P about the play of the same name by A.N. Ostrovsky.
A fragment of an article by Roman Dolzhansky “Traders in the Moscow Art Theater” in the Kommersant newspaper (2003):
“Director Yuri Eremin decisively changed the time of Ostrovsky’s play, not only the era, but also the time of year. " The last victim» warmed up and looked younger. The change from summer to winter was needed mainly for beauty: artificial snow in a rich academic theater always looks very expressive. When the actors go on stage, shaking their hair and coats from white flakes, the character’s state is immediately clear: he has found himself warm from the cold, what other circumstances are needed. And if, against the background of black scenes and backdrops, thick, generous street snow begins to fall to the music, then expect applause. To prevent the feeling of damp chilliness from passing away, they also provided a video projection: on the screen at the back of the stage they constantly show some kind of city landscape with continuous snow.
The change of era (the action is moved from the seventies of the century before last to the beginning of the last) is more meaningful. The rejuvenation of the play by about thirty years pleases the viewer with Art Nouveau motifs in the design of the performance (the set design by Valery Fomin clearly echoes the architecture of the play itself). Art Theater), and the characters of “The Last Victim” – with a cinematic session in a merchant’s club. However, the play is no longer about the merchant era, but about the industrial era, about the heyday of arts and industry in Russia.<...>
Flora Fedulych is played amazingly by Oleg Tabakov. It is his character that becomes the semantic center and hero of the entire Moscow Art Theater history. Not a colorful merchant, not an insidious spider, not an old voluptuary (what other possible interpretations are there?), but an educated, hard-working capitalist, standing firmly on his feet and keeping his finger on the pulse of a large, effective business. Finally, a respectable, courteous man, a music lover, a man of taste and artistic intuition, a collector of modernist painting. Oleg Tabakov plays the self-confident, successful master of life in a controlled, unassertive, non-proprietary manner. Whether the director Eremin has worked, or Mr. Tabakov himself has freed himself from his win-win, fat acting techniques, but the play seems to fall into his hands, like money strives for other money.”
A fragment of Marina Timasheva’s article “Tretyakov... Pribytkov... Tabakov...” in the St. Petersburg Theater Journal (2004):
“Yulia Tugina, performed by Marina Zudina (in the life of Oleg Tabakov’s wife) is strikingly different from everyone else. Small, fragile, trusting, like a child, completely blinded by love, she is at the same time ready for any cunning and any humiliation, just to save the unscrupulous Dulchin and marry him.
Half-woman, half-child, Julia Tugina by Marina Zudina is at once sincere and cutesy, honest and deceitful, capricious and suffering, tender and arrogant. Flor Pribytkov, who has seen a lot in his life, has never seen someone like her, unselling and selfless.”
Excerpt from an article by Polina Bogdanova “ last love business gentleman" in the publication "New Theater News" (2003):
“Director Yuri Eremin in this performance weaves the thread of relationships between the characters in a very interesting and detailed way and amazes with the freedom and grace of the emotional score. There are bright grotesque sketches of images, everyday truthfulness, and juicy characteristic types. Take Irene, played by Daria Yurskaya, who plays with inimitable brilliance and wit. She creates the image of a predatory, charming fool in her own way, inflamed with an “African” passion for the “rich man” Dulchin and deceived by him, but not broken. Because the healthy cynicism of her nature protects her in all delicate and dubious situations. The role of the aunt played by Olga Barnet is excellent, also in her own way a predatory and selfish person, ready to serve the wealthy and capable of generous gratitude to Pribytkov with dog-like devotion. Her first appearance in Yulia’s house turns into a separate performance, when she sits at the table and greedily, without having time to chew, gobbles up the food brought to her, washing it all down with vodka.”
And a beautiful melodrama from bourgeois life, stylized, as has already been said, to resemble the heart-warming plots of a silent cinematography. By the way, this art is really present here; silent films are shown in the back of the stage. And in the way the director constructs a beautiful melodrama, there is good taste and even a kind of grace. Everything here is slightly exaggerated, everything is presented in such a way as to produce an effect, to create an impression. And at the same time, there is subtle irony in everything. After all, Eremin understands what he is doing and why. He creates an example of bourgeois theater that the public should like.”
