Honored Artist E. V. Zhenin — Kazanok. "Kremlin Chimes"
The repertoire is a mirror of the theater. It is the repertoire that defines the very character of the creative team's work. The choice of dramatic works depends on the creative aspirations of the directors and actors, on that elusive concept that constitutes the face of the theater troupe. One can judge by the repertoire how bold the collective is, whether it aims for well-played and long-known plays or takes on untested novelties.
The resolution of the Central Committee of the VKP(b) "On the Repertoire of Dramatic Theaters" (1948) provided clear guidance for all theaters in our country. Proximity to the people, to modernity, the ability to respond to the most pressing issues of today with their creativity — this is what the party expected from the figures of theatrical art. The latest party documents — N. S. Khrushchev's speech "For a close connection of literature and art with the life of the people" and the resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU "On correcting mistakes in the assessment of the operas 'Great Friendship' by Muradeli, 'Bogdan Khmelnitsky' by Dankevich, and 'From the Bottom of My Heart' by Zhukovsky" — show how attentively the party monitored the development of art and how it nurtured the cadres of Soviet art figures.
The aspiration to fully embody contemporary themes on stage, to truly become closer to the people defined the theater's repertoire plans.
Today's repertoire of the Russian State Drama Theater named after Ch. T. Aitmatov includes the best works currently available from modern playwrights. The theater eagerly seeks good new plays, and its portfolio invariably contains dozens of new works waiting for their stage embodiment.
Before moving on to a more detailed characterization of this aspect of the collective's activity, it is necessary to focus on the most important feature of the work of the Russian theater in the national republic. From the very first years of its existence, the theater named after Ch. T. Aitmatov sought to master the best works of Kyrgyz dramaturgy. This is natural. Where, if not in a Russian collective, should a full-fledged play by a Kyrgyz writer receive a long stage life? Such a production closely familiarizes the Russian audience with the art and life of the fraternal people and, at the same time, integrates national dramaturgy into the broader context of literature. This is the mutual enrichment that underlies the construction of the entire multinational culture of the Kyrgyz people.
It cannot be said that the theater fully fulfills this very important mission. The number of Kyrgyz works in the repertoire has been small in recent years.
A significant role in mastering the Kyrgyz theme was played by G. Kandel's play "Love." The author is not Kyrgyz, but he lived in the republic for many years and studied the life and history of the people well enough.
This drama tells the story of a young Kyrgyz woman, about true and false love, about unshakeable principles of morality and the corrupting influence of old customs.
"Love," as it appeared on the theater stage, could not be regarded as a fully completed work. Lengthy scenes, which added little to the development of the characters, burdened it and complicated the audience's perception of the drama. Careful work on the text of the play was necessary. The theater undertook this, remembering the value of the essentials: living characters, life conflicts, and good language. Together with director N. A. Belyakov, the author thoroughly "cleaned up" the drama: he removed unnecessary scenes that slowed the development of the conflict and clarified the characters' traits.
The play appeared on stage. The audience warmly accepted it; the characters in "Love" easily resembled familiar people encountered in real life. The author managed to preserve the uniqueness of the national color; the Russian actors did not appear to be costumed but truthfully conveyed the characteristics of the people of Kyrgyzstan.
This can primarily be said about T. Varnavskikh, who played the role of Guljan — the image of a pure and strong woman who has earned the right to universal respect. She denies her husband's right to arbitrariness and contempt towards her. She grows before our eyes from a modest, loving girl into a true daughter of Soviet Kyrgyzstan. Guljan is an artist. She rightly thinks about her high calling.
The husband and his relatives try to hold the young artist back, to lead her away from the great path. Guljan's struggle with them for her right to creativity, for her bright path constitutes the central conflict of the play.
In 1958, the theater turned to the play "Sarynjy" by K. Eshmambetov, adapted by V. Vinnikov. What, in fact, prompted such a choice?
The inexhaustible wealth of Kyrgyz epic is well known. Folk singers — yrchis and akyns, as well as special storytellers of "Manas" — manaschi sing epic works composed many centuries ago for hours on end. It is quite natural that K. Eshmambetov, in search of a plot, turned to the treasure trove of folk creativity. The epic "Sarynjy" offers remarkable opportunities for creating a monumental folk drama.
It should be noted that the first version of "Sarynjy," which appeared in the 1930s, could not be classified as this genre. The tragedy of Sarynjy, the "Kyrgyz Hamlet," through the intricate web of vile intrigues bearing the high and bright, was reduced to the vicissitudes of a family drama. The struggle for the khan's throne, for a woman, became the center, while social motives were veiled.
The drama of K. Eshmambetov sounded differently. The author, together with the theater, reworked it anew and found a new version of the central conflict. Sarynjy now became much more an embodiment of everything new, bright, and progressive, while his enemies symbolized the dark forces of the past. Not the struggle for power, but the struggle for a better future for the people became the foundation of the stage action. The author elevated the drama to the heights of broad generalizations.
