Prologue

Faust, doctor, is in despair that neither science nor religion has given him answers to his questions. He is ready to lay hands on himself, but at this moment he hears angelic voices that glorify the Lord. Faust asks for help from the forces of hell. Mephistopheles appears. Calling up a vision - the image of a young Margarita, he tempts Faust with the possibility of happiness and offers to buy his services on earth in exchange for the soul of a scientist in the underworld. Faust agrees. Strange companions are on their way.

Act one

Fair

Citizens, soldiers and students feast at the fair. Valentine, Margarita's brother, is saddened. He goes to war and entrusts the care of his sister to his comrade Siebel. Suddenly appeared Mephistopheles confuses the crowd with impudent couplets about the golden calf and treats everyone with wine. He predicts a quick death for Valentin's friend Wagner, and for Siebel he predicts the withering of any flower that he touches. Touches Mephistopheles and the honor of Margarita. Valentine pounces on him with a sword, but, as if by magic, his weapon falls out of his hand. Even the cross from her handle is not able to frighten the devil.

The general fear is replaced by fun - the youth is spinning in a waltz. In the midst of the dance, Margarita appears. Faust tries to charm her, but the girl rejects the advances of the stranger.

Action two

Margaret's Garden

Siebel brings Margarita a bouquet. Mephistopheles offers to give her a chest of jewels: he is sure that the girl will choose pearls, not flowers. Margarita sings a ballad about the King of Ful, reminiscing about a stranger who spoke to her. Noticing the casket, she tries on jewelry and admires herself. Her neighbor Martha is surprised by the gift. The conversation of the girls is interrupted by Mephistopheles, who tells Martha the sad news: her husband has died. The devil immediately offers himself as a new gentleman, and Martha agrees without hesitation. Faust and Marguerite have the opportunity to talk. The girl allows the scientist to kiss her, but then bewilderedly asks him to leave.

Left alone, Margarita confides her feelings to the stars. Hearing her words, Faust returns.

Act Three

Square in front of the temple

Margarita is abandoned by everyone: her lover left her, ex girlfriends laugh at her misfortune. Siebel arrives with words of comfort. Margarita goes to church and tries to pray for Faust and for his child, which she wears under her heart. Mephistopheles summons a choir of demons. Shocked by the devil's curse, Margarita loses consciousness.

To the sound of a march, Valentine returns from the war. He asks Siebel about his sister and, having a premonition of evil, hurries to see her.

Faust and Mephistopheles appear. The latter performs a mocking serenade about how a well-behaved girl should behave. Valentine accuses Faust of dishonoring Marguerite and starts a fight.

The intervention of Mephistopheles allows Faust to emerge victorious in the duel. Dying, Valentine promises his sister the torment of hell.

Dungeon

Faust hopes to save Marguerite with the help of Mephistopheles, but the girl pushes him away. In her clouded mind - only fragments of memories. In desperation, she kills herself. Mephistopheles curses the sinner, and a voice from heaven sings: "Saved!"

Easter bells are ringing, a choir of angels is praising Christ. Margarita's soul goes to heaven. Faust is alone again.

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About the performance

Part of the power that always wants evil and always does good is returning to the theatrical stage of Moscow! The Central House of the Actor invites you to the performance "Faust". A creepy irony about seduction human soul good and evil are presented on the stage.

Organizational information
The ponominalu resource will help you buy electronic tickets for the performance "Faust". ru. The duration of the performance is one hour.

Theatergoers of the age category 12+ will be able to visit the performance "Faust" in Moscow.

I'm bored, damn...
The independent theater project was implemented in 2014, when its creators were in their second year at the Shchuchinsky School. The production almost instantly entered the CDA repertoire.

Even Chekhov said: an actor is a theater. Therefore, Faust is not overloaded with characters. Eric Dasny and Martin Gerokhinovich are both actors and creators. Their acting game with the smallest mimic nuances, psychological calculations will be admired by the enlightened metropolitan public.

Human nature has not changed since the time of Adam. And because "Faust" will always be relevant. On the stage, the audience will not see horns, hooves and other annoying demonic surroundings. The characters are in stylish black suits with fashionable haircuts, as if only from a barbershop.

Evil is modern. People fly into space and back, so Mephistopheles got rid of archaic attributes and is easily lost in the crowd. The more terrible it is. Only once a witch's broom will appear on the stage, and then more for laughs.

The performance seems almost black and white, the monochrome attire of the actors harmonizes pleasantly with the strict geometry of the stage design, the abstractness of the scenery.

