GOLDEN MASK THEATER FESTIVAL
In March-April Moscow hosted a traditional Golden Mask theater festival
with more than 40 theater productions spanning a variety of genres nominated
for 
the Golden
Mask award. Troupes from Moscow, St. Petersburg and provincial cities competed
on an equal basis in this prestigious annual theater forum.
St. Petersburg’s “Comedians’ Shelter” theater led by young experimental-minded
director Andrei Moguchy showed “Pro Turandot”, an original adaptation of
Carlo Gozzi’s immortal play “Princess Turandot” – a romantic comedy about
a beautiful but pitiless princess who orders to behead all those who sought
her hand unless they solve her riddles and about brave prince Calaf who
cracks her brain-teasing conundrums. Written in the traditional del arte
style, the play leaves much room for improvisation. In the 1920s director
Yevgeny Vakhtangov premiered his legendary version of “Princess Turandot”,
which for decades has been the visiting card of Moscow’s Vakhtangov Theater.
Andrei Moguchy offers his own version of Gozzi’s famous masterpiece, a
humor-splashing witty performance full of subtle transitions from parody
to drama.
Director Vyacheslav Kokorin from Omsk rediscovers Eugene Ionesco
in his adaptation of “The King Is Dying” based on the famous French playwright’s
comedy that used to be staged in Russia as a political farce, whereas Kokorin
delved into its philosophic message to create a stunning parable about
a fragile border between life and death. The King symbolizes a generalized
image of man combining greatness and nothingness, kindness and wickedness.
St. Petersburg’s Komissarzhevskaya Theater presented “Don Juan” staged
by Bulgarian director Alexander Morfov, who took Moliere’s play about the
legendary seducer and mingled it with excerpts from other literary works
dating from various epochs. Historical costumes are pure conventionality:
Don Juan in the masterful interpretation of popular actor Alexander Bargman
emerges as our contemporary, walking up and down the hall, flirting with
women and handing out his visiting cards.
IGOR ZOLOTUSSKY - WINNER OF ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSIN PRIZE
Igor Zolotussky, a well-known literary critic and researcher, won the Alexander
Solzhenitsin prize, an annual prize awarded by the famous Russian writer
and 
Nobel
prize laureate Alexander Solzhenitsin for a serious contribution to the
development of Russian literature.
Zolotussky made his literary debut in 1956. He is the author of books
about Nikolai Gogol, Mikhail Lermontov, Vasily Zhukovsky, Fedor Dostoyevsky
and other 19th-century Russian classics. Some of his works are devoted
to modern literature, although he doesn’t think much of contemporary authors
and openly criticizes them. Quite a few modern writers meet Zolotussky’s
tough literary standards.
“The beautiful, dimensional, all-embracing and poetic style, even
in prose, and the Christian attitude to life and people – this is what
we inherited from the great Russian literature and must continue,” the
critic said in an interview.
It would be wrong to say that Igor Zolotussky lashes out at modern
writers, while simultaneously lauding classical authors. It’s easer to
discover a literary talent in the past centuries than in contemporary prose.
The names of once very fashionable but not particularly gifted prosaics
sink into oblivion, so researchers of classical literature do not have
to do a hard job separating seeds from weeds. Zolotussky, on the contrary,
explores modern literature of all genres and finds worthy authors, whom
he tries to help.
“I got acquainted with many books and their authors. Some are really
very good books. I like Oleg Yermakov, a prosaic, who lives in Smolensk
and writes severe prose about the Afghan war. A wonderful writer and modest
man, he never appears anywhere. He was nominated for the Leo Tolsoy prize
and we invited him, but he refused to come. Also, not long ago I read a
mystical and philosophic novella by young writer Igor Malyshev, which is
called “The Fox”, and can say he is a wonderful and very talented guy.
Finally, last year I nominated Yelena Kryukova, the author of the novel
“The Blessed”, for the Tolstoy prize.
Most young authors show Igor Zolotussky their works, secretly hoping
for approval but often hearing the opposite view. They come again later,
though, because they value his advice and recommendations and because he
believes that the new generation of authors will eventually give rise to
really good, diverse and comprehensive literature.
“Behind the names of Gogol, Lermontov and Fet there is a great culture,
while the new generation of authors has no such cultural baggage behind
their shoulders, which influences their mentality and range of perception,”
Zolotussky said. “They are only just beginning to move somewhere forward,
to an unknown future, and if they remain faithful to their God-given talent,
they will manage to come closer to that level of Russian literature, which
makes my ideal.”
DINA RUBINA: WRITING PROSE IS A HARD JOB
The term “female prose” is not uncommon in Russian literature and can even
be used in reference to books written by male authors, which focus on the
life 
and problems
of ordinary people and contain few generalizations. However, female writers
often complain that the term “female prose” a priori suggests a lower grade
as if asking readers to be less severe in their judgment of what has been
written by a lady.
Dina Rubina is a very popular “female” author. Millions of readers
are looking forward to seeing her new books in print. Her novels and stories
have won her many kind words from critics.
