In January 2017, the play "Amsterdam" was played at the Sovremennik Theater, based on the play Parade by Alexander Galin. This is an ironic comedy about homophobia in Russia, which makes you seriously think about tolerance. The play addresses the problem of fathers and children. This topic is not new in art and in life, more and more similar questions are raised in society in the context of the confrontation of European and Russian views. Now the problem is most urgent, since many children of wealthy parents study abroad, European standards of freedom are not alien to them.
Performance Features
The premiere of the performance, announced at the end of 2016, took place after the Christmas holidays. The main role in the performance expected by all was proposed to Mikhail Efremov. It is this actor, according to the director of the performance S. Gazarov, who can convey the whole depth of the drama of the protagonist through a comedic image. Theater critics believe that the play can be attributed to the modern classics in demand in our time.
The director presented to the public a farce comedy in which he invited the viewer to come to an understanding of true human relations through an ironic clash of two worldviews. If, leaving the hall, the audience will think about the problems that have been revealed, and will be able to accept something new, then the performance was played not in vain. Everyone will look for answers to questions that have arisen outside the theater.
Plot
The plot, simple in content, captivates the viewer from the very first minute. The scene is the capital of tolerance and tolerance Amsterdam, where Nikolay Skvortsov flies over the weekend (Mikhail Efremov) to meet his wife and son Viktor, who lives abroad, as is customary with the nouveau riche. Skvortsov is the most typical new Russian Cossack (his viewers see him in a Cossack caftan) who knows how to spend money. True, he managed to sit out for some fraud. Domes crammed on the back make it clear to the viewer how difficult the formation of this hero was, from which environment he rose, becoming the Urals deputy-millionaire who made his fortune in the dashing 90s.
In the performance, viewers see Nikolai Skvortsov in considerable drinking. And he came not only to meet with his family, but to relieve stress from the changing rules of his work every day. From him, as from the Ural deputy, they demanded that the family and children be at home, and not travel abroad.
But suddenly a problem with his son falls upon him, which is worse than the one from which he flew from the Urals.
Tie
In the play "Amsterdam" at the Sovremennik Theater, a family drama unfolds. Kolya's wife (actress Alena Babenko), a former actress from a provincial theater, loved the luxurious life abroad very much, she is quite happy that her husband is only on short visits. The main thing is that he ensures her comfortable existence and pays for her son’s studies. The family at first glance is ideal, but ... Everyone knows the expression "The family has its black sheep" - the role of the "freak" in their family is assigned to the son.
They did not wait and did not guess that Victor (Shamil Khamatov) would knock the soil out from under his father’s feet, arriving at the hotel room with his friend, who was walking in a woman’s dress and high heels. But most of all, his father was stunned by the news that his son would participate in the parade of "lumberjacks", as Skvortsov calls people with a non-traditional orientation, and that his son, perhaps one of them ...
Nikolai Skvortsov, adhering to the bottle while still on the plane, continues to binge in the hotel room. Drunk to hell and not understanding the situation, Skvortsov quarrels with his son and kicks his friend Victor out of the room.
Denouement
But now the audience faces a scene with a bizarre construction and a balcony, from which the drunk Skvortsov in his underpants and a T-shirt screams with a tangled tongue the gay parade passing under the windows of the hotel and he understands one slogan. He is trying to explain to those who participate in the parade what it means to love and how, trying to pull his wife out onto the balcony to show all the charm of a traditional orientation. Spectator reviews of the play "Amsterdam" with Efremov speak about the organic transformation of this wonderful artist, who can be "almost animal" on stage.
In the second action, Skvortsov is not limited to shouting from the balcony, he is trying to escape from his room to participate in the parade. With a saber in his hands and barely holding his feet, Skvortsov ends up in a police station. The final of the performance has a logical conclusion - everyone has been reconciled. The elder Skvortsov is reassured that his son is of the right orientation, and he will soon become a grandfather.
Reviews for the play "Amsterdam"
The authors of the performance position it as a comedy. This is understandable, there is something to laugh at in the play, but there are also sad scenes ... They laughed heartily at the sight of Mikhail Efremov in the image of his hero Nikolai Skvortsov in shorts. The game of Yevgeny Pavlov, who embodied on the stage the image of Victor's friend - Dolores - is simply amazing. The plastic and flexibility of the actor are noted. Spectators like the strong play of the artists, and the cast can be called stellar.
The plot of the production is relevant in our time. This is stated in the reviews of the play "Amsterdam". He is both cheerful and sad at the same time. The eternal conflict of fathers and children. Clash of interests of generations and the struggle for the rightness between these generations. The older generation, people of respectable age, do not tolerate any changes, the traditions of grandparents are holy for them. Young people seek to change the established world order in accordance with their worldview and fiercely uphold their values ​​in this world. The authors of the play lead the viewer to an understanding of how important it is to be heard and learn to hear others. To the realization that it is impossible to accept the new, remaining true to their inveterate beliefs.
Fathers and Sons
In Russia you need to be either rich or famous, so that the appeal to you is the same as in Europe. For Viktor Skvortsov, this is understandable; he lives and studies in London. Most likely, that is why he supports minorities and stands up for the persecuted. He understands how to relate to people. That is why he participates in the gay parade, showing his human attitude to people of a different orientation. But he cannot explain this to his parents. He believes that they will not understand him.
Strange as it may seem, Skvortsov Sr., having talked only one day with his son and a circle of young people, like Russians like his son, but living in Europe, came to the conclusion that to remain human and learn to understand and accept people as they are there is - the main thing that my son wanted to convey to him. The hero of Mikhail Efremov at the end of the play understood his son, but the father’s son did not.
Perception of the performance as a tragedy
In reviews of the play "Amsterdam" there are very deep discussions on the problems posed in the play. The attentive viewer understood the message of the authors - a clash of worldviews - Russian and Western European. With ironic reflection, the Russian person’s unwillingness to accept Western European values, the main of which is individual freedom, is shown. The protagonist gives an impressive monologue about the needs that dominate in today's Russian society - money and power.
The reviews of the Amsterdam performance at the Sovremennik Theater prove that people do not just come to laugh, but try to separate the seeds from the chaff. Not all, but many, can discern the meaning laid down by the author in the play: do not laugh out loud at homophobic jokes and caustic comparisons of the "decaying West" with "right Russia." In order for awareness to come, actor Mikhail Efremov plays a drunk Russian, but his monologues make you think.
About the game of artist Mikhail Efremov
Both in the reviews and in the reviews of the play "Amsterdam" the brilliant game of Efremov was noted. When he is on stage, everything around him fades. He, as the audience notes, sometimes “pinches”, and sometimes “peeps out” of the role. The ability to play the way he does is called the actor’s skill book. He is able to convey through the comedic images the depth of the drama or the tragedy of the hero. Viewers note that the whole performance seems to revolve around his hero, although you can not blame anyone from the cast for an uninteresting game.