At the Theater. Lensovet performed the play “The Last Victim” based on the play of the same name by A. N. Ostrovsky. But in pre-premiere interviews there were so many curses artistic director Tatyana Moskvina’s productions addressed to “the director’s evil spirits who imagine that they are smarter than the author”, that, in addition to the plot about the love of a rich widow for an unscrupulous player, another parallel one has developed theatrical plot. It was impossible not to take it into account when going to the performance.
Actually, Roman Smirnov is listed as the director of the production, but just before the premiere he kept increasingly silent. And it is true that his position was extremely strange and awkward. The appearance of a production director under a professional director is not an exceptional case. It is often found, for example, in Maly drama theater Lev Dodin, when performances are staged by the master’s students. There it is quite understandable: an experienced teacher shifts responsibility from the fragile shoulders of a beginner, who has the right to make mistakes, onto his own shoulders, covers him up, fences him off from biased judges. Appointing theater critic and fiction writer Tatyana Moskvina to this role, even if she has a number of studies of Ostrovsky’s work in her arsenal, is the same as assigning a veil to the role of a hero in the strict system of roles that Ostrovsky loved so much, or vice versa. IN modern theater This happens all the time, but it only works in the presence of radical directorial decisions, of which Ms. Moskvina is a fierce opponent.
Ostrovsky's play "The Last Victim", written in 1878, a year before the famous "Dowry", touches on an ultra-modern topic: the theme of money, cold-blooded calculation on the one hand and an unaccountable hot feeling that defies calculation, but also the chances of survival in the world of checks and has no bills - on the other hand. About five years ago, Moscow fell ill with this play - it was staged in two of the most popular capital theaters: Tabakov Moscow Art Theater and Zakharovsk "Lenkom". Oleg Tabakov even went on stage himself and instead of the oily-bearded merchant prescribed by Ostrovsky, whom Yulia Tugina, chosen by her beloved, marries in the finale, he played a polished, satin oversleeved manufacturer of the early 20th century, a skillful owner and philanthropist. And he brought so much charm into the character that Mrs. Tugina (who was also played by Oleg Pavlovich’s wife Marina Zudina) turned from an unfortunate victim into a bride who finally achieved complete happiness. Mark Zakharov proposed a fundamentally different interpretation: for him the action took place in a traffic jam of lacquered carriages, and the merchant Pribytkov (Alexander Zbruev) was a natural Mephistopheles and in no time took into his hands both the “devil” Dulchin, the lover-player, and Yulia, who was walking get married, saying goodbye forever to your pure soul.
It is absolutely impossible to guess what attracted the creators of the St. Petersburg premiere to the play. None of the characters on stage are composed with such a degree of detail and volume that I, as a viewer, would be interested in his fate. The heroine Yulia Tugina (Elena Krivets) walks from one corner of the stage to another, sighs, waves her arms and with the typical aspirations of Tatyana Moskvina - I don’t know where they came from, but they sound quite comical - reads with expression (except without a book in her hands ) text by the playwright about love experiences. And I immediately have a lot of questions that I obviously have to ask the director Roman Smirnov, a student of Georgy Alexandrovich Tovstonogov, outstanding master effective analysis. How does this young woman live? How pious is she? Did she go to church by chance this morning or does she regularly atone for her sins there? And in general, does he consider it a sin that an unmarried woman lives with a dashing young man? And what about the fact that you haven’t gone to your husband’s grave for a long time? And the matchmaker (Svetlana Pismichenko), who appears on stage before main character- Why did she suddenly come to the house? There is such a great effective verb: to inquire. When one character extorts something from others, striving, of course, to remain undisclosed, the tension in professional performances arises the same as in gambling. There is nothing like this on the stage of the Theater. The Leningrad City Council is not happening. The impression remains that the characters, most of whom (in particular, Yulia and the matchmaker) are related by blood, are seeing each other for the first time and met by chance.
