"Play! Intermission!" Automatic translate

On September 2, the Moscow Art Theatre Museum opened the exhibition “Play! Intermission!” in the Green Foyer, dedicated to the most theatrical of Mikhail Bulgakov’s plays – “The Cabal of Hypocrites”.

The exhibition was visited by the artists of the premiere production of "The Cabal of Hypocrites": Konstantin Khabensky, Nikolai Tsiskaridze, Alexandra Rebyonok, Igor Khripunov, Sergei Volkov, Ivan Volkov, the director of the premiere Yuri Kvyatkovsky, costume designer Igor Chapurin and others.

The exhibition was opened by a theatrical performance by Ivan Dergachev in the style of “Commedia dell’arte”.

Director of the Moscow Art Theatre Museum Pavel Vashchilin: “We are continuing our “Theatre + Museum” line – the exhibition has united the entire Kamergersky Lane: you can see items from the Museum’s collection, stage design for the premiere performance of the A.P. Chekhov Moscow Art Theatre, as well as models made by students of the Moscow Art Theatre School. As part of our exhibition, we will begin our collaboration with the A.P. Chekhov Moscow Art Theatre artist Ivan Dergachev, who will conduct master classes on the commedia dell’arte mask system.”

The exhibition features sketches by artists Petr Williams, Andris Freibergs, Yuri Kharikov, Nikolai Simonov, Igor Chapurin (the last two are the creators of the stage design and costumes for the premiere of the new season). As well as stage costumes and props. A separate display case features personal belongings of Mikhail Bulgakov and his death mask from the collections of the Moscow Art Theatre Museum.

A play about Moliere, which was written by the author specifically for the Art Theatre, a play with a difficult fate, because the first performance of it at the Moscow Art Theatre was rehearsed for several years, and was filmed in 1936 after seven performances. This ban was a big blow for Bulgakov: Mikhail Afanasyevich soon left the Art Theatre, of which he was the author and where he also served as an assistant director.

Later, "The Cabal of Hypocrites" appeared on the Moscow Art Theatre’s playbill only in 1988. Director Adolf Shapiro and artist Andris Freibergs placed many suitcases and trunks on the Moscow Art Theatre stage, thus creating a feeling of homelessness and disorganization, and Moliere, played by Oleg Efremov, pronounced his character’s text with such a deep understanding of his tragedy, as if these were his own words. Louis was Innokenty Smoktunovsky; as Anatoly Smelyansky and Inna Solovyova wrote in the encyclopedia "Moscow Art Theatre. One Hundred Years", "the inner nerve of the performance was held by the duet of the actor and the king, two great comedians."

After Efremov’s death, in 2001, another version of "The Cabal of Hypocrites" was released, directed by Adolf Shapiro. Moliere was played by the new artistic director of the Moscow Art Theatre, Oleg Tabakov (in the 1988 production, he played Bouton). The key theme here was the theatre (Yuri Kharikov acted as the designer), as well as the theme of Moliere’s relationship with his circle, love, betrayal and forgiveness.

The exhibition "Play! Intermission!" is dedicated to the premiere of the new production "The Cabal of Hypocrites". The exhibition in the Green Foyer will immerse visitors in the world of theatrical backstage, with its alluring mystery and artistic disorder. The theme of masks, which were present in the productions of Mikhail Bulgakov’s play at the Moscow Art Theatre, became a recurring theme.