What performances does Yuri Solomin play in? Interview with the artistic director of the small theater Yuri Solomin. Personal life of Yuri Solomin

Childhood

The boy Yura was born into a family of musicians. Yuri has Siberian ancestors in his family, because my parents were from there. Mother Zinaida Ananyevna lived in Tomsk. Methodius Viktorovich from Zabaikalsk. Yuri's mother had exceptional hearing and sang beautifully. My father played all stringed instruments. His brother was Vitaly Methodievich Solomin. Famous actor of Soviet cinema. We all remember him from the legendary role of Doctor Watson in the film “Sherlock Holmes”.

At the Palace of Pioneers, Yuri often played in plays. In Chita, the young man saw the painting “The Maly Theater and Its Masters.” Thanks to him, Yuri Methodievich learns about the Shchepkin Theater Institute at the Maly Theater. It was then that he decided, after graduating from school, to become an actor at this school.

Yuri entered immediately. His teacher on the course was the famous actress Vera Nikolaevna Pashennaya. After graduating from college, he begins his acting career at the Maly Theater.

Theater

For the first time, Yuri Methodievich played on the stage of his native theater when he was a second-year student. He played the role of a craftsman in the play “Ivan the Terrible”. The Maly Theater became Solomin’s home. He practically lived within its walls. He was offered role after role. There were both big and small roles. Solomin will say about this later: “But we were assured then that there are no small roles, there are small artists. I don't agree with this. There are simply small roles and bad roles...” First, the young actor starred in episodes.

Yuri Solomin on video

So to speak, I gained experience. So that his talent, acting, and artistry are noticed by directors. Fame, of course, comes to Solomin. He is offered the main roles in plays: the role of Bezais in “When the Heart Burns”, he was Slava and Grisha in “An Unequal Battle”, “Before Dinner”, Misha in “The Chamber”. Many other works of the actor are also known.

Yuri Solomin was a very charming young man. His inherent lyricism and humor made the images brighter and more memorable.

Solomin’s excellent performance in classic performances was noticed: “The Abyss” and “The Living Corpse”. Yuri begins to play more and more dramatic characters. How accurately he understood the psychology of characters. He shows his professional acting in the play “And I Will Repay”, where he plays the role of Nicholas II.

At the Solomin Theater, Yuri plays diverse roles. Here he is a young gentleman in Lady Windermere's Fan, then the role of Cyrano in Cyrano de Bergerac. We remember the wonderful performances with his participation: “The Living Corpse”, “The Goblin”, “Uncle Vanya”, “The Forest”, “The Mysterious Box”, “Molière”, “Lubov Yarovaya”, “Virgin Land”. This is just a small list of theatrical works. Where Solomin showed himself.

Solomin had special respect for the Soviet classics. He especially treated A.P. Chekhov. Perhaps that is why Yuri played many roles in the plays of this great writer. Later, Solomin would be called “Chekhov’s actor of the Maly Theater.” Yuri considers his best work to be the role he played in the play “Uncle Vanya.”

Yuri Solomin. The fate of a person with Boris Korchevnikov

Yuri Methodievich also shows himself as a director of theater productions. His directorial works: “The Inspector General”, “The Seagull”, “The Mysterious Box”, “Three Sisters”, “The Power of Darkness”, of course, “Dowry”.

Yuri Solomin in cinema

Solomin is also trying to act in films. It was his teacher on the Pashennaya course who unobtrusively recommended Bondarchuk to consider Yuri Solomin for the role of the prince in War and Peace. But the wonderful Vyacheslav Tikhonov was approved for this role, and he coped with his task brilliantly. Solomin played in a huge number of films and TV series. There were roles on television. All heroes are not alike. Different characters, dramas. Solomin coped with each role brilliantly, bringing a special personality to each image.

After the release of the film “His Excellency’s Adjutant,” Solomin becomes even more famous. This is followed by his best roles: Dmitry Ulyanov in “Mother’s Heart”, Telegin in the television film “Walking in Torment”, Major Zvyagintsev in “Siege”, Innkeeper and Heinrich Eisenstein in the television films “An Ordinary Miracle” and “Die Fledermaus”, Vladimir Alexandrovich in the film “Light in the Window”, Slavin in “TASS is authorized to declare...”. You can simply list some of the films where he played the main roles: “Melodies of the White Night”, “Dreams of Russia”, “Moscow Saga”. Each character is unique in its own way. His heroes became beloved by many generations of viewers far beyond the borders of the USSR. He was known in Germany, Japan, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria.

