MOSCOW, October 3. /TASS reporter Olga Svistunova/. The Vakhtangov Theater opens the new stage with a parade of first nights. The first one to be shown to the audience on Saturday will be “Minetti” – a performance based on the play by well-known Austrian playwright Thomas Bernhard and produced by the art director of the Vakhtangov Theater, Rimas Tuminas.

Tuminas to run the show

It was the idea of Tuminas to arrange a parade of first nights in the New stage which is situated in the building adjoining the theater and took 13 years to be constructed. In the end, the Vakhtangov Theater received a state-of-the-art transformer stage. There is also a modern-looking audience hall for 200 seats. The seats are not fixed rigidly and can be moved around the hall depending on the director’s plan.

Tuminas produced the play with the main character being the famous German actor Bernhard Minetti (1905-1998). The director has entrusted this role to People’s Artist of Russia Vladimir Simonov.

“I don’t actually like plays about theater too much,” Tuminas says. “But this one is about the destiny of an actor, and primarily, of a man who is drawing conclusions on the life he has lived. This is a kind of a manifest of an actor’s existence, actor’s destiny, a kind of reflection on theater and acting art. To my mind, Vladimir Simonov’s performance of the part of Minetti is an example of high-class acting expertise, a discovery and a breakthrough in his creative development.”

In his turn, Simonov remarked that it was his sixth joint work with Tuminas whom he trusts completely. “For me, it was a kind of happiness to work on a play about Minetti and get to know his character. It is a complicated story that is never discovered till the end,” the actor said.

Tuminas worked on this production together with his permanent co-authors – set-designer Adomas Jacovskis, composer Faustas Latenas and choreographer Angelica Cholina. In addition to Vladimir Simonov, the play involves Liudmila Maksakova, Agnessa Peterson, Alexei Kuznetsov, Polina Kuzminskaya, Maksim Sevrinovsky, Maria Volkova, Eldar Tramov and others.

A tragicomedy of men and women

The parade of first nights in the New Vakhtangov stage will be continued on October 7 with the plastic performance “Men and Women.” It is staged by director and choreographer Angelica Cholina. This is already her fourth stage work at the Vakhtangov Theater, the previous performances included the sensational choreographic version of “Anna Karenina.” This time she undertook to tell the story of men and women in the language of dance, the choreographer said.

“This is a fantasy performance, and I call it a tragic comedy, because how else could one tell the story of relationship between a man and a woman?” Сholina explained. “This performance is different from my previous works,” she remarked. It is free from style of any particular age. It was interesting to look for a choreographic language for every image.”

As musical accompaniment for “Men and Women,” pieces from classical ballets by Adolf Adan and Petr Chaikovsky were used. The cast mostly consists of the participants of the theater studio, and included Anna Chipovskaya, a graduate of Shchukin Drama School and star of the Ottepel (Thaw) TV series.

The benefit night of Yulia Borisova

The next participant of the first night parade is the star of Vakhtangov Theater, People’s Artist of the USSR Yulia Borisova. The actress who has celebrated her 90th anniversary this year is now getting ready to take the stage in the new play “Take your umbrella, Madame Gautier!” produced by director Vladimir Ivanov.

“This performance is the benefit night of Yulia Borisova,” Ivanov says. “Another peculiarity of the play is that it involves middle-aged actors and a large group of young performers.” The cast includes Andrei Ilyin, Aleksandr Ryshchenkov, Artur Ivanov, Maria Berdinskikh and many others. Bringing together different generations of actors means to “pass the baton of art,” the director says.

“Very good young people from the theater studio rehearse in our play,” Yulia Borisova praised. “They are well-trained, educated and eager to work.” “Yet at first there was a sort of tension between us,” she confessed. “One young actress told me in panic: “I don’t know what to do. I am to yell at you and scold you. I can’t do it!” And I answered: “You are an actress, you and I are partners, I am also a beginner in this situation because we have entered the space of a new play together.”

The play “Take your umbrella, Madame Gautier!” will be first shown on October 13. In November, spectators will see the play “Podrostok” (Teen) after a novel by Dostoyevsky staged by director Anton Yakovlev. It involves such actors as Aleksei Guskov, Lydia Velezheva, Vladimir Logvinov, Olga Lerman and Maria Volkova. In December, the New stage will show a children’s play “Peter Pan.” In total, the new stage of the Vakhtangov Theater is to show five first nights.