Perhaps the creators of the play set themselves the task of conveying to the viewer the text of the classic in an untouched form. Organize, so to speak, not a performance, but a reading (as they do with modern plays), to return Ostrovsky to his originality. But then, excuse me, any conventions prick my eyes: the mysterious Pribytkov (Vyacheslav Zakharov) in elaborate clothes, with the intonations of Dzhigarkhanyan and with the habits of a dishonest master of life. The question of what such a hero could trade, who had his eye on a swan, what would console him in his old age, certainly arises and remains unanswered. Perhaps this hero is the only one worthy of observation: although he is not much larger than the others, he leads his simple and not very worthy performance from scene to scene, consistently. However, I read about the unworthy acting from Ostrovsky; the creators of the play are not clear on this matter.
Player Dulchin (Sergei Peregudov) turns out to be an uncharming child. Would anyone answer me, why is this soft-bodied whiner, mean-spirited and colorless, who reacts sluggishly even to the news of a rich bride, so loved by women? And why does he have a bathtub in his office? Let’s say that the knights of the Russian psychological theater suddenly realized that expressing themselves in metaphorical language in the theater is possible and even quite appropriate and modern. But what kind of image is hidden in that bathtub that is located a meter from the table, what is it hinting at? I encourage readers to tell fortunes with me. At the same time, you can ask the artist Marina Azizyan - actually one of the best in the city - why did she need to light up the stars in the backdrop and instead of trees, densely populate the garden in front of the club with mannequins? Here, however, an involuntary image is born: the heroes of the play, in their plane, are not too different from these same garden figures.
Poor Irina Pribytkova (Nadezhda Fedotova), the niece of a wealthy merchant, has turned into a Barbie doll, repeating with the only enthusiastic intonation throughout the entire performance about her African passion. Her father (Alexander Solonenko), an amateur French novels, comes to life twice during the performance: when he discovers that his daughter has fallen in love and it looks like a novel (French, of course), and when she studies the restaurant menu with exquisite names.
There is a joke in theater circles about how one either the artist or the choreographer of the play asked the director what he would stage the play about, and he answered him: “Read the play, everything is written there.” The director of this, fortunately, was fired long ago. What I mean is that, contrary to the verbal manifestos of the artistic director of the production, things cannot be done without interpretations in any case. As said great philosopher XX century Merab Mamardashvili: “We cannot think of something without thinking it differently, otherwise we would turn into parrots.” And this statement has the most direct relation to the theater. With the caveat that theater requires not a spontaneous interpretation of the author’s text, but a deeply meaningful and structured one. When the viewer internally freezes at every word, as if from a dangerous trick. And if there is no verified structure of action, clear tasks actors and the whole image of the performance, the subconscious comes to the fore. The story told by the Theater. Lensovet, it turns out that all men in the world are characters in unfunny jokes, and all the women who love them are incredibly stupid. And in general, love is something so shameful and meaningless that it is pleasant to ridicule it in farcical reprises performed by young and gifted artists Margarita Ivanova and Oleg Abalyan. And which look much less forced than the entire four-hour opus.
Of course, no one can prohibit theater managers from inviting non-professionals to productions; the only problem is that artists are accustomed to trusting whoever calls themselves a “director” and working with full dedication. But in the end, it is the artists who are left alone with the audience and take the rap for everyone. I have had to write about this more than once, but the current case of pathological love for the “Russian psychological theater”, from which artists of one of the the best troupes city, absolutely blatant.
Living without taking into account expenses - how close it is to modern man, accustomed to living without income today, and tomorrow, constantly being in the position of a person obligated to someone. A gambler is able to squander everything in one day, and his legalized opponent prefers to play roulette with banks, exchanging one small loan for another larger one, not realizing that the noose around his neck is tightening in the same way, until everything is finally lost one day. Alexander Ostrovsky in his play “The Last Victim” showed one of the features of human society, when some of its members do not consider the importance of balancing their expenses without having a constant source of income. Times change, approaches also change, but general essence remains.
