“The Jokers" is a play by Alexander Ostrovsky in 4 acts. Subheading: Pictures of Moscow life. Genre: Comedy. Year of creation - 1864.
The play was originally intended by the author to be performed by his friend, actor of the Alexandrinsky Theater Burdin (the role of Khryukov) in his performance , and the role of Verochka was played by N. A. Nikulina in the Moscow Maly Theater , where the production was simultaneously being prepared. But as a result, two artists shone in two productions:
The "Jokers", according to many memoirs, gave one of the best roles to Prov. Mikhailovich Sadovsky , who played the merchant Khryukov at the Maly Theater, and Vasily Vasilievich Samoilov (Obroshenov in Alexandrinka). ... gestures and pauses of Khryukov-Sadovsky entered the annals of acting and were described by Anatoly Fedorovich Koni . And it was precisely the “Jokers” in the Notes regarding the “Rules for Prizes” that the playwright himself described among the plays, “which must certainly be in the repertoire of any Russian theater if it wants to be Russian” [1] .
Content
- 1 Actors
- 2 Story
- 3 productions
- 4 notes
- 5 Links
Actors
- Pavel Prokhorovich Obroshenov, a retired official.
- Anna Pavlovna, 25 years old
- Verochka, 17 years old} of his daughter.
- Alexander Petrovich Goltsov, a very young man, an official.
- Filimon Protasich Khryukov, a wealthy merchant, 60 years old.
- Nedonosov |
- Little} young people dressed in the latest fashion.
- Shilohvostov, a shopkeeper in a short lustrin Siberian, boots with bottles.
- Ulita Prokhorovna, sister of Obroshenov
- An important person, in an overcoat, wide open, on the neck an order, a tight white tie and very high collars.
- A respectable man, short, fat; there is a thick golden chain on the neck, rings on the hands, a stick with a golden knob.
- Mama, in a dark silk dressing, is covered with a dark scarf.
- Fashionable daughter in a small straw hat.
- The girl, in a burnus, is covered with a scarf, with cardboard.
- Young man.
- Officer 1st.
- 2nd official
- Salopnitsa, in her hands a wrapped certificate of poverty.
Story
The poor retired landowner has two daughters. The youngest, Verochka, is in love with a poor modest young man, Alexander Petrovich Goltsov. He makes an offer, which is readily accepted, and wedding agreements are already underway. But it turns out that trouble happened with Goltsov - he spent other people's money on his mother’s funeral. Debt must be repaid immediately, but no one wants to help the poor young man. Rich neighbors and friends only cruelly and cheerfully make fun of him. Obroshenov is trying to help find money, praying friends to lend, but only the rich are in no hurry to help the poor - for all desperate requests, they are just inoffensive rallies that turn into a real intrigue that almost drives the elderly retired official crazy. Poverty makes people defenseless in a society where only money rules. Honesty, decency, spiritual nobility - these fundamental characteristics become only a target for ridicule. The theme is eternal for the constantly troubled Russian society. Only a noble rich merchant Khryukov can save the situation by marrying his eldest daughter.
Stage
The first productions took place in Alexandrinka in St. Petersburg and the Maly Theater in Moscow.
In the future, the play was repeatedly staged in various theaters. In the Moscow productions of the Maly Theater, S. V. Shumsky was especially famous as Obreshenov — see S. V. Shumsky as Obroshenov in the play “The Jokers” by A. N. Ostrovsky. Figure by D. Shustov (inaccessible link) [2] ; V. N. Tilled in the role of Anna Pavlovna; in Alexandrinka V.N. Davydov as Obroshenov.
Among the productions in Soviet times - the Central Theater of the Red Army , Moscow, 1933, music for which was written by D. B. Kabalevsky [3] .