The best and favorite film roles for Solomin are the films “And There Was Evening and There Was Morning,” where he played Stube, and “Strong in Spirit” the character of Guettel.

Thanks to his work in cinema, Solomin meets wonderful directors and actors: Akira Kurosawa and Ottakar Vavra, Mikhail Kalatozov and Mark Donskoy, Komaki Kurihara and Jeanne Moreau, Marina Vladi. Many of them later became friends of Yuri Methodievich.

Yuri Solomin tries himself as a cinema director. But, frankly, the famous actor never thought about it. He didn't know what it was then. By the will of fate, Yuri became a famous director. Later he was appointed artistic director of the Shchepkin Theater School.

What Solomin likes most about directing is the process, the opportunity to help direct an actor and mentor him in the role.

Personal life of Yuri Solomin

In his life, Solomin became a husband once and for life. Solomin's wife Olga Nikolaevna gave Yuri a daughter, Solomin Daria Yuryevna. In its turn. Daria also has a daughter, whose name is Alexandra. Grandfather is very proud of his granddaughter. He adores her. The entire Solomin family lives in extraordinary harmony and love. In their household there are: the beloved shepherd Maklay, and no less beloved dogs Lyalya, Lushka, Yashka, and the cat Dusya. Even in space, a small planet is named after him.

Currently, Solomin lives and works in Moscow.

Awards

Yuri Solomin received many awards and titles during his life. He is People's Artist of the RSFSR, USSR, Kyrgyzstan. Honored Artist of the Republic of Mari El, awarded the State Prize of the RSFSR named after the Vasilyev brothers, has the Order of Honor for Services to the Fatherland, the Order of Honor, the Order of Friendship of Peoples, the Order of the Academy of Arts of Japan “For Contribution to World Culture.” The “Person of the Year 2008” award from the Russian Biographical Institute was awarded to Solomin. The FSB Award in the category “Acting” for the creation of highly artistic images of security officers in domestic cinema also found its lucky winner in Solomin. Yuri Methodievich Honorary Professor of Moscow State University, Honorary Citizen of the city of Arsenyev.

The artistic director of the Maly Theater Yuri SOLOMIN staged Gogol's "Marriage". After the premiere, the People's Artist of the USSR told a Kultura correspondent about how he became a director and what Akira Kurosawa had to do with it. We couldn't avoid talking about classics and contemporaries.

culture: Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol does not let you go throughout his entire creative biography. You have repeatedly played in performances based on his works, and staged The Inspector General. Why did you decide to return to the classics?
Solomin: Gogol, as well as Ostrovsky, Pushkin, Griboyedov and other great writers, are the pride of Russian literature and drama. The Maly Theater has always relied on these authors. How to explain why the director chooses to stage a work familiar from his youth? The question is quite complicated. For approximately the same reasons why a man falls in love with a certain woman, although everyone predicts a completely different one for him as a wife. For example, do you know how The Government Inspector, which failed in St. Petersburg, appeared at the Maly Theater at one time? After an unsuccessful premiere, Nikolai Vasilyevich contacted the famous actor Mikhail Shchepkin and asked him to stage the play. He agreed, and as a result the performance was a huge success. At the same time, Shchepkin was not a director. At that time, the profession of director did not really exist in Russia. This was not taught anywhere. In my opinion, fortunately.

culture: Why?
Solomin: It seems to me that this cannot be taught: either a person initially has the ability to direct or not. Everything else is practice, finding your own style and so on. It's the same with the profession of an actor. I teach a course at the Shchepkinsky Theater School. Every year we recruit 25 people, graduate 20, and God willing, eight become artists. With rare exceptions, only one or two are included in history. We had a course by Nikolai Annenkov, from which Oleg Dal, Vitaly Solomin, Mikhail Kononov and Viktor Pavlov graduated, but this is rather an exception. It is very difficult to raise a great actor. I am now in my third year, and I have taken the liberty of not expelling anyone. If one of the guys does not become an artist, then thanks to their love for the theater and understanding of its internal structure, they will always find themselves in a related profession. For example, the Maly Theater often lacks prompters and assistant directors.

