The Master and Margarita (performance)

Yuri Lyubimov first filed an application for the inclusion of “The Master and Margarita” in the repertoire plan of the theater 10 years before the premiere - in 1967. However, this and subsequent attempts to stage Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel met with resistance from representatives of the cultural department. The situation changed in 1976, when the authorities gave permission for the statement “in the order of experiment”. Formal consent meant that no money would be allocated for costumes and props ^[1] .

The staging of the novel, connecting all the plot lines, was written by a young writer Vladimir Dyachin, whom his eldest son Nikita introduced to Lyubimov ^[2] . In the absence of budget funding, the artist David Borovsky collected elements of props from other theater performances for the scenery: the curtain was taken from Hamlet , the pendulum was borrowed from Rush Hour, and the golden frame was taken from Tartuffe ^[1] .

Musical arrangement was performed by composer Edison Denisov, who included excerpts from the works of Prokofiev , Schnittke , Shostakovich in the production.

The first reading of the staging, according to Lyubimov's memoirs, took place in a festive atmosphere: for the sake of this event, the director bought wine and fruit for the troupe ^[2] . In March 1977, a run took place.

After the dress rehearsal (spring 1977), a meeting of the Art Council was held, which was attended by members of the commission on the inheritance of Bulgakov. Short speeches by screenwriter Sergei Ermolinsky , poet Konstantin Simonov , theater expert Vitaly Vilenkin came down to the verdict "Approve." Representative of censorship in the Writers' Union Felix Kuznetsov also did not object to the release of the play. Writers Veniamin Kaverin , Marietta Chudakova , physicist Pyotr Kapitsa , literary critic Vladimir Lakshin were sitting in the hall ^[1] .

The presentation of Yuri Karjakin was quite detailed, noting that the success of the production was associated with a deep reading of the novel. The writer explained that the “too loud” satirical scenes do not come from a free interpretation of Lyubimov, but from Bulgakov himself; Satan’s ball, which some critics suggested removing from the play, Karjakin called "a real literary discovery." At the same time, the reviewer did not agree with the interpretation of the finale: according to the writer, the final scene, “Manuscripts do not burn,” left behind many “unresolved and urgent eternal questions”, including those related to the fate of the Master and Margarita ^[3] .

To obtain final permission to release the performance, the representatives of the theater went to the censorship committee and to the office for the protection of state secrets in the press , which was supposed to agree on the stage version. There was little hope for a quick solution to this issue, however, according to Ivan Dykhovichny, a “completely Volandian story” occurred: a resolution of officials was obtained the very next day. It was short: “The classic does not need censorship” ^[4] .

The premiere on April 6, 1977 was attended by Alfred Schnittke, Lilya Brik , Athanasius Salynsky , Arthur Eisen , Alexander Shtein , Boris Mozhaev , George Yungvald-Khilkevich , Yuri Karjakin, Nikita Khrushchev's daughter - Julia. Actors laid flowers presented by the audience to the portrait of Bulgakov ^[1] .

Yeshua

Alexander Trofimov, who first embodied the image of Yeshua on stage, admitted that this role was most dear to him ^[5] . According to theatrical critic Nina Velekhova , the actor played Yeshua "according to Dostoevsky ", leaving the main idea in a riddle. Something was felt behind the asymmetrical features and quiet speech - as a result, an “image-substance” was born that made the audience “freeze from touching the mystery of the universe” ^[6] .

Woland

The first performers of the role of Woland were Veniamin Smekhov and Boris Khmelnitsky ; later Lyubimov introduced Vsevolod Sobolev into the play.

As Smekhov later recalled, his Wolanda, according to the director’s plan, had an observer mission prepared for him - during the performance, he could peer into the faces of the audience or turn his gaze somewhere into the distance ^[1] . Having become the lyrical center of the play, Voland-Smekhov turned to the audience with questions, and according to his remarks, the audience guessed that the hero had arrived not so much in Moscow in the 1920s as in the modern Soviet capital ^[7] . Woland performed by Smekhov was smart, artistic, secretly ironic; he understood that “life needs a struggle of colors, a game, and not stagnant monotony” ^[6] .

Margarita

Lyubimov chose the performer for the role of Margarita for a long time, rehearsing simultaneously with several actresses. The difficulty was that in the scene of the ball at Satan Fagot threw off his cloak from Margarita and she was completely undressed, which at that time was perceived as a very bold staging decision ^[4] .

