73rd season at the Theatre. Pushkin ends with a loud and resonant performance of “Zoyka’s Apartment” directed by Evgeny Pisarev.
Bulgakov’s eternal theme – the housing problem – is also relevant for our time. The director decided to present it in a playful “cabaret” style (which echoes the performance of the same name by E. Pisarev at the Theater of Nations). The song echoes from the stage (live!), everyone is having fun and dancing, the audience is blinded by the sparkle of the evening dresses of the inhabitants of another “bad apartment” on Sadovaya Street…
Zoya Peltz (Alexandra Ursulyak) exists under the motto “if you want to live – know how to turn”, regularly giving bribes to the head of the Hallelujah house committee (Sergey Miller). He gladly turns a blind eye to the illegal activities of a citizen who struggles to maintain “chic, brilliance, beauty” in all of her seven rooms.
Only the stucco ceiling recalls the old glamor and splendor of the Peltz house. The black walls and floor squint (a hint of overall unsteadiness, instability), and the furniture is very poor – some furniture – old, outdated, dated. Other characters bring discord into the atmosphere of this abode instead of the much-desired harmony – good Manyushka (Elizaveta Kononova) is very young and therefore equally stupid, Pavlik Obolyaninov (Alexander Dmitriev) is greedy for all kinds temptations in the form of illicit substances. For this reason – weak, willful and cowardly; At the slightest danger, she seeks protection from Zoya, like a small child from its mother.
The play “Zoyka’s Apartment” at the Theater. Pushkin
photo source: teatrpushkin.ru
But Zoya does not know how to protect and love, although she tries to appear gentle and sensitive to Pavel, she periodically enters the role of “mommy”. She only knows how to survive. And this is possible only with an “iron” character and the same grip. This heroine skillfully connects the other inhabitants of the apartment with the game she has designed (in her own words, for the common good). Having opened a brothel under the guise of a workshop, she seems to be putting on a show in front of the house committee and those she calls her assistants. The dramatic talent of citizen Pelts becomes especially evident in the second act – she dances and wholeheartedly sings “Don’t mind living today”, and picturesquely wrings her hands – a real actress, she will do anything , if only it “studio” is not covered…
The play “Zoyka’s Apartment” at the Theater. Pushkin
photo source: teatrpushkin.ru
Regular visitors to this institution are the same as her – people who have lost their life orientation, found themselves at a crossroads. The rough cousin of Zoya Ametistov (Alexander Kubanin), the desperate beauty Alla Vadimovna (Anna Karmakova), the Chinese cherub (Nazar Safonov) – they all dream of leaving the country, but it requires a lot of money. And none of them are eager to earn honest work. They keep talking about leaving, singing “another life and a distant shore”, convinced that “there” will certainly be better than “here”. But we know that it is only good where we are not. This is unknown to the characters in the play, who live in the time of the NEP, and to many of our contemporaries, who are still in search of a better life.
And she is not. However, there is no “better” life anywhere, nor “worse”. There is an ordinary life, which it is easier for someone (as the main character) to turn into a spectacle than to come to terms with reality. It’s extremely difficult for Zoya to come to terms with anything, as evidenced by her frantic cry in the finale: “Farewell, farewell, my apartment!” In the first seconds, this cry evokes sympathy, but it is quickly replaced by laughter – after all, there is no escape from reality, just like from oneself.
The show will continue to delight audiences in the new theatrical season.
Age limit – 18+.
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