My review of the film version of Moscow's Vakhtangov Theater's production of Eugene Onegin pales in comparison to my friend's reaction to the live version, which she saw last night. Starting with the elegant program -- a kind of invitation that also included the full text of Tatiana's letter to Eugene -- and continuing with the magic on stage, the production really was something to write home about (or at least write Ohio about).
I think, for example, about a student of mine who was working part time in Lev's Pawn Shop in Columbus. His co-workers and boss were Russian emigres who took one look at my syllabus and disparaged the works I assigned. "Those aren't the real Russian masterpieces," they argued. "Those are just the crappy books our teachers shoved down our throats in school."
To memorize Tatiana's letter to Onegin is a beast of an assignment -- but that's what many Russian schoolchildren are forced to do. Does that make them love Pushkin? Hardly.
And putting a classic on stage (or filming one, as many Russian directors insist on doing) is also difficult. When the audience associates much of what they are hearing with those horrible teenage years, they won't necessarily see the brilliance of the words, the portrayals, the structure of the plot.
Instead, as I noted in my review, the Vakhtangov Theater didn't even give the whole of Tatiana's letter in their production (I suppose you could read it during intermission if you had forgotten it!). That shorthand approach was a nod to boring classroom versions and gave new life to the literary work. And that's what theatrical adaptations are all about.
Анжела, я в восторге от спектакля! Очень необычная постановка. Сочетание классической драмы, хореографии, откровенного сюреализма. Актерская игра тоже выше всяких похвал! Но главное, впервые как-то по-новому услышала Пушкина.
Angela--she wrote--the play was fantastic! A very unusual production. A combination of classical drama, choreography, straight-out surrealism. The actors' performances were also beyond all praise! But most importantly, for the first time I head Pushkin in a new way.For those of us in the business, this idea, that my friend "for the first time heard Pushkin in a new way," is very important. I know what "masterpieces of Russian literature" are, but the fact that those classical works of literature are taught in elementary and high schools often ruins them for Russians.
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| Tatiana's letter to Onegin |
To memorize Tatiana's letter to Onegin is a beast of an assignment -- but that's what many Russian schoolchildren are forced to do. Does that make them love Pushkin? Hardly.
And putting a classic on stage (or filming one, as many Russian directors insist on doing) is also difficult. When the audience associates much of what they are hearing with those horrible teenage years, they won't necessarily see the brilliance of the words, the portrayals, the structure of the plot.
Instead, as I noted in my review, the Vakhtangov Theater didn't even give the whole of Tatiana's letter in their production (I suppose you could read it during intermission if you had forgotten it!). That shorthand approach was a nod to boring classroom versions and gave new life to the literary work. And that's what theatrical adaptations are all about.
The "calling cards" of the Vakhtangov actors, provided in an envelope -- an invitation to see Pushkin anew.
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