A prominent place in the repertoire of the Russian Drama Theater was occupied by the works of A. N. Ostrovsky. The plays "Wolves and Sheep," "The Guilty Without Guilt," "The Forest," and "The Storm" were performed with great success on its stage. The talented portrayal of the role of Katerina in "The Storm" by the Honored Artist of the Kyrgyz SSR K. A. Guriyeva left a deep impression on the audience.
Ostrovsky's play "The Wild Girl" firmly held its place on the theater's posters, and the auditorium was always full. The image of the Wild Girl herself primarily attracted attention in the performance. This role was played by T. Varnavskikh. Impulsive and unrestrained, sincere and whimsical, a true wild girl — T. Varnavskikh is full of charm. Great actresses of the past left a memory of remarkable "wild girls." The performance was made with quality, in good traditions, and the portrayal of the central role is among the best achievements of the troupe.
Another success for the theater in this direction was the production of the famous comedy "The Last Victim" by A. N. Ostrovsky. The director N. A. Belyakov and the creative team rejected an abstract moralizing interpretation of the play. The director largely followed the original principles of the Moscow Art Theater, whose production of "The Last Victim" is a high example of working on Ostrovsky's dramaturgy.
The character Frol Fedulovich Pribytkov, played by the Honored Artist of the Kyrgyz SSR V. S. Officerov, left a lasting impression on the audience. Officerov portrayed a merchant, calculating and cunning, but not devoid of nobility and sincere feelings. This contradictory character was shown by the artist in all its complexity, without any attempt to simplify the image or reduce it to mere calculation and greed.
— Your kiss is worth a lot, — Pribytkov keeps repeating, stunned by Yulia's kiss. — Your kiss is worth a lot.
And we believe that the clear soulful appearance of Yulia could not fail to touch some deep strings of the old merchant's soul, that he is truly shaken.
Yulia Tugina is one of the favorite roles of many great actresses in Russia. The People's Artist of the USSR A. K. Tarasova performed this role. In the K. Krupskaya Theater, this role is played by T. Varnavskikh.
Her Tugina is a pure, good woman capable of loving sincerely and deeply. At the same time, she is a true merchant, flesh of the flesh of her class. T. Varnavskikh convincingly shows how these seemingly contradictory traits coexist in the character of the merchant widow. The work on "The Last Victim" undoubtedly enriched the creative team of the theater.
It cannot be said that the directors and actors approached the production of "The Merchants" by A. M. Gorky without a secret inner anxiety. What, it seemed, could be found new in a play that has been staged so many times by the luminaries of the Russian stage? And staging according to pre-developed directorial plans is not particularly interesting.
V. I. Molchanov, the former director of the theater, who debuted with this production, found a well-thought-out solution to Gorky's play. His work with the team should be recognized as successful. The unity of the idea was felt throughout, and the firm hand of the director led all the actors.
The director helped the actor A. F. Kuleshov reveal another side of his talent. The audience had seen Kuleshov in dozens of roles and, to be honest, sometimes criticized him for the monotony of his manner. But then he played Teterev — and everyone was surprised. It was as if the role was of a completely different plan than what the artist usually plays, and it sounded strong, colorful, and healthy. You believe in Teterev, as every gesture is so convincing, and every intonation is justified.
The artist neither accuses nor justifies his hero. He accuses the social order that has destroyed thousands of talented Russian people and seems to assert the inevitability of the emergence of a different social structure that opens unseen opportunities and spaces for the flourishing of human personality.
Once again, T. Varnavskikh delighted the audience. Her Elena is truly cheerful; she seems to radiate an indestructible love for life. Against the backdrop of the gloomy house of the Bessemenovs, she is like a bright little rabbit on the wall. She is so unlike the whining and grumbling representatives of the merchant world that Peter is involuntarily drawn to her, hoping that at least Elena will lead him to the path of true life.
V. Kazakov well portrayed the clarity and firmness, the calm confidence of Nil. He naturally becomes the central figure of the performance, as we know and feel: behind Nil lies the future.
Working on any play by the founder of socialist realism literature, the theater learns political acuity, the ability to see life in all its complexity, and to highlight the main points. In "The Merchants," Gorky, by showing the life of one family, saw in this small world a reflection of processes of immense importance occurring throughout Russia. In contrast to bourgeois playwrights who created "family dramas" with their very limited horizons, Gorky managed to rise to high philosophical generalizations, showing in the story of the Bessemenov house a reflection of major social conflicts. The work on Gorky's "The Merchants" was a true school of realistic mastery. The production of this play sounded quite modern; the terrible force of merchant mentality, stagnation, and routine was subjected to a real attack from our present-day positions.
Perhaps an even bolder attempt to master the peaks of classical dramaturgy was the production of "Hamlet." Shakespeare's dramaturgy has always attracted the theater. The scale of the tragedies of this greatest playwright, the greatness of the characters, the philosophical depth, true humanism — what a wealth for the director and actor!
And yet, taking on "Hamlet" was risky. It seemed that this exceptionally complex task could be beyond the capabilities of a provincial theater. To solve it, it was necessary to draw on all the experience of Soviet Shakespearean studies, which has done much for the correct understanding of Shakespeare's work.
In the struggle against idealistic and also vulgar-sociological concepts, Soviet theater developed the only correct principles for interpreting Shakespeare. Since the mid-1930s, the concept of a "strong" Hamlet has been established in Soviet Shakespearean studies and theater. It crystallized in the struggle against the concept of a "weak" Hamlet, which was widely spread in the 19th century, viewing Hamlet as a naturally weak-willed person, consumed by reflection, incapable of active action.
The image of Hamlet is understood by the theater as that of a prisoner, fiercely shaking the bars of his dungeon. In the struggle that unfolds in the tragedy, it is Hamlet, not his enemies, who plays the active, offensive role. This is how V. Kazakov interprets the image. His Hamlet is a passionate and indomitable fighter. He easily ignites, and once ignited, is ready to rush at his enemies and fight until he runs out of strength. The most torturous for him is to wait, to restrain his hatred, to hide his true feelings.
With this understanding of the image, the female weakness of Ophelia's character (K. Kozmenko) is particularly sharply highlighted. She is a helpless victim of that world against which Hamlet — Kazakov passionately fights. Besides Horatio, she alone feels how lonely Hamlet is in Elsinore.
Thus, the central conflict of the tragedy and its main characters were understood. One can argue about the interpretation of one or another image, but the theater achieved the main thing — in this production, the affirmation of the spiritual beauty and greatness of a volitional, integral person ready to fight for his high ideals sounded clearly.
In the history of the theater, "Hamlet" will remain a significant milestone, not only because the collective achieved certain heights in this production. The troupe grew on Shakespeare, and its creative possibilities manifested themselves. And however strange this assertion may seem, it was precisely the work on "Hamlet" that helped the theater in its subsequent work on "Sarynjy." The heroes of the folk epic are somewhat similar to the heroes of Shakespeare, and the magnificent school of Shakespearean tragedy contributed to the stronger voices of Sarynjy, his enemies, and friends being heard. Thus, the Russian theater develops along such complex paths in the national republic.
