" Strange Mrs. Savage " ( English The Curious Savage , in the original there is a pun) - a comedy of the American playwright John Patrick . Written in 1950 and translated into Russian in the 1960s by Tamara Blanter , she gained fame in the USSR.
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Content
Performances in the USSR, Russia and the CIS
The performance was staged at the Mossovet Theater in 1966 by director L. Varpakhovsky , the first female lead was Faina Ranevskaya . According to reviews, her performance was amazing. The performance was a huge success, the role in it became one of Ranevskaya's favorite roles. But over the years, it became difficult for her to play, and when in 1972 Ranevskaya’s young partner in the play Vadim Beroev died, she finally abandoned the role, and the role was transferred to Lyubov Orlova . In 1975, the role was transferred to the already terminally ill Vera Maretskaya . The play with Maretskaya’s participation was filmed as a film-play and therefore became the country's most famous version of the play.
In 2000, the premiere of the play “Strange Mrs. Savage” took place at the Central Academic Theater of the Russian Army, (directed by Sergey Kolosov ), starring People's Artist of the USSR Lyudmila Kasatkina ).
On October 5, 2005, the premiere of the play “Strange Mrs. Savage” took place at the Sverdlovsk State Academic Drama Theater (directed by Yevgeny Lantsov , starring People's Artist of Russia Ekaterina Lyakhova ).
In 2006, the premiere of the play “Strange Mrs. Savage” took place at the State Academic Central Puppet Theater named after S. Obraztsov (director, performer Jeffrey - Honored Artist of Russia Andrei Dennikov , starring People's Artist of the USSR Vera Vasilieva ).
In 2006, a television film was released in Ukraine - an adaptation of the comedy “Strange Mrs. Savage” called “ Strange Christmas ”: directed by Maxim Papernik , starring Barbara Brylska , Bogdan Stupka , Lia Akhedzhakova , Olga Sumskaya and others. The film takes place in a Russian-language language space, the characters bear Russian names [1] .
In April 2008, the premiere of the play “Strange Mrs. Savage” took place at the Lipetsk Drama Theater, as well as at the Chekhov Pavlodar Drama Theater .
In 2009, the premiere took place at the St. Petersburg Rain Theater (stage director Natalya Nikitina , starring Elena Sapronova). In the same year, the premiere took place at the Kiev Theater of Russian Drama. Lesia Ukrainka .
In 2010, the performance was re-staged at the Lipetsk Drama Theater, and the premiere was also held at the Kaliningrad Drama Theater.
In 2012, the performance was able to see the audience of the Krivoy Rog Theater named after Taras Shevchenko.
In 2016, the play was staged on the stage of the Samara Academic Drama Theater named after Maxim Gorky.
Story
The main character, Ethel Savage, is a wealthy widow . The three children of her husband from a previous marriage, the establishment , find out that she founded a fund that spends money on the fulfillment of people's unusual desires, making them happy. They put their stepmother in a psychiatric hospital and take care of themselves as their guardians.
In the hospital, she meets several "almost normal" inhabitants, each of whom has one mental deviation. Having made friends with them, she begins to look at her life with new eyes. At the same time, foster children visit her to find out where she hid the money, she fools them and makes them do crazy things in search of money, which the newspapers then talk about. The comedy emphasizes the contrast between the residents of the institution and the foster children of Mrs. Savage, leading the viewer to the question of who is really crazy here.
After several plot twists, the heroine in the final gets the opportunity to leave the clinic, but wants to stay in it, because she feels lonely outside, however, the doctor dissuades her from imaginary peace and convinces her that in the outside world she is needed by people.
Actors
- Ethel P. Savage (founder of the Jonathan Savage Foundation, actress)
- Savage: Tit Savage (Senator), Samuel Savage (Judge), Lily-Bell Savage
- Hospital Patients: Florence Williams, Fairy May, Jeffrey (Jeff) Meredith, Hannibal, Mrs. Paddy
- Staff: Miss Willie, Dr. Emmett