In August 2015, the premiere of the play staged by director Konstantin Raikin based on the play of the Krasnoyarsk playwright Vladimir Zaitsev was held at the Satirikon Moscow Theater. He offered the audience the Satyricon Theater "All shades of blue." Reviews for the play can be found diametrically opposed, from enthusiasm to complete rejection.
World in shades of blue
Between the novel “All Shades of Blue” written by Japanese writer and film director Muraki Ryu in 1976 and the play of the same name by the Krasnoyarsk playwright Vladimir Zaitsev, which was released in 2014, parallels can be drawn. At least one: both works on how difficult it is to be young. How scary it is to be face to face with the problem of choice: to live like everyone else, or ...
Japanese Murakami Ryu blessed the hero of his novel on plotless "hippy" stories from the category of "sex, drugs, rock and roll." The monotonous hallucinations of a marginal guy from the 1970s describe the life of a small young company whose members know firsthand what group sex, “overdoses”, and suicide are.
Compared with the foreign “prototype”, a Russian boy without a name (Boy - art. N. Smolyaninov, the play of the Satyricon theater “All shades of blue”) is just an angel. He does not use drugs, he is alien to "gangbang." But once he realized that he was not like everyone else, and at sixteen he decided to confess to the world in the person of his family and friends that he was not at all concerned about the girls, he was gay.
Controversial called many the play "All shades of blue" ("Satyricon"). Reviews from critics and simply grateful viewers conceal a lot of good. For example, that the actors harmoniously got used to the images. Nikita Smolyaninov very convincingly conveys the feeling of dazzling purity of the sinful (in someone's opinion) soul of his hero, all the horror and mental pain that gripped the Boy when he realized that this was impossible, but impossible in another way.
The boy overcame his fear and revealed himself to his relatives, but fell victim to his confession. It is noteworthy that in the dramatic turns of events developing on the stage, there was a place for funny jokes. So the production of “All shades of blue” is narrated about the tragic with humor.
The first act is built as a reading of the play. The text is not so shocking to the unprepared viewer as the "picture", so no action, just a reading. However, in the future no one will see either nudity or kisses.
Everything can be
Raikin Jr. took up the topic, far from those chosen by his famous father. But times and customs have changed. It is impossible to deny: there has long been a need in Russian society to rethink a number of stereotypes that exist in such an important area as interpersonal relations. Is it necessary to harshly condemn the "not like"? Or maybe it is necessary to come to terms with the fact that they have the right to choose, like others? Do all Shades of Blue (Satyricon) reviews contain answers to these burning questions?
“Satyricon” did its best: a hot topic, highlighted by a red-hot ramp, stirred up the venerable audience. Everyone who was over 20 hurried to the play "All Shades of Blue" (the play's rating is 21+). But until recently it was believed that "in our country there is no sex, but there is love." If such an adult Boy had happened then, he would have been severely punished and convicted. The Soviet Union talked a lot about red and white, but not blue.
Merits and virtues are only the continuation of vices and shortcomings. This, in a sense, is narrated by All Shades of Blue at the Satyricon Theater. Reviews of the performance confirm this. Many viewers are convinced that at the next round of his development, the Boy realizes that he was mistaken. Or is he unaware? And was he mistaken?
Questions, questions, and there is no single answer to them. Perhaps that is why, like complex tasks in algebra, their critics, journalists, viewers, who watched “All shades of blue” (“Satyricon”), overcome them. Reviews for the performance - their attempt to solve a serious life "example".
The emphasis is on: you have to be more tolerant!
In Russia, there are also enough intolerants for everything non-traditional, including sexual orientation. In St. Petersburg, in the Baltic House in February 2016, the production of “All Shades of Blue” (Satyricon Theater) was held. "Reviews" were of a special, terrorist orientation. After the first scene, an alarming telephone call was received by the police on call: Orthodox activists reported that a bomb had been planted in the hall. Spectators were evacuated, the building was examined, there was no explosive device.
According to the deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg Vitaly Milonov, the infernal machine was not laid under the spectator seat, but under the moral health of the nation. Well, as one of the heroes of Arkady Raikin said, "there can be." Opinion has a right to exist. The play “All Shades of Blue” in the Satyricon, the theater’s reviews about it are a kind of pedagogical poem, where each educator seeks and finds his own methods of personality formation, including his own.