culture: Directors usually try to find the relevance of the play. During your work, did you look for parallels with today?
Solomin: In my opinion, everything is already on the surface. I think it is not necessary to dress Gogol’s heroes in jeans for the viewer to see modern people in them. Podkolesin is a collective image of today's indecisive man who does not know how to approach a woman. He fears weddings and responsibility like fire. Agafya Tikhonovna is an adult child who grew up in prosperity and does not know how to build relationships with the opposite sex. What about the matchmaking process itself?! There is no talk of any love: the grooms look closely at the bride’s appearance, find out whether she knows French, what her dowry and inheritance are. That is, they are looking for direct benefits, and they plan to enter into a marriage of convenience. Everything is as it is now - no feelings. Only we don’t present it directly, but give the viewer the opportunity to connect the threads themselves.

culture: They say that your talents as a director were once appreciated by Akira Kurosawa himself. Is it true?
Solomin: I starred with Kurosawa in Dersu Uzala. When the time came to edit the film, he instructed me and the second director Volodya Vasiliev to do the voice acting. Five years have passed. My theater group and I were on holiday in Bulgaria. At that time, everyone there spoke Russian very well, and local actors invited us to their theater. Stefan Dimitrov, the leader of the group, at the banquet invited me to stage Ostrovsky’s play with them. I was amazed, because at that time I had never even thought about directing. Then Stefan took out a Bulgarian magazine and began to read an interview where Kurosawa claimed that, they say, Solomin-san has a clear inclination towards directing and one day he will do it. As a result, my debut took place in Bulgaria, where I directed Ostrovsky’s “The Forest”. The performance was a great success and was performed about a hundred times.

culture: Was it then that you realized that you were attracted to the director’s chair?
Solomin: The point is not whether I want to be a director, but what the theater needs. There were times when at a certain period it was necessary to release a play, but a suitable director could not be found. Then we had to take responsibility ourselves. The staff of the Maly Theater trusts me: this year it will be 30 years since I headed it as artistic director. In addition, over many years at the Shchepkinsky School I staged many performances, I have decent experience. But at the same time, in my case, directing is an activity for the soul.

culture: Are you strict with actors?
Solomin: Of course, as a director, I can criticize, but everything is within reason. You are forgetting the fact that I have been teaching for over 50 years. Many of my students are People's Artists of Russia, laureates of various theater and film awards. I believe that a teacher and a director are in some ways similar professions, because you need to have incredible patience to convey your thoughts to the artists. I've worked with old-school directors who were very kind to actors. They knew how to help their colleagues on stage to reveal their characters, and not to rush forward, as young directors often do today. Now everyone is looking for original solutions, but then, in my opinion, artists are not needed at all. These are already extras carrying out the director's plans. I don’t mind when there is a combination of directing and acting, but when it’s shocking for the sake of shocking... I don’t understand this.

culture: And as an artistic director, are you also so humane?
Solomin: Of course not. For example, I recently removed an actress from a role because she did not show up for a performance. I got lost in the movie and completely forgot that I was going to the stage that evening. I had to make an emergency entry. The performance must be performed, period. People came to see the performance, and what should I tell them: “Sorry, we have such a movie here”? In general, when I let you go on set, I immediately warn you: “In my free time from the theater.”

culture: What, in your opinion, is the mission of the theater?
Solomin: First of all, of course, in education. Now for some reason it is generally accepted that its main task is to provide the viewer with leisure after a hard day at work. That’s all true, but at the same time, each production should have an educational function, broaden one’s horizons, and help the viewer find a way out of difficult situations. We have shows that have been going on for decades. For example, in “The Cherry Orchard,” which was staged by People’s Artist of the USSR Igor Ilyinsky, the third generation of artists has replaced itself. Ranevskaya was once played by Tatyana Eremeeva, after by Nelly Kornienko and Irina Muravyova, and now by Svetlana Amanova. We are not fundamentally changing anything about it. With such a performance you can not only get acquainted with Chekhov’s work, the peculiarities of everyday life, the aesthetics of the era, but also with the very history of the Maly Theater. I recently rewatched The Cherry Orchard. In the finale there is a scene where Ranevskaya and Gaev say goodbye to the house, to their garden, which personifies their childhood. The artists are simply holding hands. And I thought: if something happens to me, who will look after my mongrels who live in the country? Then I remembered that all my relatives were crazy about dogs, and I calmed down a little. I looked around - people also had tears in their eyes. I appreciate a theater in which, as my master Vera Nikolaevna Pashennaya said, you need to leave a piece of your heart on the stage.

culture: You teach at the Shchepkinsky School. Usually the older generation is critical of young people. And you?
Solomin: There is no need to fit everyone into the same mold. The guys are all different, mostly wonderful. But look at what they grow on. You know, I recently spent a month in a sanatorium, sometimes watching TV. Lord, what are they showing us? Fights, family squabbles, explosions, violence. I was terrified. Let’s say I have a strong psyche, I’m an adult, educated person, but what is it like for our children to see? The question is, why broadcast all this?

culture: Do you think there should be censorship?
Solomin: Have you seen how many scary things have happened in schools lately? Here you have complete freedom. Teenagers have watched enough movies and get into fights, thinking that life is like in the movies. I am not calling for the return of censorship, but I think that every person, be it the head of a television channel, theater director, film scriptwriter or producer, should have his own internal filter. If everyone asks themselves whether I would like my children to grow up watching such programs and films, then we will have much fewer tragedies among young people.

Denis Sutyka

Yuri Methodievich Solomin - People's Artist of the USSR, winner of the "Person of the Year - 2008" award, the FSB award and other numerous awards and titles. The object of admiration for many Soviet spectators, who at one time managed to impress the Queen of England, is the keeper of the traditions of the Maly Theater, after whom an asteroid was named in 1987. Actor, director, talented teacher - all this is about Yuri Solomin.

Childhood and youth

Yuri was born on June 18, 1935 in Chita into a family of musicians. Mother Zinaida Ananyevna had absolute pitch and taught music at the city House of Pioneers. Father Methodius Viktorovich was also a music teacher. At an early age, the boy witnessed the arrest of his maternal grandfather Anania Moiseevich, a Jew by nationality, by NKVD officers. Only in the second half of the 50s did the family receive documents about his posthumous rehabilitation.

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Yuri Solomin and Ekaterina Vasilyeva in the film “An Ordinary Miracle”

In the 80s, Yuri Solomin often changed his role. The actor became a bank director in the detective story “The Scandalous Incident at Brickmill”, an investigator of the prosecutor’s office in the crime film “The Cry of Silence”, and Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich in the historical drama “The Oath Record”. In 1984, the artist played the role of Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay in the biographical film “The Shore of His Life.” In the drama “Singing Russia,” Solomin took on the role of the founder of the oldest choral group in Russia, Mitrofan Pyatnitsky.

In the 90s, the actor starred mainly in television versions of Maly Theater plays, but in 1992 he took part in the drama “Dreams about Russia”, where he played the role of Count Bezborodko.

With the beginning of the 2000s, the situation changed, Solomin received roles in the films “Repentant Love”, “The Contender”, “Farewell in June”. In the drama “Moscow Saga” Yuri Solomin played the surgeon Gradov, whose wife was played by Inna Churikova. In the 2005 film adaptation of Anton Chekhov's play "The Seagull", which was directed by Margarita Terekhova, Yuri Solomon got the role of Arkadina's brother - Pyotr Sorin.

In the second half of the 2000s, Yuri Solomin appears on the screen less and less often. With his participation, the series “Heavy Sand”, “Isaev”, “Boiling Point” were released. In 2013, filming of the melodrama “Boulevard Ring” was completed, in which they starred. For Yuri Methodievich, this work was the last in his filmography. After this series, the artist no longer appeared on screen.

Personal life

Yuri Solomin is constant not only in work, but also in his personal life. Even as a child, he told his parents that he would marry once and for all. And so it happened. The actor lived with his wife Olga Nikolaevna for more than 60 years. They met when they were students at a theater school. Olga was late for the choreography lesson and took the only free seat next to Solomin. As soon as he saw her, he realized that she was his destiny.

– The Maly Theatre, despite tough market conditions and the general tendency to entertain the public, does not change its traditions. It's difficult?

“We are often accused of being traditional; people are skeptical about us, saying disdainfully: “Well, Maly is a traditional theater!” Probably, critics would like to cling to larger reasons, but for now there are no larger ones. Our artists star in films, which means they are popular, and audiences come to us. And some critics and reviewers could be sued. Do people sue us for insulting honor and dignity? Why can't the organization? After all, with the help of such articles they take away our viewership! And tradition is centuries old. To be honest, we hastily abolished many traditions, and now we are slowly introducing them. It would be better to return them just as quickly. What is happening now with school and education!

– By the way, did the Unified State Exam affect admission to the Shchepkinsky School?

- Yes, we will still take those who we need - talented ones. And we'll score points. Our Unified State Exam does not pass at all.

– And the new dictionaries must have pleased you...

- This is a total nightmare. Now I don’t know where to put the emphasis in the name of our Minister of Education. I have a dictionary of Ostrovsky’s plays - all the words that we no longer remember well or treat them with humor are explained there. So, usually all the negative, comedic characters in Ostrovsky say “morning coffee”, and the audience laughs. We already have enough of all sorts of dregs in our language, we even have half-criminal “babes”. “Malyava” - what a beautiful sound, I like it, but this is a word for a certain layer of people, and we should not use it from the stage, from the stage, even just in society.

