Tufan Imamutdinov turned Tennessee Williams' play about a despotic mother into a production about a family where everyone loves each other and everyone feels guilty before the others. Starring Marina Neelova.
The staging of the play "The Glass Menagerie" on the Big Stage, a pet of the workshop, is not a passing event. Aspiring directors today prefer to work with actors of the same age in chamber spaces for a small circle of "their" audience, trying to avoid the "difficulties of translation" into the language of other generations. In this there is a natural desire to present and assert itself as a kind of new community with its own outlook on life, a sense of today and style. Not many dare to overcome the boundaries of the "inner circle". After all, the problem is not only in the mutual understanding of “fathers” and “children”. At rehearsals with a master actor, a successful person, ready to invest in the performance not only his skills, but also his fate, the question immediately arises, what can you give him, for what new horizons to beckon him. The challenge is irresistible. But that's the only way professional growth comes.
In the play "Shosha" based on the novel by Bashevis-Singer, he has already worked with a real star. Shoshi played a small but important role as his mother. In The Glass Menagerie, he called and offered the role, it would seem, completely uncharacteristic of her - the despotic mother Amanda Wingfield, who requires her unfortunate children to observe decency above all. Rather, this is how Amanda is usually interpreted. Otherwise, her runaway son Tom, whose prototype he partly considered himself, could not look like a hero who escaped from the fetters of vulgar everyday life. In the play, everything is different.
A real family lives in the bare cardboard walls of the uncomfortable Wingfield house - a mother and her children: son Tom () reciting poetry, hating his job in a shoe store, and painfully experiencing his disability, fenced off from the world around a toy carousel with glass horses, lame daughter Laura ( ). All three love each other, and each feels guilty towards the others. Amanda - for the fact that her unlucky husband ran away from her, having managed to drink away the family fortune. Tom - for not being able to be a support. Laura considers herself the cause of all the troubles of the family. All three played wonderfully. The actors are precise, organic, feel each other, respond to improvisations. not afraid to be funny and pathetic, some kind of mad mother hen, literally strangling her chicks with fussy guardianship and unstoppable assurances that everything is fine with them. even in acrobatic attempts to seep through the walls from maternal care, even in feigned rudeness, he makes one feel the tender dependence of his hero on both mother and sister. , not wanting to arouse pity with the physical handicap of her heroine (allowing herself only a slight hint of lameness), makes Laura accept her family for who they are, understand them and feel almost like the eldest in the family.
The trouble with the performance is that the young director, having subtly thought up the initial situation of the family drama, could not develop it. Actors from scene to scene play more and more shades of the same state. But the action is worth it. The real event takes place only in the second act, when Tom brings a hypothetical fiance for his sister. Only in the scene of the meeting between Laura and Jim () - from the first awkwardness, through the charm of possible spiritual intimacy and hope for the future to Jim's recognition that he is engaged to another - the drama happens "here and now." And Tom's flight after her, that same Tom - a sincerely loving, caring brother and son, as the viewer is already accustomed to perceive him - seems incredible. But the curtain falls picturesquely, and a motley picture of a child's kaleidoscope toy smashed to smithereens is projected onto it.
Photo by Elena Sidyakina
The Glass Menagerie is an autobiographical play by Tennessee Williams that has been a hit with theater and film directors for decades. All thanks to the theme of difficult family relationships, which is touched upon in it - it is close to many, regardless of the era. Hence the excitement - tickets are sold out instantly. It is noteworthy that not only residents of the capital are in a hurry to buy them, guests from other cities place orders in advance.
What will the plot be about?
Today we invite you to return to the eternal conflict of "fathers and children" - director Tufan Imamutdinov staged a wonderful, in our opinion, version of the Glass Menagerie at the Theater of Nations. And this is his third successful production on the local stage!
In the center of the action is an incomplete family: mother Amanda (Marina Neelova) and her adult children Tom (Evgeny Tkachuk) and Laura (Alla Yuganova). Failures in her personal life have greatly influenced Amanda's character - she now directs all her energy to children. Controls every step and constantly teaches. She is one of those mothers who smother their offspring with their love. The children, having internally fenced themselves off from maternal pressure for a long time, are trying with all their might to escape from the custody of a despotic parent.
For the role of Amanda, Tufan Imamutdinov invited Marina Neelova, a star of theatrical art. It must be said that the leading actress of Sovremennik practically does not perform on "foreign" stages. But for the play "The Glass Menagerie" of the Theater of Nations, she made an exception. In her own words: “Good dramaturgy is a joy for actors,” and no one doubts that Tennessee Williams is a talented playwright. And of course, it's also about trusting the director.
