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«A GENTLE CREATURE»
Based on the story by Fyodor Dostoevsky
On February 9, 2022, the Maly Theatre hosted the premiere of the play A Gentle Creature based on the story by Fyodor Dostoevsky. The production was the Maly Theatre’s first experience of cooperation with the Winter International Arts Festival under the direction of Yuri Bashmet. It became part of the third festival held in Moscow.
Yuri Bashmet, People’s Artist of the USSR, director of the Winter Arts Festival:
«I am very happy that it is in the Maly Theatre that we are now preparing our new big theatre project. Sergey Garmash suggested the idea of a production based on A Gentle Creature by Dostoevsky a few years ago. We have been discussing and preparing for this play for quite a long time. I am now watching this idea become flesh and blood, and I am enjoying every moment of creativity and human bondage in the process of bringing it to life. We have a wonderful director Viktor Kramer, wonderful music by Kuzma Bodrov written especially for the play, unique set design, and an absolutely incredible actor, whom I just can’t take my eyes off during rehearsals. My special gratitude goes to the Maly Theatre team. From Yuri Solomin and Tamara Mikhailova to the theatre staff, everyone is incredibly friendly and open to our idea. » (2022 г.)
The production’s director Viktor Kramer has already worked with Yuri Bashmet and the “Moscow Soloists” chamber ensemble on the production Don’t Leave Your Planet, starring Konstantin Khabensky. The new production features People’s Artist of Russia Sergey Garmash. Six guises of the title character are played by young female actors, students of the Shchepkin Theatre School.
«Our play is about love, – says Viktor Kramer. – “It is about love, which is high and tragic, passionate and absurd, and about the monstrous power of self-destruction that is inherent in human. It is about the almost conscious destruction of the miracle given to us by God to pull us out of the void. This story combines the horror and the beauty of a ridiculous and torturous attempt to subordinate the miraculously granted love to a self-created ‘perfect’ system. The visual and musical images bring our performance close to phantasmagoria. Its protagonist, played by Sergey Garmash, exists both in the real circumstances of his ruined life and in the fractured fantasy world of his dreams. »
The actor for the main role Sergey Garmash says that Dostoevsky is one of his favorite authors and that the idea for this large-scale production appeared long ago. “Dostoevsky is my favorite and an incredibly important author, with whom much is connected. He has the ability to look at us deeply and carefully from the inside, peering into the most hidden corners of our minds. I came up with the idea of staging A Gentle Creature after I had first worked with Yuri Bashmet, and I became convinced about it after seeing Viktor Kramer’s production of Don’t Leave Your Planet. This season gave an opportunity to implement this project with Viktor Kramer’s production team together with the Maly Theatre, whose legendary stage we will all try to be worthy of ».
«Постановка повести «Кроткая» на сцене Малого театра – очень интересный для нас опыт, – рассказывает директор театра Тамара Михайлова. is Малый театр в данном случае выбран неслучайно. У нас действительно очень серьезное оснащение сцены, дающее возможность осуществлять постановки самой разной сложности. И мы рады сотрудничать на нашей сцене с Юрием Башметом, Виктором Крамером и Сергеем Гармашем и возможности показать, что наши цеха и постановочные службы могут работать на высочайшем уровне, необходимом для выпуска самого сложного спектакля. Кроме того, по замыслу режиссера в роли заглавной героини на сцену выйдут сразу несколько молодых актрис – студенток Щепкинского театрального училища. Щепкинцы выходят на сцену Малого театра с самых первых курсов – это устоявшаяся традиция, но возможность поработать с представителем другой школы, сразу влиться не просто в репертуарный спектакль, а в фестивальный проект – это дорогого стоит. »