Copper grandmother

In 1971, at the Moscow Art Theater , which was headed by Oleg Efremov since 1970, Mikhail Kozakov , who came along with Efremov from Sovremennik , became the director-trainee of the first production of “Copper Grandma”. Several actors tried on the role of Alexander Pushkin: Nikolai Penkov , Alexander Kaydanovsky , Oleg Dal , Vsevolod Abdulov , as a result the director chose the invited Rolan Bykov ^{[4] [5] [6] [7] [8]} .

However, sharply negative attitude towards the choice of Rolan Bykov for the main role was expressed by the Minister of Culture of the USSR E. A. Furtseva ^[9] . She was supported by the Mkhatovites covered in immortal glory ( A.K. Tarasova , A.I. Stepanova , V. Ya. Stanitsyn , P.V. Massalsky and others). According to the recollections of the witness of the events of the literary critic - Pushkinist Valentin Nepomnyashchy , “... they trampled the artist mercilessly, without a shadow of a doubt of his rightness and with obvious tangible pleasure, even with triumph, imperiously suppressing the timid objections of the younger ones; they exposed the "Nemkhatov" style of his game, scoffed at his appearance and growth ... ". Soon, the criticism spread to the play itself, it was condemned " as an ideologically alien composition, fading in the image of the poet and complete with insidious allusions to the position of the Soviet writer " ^{[4] [10]} .

A big rehearsal of the play took place in the lobby of the theater, since the stage was not allowed to be performed. Tsar Nicholas I was played by Vladlen Davydov . The USSR People's Artist of the USSR Boris Smirnov, rehearsing the role of V.A. Zhukovsky, really wanted to save the performance ^[4] . But the artistic council of the theater decided to prohibit the production, ignoring the enthusiastic support of "Copper Grandmother" by the famous Soviet Pushkinists Tatyana Tsyavlovskaya , Nathan Eidelman , Ilya Feinberg and Valentin Nepomnyashchy. Soon after the performance was disrupted - in the same 1971 - Mikhail Kozakov quit the Moscow Art Theater ^{[6] [11] [12]} .

Rolan Bykov was very upset by this turn of events ^{[13] [14]} . Elena Sanaeva admitted to Leonid Zorin that she was afraid to lose her husband, who did not sleep at night and thought about the loop ^[5] .

On the urgent advice of the Minister, Furtseva, the director Efremov began at the Moscow Art Theater to rehearse the play by Gennady Bokarev “The Steelworkers ”, which premiered in October 1973. At the same time, as Leonid Zorin put it, Oleg Efremov showed miracles of fidelity and in 1975 returned to the Moscow Art Theater’s repertoire “Copper Granny” (albeit not for long) - in a different production and with a different cast of actors ^{[4] [5]} .

Mikhail Kozakov, who left the Moscow Art Theater, also did not lose hope of returning to “Copper Grandma”. A play by Leonid Zorin written in 1970 tells about the events that took place with Alexander Pushkin in May – August 1834. To get money, in particular for the publication of The Bronze Horseman , the poet is trying to sell a copper statue of Empress Catherine the Great , received as a dowry by Natalia Nikolaevna from her grandfather Afanasy Nikolayevich Goncharov ^[15] .

Mikhail Kozakov realized his dream only thirty years later ^[16] .

In 2004, he said:

I made a two-part film for the channel "Culture" based on the play of my beloved Leonid Zorin "Copper Granny". The play is amazing, rather serious problems arise in it - the poet and the authorities, the poet and his inner circle ... This is a difficult, wonderful play about Pushkin.

- I erected a miraculous monument to myself ...

On the occasion of the premiere of the play on October 14, 2004, in a conversation with Russian film critic and journalist Valery Kichin, Mikhail Kozakov recalled the ban on the play in 1971 and mentioned that the tsar’s conversation about different roads between the genius and the country caused unpleasant associations ^[11] .

In the film, twice sounds in the author's performance of the song by Bulat Okudzhava “The past cannot be turned back” ^[17] .

The author called Leonid Zorin “The Copper Grandmother” as his most expensive play, regardless of her stage fate.

I remember the day I finished it, in Yalta, in the House of Creativity. He stood on the mountain. And then I went down after that evening to the Black Sea and stood, I remember, at some sort of landing stage. And it was a moment that I don’t know if I experienced again in my life. I can’t forget him. Therefore, naturally, I am very grateful to this play for the fact that it crossed my life, for the fact that it gave me the opportunity of this day when I survived these minutes.

- Leonid Zorin. "Love is a doomed feeling"

About Roland Bykov, who played the role of a poet in 1971, Valentin Nepomnyashchi recalls:

How he did it was completely impossible to comprehend. Neither vivid stage techniques, nor witty directorial moves, of those that should “help” the artist express the inexpressible, nor spectacular acting “things” that have the same goal - nothing! One complete truth.

There was something alien in this, we did not understand where we were; tears poured down Tatyana Grigoryevna’s face, who studied Pushkin for half a century, Ilya Lvovich, 70, sometimes looked like a boy watching a tightrope walker, the happiness of recognition shone in Nathan’s eyes, and I probably had a wacky face: not prone to mystical fantasizing and visionary, nevertheless, I almost physically felt myself in some other space - this is how they fly in a dream.

- V. Nepomniachtchi. Instead of caption under photo

About the performance of Oleg Efremov in 1975, Vsevolod Shilovsky recalled that, according to critics, "Copper Grandma" immediately became the standard of directing and acting ^[7] . As the director of the play, Efremov played a major role in it. According to the author of the play, Alexander Pushkin had a poet and a pilgrim among Rolan Bykov, and a missionary and activist with Oleg Efremov. Because of his tall stature, Efremov played the play without getting up from his chair. The brilliant game of Oleg Strizhenov in the role of Emperor Nicholas I ^[4] and Andrei Popov in the role of Zhukovsky ^{[5] [18]} was noted.

“Parliamentary newspaper” in 2004 published an article “Mikhail Kozakov - an actor of great roles”, dedicated to the television show “Copper Granny”. The director admitted that he again worried about the fate of the performance, and thanked the TV channel "Culture" for mutual understanding and help in the work ^[1] .

• Mikhail Kozakov - production and script
• Leonid Zorin - author of the play
• Viktor Sheinin - Director of Photography
• Stanislav Morozov - production designer
• Alexander Shevtsov - composer

• Victor Gvozditsky - Alexander Pushkin
• Valentin Smirnitsky - Sobolevsky
• Georgy Taratorkin - Vyazemsky
• Alexander Anurov ^[1] - Zhukovsky
• Alexander Yatsko - Nikolay Pavlovich
• Victor Tulchinsky - Benckendorf
• Juozas Budraitis - Reichman
• Oleg Marusev - Ivan Filippovich
• Galina Tyunina - Daria Fikelmon
• Svetlana Nemirovskaya - Sophie Karamzina
• Evgeny Stychkin - Lev Pushkin
• Mikhail Shklovsky - Colonel Abas-aga
• Gennady Yukhtin - Nikita
• Andrey Smirnov - Baron Dantes

• Monument to Catherine II

• The text of Leonid Zorin’s play “The Copper Grandmother”. 1970 year
• Trailer and two episodes of the film play "Copper Grandma". 2004 year