Vera Alexandrovna, how did you start in a new position?
Vera Polyakova-Makei: They made an amendment, now it’s a theater for… children. Now we fill the repertoire, we put on modern youth shows, but based on classic works. It is important that viewers aged twelve and over watch both Belarusian and Russian classics so that children will want to read or re-read the work. The public did not come to the theater. My task is to attract it.
Does theater begin with a coat hanger?
Vera Polyakova-Makei: Not only, but also with coffee. The spectator for the money spent on the ticket should get the maximum pleasure. For example, we always conduct excursions to the theater museum, where models, posters, costumes from past performances are collected.
At the Bobruisk festival, the Russian Tatyana Sambuk was named best director. Belarusians consider her their man – she has lived in Belarus since the fourth grade
Will the directory be updated?
Vera Polyakova-Makei: Let’s go for 50% Belarusian and 50 Russian performances. There was a period when performances were only in Belarusian. This limits the repertoire and goes on tour. There are two official languages in Belarus, and our audience should choose a performance for every taste. We presented to the Moscow audience the performance “Zhenya + Tanya = Love” based on Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin”. Directed by Tatyana Sambuk, whose performances in Moscow have already been shown by “TriTformat”.
Why such a hipster name?
Vera Polyakova-Makey: To attract the viewer. He arrives in the room and suddenly realizes that the show is in verse!
On May 30, with this production, we will close the Rainbow Festival in St. Petersburg, and then we will play five more performances there.
Do you often play at festivals?
Vera Polyakova-Makei: At the prestigious festival “Belaya Vezha”, which brings together theaters from nine countries, Tatyana Sambuk’s performance “The Alps. Forty-First” based on the work of “Alpine Ballad” by Vasil Bykov was presented . Tatyana Sambuk was named Best Director of Belarus at the National Theater Festival in Bobruisk. We consider her our person – she has lived in Belarus since the fourth year. We brought her from Tikhvin, near St. Petersburg.
Are you going to “Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk”?
Vera Polyakova-Makei: Yes, the director of the festival decides on the choice of show. I will go with the “Cherry Orchard”, and from the Youth Theater they offered three performances: “Alps. Forty-first”, “Woman + Tanya …”, “Queen of spades”.
How has your working day changed?
Vera Polyakova-Makei: I arrived in Moscow at 9:10 a.m. and there were so many negotiations that I checked into the hotel at half past ten in the evening. They discussed the transition of the Youth Theater to new funding on a 50/50 basis. I accepted a tour of the Moscow Regional Youth Theater under the direction of Honored Artist of Russia Nonna Grishaeva with the performances “The Seagull” and “About my mother and me.”
Which spectator goes to the Théâtre des Jeunes?
Vera Polyakova-Makei: I promote the slogan: from birth to 99 years old. Recently there was a project with the Grodno Philharmonic, which brought its orchestra and “Bridges of Love” with Soviet songs. There were pensioners and people with disabilities in the room. Anyone can go to the Théâtre des Jeunes. Children cross the threshold of this theater for the first time in their lives. The grandmothers bring their grandchildren here, then they come with their grandfathers and their girlfriends.
There are many modern Onegins. What is your?
Vera Polyakova-Makei: Very nice set design – the work of Tatyana Sambuk and artist Daria Volkova, amazing music by Moscow composer Daria Garbuznyak. It was recorded by the Presidential Orchestra of the Republic of Belarus conducted by Vitaly Kulbakov. It turned out to be an interesting symbiosis. We actively cooperate with Russian directors. We are not violating the text. Pushkin’s poems are heard in “Wife + Tanya = Love”. The audience is amazed.
And what about “TriTformat”, which is 10 years old?
Vera Polyakova-Makei: I continue to play in TriTformaTe. On March 17, we’ll bring The Cherry Orchard to Moscow and start editing The Master and Margarita. I have a birthday coming up, I want to please the public with new productions. TriTformat has its own face. You can see the handwriting of Tatyana Sambuk (a VGIK student of S. Soloviev. – Approx. Aut.).
Do you have a favorite performance?
Vera Polyakova-Makei: There was “Karenina”, now – “The Cherry Orchard”. “Karenina” is always a very popular performance, but Ranevskaya in “The Cherry Orchard” opened a new facet in me.
You performed in the theater-studio of a film actor under the direction of the winner of the State of the Union Prize Alexander Yefremov.