The young talented director Tufan Imamutdinov has repeatedly stated in his interviews that the era of conservatism in the theater has exhausted itself. Indeed, each of his performances is an attempt to reach out to the audience, take a fresh look at eternal problems and, of course, a chance to prove themselves for young actors whom Imamutdinov willingly invites to his team. The Glass Menagerie staged on the stage of the Theater of Nations is no exception.
About the play "The Glass Menagerie"
The Glass Menagerie is a play based on the play of the same name by Tennessee Williams, often referred to as the American Chekhov. The main thing in his works is not small details or an intricate plot, but an environment in which the characters, willy-nilly, are forced to do this and not otherwise. This time, the focus is on the story of a once noble but impoverished family, where a charming authoritarian mother tries to arrange the fate of her children. Moreover, each of them is already an adult with his own character, feelings, desires. Willy-nilly, between people who love each other, there is a psychological confrontation.
The premiere of the play "The Glass Menagerie" took place on February 16, 2013. Then the cast really impressed the audience - the talented Marina Neelova, known to every theatergoer, was surrounded by young colleagues - Alla Yuganova, Pavel Kuzmin, Evgeny Tkachuk.
Other activities of the director
The Glass Menagerie is not the only production by Tufan Imamutdinov in Moscow. At the Theater of Nations, his performances "The Lonely West" and "Shisha" were successfully staged, on the other stage of Sovremennik - "Shot". The director is also actively working in his homeland, in the Republic of Tatarstan.
How to buy tickets for the performance "The Glass Menagerie"
The problem of "fathers and sons" is eternal, therefore, during the premiere days, and in 2019, there are those who want to see the play "The Glass Menagerie" at the Theater of Nations. If you have made such a decision, then there is only one thing left - to take care of buying tickets. You can trust us with this question because:
- a personal manager will not only help you buy tickets for the "Glass Menagerie" performance, but also select the best seats in any price category;
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In order to really become our client, we have taken care of your convenience: you can place an order not only online, but also by phone, and pay for it in various ways.
The Glass Menagerie is, like Chekhov's plays, a theatrical classic. In the interpretation of the young talented director Tufan Imamutdinov, it turned out not to be avant-garde, but unexpected. The production is worthy of spending your evening on it and enjoying not only the psychologically subtle plot, but also the talented performance of the beautiful Marina Neelova and her stage partners.
Tennessee Williams
Chamber, almost intimate psychological performance. The authenticity of this real and at the same time parable story, the skill of the director and performers fascinate the audience, lead the viewer along even when he comes to have fun.
It is no coincidence that the performance was so unanimously received not only by Moscow critics: theater figures from the United States who came to the Chekhov Festival claimed that this was the best performance based on this play by Williams in recent years. People's Artist of the Russian Federation Olga Shirokova masterfully plays the main role: in her performance, Amanda is a woman-child, naive and tenacious, living in memories and trying to survive in a strange environment for herself - an absurd, funny, sometimes tragic, but very touching dramatic character ...
Performance duration: 2 hours 50 minutes with intermission.
Stage director: Alexander Vilkin
Costume designer: Dina Mogilnitskaya
Composer: Nikita Shirokov
Choreographer: Maria Ostapenko
Scenography: Yuri Dolomanov
Actors and performers
Reviews
“I discovered this theater by accident. I was driving past Sukharevskaya and stumbled across the letters "under the guidance of ...". Googled it. Found that they were showing The Glass Menagerie on Friday and bought a ticket. She went to the performance wildly tired after work and irritated and grouchy, like a stirred up hornet's nest. I was full of skepticism, especially after the production of this play, which I recently watched at the Theater at the Nikitsky Gates. And then Tom Wingfield (Denis Kravtsov) came on stage, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Of all the three Toms I've seen, this one was just perfect. During the author's monologues, he seemed to be addressing the audience, but at the same time he said all this as if to himself, pronouncing his thoughts aloud. This is the best presentation, in my opinion. A little "above the viewer" without the familiar breaking of the so-called "fourth wall" - this is important for me. Laura (Elena Shchukina) was thin, like a thin twig. And yes, it was the real Laura. In places she even irritated me with her wandering in the clouds, and such a reading of the role delighted me. Laura weightlessly, even despite her lameness, moved around the stage, as if she were only a shadow in her own home, trying to appear invisible so that no one would interrupt her from her favorite activities. And Amanda (Olga Shirokova) turned out to be beautiful. This is not a former beauty "of her own mind" who diligently drinks the blood of her offspring. No, Amanda here constantly thinks about the future of her children and tries to warn them against their own and other people's mistakes. And she does it only because she really cares about them. Yes, her concern, and not (or not only) hysterical manifestations of selfishness. Jim (Aleksey Schukin) is good. Not perfect (here Konstantin Dunaevsky still holds the championship), but getting into the image is excellent. I liked that the glass menagerie here was actually a set of glass animals in a locker. And in general, the production is extremely classical, I would even say old-fashioned, which in my case is a compliment. And the text of the play is in place, nothing hurt the ear. I will definitely visit this theater again.”