As a result, the choice fell on Nina Shatskaya, who “received guests, courageously sitting at the very edge of the stage on a wooden block” ^[1] . According to the theater expert Alexander Gershkovich, this spectacle was perceived by the audience “as a work of art, just as you look at the torso of Venus in a museum” ^[8] .

Master

Lyubimov saw in the role of the Master Leonid Filatov , but he hesitated for a long time, not believing in the viability of the production ^[2] . Therefore, the first performer was Dalvin Shcherbakov, who was suitable for the role according to “his human nature” ^[1] : his soul was open, but there was no reflection in it of that inner breakage, which years later embodied in Master Filatov ^[6] .

Vysotsky's failed role

Before starting work on the production, the director announced the list of actors involved in The Master and Margarita. The role of Ivan Bezdomny was initially assigned to Vladimir Vysotsky - Lyubimov believed that the actor with his irony was ideally suited for this image ^[2] . Two or three rehearsals conducted with Vysotsky-Bezdomny showed the accuracy of the director's choice. However, Vysotsky, who dreamed of the role of Woland, never entered the play ^[1] .

First cast

• Master - Dalvin Shcherbakov
• Margarita - Nina Shatskaya
• Yeshua - Alexander Trofimov
• Levy - Konstantin Zheldin
• Pontius Pilate - Vitaly Shapovalov
• Woland - Veniamin Laughs
• Bassoon (Koroviev) - Ivan Dykhovichny
• Hippopotamus - Yuri Smirnov
• Gella - Tatyana Sidorenko
• Azazello - Zinaida Slavina
• Maximilian Poplavsky (Uncle Berlioz) - Gottlieb Roninson

The main elements of scenography, taken from other theater productions, were mounted in such a way that the transition from the Patriarch's Ponds to ancient Judea was carried out freely and naturally. The composition was a movement from attraction to attraction, from poetry to prose, “from scenes high, epic, to low, vulgar-everyday” ^[8] ; according to Lyubimov, he deliberately sought to make a unique gift to Bulgakov - a collage of all the performances ^[2] .

Margarita’s flight began from the back of the stage - the actress swaying, shouting “Flight! Ah yes cream! ”Soared above the first rows, and after a change of light appeared on the edge of the curtain. The curtain itself, controlled by a group of technicians, during the performance either spun around its own axis, then moved from the left portal to the right ^[1] .

A series of transformations took place in the variety show, when the cancan performed by invisible dancers was first transformed into the pantomime of naked Gella, and then into the figure of Koroviev. The focus with the flipping of the deck of cards continued in the auditorium. The fragment, when chervonets should be strewed to the public, was adapted to modern realities: not money fell from the sky, but the counter-bars of the Taganka Theater. At that moment, when the audience grabbed pieces of paper, the duty administrator entered the hall and assured that all tickets were genuine ^[1] .

During biblical scenes, Pilate sat on a frame, and Yeshua and Levi Matvey appeared from the far wall, which looked like an endless corridor ^[1] .

On May 29, 1977, the newspaper Pravda published an article entitled “A session of black magic on the Taganka” ^[10] . The author of the publication called the play “The Master and Margarita” a “more than strange gift” for the upcoming anniversary of the October Revolution; the director was criticized for the lack of a “spirit of concrete historicism” ^[11] .

The negative review did not alienate the audience: in the first years the performance was held with constant full houses and was included in the theater’s repertoire poster up to 17 times a month ^[4] .

In the late 1980s, the hype around "The Master and Margarita" began to weaken. This was due to the natural aging of the performance, and the fact that “the Moscow population has changed significantly” ^[1] . In 1989, Yuri Lyubimov reduced the production by 40 minutes, leaving two of the three acts. The cast also underwent changes, however, Victor Semenov, who played the role of the author in The Master and Margarita since the premiere, after the 1000th performance (2002) claimed that the audience’s reaction remained the same ^[12] .

Where does the durability of the "Master" on Taganka come from? The form holds. The found shape is like a case for a violin: the violin could be crushed, and in the case it lies calmly. Actors, of course, can destroy form. But if it is firmly knocked down, then you can remove the destroyer from the case and get one that does not destroy the performance.

- Yuri Lyubimov ^[12]

• Yuri Lyubimov - director, artistic director
• Alexander Vilkin - Director
• Vladimir Dyachin - staging of the novel
• David Borovsky - artist
• Edison Denisov - composer
• Valentin Manohin - choreographer
• Musical arrangement - fragments from the works of Sergei Prokofiev, Tomaso Albinoni , Johann Strauss , Yuri Butsko