Full description

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Theater address: Arbatskaya metro station, Arbat st., 35

  • Arbatskaya
  • Kropotkinskaya
  • Smolensk
  • Arbatskaya
  • Smolensk

Central House of Actor

History and repertoire Central House actor
The Central House of Actor named after A. A. Yablochkina is a cultural center, an acting club and a platform for various events. It was opened in 1937 as a place for recreation and leisure for actors. The best actors of generations performed at the House's skits - Andrei Mironov, Arkady Raikin, Rina Zelenaya, Evgeny Leonov. At first, the site was located in a house on Tverskaya Street, but in 1990 it burned down, and the Central House of the Actor moved to the Arbat, where it still exists.

This venue hosts big and quite chamber events, for example, performances, recitals, musicals, skits, festive performances, anniversaries, performances by academic musicians. This is due to the fact that in Central House the actor works several scenes at once. Firstly, this is the Great Hall, which hosts large-scale events. It is designed for 350 guests. Secondly, the Small Hall, which can accommodate 70 spectators. This is an experimental platform where performances by young actors take place. Thirdly, this is an art salon where traditional actors' gatherings take place, where they sing, read poetry, show miniatures and tell stories. Thirdly, the Blue Living Room. There are small performances, meetings with eminent actors and directors, and two more clubs: the club of playwrights and the club of Russian romance

How to get to the Central House of Actor:
The building of the Actor's House is located in the historical center of Moscow, on the Arbat. To get to it, you first need to get to the Smolenskaya station along the Filevskaya line, and then get off the metro to the Garden Ring. Turn left and follow to Smolenskaya Square, from which the pedestrian Arbat departs. When you get to the Arbat, count the lanes on your right. You need to turn into the third. The building of the Central House of the Actor will be located on your left in the third building.

Philosophical tragedy in two parts, with many characters and plot intricacies, filled with metaphysical disputes and witchcraft covens, passed through a theatrical retort and turned into a dynamic, compact action lasting an hour or more. Abstract, speculative concepts are turned by the director into vivid, memorable images. And extremely concentrated meanings are perceived, it seems, not only on the conscious, but also on the subconscious level. Lyubimov does not try to suppress the viewer with the authoritarianism of one, once and for all, established interpretation. Everyone has the right to understand Goethe's tragedy in their own way. Spectators can even “privatize Faust.” Goethe's text for the participants in the performance is only auxiliary material, the starting point of creativity. They can play it touchingly or ironically, as in theatrical performance. They can famously chant, tap dancing, or they can sing like a Gregorian chant. Yuri Petrovich did not stage a single opera in Russia, but in his performances the musical score plays an increasingly significant role. "Faust" is impossible to imagine without the music of Vladimir Martynov. The composer rightfully becomes one of the co-authors of the performance.

About the performance

Production by Shakespeare's Globe Theater

Christopher Marlowe, a libertine, a rake, a spy, a duellist, the same age as Shakespeare and a bigger “star” than Shakespeare in his time, became the author of the first dramatic adaptation of the legendary plot about a scientist who is ready to sell his immortal soul for the sake of superhuman knowledge and power. It is from the play tragic story Doctor Faust” begins a long series of artistic interpretations of the conflict of faith and science, humility and pride: through a free-thinking Englishman, Goethe and Heine, Pushkin and Bryusov, Thomas Mann and a series of other classics came to this powerful image.

Successful in many sciences, but disappointed in the power of the human brain, Dr. Faust (Paul Hilton) makes a deal with the devil: for 24 years Mephistopheles has served him faithfully, fulfilling any desires and giving coveted knowledge, but after the expiration of the term, Faust must go with him to hell. Mephistopheles (Arthur Darvill) honestly fulfills the terms of the contract, but this does not save Faust from oppressive thoughts that the terrible contract is expiring...

The first production of Marlo's play at the modern Globe Theater was entrusted to Matthew Dunster (The Executioners, 2016) - and the experienced British director wittily handled the not-so-simple text. The different acts of Marlo's play are so heterogeneous in style that some researchers attribute satirical, "amusing" scenes to another author, where the diabolical tricks of Mephistopheles are deliberately reduced and ridiculed. In addition, in the images of the arrogant scientist angels of good and evil fighting for the soul and the allegories of the seven deadly sins, Marlo still has echoes of medieval morality - not everyone can cope with this kaleidoscope and preserve the tragic and mystical nerve of the text.

Dunster succeeds in this - he fully launches the ingenious theatrical machinery of the Elizabethan theater: books coming to life, dragons, real hellish flames blazing on the stage, smoke, frightening masks, skulls and other diabolical special effects that struck the imagination of inexperienced spectators of the stalls in the time of Shakespeare and Marlowe produce an ominous impression today.

“The sky was created for man, and therefore he is better than all heaven,” the seductive phrase of Mephistopheles in the mouth of Arthur Darvill, who is very reserved and gloomy in this role, sounds almost like Hamlet’s sarcastic remark “What a miracle of nature is man!” And not by chance.