But the director's accents are placed: “Shades of blue” - a call for the generation of parents to be more tolerant, softer, not to impose their ideas about life on children. Yes, the world is not simple, it does not want to be the way some mothers (A. Steklov) and fathers (V. Bolshov) draw it. Boy’s parents, who have long been unfriendly and estranged among themselves, prefer non-bending lines in their upbringing.
And it scares the viewer, annoys, repels from the generation of "ancestors". Although there are those who believe: "MaPa" is a monster - so what? A frequent occurrence! "Will the production of" All shades of blue "(" Satyricon ") change their opinion? Will the reviews become more flexible, the opinions softer? Probably, the director counted on this.
Mechanical swans against a living heart
The play "All Shades of Blue" at the Satyricon Theater is called the feat of Konstantin Raikin, a bold directorial act. Zoya Apostolskaya writes in a review that the play does not look for deep existential meanings, but talks about hardened stereotypes.
The journalist believes that the production is balancing on the verge of kitsch, breaking into it. This style was chosen by the artistic director K. Raikin and the artist D. Razumov. With the help of it, the atmosphere of life is transmitted, in which truth is not important, but the observance of norms. The boy looks the most normal of all the characters, does not fake.
In her material there is an idea that ambiguous artistic techniques are used without provocation, there are unexpected decisions. Classical music by Tchaikovsky is replaced by the composition of Boris Moiseev, mechanical swans are moving across the stage, etc. The reviewer called the swans an annoying metaphor that has weary many. And so it is clear: soon the swan song of the unfortunate teenager will sound.
After the methods of "outpatient" treatment by prostitutes and art exhibitions did not help, the parents sent their son to a psychiatric hospital. But is this the right step? “All shades of blue” (“Satyricon Theater”) reveal a remarkable fact: in spite of everything, most viewers are ready to understand and accept the good, sincere Boy, and not “the right ancestors.” The stubborn stereotypes recede.
What is good and what is bad
And here are more reviews, reviews. “All shades of blue” (“Satyricon”) voluntarily or involuntarily activates deep thoughts about the stage revelations of the Boy and other characters.
The process of open and voluntary recognition of belonging to a sexual minority arouses deep sympathy among a number of reviewers. They believe: no one deserves persecution just because he is different. After all, it doesn’t occur to anyone to condemn a person for a large mole on his nose or too large shoes ...
The journalist Natalya Vitvitskaya was delighted with the determination of the artistic director of Satyricon, who defied existing social norms and posed a heartbreaking educational drama about a teenager of non-traditional orientation.
Vitvitskaya is clearly not on the side of the “correctors” - classmates of the hero Vika (art. E. Martinez-Cardenas), mother-economist, military dad, art grandmother (art. M. Ivanov), besogon (psychic). The reviewer considers the precedent from a position of tolerance, notes that there is no vulgarity on the stage, no one undresses, paints intentionally do not thicken - everything is like in life.
And in life, as you know, people have been racking their brains over the centuries and millennia over “what is good and what is bad,” each time making different conclusions. But there are those who do not approve of pluralism, consider it necessary to revive certain moral beacons. Are all shades of blue (Satyricon) such a beacon? Reviews of someone else's pain of unshorn hearts are now more expensive than gold. They can also find the answer to the eternal question about the boundaries of the permissible.
Everyone has a choice. So choose!
In the media, on a bench near the house, at a youth party, you can hear / read an opinion about the work that twenty years ago on the stage could not be in principle. Now the topic is "gone to the people." Reviews for the play "All Shades of Blue" ("Satyricon") are impressive primarily in mass.
What do the audience say about the play "All shades of blue"? They claim that he made them think, contributed to internal purification, getting rid of the habit of toughly evaluating everyone and everything. Theaters approve of the play of young actors - Nikita Smolyaninov, Evgenia Abramova, Roman Matyunin.
The roles are sincerely, reliably, as if gradually teaching Melpomene fans the great science of empathy, complicity, despite the complexity of the topic. There is a general understanding of “unconventionality,” and this is obviously far away, and is it necessary? At the premiere, no one left the theater during the intermission, as happens. The finale was crowned with warm applause. This can be regarded as gratitude to the director for providing connoisseurs with “freedom of choice”. When there is a choice, it is easier for a person to live.
Bravo!
Reviews of the performance “All Shades of Blue” (“Satyricon”) relate to the skills of older actors. They praise Agrippina Steklova for having so skillfully played the feelings of her mother, who learned that her son is gay. They like Vladimir Bolshov, who reliably conveyed the confusion of the feelings of a career serviceman, whose life passed through garrisons, where they would hardly have accepted “shades of blue” from the heart.
