Minor. Maly Theater. Nedorosl Nedorosl performance duration

“I don’t want to study, I want to get married!” - this quote from Denis Fonvizin’s comedy has become not only a catchphrase, but also turned into a comic motto of all lazy people and spoiled “mama’s boys”. For more than two centuries famous comedy remains relevant and interesting. D. Fonvizin, with the help of his play, left a powerful instruction for future generations not to repeat the fate of the careless Mitrofanushka. The author boldly branded the vices of an idle lifestyle and focused on the problem of the importance of educating the future generation. After all, if there are more lowlifes like Mitrofanushka, then such a society is doomed to degradation.

In his play Minor Fonvizin not only ridiculed the noble upbringing, but also described the life of generations of the 17th century. Following the traditions of classicism, the author directly and sharply points out the positive and negative sides their heroes. This is facilitated by the “talking” names of the characters, sparkling humor, and vivid dialogues. Many characters in the play have become household names, and phrases from the work have become popular quotes. The Prostakov family with their son Mitrofan turned into collective image many vices and negative qualities.

The significance of Fonvizin’s comedy is enormous not only for Russian literature, but also for the understanding of many social problems. It is not for nothing that the author’s satire at the time of its appearance was even considered dangerous for the state. But today this work has become a classic. It not only provides an opportunity to laugh at stupidity, greed and cowardice, but also makes one think about how important it is to instill hard work, a thirst for knowledge and respect for others in the younger generation. Having bought a ticket to the play Nedorosl, you will not regret your choice, because your attention will be presented to the classic of Russian comedy, which has not left the stage for hundreds of years the best theaters countries.

“I don’t want to study, I want to get married!” This cry of Mitrofanushka’s mama’s son is known to everyone. The play “The Minor” was written more than two centuries ago, but it seems created specifically to warn today’s youth from repeating Mitrofanushkin’s mistakes. At the beginning of 1782, Fonvizin read to friends and social acquaintances the comedy “The Minor,” on which he worked for many years. In “The Minor,” according to the fair remark of Fonvizin’s first biographer P. A. Vyazemsky, the author “no longer makes noise, does not laugh, but is indignant at the vice and brands it without mercy, if the pictures of abuse and tomfoolery make the audience laugh, then even then the inspired laughter does not distract from deeper and more regrettable impressions.” There is a legend that after the premiere in St. Petersburg, Prince Potemkin approached Fonvizin and said: “Die, Denis, you can’t write better.” According to another version, these words belong to Derzhavin, and not Potemkin.

Ticket prices:
Balcony 1000-1300 rubles
Mezzanine 1000-1500 rubles
Amphitheater 1050-2100 rubles
Benoir 1600-2100 rubles
Parterre 2100-3000 rubles

Staged by Honored Artist of Russia V.N. Ivanov
Artist - folk artist Russia E.I. Kumankov
Composer - laureate of the USSR State Prize E.P. Krylatov
Concertmaster - I.V. Levchenko
Viola solo - A.V. Maksimov
Directors: People's Artist of Russia V.A. Konyaev, Honored Artist of Russia E.A. Olenina
Assistant directors - Honored Worker of Culture of Russia G.I. Markina, T.A. Egorova, N.I. Demidova
Lighting designer - Honored Worker of Culture of Russia A.E. Izotov
Prompters - I.I. Varlamova, Honored Worker of Culture of Russia L.I. Merkulova, Honored Artist of Russia L.V. Andreeva, D.E. Sidorova

Characters and performers:
Prostakov - National artist Russia Sergey Eremeev
Prostakova, his wife - People's Artist of Russia Aleftina Evdokimova, Natalya Boronina, Anastasia Dubrovskaya
Mitrofan, their son, Nedorosl - Philip Martsevich, Alexey Konovalov
Eremeevna, Mitrofan's nurse - Honored Artist of Russia Claudia Blokhina, Natalya Shvets
Pravdin - Denis Kurochka, Honored Artist of Russia Vasily Dakhnenko
Starodum - People's Artist of Russia Vladimir Safronov, Mikhail Fomenko
Sofia, Starodum's niece - Olga Abramova, Ekaterina Vasilyeva, Ekaterina Bix
Milon - Alexander Driven, Stanislav Soshnikov
Skotinin, Prostakova’s brother - Honored Artist of Russia Dmitry Koznov, Honored Artist of Russia Viktor Nizovoy
Kuteikin, seminarian - Dmitry Zenichev, Honored Artist of Russia Sergey Veshchev
Tsyfirkin, retired sergeant - Alexey Anokhin, People's Artist of Russia Vladimir Nosik, Sergey Vidineev
Vralman, teacher - People's Artist of Russia Vitaly Konyaev, People's Artist of Russia Alexey Kudinovich, Igor Grigoriev
Trishka, tailor - Andrey Manke, Grigory Skryapkin
Maid - Elena Kuleshova, Alina Kirillina, Anna Zharova, Maria Seregina
Cook - Maxim Khrustalev, Pyotr Zhikharev, Evgeny Aranovsky, Ivan Porodnov