And in the high epic style of the legendary storyteller, the words of the finale resonate:
Yes, it was so and will be so, my son!
About what delights us and troubles us,
Someday a truthful tale will be woven
For the great-grandchildren at the akyn's celebration.
And that tale of the descendants, perhaps,
Will teach us to see life even clearer,
To hate enemies even more fiercely,
To love friends even more strongly.
Thus, the voices of distant ancestors resonate with modernity. The author found the correct correlation between the ancient legend, proclaiming "high humanitarian ideals," and living modernity.
At the same time, the collaborative work on the text led to the language of the drama becoming clearer and more concise. The number of characters decreased, and unnecessary episodes that cluttered the development of events disappeared.
Actress T.P. Artamonova as Stepanida. "The Merchants"
The theater perceived the new version of the play "Sarynjy" as a folk drama. The cunning and hypocrisy of Bokoya, Konura, and Jamake are contrasted with the honesty and courage of Sarynjy's friends, who help him overcome his enemies. The key to the new understanding of the drama is given by the words of Sarynjy's father — Jamgyrchi — before his death, addressed to his son:
Do not boast of your generosity, do not lie
And grasp your neighbor's hand with your own,
Do not force your friend to be a servant
And do not replace him with a servant,
Learn to earn the love of the people,
So that before you it rises like a wall,
As it stood before me for ten years, —
Then, my son, you will live in happiness.
In the finale, the people themselves deliver a verdict to the traitors and call Sarynjy to power.
The theater correctly understood the drama, its romantic coloring, its high humanitarian ideals, its excitement. It should be noted that the very development of the action, the abundance of unexpected dramatic turns, the author's ability to maintain tension, coherence, and completeness of the composition make "Sarynjy" a notable phenomenon not only in Kyrgyz dramaturgy. Let us add to this the sonorous and smooth verse of the translation, which excellently reproduces the features of Kyrgyz versification. V. Vinnikov not only translated well but also enriched the original in many ways.
In working on the staging of this work, the theater had to overcome a number of difficulties. The greatest of these was creating a national color. It is not only a matter of the ethnographic accuracy of costumes and settings, the actors' ability to adopt the mannerisms, observe customs on stage, etc. It was important to reproduce the very spirit of the era and the people on stage, for the actors to temporarily become true Kyrgyz.
Some experience in this direction existed — the work on "Love" by G. Kandel posed similar tasks. But it is one thing to show the audience a modern mechanizer Arstan, and another thing to portray the legendary khan Jamgyrchi. Director M. Malamud, artist I. Belevich, costume designers, makeup artists, prop masters, and most of all, the actors had to work very hard to recreate the images of a distant past.
The tasks of the collective looked completely different when staging another play by a Kyrgyz playwright — the comedy "Light in the Valley" ("My Ail") by R. Shukurbekov in the translation of A. Davidson. If "Sarynjy" features high passions and a tragic intertwining of events, then "Light in the Valley" transports the audience to the bright atmosphere of the ail. The comedy is simple, somewhat naive, but the freshness and immediacy of the characters, the charm of youth are captivating. The author knows the village well and managed to convincingly portray the people of modern Kyrgyzstan.
Actor M.K. Pravov as Perchikhin. "The Merchants"
With a smile, we follow the tangled incidents that prevent the lovers from uniting, the troubles that pursue the lazy and idle Rysbek. Some of this comes from vaudeville; the situations in which the hero finds himself at the author's will are not so new. One can debate the supposed "conflict-free" nature of the comedy. But the author achieved the main thing - the images of the people of today's Kyrgyzstan. The image of the young brigade leader Saadat is particularly interesting. The great purity and charm of Saadat, her indomitable energy, inventiveness — how close these traits are to many thousands of such Saadats, the girls of Kyrgyz villages and ails.
Director V. Molchanov and the entire creative team accepted "Light in the Valley" as a lyrical comedy, allowing them to tell about our contemporaries. Bright, festive tones dominate both the design of the performance and the manner of the actors' play. The performance is cheerful, full of optimism.
In the process of preparing the performance, the theater, together with the author and translator, worked thoroughly on the text of the play. The task was clear: to emphasize the theme of labor, to show more fully and deeply the formation of the personality of a young Kyrgyz girl.
Thus, Kyrgyz plays appear in the current repertoire of the theater. Work with local authors continues. K. Eshmambetov and R. Shukurbekov have gained much from the creative collaboration with the Russian theater collective; communication with experienced masters of the stage has helped them master dramatic technique, dialogue mastery, etc. In turn, many Kyrgyz figures of art have come to the aid of the Russian collective to reproduce the life and customs of the Kyrgyz people on stage with the greatest proximity to life’s truth. And here the process of mutual enrichment, so characteristic of the history of theatrical art in Kyrgyzstan, has manifested itself.