In the 19th century, a successful marriage to a rich man decided a lot. The woman was trying to find worthy partner through life, regardless of anything, sacredly confident in the importance of taking high position in society, which their mothers strongly followed, especially if the daughter was young. Getting married successfully—nothing else mattered. The man was also looking for a decent match, whose capital he could spend on his own needs, or even add a higher title to his name. The life of society has turned into an exchange of what you have behind you, achieved more often not personally, but thanks to your parents. With an inept approach, everything disappeared, leaving behind an emptiness, forcing people to improve the situation only with the help of a competent marriage.
One vice hinders a person, showing the bestial nature in him - this is the craving for momentary pleasures, arising sporadically and uncontrolled by consciousness, sometimes to the point of trembling throughout the body. How many people took their own lives when the situation became hopeless, and how many continue to do the same today? It’s easy to drive a person into a trap, from which you can escape like a wolf with a chewed-off paw, only to be torn to pieces by your own pack, which does not tolerate crippled individuals among themselves who prevent the wolf society from existing by the right of a constantly in motion collective of creatures eager to live freely. With people, everything proceeds much more smoothly: a chewed-off paw can easily be corrected by someone’s mercy, where a successful marriage is considered the most optimal.
But what to do with vice if it is in the blood? Having solved one problem, it’s easy to earn a new one, driving other people into a trap, also forced to look for patrons on the side. Everything revolves around the golden calf, and life quickly leads a person along a crooked road into the depths of despair. To a good person he may be lucky, but he is more likely to remain in the shadows due to his modesty and continue to vegetate without the desire to inform anyone about his annoying situation; a vicious person will spin around and look for any opportunities for himself to restore lost positions.
“The Last Victim” is Ostrovsky’s play about people who desperately demand condescension from others, while remaining base creatures, cleverly manipulating the feelings of respectable members of society who trust them. And when the secret becomes clear, the train, as a rule, has already left, and blind love finally begins to see the light, realizing the irrevocability of losses associated with short-sightedness. Russian classics often wrote on this topic, trying to open people's eyes, thus reflecting a number of existing problems, but they could not influence the existing ones negative traits, because they did not offer recipes for changing the situation for the better. They did not offer it for the reason that they themselves did not see any other possibilities other than awareness of the fact as an ordinary manifestation human nature. One can even notice that Russian classics nurtured this theme, pushing others to a similar lifestyle.
Suicide, popular in Russian circles, was not always relevant, or Ostrovsky’s play turned out to be too short, showing a small fragment of someone’s life.
Additional tags: Ostrovsky the last victim criticism, Ostrovsky the last victim analysis, Ostrovsky the last victim reviews, Ostrovsky the last victim review, book, Alexander Ostrovsky
This not the most popular play by Ostrovsky is very original. The characters change places. A rich old man who dreams of a girl turns out to be more honest than her young and handsome fiancé.
Almost at the center of the play love triangle. Two people are laying claim to the young and rich widow Yulia Pavlovna. Of course, she gives preference to the lively Vadim. The groom, however, takes advantage of her location rarely, and gives cause for concern. However, Yulia loves him too much, does not want to “pressure” him, although everyone tells her that she needs to be stricter, otherwise she will stop respecting him completely. She has to constantly sacrifice herself.
Another candidate comes to visit - Flor, a serious older man. The unfortunate one is rejected...
Here Vadim asks his bride for the “last victim”: he urgently needs money, otherwise they will kill him. And Julia needs to ask Flor for money, but he doesn’t want to help (her fiancé) and, in general, believes that money is not a woman’s concern. A woman with money is prey for scammers. Julia has to beg. Having received the money, she gives it to Vadim, who behaves like a fraudster. He will also marry someone else!
IN last moment Flor saves the situation - marries Yulia, demands money from Vadim. It all ends with the ashamed Vadim deciding, abandoning suicide attempts, to woo the millionaire.
Picture or drawing The Last Victim
Other retellings and reviews for the reader's diary
- Summary of Voynich Gadfly
A hot-tempered young man, outraged by the whole world, fakes his death. It doesn’t even occur to him how the people dear to his heart will survive all this.