– Doesn’t your granddaughter speak to you in Internet language?

– With me and my grandmother, of course not. I can roughly guess what words she uses, but, thank God, she is already a literate person and has known since childhood how to speak correctly. We are an intellectual family - old, theatrical. We are plowmen from the “average level of prosperity,” as they say now. We are one of those who know how to earn money. One of those who knows what it’s like to work, plow, and get heart attacks. After all, all the artists who have suffered heart attacks and strokes over the past two or three years did not get them from a good life. These long working hours are taking their toll. What is an “irregular working day”? This is a rehearsal in the morning, shooting in the afternoon, and a performance in the evening. But a normal artist must rest and collect himself during the day, before the evening performance. My wife throws these at me if I don’t lie down for at least an hour. Whether I sleep or not is a secondary matter, but since she herself is an actress and teacher, she understands how important this is for me. ...Sometimes we have to get a sick artist out of bed and call him to the theater for a performance. But it happens that illness overtakes a person at two o’clock in the afternoon, and in the evening there is already a performance, despite the fact that the tickets have all been sold, and the buses have arrived from the Moscow region. And so we ask - play! And he has high blood pressure, which is the first step to a stroke. Sometimes the artist himself calls: “Give me a car, I’ll play.” We do not have the right to allow a sick person on stage, for this there is a second cast, but it happens that there is no other artist. And then he arrives sick and prepares to go on stage. It happened that the ambulance doctors forbade him to play, but the artist wrote a receipt and still went on stage. Some doctors stay to look at the development of the disease; after the first act, they measure the blood pressure of the person leaving the stage - and it is normal.

– So, it’s true that the stage heals? Does this really happen?

- It happens, it happens. I'm not telling you fairy tales. I’ve seen something like this happen before my eyes. In one performance, the artist needed to shout something emotionally, he shouted - and his nose began to bleed. Yes, so abundantly, I have never seen such drops before. And when he saw a white sheet of paper in front of him, covered in his blood, and then his partner’s round eyes, the blood stopped. This is yoga! This is self-hypnosis! This is composure! All pain goes away, radiculitis, runny nose - everything goes away. All medicine is within ourselves. I once told doctors: it’s a pity that you are not interested in us, you could learn a lot without killing animals, but by studying humans.

– There are a lot of elderly actors in Russian theaters who remain without roles and fade away faster than they could. Why is there so little work for them in theaters?

– We have 130 people in the troupe. Among them there are actors who go on stage at 96 years old, at 93 years old, and I’m not even talking about 70-year-olds - these are young people by our standards. This is probably the art of living and working. If there is work, then the person recovers. Yes, we cannot always provide work for everyone, but no one has ever been fired from the theater due to age. On the contrary, we promise them a job, it’s my job to sit in this office and promise roles, and most importantly, not to deceive. We have found a play by Galina for the new season, there are three roles, and two of them should be played by very elderly people. Those over 80 will play. And I’m happy that we will do this performance, this is an extension of the actor’s life. God grant that they play, and if they play, they will play for more than one season. This is a medicine that no one in the world has invented. These are such human moments that make a person either live or die. But artists are a tenacious people, and in our country they live a long time, probably because such traditions exist. We do everything possible for the older generation, without prejudice to the younger ones. We have about thirty young actors whom we hire every year - they play a lot.

– Does dropout happen?

– So you had alcoholic drinks in the buffet during the anti-alcohol campaign?

– No, I became the artistic director of Maly later. I remember the anti-alcohol campaign well. I arrived in Dnepropetrovsk on a creative evening, and at the hotel in the morning they fed us breakfast: they brought sandwiches and tea. And I’ll take it and joke: “And the cognac?” The waitress was embarrassed and said: “What are you going to do?” "Certainly! – I answer, knowing full well that this will not happen. “But of course!” I look - he brings a coffee pot and coffee cups. “No, thank you,” I say, “I don’t drink coffee!” And she babbles: “There’s not coffee there, but what you asked for!” So all laws will apply only within reasonable limits!

– You have discipline in the theater, and your own school, but the actors still star in TV series. Don't you limit it?

