MOSCOW, October 27 Moscow Art Theater named after A.P. Chekhov celebrated its 125th anniversary with the premiere of Denis Azarov’s “9th row, 10th, 11th place,” in which the main roles were played by Natalya Tenyakova and Stanislav Lyubshin, the correspondent reports.
Especially for the anniversary production, playwright Yulia Pospelova wrote the play “9th Row, 10th, 11th Place,” which tells the story of love.
“I would like the Art Theater to become the first theater in the country in terms of its cast, directors, and playwrights, both classical and modern. The 125th anniversary is by no means a summing up. It is, on the contrary, an idea and the embodiment of something new, like today’s performance, which was specially staged for the theater’s anniversary,” the theater’s artistic director Konstantin Khabensky told reporters before the premiere.
He noted that “the new production is for and about the audience, for and about those who served or continue to do so, and also this story is for and about the people, because stage workers, usherettes, spectators are all people.” And we “We tried to tell in this story about them, about people, about their destinies, about their experiences,” Khabensky emphasized.
Mikhail Porechenkov said that in the anniversary performance he will play the role of one of the founders of the Art Theater — Vladimir Nemirovich -Danchenko, noting that the authors of the production “reconciled Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko.”
«We reconcile Nemirovich-Danchenko and Stanislavsky. Even after everything, we still present them together. We want these two people, who did something unreal for the entire theater, to be together. This is not a documentary story. We are talking about love, about warmth , that the theater should not end. The world may collapse, but the theater cannot. The design of the theater is based on very subtle things: this is love for the audience, and love for one’s work,” the actor shared.
According to Azarov, the production is 99 percent fictitious, because the history of the Art Theater is known to everyone, so the creators talk about the spectators who have been going to it all these years. «We have only one scene, which is documented. By and large, we talk about the spectators who went to this theater. Through them we tried to show what was happening to the theater all these years… Together with Yulia Pospelova we came up with this from scratch story,» the director said.
Rector of the Moscow Art Theater School Igor Zolotovitsky noted that the Art Theater has always existed. “During the revolution, when there was shooting here (not far from the theater — Ed.), Nemirovich-Danchenko came out and said: “Gentlemen, spectators, are you ready to watch the play? They are shooting on the street.» And the audience said that they were ready. And at all times the Art Theater said something that made the anxiety go away and some kind of peace of mind come,» he said.
The production reflects the life of the Art Theater from its first years to the present day. According to the plot, from year to year He (Lyubshin) and She (Tenyakova) come to the play “Three Sisters” and meet in the 9th row of the stalls. The action from the auditorium is interspersed with episodes about the theater founders, artists, and backstage workers.
«Today's Art Theater is in search of themes… It makes good, hooligan surprises for the viewer either with productions, or a loyalty system, or a history of charity. And again, this is the Art Theater, which, having gained impudence, gives rise to new traditions: this is the Art Prize theater, this is also an invitation to the cosmonauts to the Art Theater, who today congratulated us on our anniversary from orbit,” concluded the artistic director of the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater.
Evgenia Dobrovolskaya, Konstantin Khabensky and many others also performed roles in the anniversary performance.
The Moscow Art Theater was founded in 1898 by Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko. In 1987, it was divided into two theaters — the Moscow Art Academic Theater named after Gorky and the Moscow Art Academic Theater named after Chekhov (later — the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater).