Leo Tolstoy's play "The Fruits of Enlightenment" at the Mayakovsky Theater: reviews. The fruits of enlightenment Positive feedback from viewers about the work

On the ground floor of the theater. Vl. Mayakovsky, to the right of the entrance, at the end of the corridor, in the corner there is a dressing table - a trellis. No one looks at him, and no one even looks at him - they rather go upstairs. The mirror one step higher, on the contrary, is extremely popular. As in Pushkin’s fairy tale, the mirror speaks and shows this. It contains the past, the present, and sometimes it seems that the future can be discerned. This mirror is a theater. It either reflects life or the onslaught of those who are trying to correct its clarity. Photos are retouched, films are “cut”, words are erased from books and songs, and so they try to straighten out other performances. Not only intrigues are hidden behind the curtain, but entire theaters are also “curtained.” They don’t blame the mirror, they charge it with articles of the criminal code, offended feelings, “defiled objects of veneration”... Or, simply, they beat mirrors that have forgotten how to flatter. Broken mirrors are a bad omen. Sign of the times. The angle of reflection is sharpened without worrying about the angle of its own incidence. But they still keep a few stubborn theatrical mirrors, look at them (that is, at themselves in them) occasionally and with disgust (and therefore recognize them). And without a mirror, how can you tell whether the person breathing on it is alive or...?

Director Mindaugas Karbauskis, taking on the production of the play by L.N. Tolstoy's "The Fruits of Enlightenment", offered the audience a trick with three mirrors: the mirror of life, the mirror of the stage and just a mirror. The space, created by the outstanding set designer Sergei Barkhin, is framed: the frame “captures” the performance throughout the entire stage, turning every phenomenon in it into a picture. They play here appropriately - picturesquely, as in the genre paintings of Pavel Fedotov. In the introduction of the play there is a portrait gallery of images, for each of the characters the director came up with his own “way out”, his own characteristic feature, manifested in the way each of them behaves in front of the mirror. Some here spit on the “fourth wall” and then wipe it off, others spin around in front of it, and still others are frightened by their own reflection. The young show off, the elderly peer; youth casts a quick, satisfied glance at the mirror and is in a hurry to live; old age sadly shakes its head or prettifies itself unsuccessfully in front of a time-worn reflection. Sometimes there is double vision: old age sees its former youth, youth is frightened, noticing signs of “age”... The performance consists of many similar sketches, invented by the director, but the “mirror motifs” are not exhausted.

In the program for “Fruits of Enlightenment” there is no indication for the viewer about the genre of the performance. There is only a short and exhaustive one: “dedicated to P.N. Fomenko". The play of the same name by teacher Mindaugas Karbauskis, and simply the Teacher, was performed on this stage for almost 30 years and earned the epithet “legendary”. Time will tell whether the current production will continue the legend, but there will be a “retelling” involved. Many participants in the current premiere were involved in the play by P.N. Fomenko and either retained their roles as Mikhail Filippov (Professor Krugosvetlov) and Galina Anisimova (fat lady), or tried on the images of other characters: Igor Kostolevsky from Zvezdintsev’s son grew into a father, and Svetlana Nemolyaeva, who once played the wife of a retired lieutenant, spiritualist, this time chose the role of the cook, turning her “episode” into one of the most vivid impressions of the performance. The new “Fruits...” also contains deliberate borrowings and details from the predecessor performance, which are read with pleasure by viewers who remember that production. One of the first author's titles of the play is “The Thread Broken”, in the theater named after. Vl. Mayakovsky’s “days the connecting thread” is not cut off, it lasts.

“The theater is not a reflecting mirror, but a magnifying glass,” said the one whose name the former Theater of the Revolution now bears. This is quite true for the current premiere, in which, however, even through binoculars one cannot discern the relevance. While rehearsing the play, which is based on a satire on the passion for spiritualism and other supernatural amusements, the director, I am sure, did not set out to say that “telepaths, Buddhists, spiritualists, drugs, Freudians, neurologists, psychopaths” have taken over. However, it was not without the supernatural. This is exactly how the actors play in this performance, every single one of them. They play “over”, i.e. not natural. They overplay, but this cannot be reproached for them. “The Fruits...” unquestioningly follows the stage directions and instructions of the author, who conceived this play for a home performance and did not like it. In three and a half hours, all the author's parentheses, comments in italics, notes on the appearance of the characters are revealed to the viewer (the costumes created by Natalya Voinova from fashion magazines of that era deserve a separate exhibition); and even the waltz of L.N. Tolstoy (arranged by Giedrius Puskunigis) time is here. If the author Zvezdintsev Sr. is a gentle, pleasant gentleman, then there is no need to clarify that the actor Igor Kostolevsky does not have to make any special efforts in this role - applause is guaranteed here, and this is fair, but not new. Zvezdintsev’s wife is a young, irritable lady (as directed by the author), and actress Tatyana Augshkap, setting a decorative dog on the servants, begins to bark in her place, convincingly and exactly according to the text. The Zvezdintsevs' daughter Betsy is expected to have licentious manners imitating men's and pince-nez, and actress Valeria Kulikova worthily embodies this image. And so on, using the program, you can look for differences from the original source and not find them. No differences, nothing more interesting than a mirror image of the text, i.e. copying. It is impossible not to note, however, the worthy acting work of the valet performed by Efim Baikovsky and the peasant walkers (Igor Marychev, Viktor Zaporozhsky, Sergei Udovik), whom the author “calculated” for the first, second, third and only indicated their names in the text of the play - a sign time: for gentlemen, “people” count, in the name of names...

“Fruits of Enlightenment” - a skillful illustration for the play, a folding book based on it, a gift edition with gold embossing. In the “Year of Literature” this is welcomed, and at other times it is forgiven, because performances “to help the school” are rare, and “new forms” and readings often scare away teachers. “The fruits...” are read aloud, with feeling and sense, clearly (even the peasants in the play, on whose incredible speech patterns the author especially worked, pronounce all their “dvistitelno” and “tapericha” in accordance with all the canons of stage speech) and loudly, with gestures and intonations - in assortment. Here, one feels, they worked out every line, rushing around with it like the barman Yakov (Igor Yevtushenko), constantly counting spoons. The setting is good, and the tablecloth is bubbling white, but the dining companions are not visible behind the high backs of the chairs. There is something to play, and to whom, but there is neither an ensemble nor a common theme. Here they decided not to give in to the author in their meticulousness, they were carried away by the analysis and external details, wanting to force the viewer to peer into the performance, to react to the “little things” and “tricks”. There are a lot of them, even too many, so that “let’s say there’s nowhere to let the chicken out,” and they are cute. But it has not yet been possible to discern what these details are and for what purpose. There is no reflection of “movement” in the performance, but the audience, insatiable for the political context, speculates on it, hearing: “The people are weak. We must feel sorry,” or “Yes, how far we are from Europe!”

On the stage there is a huge table-podium for a spiritualistic seance. The previous performance by Mindaugas Karbauskis “Kant” was also a “table” performance, but instead of a “buffet” there was a skillful three-course table-talk - “words, words, words”. And the audience was captivated, hypnotized by them. “Kant” was a real “spiritualistic seance”, a celebration of spirit and thought. In “The Fruits of Enlightenment,” only the inhabitants of the stage are subject to hypnosis, while the audience remains resistant. However, among the twenty-two characters, it is not difficult for the public to find people in tune with themselves. In the first slow-motion act, the viewer feels like a Bourdieu artel worker (Yuri Lobodenko), who has fallen asleep in the hallway waiting for his gentlemen. In the second, when the participants in the session decide who will “put to sleep” the medium, the viewer takes personally the remark: “Sit down and surrender to the feeling. But don’t think anything yourself,” and if he’s not sleeping, he’s awake. It's worth going through the slowness of the first act for the sake of the second. It features a touching duet between a cook and an old cook, Svetlana Nemolyaeva and Rasmi Dzhabrailov. They “mirror”, color, predict the fate of another still faded (due to their youth?) couple of the maid Tanya (Natalya Palagushkina) and the barman Semyon (Aleksey Sergeev). Nemolyaeva’s appearance on stage is perhaps the most impressive in the play. Radiant (either the costume, or the light, or, most likely, the actress’s aura is the reason for this) she comes out to the sounds of O. Cremieux’s romance “When Love Dies” and needless to say, she outshines everyone. This is the only “reflected” light in the performance that warms. There is not a word about love in her remarks, as befits a cook, she talks about professional things, about how the gentlemen “eat”, “drinks” and “bubbles” on the pianos, but the actress tells the audience much more than the text prescribed to her.

The frame of the performance turned out to be narrower than that installed on the stage. The actors from time to time cross the stage frame, even go into the audience, and the performance seems to be afraid to go beyond the boundaries. It is framed, constrained by the framework of the play and performance by P.N. Fomenko. All other theatrical achievements, incl. and the achievements of Mindaugas Karbauskis himself, who has always been distinguished by a special literary ear and some kind of “supersensible” perception of texts, are taken beyond this framework, exiled from the stage. The director, who could sometimes be called a medium when delighted with the performance, here suddenly turned out to be a mediator, an intermediary between the play, its previous production and the current audience. The label “medium” migrated to the performance – it turned out to be something in between. And this middle is not even gilded yet.

Specularity is the solution and the basis of the performance. Reflections are an insidious thing full of illusions; in them everything is the other way around and in the opposite direction. But, if you don’t go into physics and Carroll’s looking glass, then the mirror is also simply beautiful. And not so much it as its frame, as on the play poster, which is dominated by a pompous gilded frame, at the base of which sit a comedy mask and cupids. And “Fruits of Enlightenment” is quite capable of decorating the repertoire. Its external decoration: the names of their favorite actors and director, scenery, songs (the second act includes a divertissement, unthinkable for the realities of a 19th-century manor house - in the people’s kitchen, the peasants start a song “If only I had golden mountains...”, but the peasants are not kicked out, the audience stands up with applause ), and maybe someone will be attracted to the author. His portrait appears on the poster (as always for the theater - talented), his appearance resembles a bifurcated portrait of a peasant with a thick beard in a top hat and bast shoes, with a cane and a begging mug. The relieved count, who advocated for easier life for the peasantry and the abolition of class privileges, wrote not so much a comedy of manners as a moralizing play. It contains a lot of repetitions, lengths and instructions. It contains a mirror of the morals of that time and a mirror of the inevitability of the Russian revolution. Some are busy with charades and “spiritualism” on saucers, others drink tea from saucers, some are worried about the land issue, others philosophize about the extraterrestrial.

The climax of the play - a seance - almost all takes place in the dark. “They sat me down, turned out the lights, told me to sleep,” that’s what the audience thinks at some moments. Screams, noises, candles, vanity of vanities, “Grosman is vibrating,” but there is no magic or trick on the stage. But there is exposure. Through the looking glass in the play, the people of the master's house turned out to be, the servants were a reflection of their masters; ruined souls like the maid Natalya, whose fate frightens Tanya who replaced her, serve as a reflection of the criminal carelessness of the bar. Tolstoy’s “ladies and gentlemen” are unlucky and idle, absurd and inactive, lackeys manipulate them and, envious, hate them (“Today I am a lackey, and tomorrow, perhaps, I will live no worse than them”), and the people, as usual, suffer , but endures. “The fruits of enlightenment” today, and even in a “mirror” embodiment, could become a statement about the victorious “lackeyism” (by the way, in the theater’s repertoire there is an interesting play on this topic - “Lakeyskaya”), become a reason for reflection (turning back and yourself), a reminder that those busy with the “revelry of time” will be confused by it. But “Fruits...” focused on the rim of the saucers, on the cute quirks of antiquity, on “Zephyrs and Cupids.”

It’s no wonder that in the 125 years that have passed since it was written, “The Fruits...” has become stale, the humor has had time to fade, and the theme of class inequality has become dull. However, spiritualism today could also be played out in a funny way: Woody Allen succeeded in this in “The Magic of Moonlight”, there was a place in it for both a simple plot and thought-provoking ideas about the illusory nature of life and illusions in life, about the gullibility of those who do not believe in anything and that the implausible is sometimes much more convincing than the truth. These thoughts are also in Tolstoy’s play. But they appear between the lines. That’s why they are not present in the performance, which focuses exclusively on the author’s text and the history of its productions.

In the performance based on this play, Konstantin Stanislavsky, Vera Komissarzhevskaya, Maria Lilina, Alexander Artem and after them many other famous names played. Everything has a backstory, it is important to know it, respect it, remember it, but why bother with the reincarnation of the performance? The director cannot be denied irony - the reanimation of a play about spirits (“You understand that just as we live, the invisible world of spirits lives right there”), but there is something necrotic and taxidermic in this. And without the dedication on the poster, the current performance would inevitably be compared with Fomenkov’s, and without direct intentional quotes from the director, parallels would be found, and even if there were no “coincidences” in the distribution of roles, reviews would write: “NN comes to mind. in this role." But they would write about director Karbauskis, and not about director Fomenko’s student. An attempt to speak in someone else's voice, to adopt characteristic features and techniques (i.e., purely external) leads to parody, an undesirable effect in this case. The student is a reflection of the teacher, but at some point you need to stop being someone else's reflection. Karbauskis has long since overcome his apprenticeship, and it is not entirely clear why he needed this “cover” this time. Although, perhaps, the director is practicing his new quality as a genre writer, a writer of everyday life? Busy with high spheres and themes, he plunged into the world of saucers and turnures, became preoccupied with how to play with the name Kapchich in “apchhi” and played with mirrors so much that he stopped reflecting in them. However, for young artists, working in a play is certainly fruitful and educational: it is a school (entirely sketches) of speech, manners, imitation, and “through the looking glass” existence. And for their teacher-student Mindaugas Karbauskis, as an artistic director, this is charity, and for a director, it is wasteful self-forgetfulness. Be that as it may, the dedication on the poster is a dedication to the victorious teacher from the defeated student. This time.

The Fruits of Enlightenment is an emotional performance that tells about the life of the Zvezdintsev family. Their house is constantly filled with people. The maids every now and then open the doors for the team workers with a dress for the lady, for Sakhatov, the barman and the doctor, for the peasants who came to the master so that he would give them land in installments. By the way, a maid helped them, leading them to her master under the guise of mediums. The master himself, Leonid Fedorovich, is very passionate about spiritualistic seances, and does not notice anyone around.

“The Fruits of Enlightenment” based on the comedy by L. Tolstoy was staged by Fomenko for many years. Today, a new version is presented by a student of the legendary master - M. Karbauskis. Its premiere took place in 2015. And today the production rightfully occupies the place of one of the most “densely populated” performances. After all, the entire theater troupe takes part in this performance - from mature and established artists to young, just beginning and little-known ones. This trend will delight the audience. And to appreciate the performance, hurry up and buy tickets on our website.

The play “Fruits of Enlightenment” at the Mayakovsky Theater

Dedicated to Pyotr Naumovich Fomenko.

“The Fruits of Enlightenment,” which appeared on the Moscow theater playbill in 2015, is a comedy by Leo Tolstoy, written not for the professional stage, but for the home theater. This is probably why all the scenes are very witty, and the characters seem to be copied from reality. The action takes place in the Zvezdintsevs’ house, where men come with a request to buy the land in installments. The owner of the house, Leonid Fedorovich, was left indifferent by their appearance - he was keen on holding another spiritualistic seance. The maid tries to help the peasants by passing off one of them as a medium.

The director of the play “Fruits of Enlightenment” is Mindaugas Karbauskis, who has been directing the Mayakovsky Theater for 5 years. For many years, Mayakovka’s repertoire included “The Fruits of Enlightenment,” directed by Fomenko. And therefore, Karbauskis dedicated the first premiere of 2015 to his legendary teacher, choosing as material exactly the play that his master staged in the same theater. “Fruits of Enlightenment” by Karbauskis is symbolic not only by the fact and context of its origin, but also by the fact that it is one of the most “densely populated” performances: literally all generations of the troupe are involved in the production: Igor Kostolevsky, Mikhail Filippov, Galina Anisimova, Svetlana Nemolyaeva, Natalya Palagushkina and Vladimir Guskov, combining in the performance the history, present, and future of the theater.

The first premiere of 2015 is dedicated to Pyotr Naumovich Fomenko.

For many years, the repertoire of the Mayakovsky Theater included the play “Fruits of Enlightenment” directed by P.N. Fomenko. The 2015 premiere is by no means a reconstruction of it, but it is quite possible that the production by the artistic director of the Theater Mindaugas Karbauskis, a student of Piotr Naumovich, will contain some “quotes”.

In the morning bustle of a rich Moscow house, servants scurry about, visitors constantly ring the doorbell: a Bourdieu artel worker with a dress for a young lady, Mr. Sakhatov, who is interested in everything in the world, an unlucky barman, an elegant doctor. Slowly, the owners of the house come down to breakfast to once again immerse themselves in conversations about mediums, spiritualism and seances. The series of visits continues with unexpected guests - men from the Kursk village, busy with the purchase of land. Paradoxical as it may seem, the main issue of their lives will be solved by a resourceful maid.

Tolstoy’s first remark is “a young and handsome footman looks in the mirror and preens himself.” This is what artist Sergei Barkhin and director Mindaugas Karbauskis took as a basis, embodying the very theatrical concept of “stage mirror” in the scenery. It is the mirror that will become a kind of passe-partout for the performance: here is the awkward barman rehearsing a fatal look, Mr. Sakhatov diligently combing his bald head, the footman Grigory, showing off, remembers his love victories, the mistress of the house, passing by, straightens her hair, and the maid Tanya diligently polishes him to a shine with a rag.

The play “Fruits of Enlightenment” will become one of the most densely populated: all generations of the theater troupe are involved in the production. Many artists also played in Fomenko’s play. But if earlier, for example, Igor Kostolevsky played the role of Vasily Leonidych Zvezdintsev, now he will play his father, Leonid Fedorovich. As in Fomenko’s production, the role of Professor Krugosvetlov will be performed by Mikhail Filippov, and the role of the Tolstoy Lady will be played by Galina Anisimova. Along with the masters of the theater stage, many young people are involved in the play by Mindaugas Karbauskis: the maid Tanya, “the driving force of the whole action,” will be played by Natalya Palagushkina, and Vladimir Guskov will play the role of Vasily Leonidych Zvezdintsev.

The play premiered on February 21, 2015.
Duration of the performance: three hours 20 minutes.

Festivals:
Participant of the XI International Theater Festival “Stanislavsky Season” (Moscow program), Moscow, 2015.
The performance was included in the long list of the Golden Mask award (the most notable performances of the 2014/15 season according to expert councils).

Probably, each of us at least once stopped near a glossy theater poster and looked at the bright, alluring illustrations on it, inviting us to watch this or that performance. Today, modern theaters stage a variety of productions designed for different categories of the population, depending on the preferences and demands of the domestic public. What genres of theatrical art do you favor?

If you like subtle comedy that conveys the life and worldview of people of the nineteenth century, if you love classic works written by great Russian writers and thinkers, then you should visit the unusual and original comedy “Fruits of Enlightenment.” The Mayakovsky Theater will hospitably open its heavy curtain for everyone.

The very first production

This play has not left the stage of Russian theaters from the very beginning of its writing. Written in 1890 by the magnificent and talented writer Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, it was very much loved by a wide audience and is now one of the most visited productions of the theater. Mayakovsky.

The first director of the play was the famous Konstantin Stanislavsky (he also played one of the leading roles in the play).

The production was shown in a narrow circle of spectators, consisting mainly of friends of the actors.

Work on the big stage

Then the play was staged on the stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater, where such stars of the imperial stage as Vladimir Davydov, Vera Michurina-Samoilova, Vasily Dalmatov appeared. It is noteworthy that in the play the actors did not choose the main plot roles for themselves; they wanted to play characters that were inconspicuous at first glance, but had a certain meaning. Until now, according to numerous reviews of “The Fruits of Enlightenment,” these characters are considered the central figures on whom the entire production rests and to whom the views and attention of the audience are riveted. This is, first of all, Tanya, Betsy, the men, the cook, the cook, and so on. Therefore, if you attend a comedy, pay attention to how modern artists cope with these special, unique images.

A few months after the first performance, the play was a great success at the Maly Theater. Leo Tolstoy also attended the performance there. “The Fruits of Enlightenment,” demonstrated by equally talented actors (among them were Konstantin Rybakov, Alexander Lensky, Glikeria Fedotova, Olga Sadovskaya), had a pleasant impression on the writer. However, the performance of some actors playing the roles of men seemed unnatural and boring to Lev Nikolaevich. As we see, in his play Leo Tolstoy assigned a significant role to these characters. We will talk about who plays these characters on the stage of modern theater a little later.

From the history of writing the work

The first, draft version of the play “Fruits of Enlightenment” was written by the great Russian writer back in 1886. Written and left in the desk drawer. Later, three years later, they decided to stage the work in the narrow circle of Tolstoy’s family. This gave the author the opportunity to look at his literary creation from the outside.

During the period of numerous rehearsals, Lev Nikolaevich began to work on reworking the play, trying to convey the dramatic images as deeply and as accurately as possible. Changes and adjustments to the work were carried out several times, after which the play, previously entitled “The Thread Broke,” acquired its current name.

A little about the theater itself

Theater named after Mayakovsky, founded in 1922, is located at Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street, 19/13. The theater's initial performances were limited to modern foreign plays. Classical works were then staged in a bold, innovative style.

The artistic directors of the theater at different times were talented directors and artists, such as Alexey Popov, Nikolai Okhlopkov, Andrey Goncharov and others.

Now the place of artistic director is occupied (since 2011) by an experienced and gifted. Under his strict leadership, the theater named after. Mayakovsky has undergone some changes and is now one of the most frequently visited theaters in the capital. Another master of his craft, Russian theater director, teacher and professor Yu. V. Ioffe, also shows his productions here.

The dramatic repertoire includes such famous and talented actors as Svetlana Nemolyaeva, Igor Kostolevsky, Olga Prokofieva, Galina Belyaeva, Andrei Gusev and others.

Modern productions of the play

The play "Fruits of Enlightenment" has been on stage at the Mayakovsky Theater for a long time. It was first staged in 1985. This production was entrusted to the guest director - P. N. Fomenko. “Fruits of Enlightenment”, as interpreted by Pyotr Naumovich, was distinguished by its grotesqueness, lively action, imagery, brightness and musicality. The audience is already so accustomed to this work of the great director that they were wary of rumors about a new production of the play, carried out under the direction of Mindaugas Karbauskis.

By the way, the gifted artistic director dedicated the premiere of the play to Fomenko, his friend and teacher.

Play in facts

Here is a brief information about the work:

• The modern production of the play "Fruits of Enlightenment" at the Mayakovsky Theater first took place in February 2015.
• The duration of the dramatic work is three hours and twenty minutes.
• Almost all the actors from the theater troupe are involved in the performance.
• It is interesting that the modern production of the play uses some of the actors who played in its earlier variation. First of all, this is Igor Kostolevsky, who under Fomenko played the role of the young Zvezdintsev, but now he got an older character - Zvezdintsev the father. People's Artist of the RSFSR Svetlana Nemolyaeva is also beautiful in her new heroine. If earlier she played the role of Zvezdintseva, now she got an interesting and funny character - the cook.

We'll talk about other actors a little later.

Experienced Artists

Who else is involved in the production of "Fruits of Enlightenment"? The poster for the performance gives a comprehensive answer to this question.

First of all, this is Igor Kostolevsky, playing the role of a wealthy landowner, a retired lieutenant of the horse guards, who is fond of spiritualism. Igor Matveevich, born in 1948, is an Honored and People's Actor, familiar to the Russian public from numerous films ("The Dawns Here Are Quiet", "Asya", "Garage", "Tehran-43", "Vacation at Your Own Expense" and others) . Among his bright and unforgettable theatrical works, it is necessary to mention such productions as “The Karamazovs” (Ivan Karamazov), “Dead Souls” (Plyushkin), “The Seagull” (Treplev) and so on.

The role of Zvezdintsev's wife is played by Tatyana Augshkap (born in 1961). Honored Artist of Russia, known for such theatrical characters as Serafima Saratova ("Whim"), Nina Smelskaya ("Talents and Admirers"), Polina ("Children Spoil Relationships"), Bluebeard's wife ("Bluebeard's Birthday"), Elizaveta Markovna (“Dead Souls”), etc. Among the actress’s talented film works, “Pathfinder” (Jenny), “Tomorrow There Was War” (Zina Kovalenko), “Queen Margot” (Claudette), “Mothers and Daughters” (Martha) and etc.

It is impossible not to mention Galina Anisimova, People's Artist of the RSFSR, playing the role of a fat lady. Galina Aleksandrovna, born in 1929, has been working in the company since 1952. She is a war veteran and a labor veteran. Among the actress’s brilliant works, “One Hour Before Dawn” (Varya Kalinnikova), “Talents and Admirers” (Smelskaya), “Hamlet” (Ophelia), “The Cherry Orchard” (Anya), “The Zhurbin Family” (Tonya), “ Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" (Aksinya) and many, many others.

Young talents

The role of the Zvezdintsevs' daughter Betsy is played by a young actress (born in 1994). Despite such a young age, the girl has already distinguished herself in episodic roles in such interesting productions as “On the Grass of the Yard,” “The Lackey,” and “Dead Souls.”

The son of the Zvezdintsev couple is also played by a young actor (born in 1989) - Vladimir Guskov. The young gifted artist actively participates in other productions of his native theater - “The Last” (Alexander), “Berdichev” (Garik), “Nine by Ten” (Kostolevsky), “Mayakovsky Goes for Sugar” (Mayakovsky), etc. Vladimir also acts in films to the cinema.

The role of the resourceful maid Tanya went to the young and promising actress Natalya Palagushkina. The artist is also known for such theatrical works as “Fathers and Sons” (Fenichka), “Berdichev” (Zoya), “It’s not all Maslenitsa for cats” (Agniya) and so on. The girl can also be seen in films ("Moscow. Three Stations", "Citizen Boss. Continuation", "Barvikha" and others).

As you can see, the brightest and most talented artists of our time are involved in the production of “Fruits of Enlightenment”. However, your understanding of the play will not be complete without a brief description of its plot. This will be discussed below.

The intrigue of the work

The action of the play begins with the arrival of three men to the house of the landowner Zvezdintsev. They want to buy land from him, and bring a small deposit. Leonid Fedorovich is dissatisfied with such an insignificant amount and does not want to sell his possessions, as he previously promised. Moreover, now he is not bothered by economic thoughts. He is absorbed in only one desire - to find a good medium for the next spiritualistic session.

The master's maid Tanya is not satisfied with the lieutenant's refusal to resign. She wants to help the men - her fellow countrymen and relatives. Therefore, the girl decides to deceive: she passes off her fiancé, the bartender Semyon, as a medium. Zvezdintsev invites the young man to a session, after which all the fun begins. You can see how the play “Fruits of Enlightenment” ends by attending the production itself.

Positive feedback from viewers about the work

As for real reviews of the performance, there have been a lot of them over two years. Many visitors note the talented acting (especially Kostolevsky and Nemolyaeva). Also, according to numerous reviews, the play itself, its comedy and topicality, received favorable reviews. However, not all viewers are so unanimous.

Negative and neutral feedback

Some admit that they were annoyed by Nemolyaeva, as well as by the excessive length and complexity of the work. The performance looked boring, outdated and flowery.

However, as the audience admits, the modern production of “Fruits of Enlightenment” is designed in the classical Russian style, combining sparkling humor, subtle psychologism and topical edification. The play vividly and uniquely conveys the spirit of that time, making you laugh and cry at the same time.

The talented acting is also impressive, combining several age categories of the troupe. It was clear that each artist carefully got used to the character, harmoniously complemented the other, and played with feeling and knowledge of his craft.

A special bow for this wonderful eccentric comedy goes to Mindaugas Karbauskis, the chief director of the Mayakovsky Theater.