– Of course, I don’t limit it, especially now. I just always ask: “Look carefully, choose!” But, unfortunately, it happens that you get into trouble. They persuaded me to act in a small role - I did it and realized that this was impossible to do: the demand from me was different. And the main scene, which is why I agreed, was cut out. It talked about old people thrown out of life. I played a famous film artist who lives in the village and is not needed by anyone. And the neighbor says to him: what kind of artist are you, you don’t even have a mobile phone. And he answers: if you need me, they will find me. There was a meaning - and suddenly this meaning was gone.

– And as a director, you couldn’t talk to the person who made the film?

– After a serious conversation, the movie is re-shot a little, but the mood is already ruined. Therefore, I believe that, despite being busy, you should only agree to one of the main roles. There are also those who understand that they can win on my name. And this no longer suits me: after all, everyone can then point a finger. That's why I always tell my actors: choose carefully. And you know, young people come and consult. I don’t know how long they will last, but those who graduated from Shchepka three years ago also come. It wasn't like I said no. I just insist that you think about it. And he simply advised one girl to talk to her dad. And she refused to film: apparently dad told her everything that I would have said.

– Don’t you think that everything in your theater rests on you? That is, if you get tired of everything and decide to sit at the dacha for a couple of seasons, everything will fall apart because the theater will go into other hands?

“It won’t go into other hands: the point is that you need to prepare your hands.” I had a difficult relationship with Mikhail Ivanovich Tsarev (previous artistic director of the Maly Theater - “NI”). I had worked in the theater for 25 years and had never entered his office before. He suddenly called me and began to tell me something. I sat there and didn’t understand what he was getting at. And then he suddenly asked: “Do you have a dream?” It was 1972, I still had dreams then. And I answered - I want to play Cyrano. But I must say that the day before I was unwell, and I, lying in bed, re-read the play. My daughter brought me medicine - and I lay and sobbed over Cyrano’s letter to Roxana. My daughter gave me the glass and looked at my face for a long time. A year has passed. Tsarev called me and said: “Tomorrow at the artistic council I will report on the repertoire, I will talk about Cyrano.” Naturally, they will ask who will play. Rachik Ghaplanyan will bet, and you – be silent like a fish.” A month later the distribution appeared, and I played Cyrano. I now understand that it was a good performance: I stopped playing it in 1982, having crashed right on stage and injured my head and spine. In the early nineties we tried to revive the play, I tried to invite another artist, but it didn’t happen. And so the performance fell apart. But back in 1996, I received letters with questions: when will we play “Cyrano de Bergerac”? It is for the sake of letters like these that it is worth engaging in our profession.

– So, are you sure that the theater will survive without your strong hand?

– We have another tradition – continuity. And Tsarev, when he began to feel unwell, one day asked me to go to a state meeting. Why do you think?

“I was testing my abilities, I guess.”

- No. Trusted. When he vacated his service apartment and moved to the floor below, there were a lot of applicants for his apartment, and I was not one of them. And he signed the apartment for me. I draw certain conclusions from this. There must have been something on his mind. And then, a few years later, the team elected me as artistic director - I am the only elected director of the team in its entire history. So I'm also preparing a replacement for myself. There is one person in the theater who is absolutely suitable for the role of my successor.

Read the full interview with Yuri SOLOMIN in the October issue of the magazine “Theatrical New Izvestia - Teatral”.

31.08.2012 | 13:09:22

The June tour of the Maly Theater captivated the people of Kursk. The meeting of journalists with Yuri Solomin, artistic director of the theater, People's Artist of the USSR, laureate of the State Prize will remain a pleasant memory for a long time.

Yuri Solomin is an integral person; he did not go to extremes when choosing a profession. This is how he goes through life - always straight. Yuri Methodievich was born in Chita. As a schoolboy I saw the film “The Maly Theater and Its Masters,” dedicated to the 125th anniversary of the theater. Then I learned about the Shchepkinsky School, after graduating from school I came to the capital and became its student.

Fate presented many gifts. The first is studying in the class of the great Russian actress Vera Pashennaya. A brilliant expert on the traditions of the Maly Theater, the foundations that developed back in the days when it was part of the Imperial Theaters, Vera Nikolaevna passed on this devoted love and knowledge to her beloved student. She gave me not only a ticket to the theater, but also to cinema.

Any dad will recognize himself in Famusov

Yuri Methodievich, you conquered the people of Kursk brilliantly, with subtle humor, playing the role of Famusov in “Woe from Wit.”

