actors must find more subtle means of identifying themselves with the creatures they portray. Actually, I want us, the audience, to see not so much the animals themselves, but the perception of certain little animals by other animals: exalted apes who imagine themselves to be human beings.

The RG correspondent watched the performance and then talked with the actors.

Honored Artist of the Russian Federation Pyotr Zhuravlev (performer of the role of Baboon):

— It’s always interesting to play something new, and I’ve definitely never played a baboon before! (Laughs). I will say that it was a great joy to work on this role, this performance, with the young cast of the troupe. I remembered my student days, I felt youthful and lively, when everything was a joy, I was happy to misbehave while rehearsing.

Andrey Shimko (performer of the role of Platypus):

“This time, during the reading of the play, Semyon Yakovlevich for the first time suggested that we choose the characters ourselves. I wrote that I would like to play the Platypus. I don’t even know why it was he who resonated with me, but it suddenly seemed to me that this was my character. In the Youth Theater I play Don Quixote, and the Platypus is a kind of reincarnation of the dreamer, the Knight of the Sad Image. The same total loneliness and the desire to be useful and needed by someone. While working on the role, I looked for an extraordinary personality in my hero, who paradoxically wants to be like everyone else, and this is his tragedy. An intellectual, an outgoing nature with a refined, refined behavior. In our “clip art”, trampled world, his sophistication seems savage, a forgotten and unnecessary relic. The platypus goes to beaver parties, where they pay no attention to him, and tries to fit in with them. The paradox is that, in a good way, they should adapt to him, and not vice versa! This is the tragedy of this character. But despite everything, he still believes that he will meet someone like him, which means that not everything is hopeless for him.

Regina Shchukina (performer of the role of Tabby Cat):

“I was very happy about this role. I thought: finally, I won’t cry on stage, I’ll be so positive! Normally perceives life, does not think about trifles. But when we started rehearsing, digging... There were many different solutions, five options for sure. And then I realized that I was again going into a state of inertia! (Smiles). But it’s a miracle that I was invited to this performance. This is an experiment for our theater.

Don Nigro's work is based on the qualities of animals, but everything is based on human psychology. For example, we are heading towards death (overeating, smoking, drinking, using drugs), we are well aware of this, but we continue to do so. Rare people get scared, stop, say to themselves: stop, I will no longer do what is killing me! Animals do not realize this, but we humans know.

“Animal Tales” is a play that combines philosophy and absurdity. There is sarcasm, irony, allegories. Animals and birds are talking. Witty. With recognizable human behavior. About the meaning of life, good and evil, loneliness, disappointments, compromises, temptations, dreams...

This is what the Indians say:

- I am a turkey with a dream, and my dream is to find a saxophone tree, and pick up a saxophone for myself, and learn to play it with my paws. Call me crazy, but this is my dream.

- Penny, turkeys don't play saxophones. You'll never find a saxophone tree.

Each novel contains philosophical statements:

“To be different from everyone else is a terrible punishment.”

- Those who have reason are so lonely in this world.

- Lord, someone would come and talk to me./p>

“Life is a big house, and you keep moving from room to room.

— In this performance, for the first time in my life, I did not make a cast of actors - the first (“star”) and the second, but groups. I came up with names for them: “Bravo”, “Encore”. “Everyone is equal,” said Semyon Spivak. — The play, its allegorical language allows for different options. She talks about the merits and demerits of people, human degradation.

Don Nigro has ten separate tragicomic stories. We play like this: five pieces in two groups are solved the same way, and five are changed. But the text is the same. And you see another Cat, different Parrots, another Mouse... I staged two completely different performances, so to evaluate the production, you need to watch both versions. By the way, half of the troupe is involved in them.

This is the first production of the play in St. Petersburg. How did you find her?

Semyon Spivak:

We staged the play “The Faithful Wife” based on the play by Somerset Maugham, translator Victor Weber watched it and said: “I thought it was a “parlor comedy,” but yours is a real tragicomedy. I think you might be interested in the play Animal Tales by the American playwright Don Nigro.” And he sent it to us. The play is close to the absurdist tradition, and we already had experience working with Mrozek’s great play “Tango” and wanted to continue this direction.

Don Nigro in his commentary asks not to play either animals or people. The habits and gaits of the animals in our performance are given only by hints. Of course, these are plays about a person.

The new performance is again a tragicomedy, your favorite genre.

Semyon Spivak:

After all, our life is tragicomic. There are no pure substances on earth; they are always mixtures. We also mix genres in the theater. There is a lot of serious stuff in life and there is always funny stuff nearby. Madness, fear, temptation, loneliness - all this exists in a person’s life. Harmony is achieved by balance: on one side of the scale there is humor, and on the other there is sadness.

The performance “Animal Stories” can be seen on December 31, January 2 and 18.

Dossier

Don Nigro was born in 1949. He studied drama at universities in the USA. Wrote more than 400 plays. For more than 40 years they have been staged at many theater venues around the world. He has plays about Leo Tolstoy, Pushkin, Chekhov, Tsvetaeva, Blok. Lives in a small town in Ohio on his own farm. About myself: “I always got along better with animals than with people...”.

Direct speech

Victor Weber, translator of the play “Animal Tales”:

— It seemed to me that Don Nigro’s Animal Tales was a play for the chamber stage. Usually they put it on these. But I watched “The Little Animals” on the big stage, at the St. Petersburg Youth Theater on the Fontanka, and it became clear that it was not the size of the stage, but the ability to use it. Semyon Spivak staged a stunning performance. Not only do they watch it avidly, but there is also something to think about afterwards. There is no point in describing. This is a must see. And twice. Half of the mini-plays have two casts and two stories. The playwright gives such freedom to directors, and the Fontanka Theater took advantage of this. “The Mousetrap” made the greatest impression on me. When I translated, I got goosebumps, and Emilia Spivak’s Mouse is memorable like no other. I, of course, understood that the play “Animal Tales” was a pearl, and now a pearl performance has appeared. As one reviewer wrote: "Don will be pleased." Many thanks to the theater.

The other day I was translating Don Nigro’s monologue “Eve.” (He has a lot of mini-plays for two, for three). And immediately an association with “The Mousetrap” arose. Now I will take a closer look at Don’s mini-plays from the angle of correspondence with Animal Tales. Surely there will be interesting combinations.

By the way

Actor Alexander Andreev (performing the role of Marmot) took custody of the marmot Otrada, an inhabitant of the Leningrad Zoo.