Marlo, although curtsying the official religion, steps back from condemning both the sinner and the insidious demon. The tragedy of Faust, whose despair at the end of the play is beautifully played by Paul Hilton, in Marlowe's presentation looks like an illustration of the thesis "the road to hell is paved with good intentions." And the representative of this hell is not at all the embodiment of lies; Mephistopheles, himself a fallen demon, rather sympathizes with the scientist, and perhaps in his face and all of humanity.

Review

In defiance of Shakespeare, about whom practically nothing is known (including the question of who was the real author of his canon), Christopher Marlowe was the most colorful and scandalous character in theatrical London of the late 16th century. If The Sun and Daily Star had already existed in Elizabethan times, Marlowe would have been their favorite character. A spy, a reveler, a brawler, an atheist, a libertine, the author of the immortal quote “he who does not like tobacco and boys is an idiot,” Marlo boasted the most monstrous reputation in an age when monstrous reputations were measured as if by the size of a codpiece. After the death of the playwright in a drunken brawl, the "myth of Marlowe" was enriched with everyday devilry; according to one of the legends, during the performance of "Doctor Faust", "to the great amazement of the actors and the public" real demons came to the stage. Some of the audience, "discouraged by a terrible vision", went crazy, and one of the actors, Edward Alleyn, retired, did charity work for the rest of his life.

The staging of the Globe is far from driving the most impressionable theatre-goers crazy, although there is a lot of everyday devilry in it: “magic” theatrical tricks like books burning with hellish flames, magical smoke screens or Lucifer’s visit in person in the company of Beelzebub and smaller evil spirits. The performance in general is extremely rich in scenographic and plastic diabolism: what is worth at least the spectacular appearance of Mephistopheles in the form of a giant goat skull or the comic presentation of the seven animate mortal sins. All this utter mess is realized so convincingly and with virtuoso switching of tempo and rhythm of action - that it involuntarily overshadows the actual cast, confidently led by Faust-Hilton (film buffs will probably remember him from the role of Duke Octave in the biographical drama Klimt by Raul Ruiz (Klimt, 2006) ).

As for the dramatic outline itself, the viewer, accustomed to solemnly pathos interpretations of the legend of Faust, should prepare for a long comic interlude that cuts Marlowe's play in two and pretty distracts from the main action. Researchers still cannot come to a consensus regarding these comic scenes: some consider them to be later inserts and the result of posthumous editing, others recognize them as an integral part of the author's eclectic intent.

Be that as it may, but more than two hundred years later, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, developing the structure of his Faust (especially its second part), took advantage of most of Marlowe's ideas, including all the variety of comic divertissements. Therefore, it is hardly worth following the path of the authoritative The Guardian newspaper and accusing the director of this version, Matthew Dunster, of lightness and "non-fearful" interpretation. There are enough brilliant directorial ideas in his performance - like the books coming to life of the first, "necromantic" scene in the library or xylophone cabaret accompaniment of the most supernatural moments of the action - to talk about it seriously. In addition, the finale of the play - a brilliant poetic monologue by Faust, praying to God to delay the last sentence and his overthrow into hell - turned out, accompanied by an infernal alarm and gloomy music, truly ominous. The spy, brawler and atheist Marlo would have been pleased - as would the pantheist and member of the secret council of Goethe.

Lord : Do you know Faust?
Mephistopheles : He is a doctor?
Lord : He is my slave.

Boris Yukhananov worked on the play "Faust" for more than ten years. Born on the initiative of the German Cultural Center. J. W. Goethe, having changed several territories and groups of participants, this project turned into a broad movement within the theater "School of Dramatic Art", which was called the "Laboratory of play structures" Faust ".

The performance "Faust" and the Laboratory of Game Structures, which existed under the joint direction of Boris Yukhananov and Igor Yatsko, were an inseparable whole. On the one hand, the performance grew out of the Laboratory, and in this sense, the viewer was given a unique opportunity to see not only the final result of the work, but also the process. On the other hand, the work of the Laboratory continued to influence the performance even after the premiere, constantly updating it.

Boris Yukhananov:

“If we imagine a child who could watch this performance, and visual and fabulous content is important for a child, then Faust, for all the seemingly unprecedented rigidity of the message addressed to the present, is made very kind people. A soul of fun is formed around kindness, so to speak. This soul turns to various attractions. There are a whole string of them in Faust. The performance was made in the mode of visual attraction. This is the ever-changing space of a magical temple, created by the artist Yuri Kharikov, living cats led by Dmitry Kuklachev, charming creations of the spirits of the earth and air, which enter into difficult interactions with the hero.Of course, there is a sharp plasticity in all this, which required the work of the choreographer Andrey Kuznetsov.