“Once upon a time... I fell in love with Tennessee Williams. I just fell in love is all. And I got my favorite translators of his works - it is not so easy to catch the melody of the characters' speech - today's translations are an example of this. I still remember those VAAP copies that were given to me in the theater library on Petrovsky Lines. My own images of the playwright's heroes and heroines formed one after another in my head. I reviewed almost all theatrical performances, not only in Moscow and Leningrad, and later in St. Petersburg. It got ridiculous at times. When I was going on a business trip to some county town N, the first thing I did was find out if there was a production of Tennessee Williams at the local theater. The performances caught on, disappointed, liked, disliked, ets... And only some of them left that long and complex aftertaste that you want to feel again years later. My wish came true yesterday. At the play "The Glass Menagerie". Olga Shirokova, thanks to you, I saw my Amanda again!”
“For time is the longest distance between two points (s). Tennessee Williams. I finally got to see Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie this Friday. Despite the fact that this piece, as well as his other plays such as The Tattooed Rose, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and Orpheus Descends into Hell, has been my literary friend for many years, and the original text of it I quite I can quote myself, I have not seen a theatrical production either on stage or in the form of a film adaptation, deliberately rejecting all possibilities. Too much imagination. The plot is too touching for me. This means a huge danger of disappointment, since the characters in my imagination have had faces and stable images for many years. I didn't want someone else to read it. But when I saw the summary of the performance, I still could not resist. A bit of history: The Glass Menagerie in 1944 brought its author Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III his first success. The play is autobiographical. And the author himself acts as the main character Tom, making the whole story of what is happening personal and close to the viewer. The plot is psychotherapeutic and tragic, although from the point of view of the events that have happened, it is just a piece of everyday life of an unremarkable family, it seems that it is cut off from reality, but in fact it is the very part of it. In the role of Amanda, peremptory, emotional, flirtatious, ridiculous, stupid, at the same time helpless and powerful woman, imposing her illusions on children, suffocating inside other people's delusions, but having too thin skin and lack of moral resources to adequately resist her expansion, People's Artist RF Olga Shirokova. And, in my opinion, her Amanda is exactly the way Williams painted her. Causing rather sympathy than irritation, and rather regret and understanding of the reasons for her absurdity than indignation at her actions. In the role of Laura, a deep introvert, a living embodiment of her glass collection, actress Alina Maznenkova. The cool, transparent, fragile tenderness of the heroine, forever breaking into reality, is as irreparable as the figure of her beloved unicorn. I think it worked out quite well. The moment when the heroine faints is really the movement of a porcelain doll. Similarly, in the fateful dance with Jim, the movements acquire the grace of a living woman for a very short time. And then they become slightly puppet again. Just like the heroine herself. The hero of Tom, despite the endless struggle with everything connected with the house and the order established in the house by the mother, is possible due to the fact that it is he, who seems to be the hero of the plot, at the same time looks at everything that happens through the prism of past years, and tells the story slightly detached, and both Williams and the actor Yevgeny Sologalov come out as a pencil sketch, not a lively bright character, but slightly ghostly, like everything that happens, because all attention is directed not to his hot experiences, but to what is happening where he has long been gone is located physically. Jim O, Connor is described by Williams as "An ordinary pleasant young man". Actually, it was such a young man that the actor Vladimir Roganov turned out to be. In general, the character himself is opposed to all members of the Wingfield family, as having the kindness, courage and strength to resist someone else's neurosis and not get involved in it or run away, cowardly, but honestly get out of the situation by informing those who place neurotic hopes on him about the impossibility and inexpediency of these hopes. And dance. A wonderful dance came out with both mother and daughter. The appearance of a handsome young man in a virtual nunnery is indeed an event. If I, truly, saw - a detail that somewhat deprives my review of pathos - the portrait of the prodigal father, who left the family long before the events began, occupying a central place in the living room, looks very much like a portrait of the theater director. This detail struck me as charming. And a separate, important and personal thing for me: many thanks to Olga Shirokova for the unexpected opportunity to suddenly see alive at the same time two women who had already left me and raised me - my mother and grandmother. Their voices, words and movements came to life in Amanda's gestures and intonations, which made me cry a little. In my subjective opinion, this production by Tennessee Williams must be seen with your own eyes. »
