“Insanely epic play”: the Pushkin Theater will show the production of “Crimson Island” based on Bulgakov

The Pushkin Moscow Drama Theater has prepared a production of Mikhail Bulgakov's play Crimson Island for the opening of the season.

The writer wrote it on the basis of his own feuilleton, published in 1924.

The play lay “on the table” for a year and a half at the Glavrepertkom (Main Committee for Controlling the Repertoire under the People’s Commissar of Education of the RSFSR), and was first presented on stage in December 1928 at the Alexander Tairov Chamber Theater in the capital.

When the performance was allowed, even the writer himself did not believe what had happened.

It still remains a mystery who could have contributed to this decision and how such a production on the topic of freedom of speech and conformity could hold out for half a year under the yoke of criticism on the Soviet stage, until the performance was banned by the censors.

After the premiere, reviewers declared that Bulgakov was deliberately mocking revolutionary dramaturgy.

The bright, sharply social production was called "an unequivocal failure", and its resounding success with the public was equated with "unhealthy interest" in the author, whose play amazes with "the wretchedness of its conception and execution."

Criticism against Crimson Island and the writer was not softened even by the words of Tairov, who explained before the premiere that the play had a deep social significance.

During Bulgakov's lifetime, Crimson Island was staged only once.

In the late 1980s, there were several attempts to revive the performance, and now the Pushkin Theater gives the play a second chance.

• Rehearsal of the play "Crimson Island"

• © Press Service of the A.S.

  Pushkin

The director of "Crimson Island" was the theater artist Fyodor Levin.

This work marked his debut as a theater director.

The artistic director of the production is Evgeny Pisarev.

“The play itself is incredibly interesting, because Bulgakov was absolutely crushed by Soviet realities, his difficult relationship with the Glavrepertkom.

All his plays were banned, closed.

The Chamber Theater specially ordered a play for him, and it was allowed.

Tairov staged it - it came out on December 11, 1928.

They closed it in June 1929, ”said the director.

At the same time, during those six months, the performance was held more than 60 times, the director noted.

It was a very popular production and Levin hopes to repeat its success.

“Bulgakov makes fun of everything.

Satire is not only ideological: there is satire on both theatrical and literary cliches, as well as clichés of human psychotypes.

He makes fun of everything around and the madness that is going on in the world, ”said Levin.

Since the production is essentially a play within a play, its action begins in the theater.

A young writer nicknamed Jules Verne sent a revolutionary drama called Crimson Island.

Unfortunately, the playwright delayed the submission of the material, so there was little time left before the dress rehearsal before the censor, or, to be more precise, less than an hour.

The director has to distribute roles on the go, read the text and think through the details of the production.

This is an important event for the entire theater, and not only the fate of the performance depends on the opinion of the censor.

As Fyodor Levin said, he chose the play during the laboratory “Chamber Theater.

Returned Pages”, which took place at the Pushkin Theatre.

Its concept was a return to the texts that Alexander Tairov set about 100 years ago.

As part of the project, members of the troupe read forgotten plays.

Then the director chose this work of the great writer for his debut.

“I have read most of the plays and, of course, I liked Crimson Island the most - an incredibly topical thing.

The play is manifested by the fact that after a while it does not lose its meaning,” Levin shared.

— Despite its insane staging complexity.

There are self-acting pieces that can work on their own, but this is not the case: it was necessary to come up with a format in which it would act, and this is quite difficult.

• At the rehearsal of the play "Crimson Island"

• © Press Service of the A.S.

  Pushkin

The director noted that he invented the genre of the performance himself, combining comedy and tragedy.

“There is such a genre as tragicomedy, and I defined the genre of the play as cometragedy.

Sounds weird, but that's exactly what happens.

The real tragedy unfolds in the play,” said the director.

The production will involve, among other things, the artists of the course of the Moscow Art Theater School, who were provided by the artistic director of the performance Evgeny Pisarev.

Spectators are promised a lot of action, dancing and a volcanic eruption.

According to Levin, it will be a spectacular, "insanely epic play."

“Crazy costumes - there will be more than 100 costumes in the performance, more than 30 artists are employed.

There will be dances, songs, and most importantly, meanings, ”the director said in an interview with RT.

At the same time, the authors of the play respect Bulgakov's original play.

According to Levin, this will be a classic reading of the work.

“There are many creative liberties, but we treat the text very reverently.

Somewhere, of course, there are additions and corrections due to a change in language - we remove some outdated aphorisms ... This is not based on Bulgakov, this is a classic reading of the material, and all our fantasies are based on the text, we in no way rewrite his.

As the text asks, so we do, we put on various madness, which you will definitely see.

There will be a lot of it, we believe that the Moscow theater scene has not seen such an action for a long time, ”the director promised.

Premiere performances of the performance "Crimson Island" will be held on October 12 and 13.

The production will feature Alexander Matrosov, Irina Tsarenko, Alexander Dmitriev, Valeria Yolkina, Vladimir Grigoriev and other artists.