Yes, almost everyone is sorry for the Boy. But watching as parents work out schemes to distract their son from addiction, condemning the zeal and authoritarianism of parents, the audience suddenly feels sorry for “backward old people”, realizes how much bonfire of emotions has gripped their minds. How difficult it is to accept that which runs counter to the upbringing received in childhood!
It is easy to advise from the side: "Show patience, understanding." While watching the play, many thought: "How irresistible it is!" People were imbued with the feelings of the heroes, looked at what was happening not from outside, but from within. This is the common merit of all: the author of the play, the director, the acting team. You can see for yourself that there is no room for indifference when viewing it by coming to the Satyricon Theater. Reviews from viewers and critics are your guarantee.
Orientation to "locality"
Do Muscovites and guests of the capital like a theater led by K. Raikin? Responses of residents of various parts of our country indicate: they love. Is it because the troupe is able to conduct an honest dialogue with fans? If there is such an interaction, it is easier for actors and directors to navigate “on the ground”.
Especially when this "area" is crossed by such a complex, incomprehensible to most Russian fans of the scene a problem as the one that was raised in the production. Responses to the play “All Shades of Blue” at the Satyricon Theater is a symbol of indifference, indifference is a symbol of belief that the Boys will not be left alone, they will always be supported.
Criticism provides for a certain floridness of speech: it speaks of “reality” and “conventionality”, permissible and inadmissible inclination in postmodernism, leads readers to Murakami, Gogol, moral standards and humanism. The bulk of modern Russian viewers do not gravitate to ornate. For almost a quarter of a century, she wants certainty. People are trying to figure out how to relate to the problem of gay sexual orientation. Which solution will be right? And they do not always understand whether it is worth discussing this issue from the stage.
Konstantin Raikin considers “All Shades of Blue” a Christian play condemning intolerance and pride.
Life for show and just life
Some viewers give comparisons not so much specifically critical as philosophical. For example, if someone loves beer, this is his own business. This “someone” can moderately use a high-quality drink from malt and hops all his life — no one around will know about his addiction. If someone loves a husband (wife, neighbor boyfriend, friend, girlfriend) - this is also personal. Why is it necessary to shout, declare, demand a “ceremonial” recognition of the fact?
It's not about the Boy - the teenager is scared, surprised by the discovery of himself. He does not know what to do, how to relate to it. He needs an understanding. And to understand a teenager is the holy duty of adults. This is the focus of the audience.
It is known that in Russia it was not appropriate for a husband and wife to kiss in public, they mention. Does this mean that the rights of the spouses were infringed? Maybe, nevertheless, it is more correct to orient art to the "bright side of the moon"?
Anyway, are all equal?
In Russia, there is a law that protects children from information that is harmful to their health and interferes with normal development. According to this law, it is unacceptable for children to be told that heterosexual and traditional marriages are equal. Basic values do not change over time, they are indestructible. How to evaluate the performance from this point of view?
The play "All shades of blue", which is based on real events, does not promote homosexual orientation. He tells that people have forgotten how to understand each other. On the stage there is a symbolic “crowd” condemning what is happening, hiding in the depths of the stage. Who is it? Spectators? Do they distinguish shades of blue, or is it solid black for them?
Some people think that the Satyricone featured All Shades of Blue is no surprise. The theater is not the first time shocking the viewer. Others assure: the production is unusual for the brainchild of Konstantin Arkadyevich Raikin. Game productions were replaced by a psychological performance.
If we are talking about psychology, then it is this science that studies the world outside of its division into black and white. Many critics and viewers believe that the boy’s parents could not fight for their truth, randomly “brandishing a sword” where a delicate, selective approach is needed. But is it possible for everyone?
Think for yourself, decide for yourself
Relatives of the Boy realized that they should become truly native to the child. Late? Better late than never ... Realizing that they should not have allowed the guy to be pumped up with special drugs that actually killed the Boy, his parents took his son home. The family is reunited, but at what cost! White smoke on stage seems to absorb a sad family. And in this veil it is not clear what will happen to the main character, how his life will turn out.
The open finale gives viewers the opportunity to think big. Reviews for the play "All Shades of Blue" at the Satyricon Theater will haunt public opinion for a long time. The scales will continue to lean in one direction or the other. Should I wait for balance? Or is it impossible in a big changeable world?