At the Theater of Nations, viewers are encouraged to reflect on the price of a successful life. Here in February 2014, on the small stage, the premiere of the tragicomedy of the young playwright Yaroslava Pulinovich “Zhanna” took place. The performance is the story of a woman with an iron character. Ingeborga Dapkunaite played the main role.
"Jeanne," the play. Theater of Nations
The production was carried out by a recent graduate of GITIS Ilya Rotenberg. “Jeanne” is a performance that continues the experimental work of the theater with young directors and new drama. Ilya Rotenberg in 2011 headed the Lysvensky Drama Theater, where he staged the Gogol's "Players". The production received the Grand Prix at the festival of theaters of small towns. “Jeanne” is a play that is the second in a row the director’s work with drama Pulinovich. The first was his play "How I became ..." (Tomsk Theater of Young Spectators).
Actors: Ingeborga Dapkunaite (starring), Ekaterina Shchankina, Alexander Novin, Anna Gusarova, Andrey Fomin, Nadezhda Lumpova are involved in the play "Zhanna" .
About the eternal: the story of a woman
According to the director, “Jeanne” is a play whose genre should be defined as a psychological drama that goes back to the epic. The director considers the main character of the play Pulinovich to be an absolutely epic character. Her story concerns eternal things that have been exciting for many centuries - love, family, jealousy, revenge, envy. ““ Zhanna ”is a performance that represents the story of a woman. Each woman has a certain secret, which would be interesting to understand,” the director shared with reporters. Such an attempt is presented in the play. The director tried to retell the story of Jeanne as he understands it.
A successful business woman has, at first glance, all the benefits that many only dream of. The viewer is invited to think: at what cost was this obtained? What had to sacrifice for this? What does she end up with?
Plot
The genre of the play by Yaroslava Pulinovich, which formed the basis of the play (“There will be a new day”), is defined as a melodrama with elements of farce. It tells about a certain lonely and decisive business lady Jeanne, who managed to break through from “rags to riches”: she built her life from scratch, achieved a lot, but never found her happiness. For five years, her relationship has continued with infantile Andrei, who is almost half her age. The heroine zealously takes care of him. At some point, a notorious young man decides to start an independent life. He escapes from Jeanne to the careless and funny student Katya. But for young people this ends sadly - they are thrown out into the street. Jeanne does not find anyone in return.
about the author
Yaroslava Pulinovich, despite her young age (she is under 30), is one of the most famous and sought-after Russian playwrights. Graduate of the Yekaterinburg Theater Institute. The first plays - “Chemistry teacher”, “Carnival of cherished desires”, “Washers” - are on the short lists of the Eurasia Drama Festival, are laureates of the Debut and Voice of the Generation Prizes. Pulinovich is also a regular participant in the festivals "Lyubimovka" and "New Drama". The playwright plays on the stage of theaters in England, Poland, Estonia, the USA, Ukraine and more than 40 theaters in Russia.
According to critics, the plays of Pulinovich differ from many other Russian dramas of the last generation in that they are built in perfect accordance with theatrical canons. They certainly present the psychological quality factor of the images, the rapid development of intrigue, a serious and understandable meaning to the viewer. Perhaps it is in these features that the secret of her success lies.
Directing
Experts believe that in the performance of the young director Ilya Rotenberg everything is thought out perfectly and works like a clock. Artist Polina Grishina, student of the famous Dmitry Krymov, the space is conceptually divided into black and white. The viewer is offered a world without halftones.
The first plan is occupied by the luxurious apartment of Jeanne: marble floor, large bed and Jacuzzi. The second is occupied by the removable closet of Andrei and Katya with her wretched atmosphere. The action moves from episode to episode, all decisions work, nothing remains unused. Metaphors are gritty and laconic: for example, when bedding is removed from a bed, it turns into the grave of Father Jeanne. The action is built by the director, like clip editing, the frames in it change quite quickly, new episodes naturally grow from the previous ones.
Modified Finale
At the end of the play, Andrei and his wife and child, left without money, housing or work, come to Jeanne. At the sight of a baby, the heart of the heroine melts. She leaves the young to spend the night. The reader remains hopeful that the “new day” awaits farthest.
But for the staging of the Theater of Nations, the playwright rewrote the finale, its meaning was fundamentally changed. In the play, Jeanne asks her friend, a powerful deputy, how to quickly deprive someone of parental rights. And he gets the answer that there is nothing complicated.
She decides to steal the child. This step becomes for her the peak of all her ambitions, the last desire to be realized. Jeanne acts with all the uncompromising character of the heroine of antiquity. Having survived the death of female love, she seeks revenge in motherly love. With the new finale, the play of Pulinovich is brought to the global level. Her character gets the scale of the actress, who plays the main role.
Tackle: external fragility combined with internal strength
Of the several plays proposed by the director to choose, it was decided to stage the play “Jeanne”. The Theater of Nations settled on this option. Ingeborga Dapkunaite was invited to the main role by Evgeny Mironov, the artistic director of the theater.
This choice, according to the director, is very accurate. The participation of this wonderful actress gives the play a special new shade.
The playwright Y. Pulinovich believes that in Dapkunaite there is what is necessary for her image: in her external fragility is combined with internal pressure and strength.
Actress and viewer
The actress Dapkunaite does not need to be presented to both domestic and international viewers. It would be useful for theatricals to learn that a movie star has been playing in the theater for a long time and a lot. In the 80s, she worked with the famous E. Nyakrosyus, the Lithuanian director who founded the Meno Fortas Theater. She performed on the stage of European theaters, as well as in Britain and America.
Actress and role
According to critics, Ingeborg Dapkunaite acts clearly and swiftly in this performance: she does not allow any extra gesture, or unusual details, or accidental intonations.
Her heroine combines tenderness and predatory grip, openness to the world and severity, iron stiffness and vulnerability. She is truly charming, quirky, cunning, graceful. Her acting mischief and female coquetry are combined with depth and thorough psychologism. As a result, her Jeanne is not just a character or an actress. This is a real living person whom the viewer believes from the first to the last word.
Performance "Jeanne": reviews
The work of the creative team of the theater did not leave the audience indifferent. In their reviews, they call the performance amazing. The acting in it makes the audience live with the heroes moving in life, like on the edge of a knife, all the vicissitudes of their fate. Spectators are grateful to Ingeborga Dapkunaite for her piercing, amazing game. The subtle and frank transmission by the actress of the emotional experiences of a single woman causes many gamma of feelings: admiration, pity, contempt and condemnation. The audience in their reviews thank the actors for their convincing and truthful work, note the good directing and the successful, in their opinion, decision of the stage space.
Conclusion
The staging of the Theater of Nations is a strong, solid performance that can make anyone survive. The creative viewer will also appreciate the fresh and at the same time accessible form. The only ones who should not recommend this performance are lovers of dubious, risky experiments. This is absent in this paper.