We are updating this performance once again in the theater. My Famusov is a restless dad, his daughter is naughty - he has to constantly be on guard. Any dad-viewer will recognize himself in him. I saw a lot of Famusovs, one of them was my teacher Mikhail Tsarev, this was one of his last roles. Time plays a very important role in the interpretation of a particular image on stage. They say that I play Famusov in a new way. No, in the old way, the way I was taught. My daughter and granddaughter have already grown up, and everything is the same, it was the same with both, the problems are the same as with Sophia. Theater is an emotional thing, very heartfelt, and a lot depends on the viewer. We get dressed, put on makeup, hear the radio turned on on stage, and already understand who has come to the auditorium.

How? The curtain is still closed...

We feel how dogs feel what kind of person has come to their house.

Despite your extensive acting experience, do you get nervous before going on stage?

Certainly. It seems that the actor is calm... And every time is like the first. I repeat the text all day. New place, new viewer, everything new. This all works...

The audience highly appreciates the truth of life...

An actor's emotions are sometimes difficult to explain. When the 65th anniversary of the Victory was celebrated, the band prepared a very good concert program. I had to read poems that I had not read for 20 years, “I was killed near Rzhev...”. He went on stage and began to read. I read two lines and a lump came to my throat. I tried again. The same. Silence in the auditorium. He didn’t even say “sorry”, couldn’t speak... he just threw up his hands and left. There was thunderous applause. They understood. Why did it happen so? Because I am many years old, but I remember all this. This has all been lived and suffered. Therefore, such strong things are not easy to come by. Since then I have never read it.

I can't betray my teachers

Reorganization is currently underway in many areas. In the theater too?

Nothing can be done forcefully or “from above” in any area. Theater is a living organism. Reform in the theater is more difficult than anywhere else. It’s very difficult with us because we can say everything as it is.

Since 1988 you have headed the Maly Theater. You continue the tradition of caring for older actors (they played very well in the performances shown in Kursk).

The Maly Theater Foundation was created. He appeared to help our elderly, whom we ourselves always helped. But when people came and offered their help, we did not refuse. Our pensioners, who left the stage for health reasons, know that there is a theater and it will never abandon them. As for artistic traditions, we are adherents of the classics. I cannot betray my teachers, radically change something in the artistic traditions of the theater, strip down to my underpants and run around the stage after Lisa in “Woe from Wit” for the needs of the audience, so that they laugh louder. You have to laugh at the meaning. And when directors begin to “pick” Griboyedov, Pushkin, Ostrovsky... There are few left untouched. Is it possible to redo it? History, a unique era, is being removed. All these new solutions... Have you seen anything new with us? Just some conventional scenery. They “walk” and move. And yet, the author himself, the artists, and the director’s work make a greater impression on the viewer.

The costumes are in the style of the era. We save time in the performance. We have our own bell tower with seven ancient bells, they are 200 years old, or even more. They asked us for them, and the church asked them, but we cannot part with them, their sound is needed by the play “Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich.” The theater building itself, our stage, awes the young actors who step on it. When foreigners come, actors from other theaters in the country, they kiss our stage. Of course, I don’t tell anyone that the floor on it is new, laid during renovation in 1993. Everyone thinks that it’s been like this for 200 years. They think - and good! We haven’t changed anything in color; even the scenery in “Woe from Wit” is yellow, green, blue - these are the colors of the theater walls. When repairs are carried out, the color is chosen exactly the same. We have kept the ramp in front of the stage, we have prompters. We are pleased that the theater is sometimes given unique antique furniture. The table donated for my office, they say, came from the Arakcheevsk reception room. The theater has an antique grandfather clock, which is monitored by a special watchmaker. There are also beautiful old chandeliers.

We do not replace the author's words with more modern ones. The essence of a classic work, in my opinion, cannot be changed. Ranevskaya cannot be a drug addict in The Cherry Orchard (we will not specify which theater). Because Chekhov did not write this, since he himself was a doctor and knew a lot about it. After about 10-15 years, we update the interpretation, because the viewer changes, he thinks differently. For example, in “The Inspector General,” the Governor’s last monologue with the famous words: “What are you laughing at? “Laughing at yourself,” the performers don’t say rudely, but with tears - it’s scarier.

Regarding cinema, did you say: “There is no cinema,” meaning that there is no decent cinema?

Worthy - crumbs. I want to play. In general, artists become good if they continue to study and work every day. But you have to choose. Sometimes you make a mistake... They offer you a role in a small TV series. Well, I think it's okay. The theme of an elderly man who is overcome by many everyday problems. And what came out of the film as a result, I’m even ashamed to say its name... There are other films. “Heavy Sand” - I have two scenes in total, but I’m not ashamed to talk about it, I’m not ashamed of the film, of my work. At one time, I also starred in many action-packed films and engaged in scuffles...

