The play features fragments of musical works:
P.I. Tchaikovsky's "An Ancient French Song"
The Anthem of the Comintern, composed by Hans Eisler
"The Steel Squadron", lyrics by Boris Kovynev, music unknown
New and second in the repertoire of the Alexandrinsky Theater performance directed by Elena Pavlova is based on the story of Yuri German (1910 - 1967) «Lapshin» (1938) and the film by Alexey German (1938 - 2013) «My friend Ivan Lapshin» (1984).
Several storylines, which are in the literary primary source and in the movie - a love triangle (head of criminal investigation department Lapshin - actress Adashova - journalist Hanin), everyday life of criminal investigation department, and another crowded, collective life of a Soviet man 1930- - somehow woven into the fabric of Elena Pavlova’s play. But none is central.
The object of reflection for the director becomes time, the end of the 1930s. Just like in «The Seagull», a previous work at the Alexandrinsky Theatre, in the new performance narrative is not the main thing. Pavlova’s stage narrative language is associative. Here the lines of the characters are equalized with all the audio variety, composing from the sounds of steps, moving chairs, ticking clocks, scraps of melodies, songs, pieces of opera arias, drum roll and so on.
Looking at the details from which the feeling of the era is born, the director explores our collective memory, invites to think about time and us.
Elena Pavlova: "Our performance is in sense a memory – both a story and a movie, and through them the 1930s. Yuri German wrote about contemporaries (as you know Lapshin, for example, has a real prototype) and about the time in which he lived. Alexey German from the mid-80s looked at that period through different optics, saw and felt it completely differently. We have a kind of reminder, from the circumstances of 2025 we also see those years differently. And of cause, my feeling of the 30s, my knowledge about them is partly shaped by the film".
Yuri German’s name does not appear in the poster of the Alexandrinsky Theatre for the first time. In the late 1960s, the theatre also performed with great success Alexander Muzil’s performance “The Cause You Serve” based on the writer’s trilogy. It has been shown 237 times. The production involved outstanding artists of that era - Igor Gorbachev, Konstantin Adashevsky, Yuri Tolubeev, Nina Mamaeva, Nina Urgant, Galina Karelina including those artists who still serve in our theatre – Arkady Volgin, Semyon Sytnik, Vladimir Lisetsky, Irina Lepeshenkova.
Premiere - September 12, 2025