The comedy “The Minor” was first staged in 1783 on the stage of the Petrovsky Theater. In 1986, the Maly Theater team prepared a performance based on this famous play, and this production is still considered one of the most academic versions of the comedy. It is not for nothing that the production of the Maly Theater troupe is recognized as such - the director exactly follows Fonvizin’s text and plot, and brilliant actors fill their characters with life, creating memorable and vibrant characters.

In the repertoire of the Maly Theater, “Nedoroslya” is given an honorable and respected place. The director of the production is Vitaly Ivanov, and the cast includes best actors troupes. “I don’t want to study, but I want to get married!” - catchphrase, which glorified Fonvizin, the play, and the main character of the play, Mitrofanushka. IN modern world This exclamation of Mitrofanushka sounds no less relevant, as if warning today’s youth against the mistakes made more than two centuries ago by immature people. Gorgeous educational comedy for all times - she has always been held in high esteem by the public and has always earned admiring reviews from both literary and theater critics.

The Maly Theater's production is filled with music and songs - both lyrical and funny. We recommend taking schoolchildren to the performance. Even those children who find it boring to study the classics within school curriculum, you will like the play and will make you look differently at this work in particular and at classical works in general. One of the teenagers who attended the play “Minor” at the Maly Theater said the following words: “Now, thanks to this performance, I finally understand what a classic is. Classics are something that is always interesting to everyone.” At first he did not want to go to the theater, being sure that he would get bored - but as a result he admitted that he received great pleasure from watching it.

The premiere of the play took place on January 6, 1986, and since then it has firmly entered the repertoire of the Maly Theater. The first production of Denis Fonvizin’s comedy “The Minor” took place on September 24, 1782 in St. Petersburg at the Free Russian Theater (Karl Knieper Theater).

A fragment of the book by Lyubov Kulakova “Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin. Biography of the Writer" (Leningrad, 1966):

“Fonvizin worked on the comedy for about three years and did more than was expected of him. His reproaches became even more pointed, his sharp words were tinged with anger and bitterness

The first Russian realistic comedy became our first folk comedy. That's what the Decembrists called it. For Pushkin, Fonvizin is “a Russian from the Russians” not so much by his biography, but by his mentality and talent, his excellent knowledge vernacular and the amazingly bold handling of it - everything that allowed him to create “the only folk satire.”

“Everything in this comedy seems to be a monstrous caricature of the Russian, and yet there is nothing caricatured in it: everything was taken alive from nature and verified by the knowledge of the soul,” Gogol affirmed the same thought. Gogol called “The Minor” and Griboyedov’s “Woe from Wit” “truly social comedies.”

Having finished “The Minor” at the end of 1781, Fonvizin resorted to a technique he had already tried: he began to read the comedy in private homes. It was a huge success. In the spring of 1782, the play was supposed to be staged. Expectations were not met. In May, one of his contemporaries wrote with regret that due to the actors’ ignorance of the roles, the comedy would not be presented. He called this a real deprivation for the public, which has long given due justice to the excellent talent of Mr. Fonvizin.

Fonvizin was not easy to break; he went to Moscow for several days. While negotiating with the theater here, Fonvizin and Dmitrevsky introduced comedy to the Moscow public. An interesting story has been preserved about reading in the house of the Moscow postal director B.V. Pestel: “A large society has gathered for dinner; the curiosity of the guests was so great that the owner begged the author, who was himself an excellent actor, to read at least one scene without delay; he fulfilled the general desire, but when he stopped after Prostakova’s explanation with the tailor Trishka about Mitrofan’s shortened caftan, those present were so interested that they asked to continue reading; Several times they brought food and took it away from the table, and before they sat down at the table, the comedy was read to the end, and after dinner, Dmitrevsky, general requirement, had to read it again from the beginning.”

So, “Nedorosl” was a success in Moscow no less than in St. Petersburg. The theater was glad to stage the play, which promised sure receipts. The Moscow censor opposed this. Leaving the manuscript of the comedy to his brother, Fonvizin returned to St. Petersburg. What step he took to save his beloved child is unknown. Perhaps he turned to Potemkin, who, according to legend, exclaimed after reading the comedy: “Die, Denis! You couldn’t write better.”