She was in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, and then moved to
Moscow, and finally, to Israel, where she is living now. Rubina made her
literary debut with a humorous story published in the popular Yunost (Youth)
magazine in 1971 and followed by a series of other short stories in later
years. In the 90s she wrote her first novel “In Thine Gates”, which immediately
became a bestseller.
Although proved to be a fairly prolific author with about 30 books
in her literary baggage, Rubina admits that writing does not always comes
easy for her. “The process of writing is tantalizing. It’s really hard
to write 600 pages, and when you finish a novel, it’s a horrible time when
you feel like you will never write anything else. But before that there
are a couple of weeks, a happy time, when you realize that you are almost
through and just add a few last strokes…”
Her books, written in an easy and humorous language, unveil bitter
truth about the life of young people in Tashkent and Moscow or explore
complicated relations between Soviet émigrés in Israel. Rubina’s
laconic and aphoristic style bears some resemblance to prose by Isaak Babel
and Sergey Dovlatov.
“Writing prose is a hard job,” she says. “It will hardly occur
to anyone to talk of “female painting” because painting means hard work.
Stretching canvas on a frame, moving a heavy easel, priming large-size
canvases, and, finally, painting - all this requires enormous physical
and psychological effort. It’s the same with prose. When I am writing,
I feel like a carpenter in overalls and tarpaulin boots, hammering heavy
piles in…”
Rubina’s books have been translated in English, Bulgarian, Polish,
Hebrew, German, Czech and other languages. In search of new impressions
and new themes, she has traveled a lot, from Israel to America, from America
to Russia, and so on… Rubina’s new book, a collection of travel notes under
the title of “Cold Spring in Provence”, will come out in Moscow soon.
ALLA BAYANOVA: UNLIKE EVERYONE ELSE
A biography of the popular Russian singer Alla Bayanova entitled “Unlike
Everyone Else” is currently available at Moscow bookstores.
Last year she turned 90 and couldn’t believe it. “May be it’s a passport
mistake?” the signer joked. “Well, it’s not a secret. Yes, I am 90… But
where are 
my
years? I don’t know.” But Anisim Gimmervert, the author of her biography,
knows. It took him three years to write a book about a legendary singer
and a typical prima donna, impulsive and emotional as nearly all divas
are.
The name Alla means “unlike everyone else.” And it suits Bayanova
perfectly. “She is indeed one of a kind, and her life is proof of that,”
the author says.
The presentation ceremony took place in the Library of Russian Émigré
Literature, which in itself is symbolic. Bayanova spent long years in emigration.
She was five when her native Bessarabia went over from Russia to Romania.
Then the family moved to Paris where at the age of 13 she began signing.
Alla’s father, an opera singer, and the famous Russian chansonnier Alexander
Vertinsky were her first teachers. Vertinsky called her a “Slav girl with
Persian eyes.”
Success came quickly but life was not a bed of roses. Bayanova survived
the death of her fiancée, arrest and captivity in a Nazi concentration
camp in Romania during World War II. After the war she performed in Serbia,
Greece, Egypt, Lebanon, Israel and, of course, Romania. Every concert season
she dreamt of traveling to the USSR but the Romanian authorities wouldn’t
allow her, fearing that she might not come back. It was not until 1976
that she her dream finally came true. Ten years later Bayanova visited
Moscow and settled there permanently. Since then, despite her age, she
has given more than 500 concerts in various regions of Russia.
SERGEI BEZRUKOV PLAYS SERGEI YESENIN IN NEW TV SERIAL
Actor and producer Sergei Bezrukov is playing the lead part in a new TV
serial about the popular Russian poet of the early 20th century Sergei
Yesenin 
(1895-1925).
While still a student, Bezrukov recited Yesenin’s poems in concerts and
then, for 7 successive years, played Yesenin at a theater. This role won
him recognition and a prestigious State Prize.
Two years ago, Bezrukov appeared in the “Brigade” TV serial as the
ruthless and strong-willed leader of a gang. The film’s opponents scolded
him for using his charming looks to create an “attractive” criminal. Bezrukov
responded with a new film, which featured him as a conscientious district
police officer in a small village.
“I will keep on working, trying myself in different roles and polar
images. This is my actor’s duty,” he said.
In the new serial Bezrukov tries to avoid oversimplifying Yesenin’s
bright and controversial personality. Born into a peasant family, Yesenin
literally burst into literature, becoming one of the most popular poets
of his time. He married the American dancer Isadora Duncan and traveled
with her to Europe and the United States. Yesenin often surprised contemporaries
with his epatage and hooliganism, which won him a scandalous reputation.
When the 1917 Bolshevik revolution broke out, he applauded it at first
but then opposed the new regime. Yesenin unexpected death is shrouded in
mystery. According to an official version, he hung himself at the Angleter
Hotel in St. Petersburg.
The authors of the film suggest their own version. The plot is based
on a book by Eduard Khlystov, who, in 1985, investigated the circumstances
of the poet’s death and came to a conclusion that it might have been a
murder.
Some parts of the serial were shot in Russia, others – in Ukraine
and Italy. The Hollywood star Shon Yang plays Isadora, and her partner
is Gary Busey starring as Isadora’s former husband. The film will premiere
on ORT channel in October.
05/05/2005
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