MOSCOW, March 21. Media manager, director and screenwriter Sergei Kalvarsky staged a satirical play “Pygmalion” about the life of the Russian elite at the Bronnaya Theater. All tickets for the premiere screenings on March 21 and 22 have already been sold out. The producer and showrunner of the successful detective series “Fisher” returned to the theater many years later and told columnist Anastasia Melnikova in an interview why this is important to him now, as well as what the Moscow “elite” is like and why it needs to look in the mirror more often .
— We have such a pleasant informational occasion for an interview – your upcoming production of Pygmalion. This can be called your first big experience as a director on the theater stage?
– Yes, sure. This turned out to be such a very pleasant accident for me.
— And how did it happen that you started working with the Theater on Bronnaya? It is clear that you are well acquainted with artistic director Konstantin Bogomolov, and even more so, you have been friends and collaborated with his wife Ksenia Sobchak for a long time. But nevertheless, you know a lot of people, and you too. Why the Bronnaya Theater and why now?
— Ksenia has nothing to do with this, I’ll tell you straight away. We once had dinner with Kostya, Konstantin Yuryevich Bogomolov, chatting about roles and performances. And at one time I graduated from the Leningrad Theater Institute (LGITMiK) and began working as an artist. I had such a nostalgic interest in this topic. And I literally jokingly say: “Kostya, maybe you can give me some episode in the theater? To close this gestalt of mine.”
I am, let’s say, quite an adult. He got into the theater when he was almost dying due to lack of money. It was simply impossible to live on an artist’s salary. And then all these years I wanted to try myself in the theater again.
And Kostya says: “No, old man, I won’t give you the role. But if you want, you can try to stage a play.”
And then there were several different thoughts and proposals…
— What options were there?
— I wouldn’t like to say yet: I have a modest hope that this will come true. Although no, I’ll still tell you. I would really like to bring Luis Buñuel's film “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” to the stage. This is a rather subtle story that needs to be rewritten and interpreted today. This is a complex work that requires a truly global approach. We decided to put this idea aside for now.
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— As a result, they decided to move “Pygmalion” to the present day?
— Yes, co-director Natasha Kapustina and I thought and thought about what could hook us and sound relevant. And they only took the idea of Bernard Shaw – that you can try to educate a poorly educated person and introduce him into high society. And it’s interesting what will come of it.
— And did you somehow use the text of Shaw’s play itself, its dialogues in the new performance?
— Absolutely not. There is not a word from Bernard Shaw.
— The choice of material for production is a large, if not the largest, component of potential success on stage. The play-novel by Bernard Shaw, written more than 100 years ago, as well as the actual myth of Pygmalion and his Galatea, can be relevant at all times.
— Yes, and with us it’s completely different , a contemporary work. This is all about today, about Russia.
And I would like to say a big thank you to the entire team of the Theater on Bronnaya, there is a very delicate creative atmosphere, a synergy of generations. And Konstantin Bogomolov invested very, very much into this production, this is largely his merit.
— The performances of Konstantin Bogomolov (both in his personal production and now on the stage of the theater he directs) are becoming discussed hits. And your work is definitely a potential hit – both theatrical and, say, secular. Do you think that secular Moscow will be able to “read” satire (if it is supposed to be in your “Pygmalion” at all)?
— Yes, there will definitely be a lot of satire, irony and a lot of sarcasm. As for the hit, I can’t make any guesses yet.
— Will the characters be recognizable?
— Partially, yes, and partially, these are collective images. In this performance, by the way, there is another debut: the costumes are made by our old friend Yana Raskovalova. I would like the style and visual images to be also recognizable – those that can now be seen at social parties.
– If you give a list of your works, positions, projects in Russia, it will take quite a lot of time. Television, show business, radio, video content – there is something to remember, as they say. Stormy 90s, fat 2000s, successful production career. And then in 2013, if I’m not mistaken, you moved to the USA. Why? What were you doing there, what were you doing?
“It’s just how the circumstances developed at that time: my wife and son lived there, I was traveling between America and Russia. Now there are no such family circumstances, I live and work in Moscow.
“I’ll make a duchess out of this dirty little brat,” said phonetics professor Henry Higgins about the flower girl Eliza Doolittle. And in this novel there is quite a lot (for our times) of sexism, gaslighting, misogyny, and obvious abuse. Well, that is, the famous film “Pygmalion” of 1938 – the first film adaptation of the play, in which Bernard Shaw himself participated in writing the script dialogue – it is absolutely intolerant now. There are harsh dialogues, insults, humiliation of women, British class prejudices in all its glory.
— We don’t have any anti-femme agenda in the play, much less humiliation of women. But there is a snapshot of today's so-called secular society and the relationships within it – and it is quite provocative in an artistic sense. Some people will see themselves directly in the mirror, but what can you do.
— Sometimes it is useful to look in such a mirror.
— Yes, especially for those who now consider themselves influencers in Russia and even the elite, although this word has somehow become very blurred recently, it is not very clear who our elite is.
— This is then rather “elite.”
—Yes, yes, the correct word is “elite.” The “elite” may be outraged at some points, but will certainly try to save face.
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