On September 24, 1782, “The Minor” was performed by court actors on the stage of Volny Russian theater. The writer took an active part in organizing the production: he chose the actors himself, and “read” the roles to each of them.
On the day of the performance, the theater was packed. Throughout the entire performance, the audience responded with “almost continuous laughter and applause” and, as was customary then, threw wallets onto the stage as a sign of encouragement.

“It was a complete success,” Fonvizin wrote with satisfaction a few days later to the owner of the Moscow theater Medox. “The Minor” was staged in Moscow on May 14, 1783 and published the same year.”

A fragment of Natalia Staroselskaya’s essay “Afanasy Kochetkov” from the series “Library of the Maly Theater” (2003):

Afanasy Kochetkov: <...>“I’ve been playing in Starodum’s “Nedorosl” for many years and I think: Lord, when will this finally end?! I was terribly tired, but suddenly at some performance schoolchildren came to a matinee, and from their reaction I suddenly realized that in our time of the absence of any positions, they were interested in the position of this character, his philosophy, his thoughts. And, having caught this, he began to play somehow differently. I instantly feel such things, and if I, an actor, do not have a clear position, do not have a firm understanding of what is Good and what is Evil, sooner or later my audience will feel it too, and they will become uninterested. And if they are captured... well, that means there is hope..."

The performance has been running for many years, but, judging by Afanasy Ivanovich’s words, if there is hope in it, it means there is also some hidden reserve: something unpredictable suddenly becomes important right now, today, here, gaining new breath. There is edification and edification: in our vague reality it is almost impossible to predict with what, when and how exactly the underlying classic work morality. Maybe this is partly where the happiness of the profession lies?..<...>

Stage director: Gennady Chikhachev
Composer: Alexander Zhurbin
Libretto: Lev Yakovlev
Musical director and conductor – Vladimir Yankovsky
Choreographer: Ekaterina Fomicheva
Choirmaster – Elena Konoreva

Cast: Lyudmila Polyanskaya/Natalia Osipova, Vladimir Kurkin/Evgeniy Bashlykov, Vadim Popovichev/Sergei Kanygin, Sergei Ryazanov/Anton Fadeev, Natalya Rebrova/Dina Veles-Morozova/Zhanna Andreeva, Konstantin Skripalev/Valery Polovinkin, Tatyana Petrova/Natalia Zamniborshch/ Alena Kornienko and others.

“Minor” is about contrasts Russian life"- this is how composer Alexander Zhurbin described his new musical, which premiered on July 28, 2015. Solemn views of the Northern capital are combined here with pictures of the provincial outback, velvet camisoles embroidered with gold - with padded jackets and linen shirts, luxurious wigs of the courtiers of Catherine II - with the greasy beards and floor-length braids of peasants. According to the directors, it took kilometers of rope to make the braids and beards - enough to pave the way from St. Petersburg to Moscow, and about 1000 were spent on the costumes square meters burlap and sideboards. In this performance there is a snow-white imperial carriage, a dilapidated wooden fence, a river, a bridge, and even a dovecote where the ignorant Mitrofanushka settled. One of characters Catherine the Second will perform, to whom Pravdin comes with a petition to stage a new comedy.

So, above the layer of events on the Prostakov estate, a story about the capital’s power appears. Creating controversial image power-hungry empress, librettist Lev Yakovlev turned to her memoirs and compiled a dictionary of Catherine’s words and expressions. Almost everything that the heroine says on stage is a compilation of phrases ever spoken by Catherine II herself. Gennady Chikhachev focused the performance primarily on the audience school age, staging the action brightly, dynamically, with an abundance of choreographic numbers, without abstruse riddles and the now fashionable flirting with the “basic instinct”. The musical combines sharp humor, hooliganism and enthusiasm with deep thoughts about the eternal Russian problems: dependency, disrespect for the individual, despotism, the blind love of parents for their child... and about the problem of power that does not see or hear those it governs. Here there is a place for the tender feelings of Milon and Sophia, the machinations of the restless Prostakovs and the good magic of Starodum. While maintaining the black and white contrast of the images of Fonvizin’s play, the performance presents the story in a less straightforward manner. The period at the end of the performance is a comma, calling for reflection. Not just laugh together at the disgraced Prostakovs, but, taking your eyes off the stage, look around, look inside yourself. So that, having seen the vices, with the enthusiasm of hopeless romantics, enter into battle with them - and make the world a better place.

The duration of the performance is 2 hours 30 minutes with intermission.