“Yesterday, as a master of spontaneity, I accidentally went to the theater. In a completely unknown by the standards of the capital. It is located on Sukharevskaya and is called "The Cherry Orchard". And I watched "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams. In general, this is the third "Glass Menagerie" in my life. The first two were at the Youth Theater on the Fontanka in St. Petersburg, so in Moscow I have, one might say, a debut. In fact, I did not expect much from the theater, where you can buy a ticket for the first row a couple of hours before the performance. But, since I am not a professional connoisseur, I really liked the production and the actors. And, it seemed to me, here everything turned out to be much more tragic and psychedelic than in Molodezhka. There "Blue Roses" (the local version of the name) I remember as a very bright play, although, of course, the meaning is the same. And then the second action - just to a lump in the throat. Well, or maybe, with age, I began to perceive such things more sharply. I love books, films and performances about people who live in their own world, in their own, but similar to mine. I always want to shout to them: "Hey, listen, but why, why are you in that unreal space, why are you not next to me? I need you so much, but I can only love you, understand you, and touch I can not". And yes, the "Glass Menagerie" was very appropriate for me now, also because not so long ago in MY, not in a book or in a movie, but in my life, a real, living person appeared, to whom not only can I say the same the most, but also to which you can touch and even hug. And you can call too! I’m not sure that this person appeared with me forever, for sure, he will soon disappear, as it usually happens, but I am extremely happy to know that my uninhabited world is actually inhabited, it’s just that there are not enough of us "
“I specially watched a feature film in the film “Illusion” and, comparing it with the production of Vilkin, noted the benefit towards the theater. It's good that there are still theaters that put on performances in a classical setting, without the director's foolishness.
"The Glass Menagerie" is a play that is already almost a classic, written by the patriarch of the American theater, their Chekhov - Tennessee W. The plot is simple: the son lives with an elderly, but still very lively and vigorous mother, a lame-footed sister and dreams of not caring about their existence, getting 65 dollars in a shoe store, and go on wanderings around the world with the merchant fleet. At the request of his mother, he brings a friend from work to the house, in the hope of marrying off his sister, attaching her and breaking out of the "cardboard box" - their small hopeless apartment. But a friend turns out to be engaged, dreams are shattered, and the son leaves, and then all his life he is tormented by memories and remorse that he did this to his sister. This is canvas. The tragedy is in the people themselves. She lives in them. They exist in it. They live like hand mice in a cardboard box of God. And tragedy occurs where it is broken. It might not have been a tragedy, or even a theatrical story at all. Tennessee pulled her out of his subconscious and youthful memories. But if Tom (son) were a different person, he could set up a business, get his sister engaged, send his mother to a rich boarding school or travel the world. get married yourself, travel at your own expense (and not on a sailor's ship as a simple sailor), raise children, write poetry (if they were still being written), but no. He, like his sister, who suffers from a complex of inferiority due to lameness, with his inner loneliness, isolation, he also suffers from his tragedy, he came up with this hopelessness. One mother tries to be cheerful, she, having raised two children alone, knows the price of a good and bad life. She torments her son, constantly reminding him of his duty and annoying with her activity. She stubbornly does not want to go by the wayside. But maybe she doesn't belong there. At least he does not give up, although behind her frivolity, liveliness, one can see a wild abyss, complete despair in life. But she does not give up, she believes in children, she herself is tormented by their pessimism and suffering. If only the children were a little like her, but no... they are depressed, serious, disappointed, they look for a way out only in their dreams. This performance reminds me and me, and reminds me that only a person creates the drama of his own life. that a vicious circle sits in your head. very often you don’t know how to break it, how to overcome your complexes (as their sister Tom Laura cannot overcome, the news that her school love - a potential groom will marry another completely broke her; yes, on the one hand, he returned her to life, gave confidence, gave her a sip of happiness. One person would rise from this, and the other would never recover and fall dead, having lost the hope given before). And this performance is very Chekhovian, it even has almost its own Lopakhin (the groom, although he is also not satisfied with life, but at least tries to live according to banal truths - that any dissatisfaction with himself is the result of a complex, a bad memory from childhood like a too loud knocking shoe Laura on her lame leg). For Laura, this shoe became the biggest misfortune in her life, while others did not even notice it. And the man put an end to himself because of such (for the external eye) trifles. The human eye is a huge magnifying glass that focuses on something and zooms in and out until the smooth surface of it breaks with effort. A person sits inside his glass cage and does not see the world around at all, he sees only his misfortune and grief. It's hard to be the master of life. It's easy to become one. But for this you need to kill all your memories, all your fears, your cozy, calm, hopeless existence.