- Summary of Shelley - Prometheus Unbound
The events take place in the Caucasus Mountains, there in the gorge is Prometheus. He is chained to a rock with two daughters of the ocean, Panthea and Jonah, at his feet. They listen with tears to his groan and speech addressed to Jupiter, the god of war.
- Summary of The Last Inch (Father and Son) Aldridge
Ben was a good pilot and, having flown many thousands of miles in his life, he still enjoyed flying. He worked for a long time in Canada, then in Saudi Arabia in an oil export company that was exploring for oil along the coast of Egypt.
- Summary of Suteev Apple
In late autumn, when there were no leaves left on the trees, a Hare was walking through the forest. An apple tree stood alone at the edge of the forest, and there was an apple on it. He so wanted to rip it off, but it was impossible, it was so high
- Summary of Dal Girl Snow Maiden
Once upon a time there lived an old man and an old woman, and they had no children. Once they saw that the neighbor kids were making snowballs, then the old people decided to make a child for themselves. They took a lump of snow and brought it home
In honor of Cinema Day on August 27, I want to remember the wonderful film by Pyotr Todorovsky based on the play by A.N. Ostrovsky - "The Last Victim". In my opinion, this is one of the masterpieces of Soviet cinema: the selection of actors, the music of Evgeny Schwartz, the picturesque sequence of the film - everything corresponds to the play and the spirit of the time.
It is impossible to forget Margarita Volodina’s incredibly touching Yulia Pavlovna - aging, loving, sacrificial, deceived.
Volodina did not act much and became famous for her role as a commissar in the film “Optimistic Tragedy.” But for those who haven’t seen it, I advise you to watch a wonderful film about love, where there are only two heroes and two actors - Volodina and Mikhail Nozhkin - “Every Evening at Eleven” - and you will find out how your ancestors coped in the era of absence mobile phones! And further good film, where she has, however, cameo role drinking wife - "Late Meeting" based on Yu. Nagibin with A. Batalov in the title role.
Vadim Dulchin is played by Oleg Strizhenov - it is for him that Yulia Pavlovna makes the final sacrifice: she humiliates herself, offers herself, begs, orders, kisses - everything to get money for her lover, who simply “burns money” by losing it at cards.
And finally, the third main character- Frol Fedulych performed by Mikhail Gluzsky: oh, good! So good that if I were in the place of the main character, without hesitation I would exchange the shabby and lying Dulchin for - albeit not a young one - but an intelligent, subtle, educated and rich merchant, and even if he has eyes like Gluzsky!
The rest of the characters are also good: nephew Lavr Mironych (Leonid Kuravlev), a kind of Russian Monte Cristo, but without his millions, and Lavr Mironych’s romantic daughter “Iren” - Olga Naumenko.
A wonderful scene between her and Strizhenov, when Dulchin discovers Irina Lavrovna in his bachelor bed: lucky man, did you want African passion? You will get it! But suddenly it turns out that a necessary component of African passion is money, which Dulchin does not have, and there is only one thing left for him - “to dance Hungarian dances in taverns”, nor for Irina - Uncle Frol will not give a penny for such a groom! How dare you demand African passion if you don’t have a penny to your name! - “Iren”, who is feverishly dressing, is indignant, and Dulchin melancholy remarks: Well, let’s say, anyone can desire African passion...
No, I'll just retell the whole movie! I remember it almost by heart: here’s another episode when Irina kisses Frol Fedulych in gratitude for some gift, and he, Pomakovov, remarks: No, that’s not it. Not that! THAT kiss is worth a lot! THAT one - what Yulia Pavlovna gave him.
And finally, about the music: Evgeny Schwartz created a surprisingly gentle sound image of the film, I especially like the song at the beginning:
Grass doesn't grow in winter...
Water - don't water...
He won't come back...
Remember - don't remember...
I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the words, but that’s the meaning. This song immediately sets a piercingly sad note. And also - the romance “In our old garden...”!
And we must definitely mention the extraordinary accuracy of the interiors, costumes and Moscow landscapes: Yulia Pavlovna’s house was filmed on a street near Ilya Obydenny, next to the Park Kultury metro station.