You?...

In “His Excellency’s Adjutant,” five European champions and one master of sports were easily scattered. And in another film - “TASS is authorized to declare” - there were shots where I “gave” to one, to the second, and the third... ended up in the hospital. I felt so sorry for him. I kicked unprofessionally, but he didn’t dodge professionally.

Which Russian theaters can you call traditional and which ones do you prefer?

We are on good terms with the Tatyana Doronina Theater. Despite her courageous character, she gets a lot of credit for preserving traditions.

Directors Fomenko and Zhenovach use new forms, but within reason. These two wonderful theaters live because they have two wonderful directors and teachers. In general, the director should be not so much a director as a teacher who helps the artists “find” the role. We have been in contact with them all these years. When the Fomenko Theater did not have a building, we provided it with our branch. At the Ostrovsky Festival, which we have held every two years since 1993, we discovered wonderful theaters from the provinces. Last time we had a small theater from Vyshny Volochok. They played on a chamber stage with only 120 spectators. I enjoyed watching “Late Love” by them, they worked so hard!.. Here’s a small town for you...

We are on good terms with Japan. This is the third time we are providing them with our stage for free. Japanese theater (I'm not talking about the oldest ones - you have to watch them there) also has its own interesting traditions, it is exotic.

We are connected by the name of the great Shchepkin

Mikhail Shchepkin began to play on the Kursk stage; the theater school, whose graduates are your artists, is named after him.

Yes, almost everyone in our theater is from Shchepkino. A large group of actors went to the Prokhorovskoe Field memorial, and they will also visit Shchepkin’s homeland. Chekhov's house and Shchepkin's house were restored in Moscow.

- How many premieres do you have a year?

It should be five. There are definitely four, but the fifth one ends up with blood. We have more than 30 titles in our repertoire.

Do you feel cared for by the state towards your theater?

During his first presidency, in difficult times, Vladimir Putin, I believe, saved large federal theaters by awarding a presidential grant, believing that the governors would do the same. There are many difficulties. Federal Law 83 “ties our hands.” Without an auction, only up to 100 thousand rubles were allowed to be spent by bank transfer. And if the actress urgently needs to sew a dress, or the actor needs to buy new shoes for tomorrow’s performance... It’s good that at least they increased this amount to 400 thousand, having understood our problems.

Summer is a time of excitement for applicants. Is the competition for admission to Shchepkinsky University still as big? Is it difficult to guess the future “star” among applicants?

More than 120 people per place. Five thousand people come every year. It's not difficult to guess. But this year we had to completely restructure the training program for freshmen, paying more attention to their general education and knowledge of literature. They have no horizons. They don’t know how to think... At first, the teachers and I were all horrified. We spent a year teaching them to think by reading texts and playing excerpts from plays. This is why I am categorically against the Unified State Exam.

In 1990, you were appointed to the post of Minister of Culture as part of the first government of the Russian Federation. During the two years you were in this position, did you manage to accomplish anything? Did they help the “poor” culture in any way?

It was possible to resolve a number of issues related to the life of theater groups and the development of children's creativity. A number of outdated postulates, norms, and rules that hindered the creativity of directors and actors were abolished.

I don’t want to say goodbye to you... Come visit us again!

Yuri Solomin played more than fifty roles in his native theater, the same number in films, TV series, cinema and television.

He was awarded a number of theater awards for his role as Famusov in the play “Woe from Wit.”

Since 1980 he began working as a director. At the Maly Theater he staged The Inspector General, The Seagull, Cunning and Love, The Power of Darkness, Three Sisters and others. In cinema and TV films: “The Scandalous Incident at Brickmill” by Priestley, the three-part “The Shore of His Life”, “In the Beginning Was the Word”.

President of the Association of Russian Drama Theaters.

Academician of the International Academy of Creativity, honorary member of the Russian Academy of Arts, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Education.

Heads the Intercession Cathedral on Red Square Foundation.

Award "Person of the Year 2008" of the Russian Biographical Institute.

Among the numerous awards are the Order of the Holy Blessed Prince Daniel of Moscow, the medal “Glory of Chita” (No. 1), the Order of the Rising Sun, III degree (Japan, 2011).

10054 Solomin is the name of asteroid No. 10054, given to it in honor of Yuri Solomin.

Lyudmila KUTYKINA
CITY NEWS
No. 90 (3261), July 28, 2012