By Vestnik Kavkaza
The Maly Theatre has welcomed the Azerbaijani State Russian Drama Theatre. The Baku actors took two significant performances to Moscow – the play “Monsieur Jordan, the Scientific Botanist, and Dervish Mastalishah, the Famous Magician” by Mirza Fatali Akhundzade, directed by Peoples Artists of Azerbaijan Alexander Sharovsky, and “Seven Beauties” by Nizami Gyandzhevi, directed by Jonas Vaitkus.
“Lithuanian director Jonas Vaitkus made the staging, there is no such play “Seven Beauties”, there are works by our classic writer Nizami,” the art director of the Azerbaijani State Russian Drama Theatre, Alexander Sharovsky, says. “And we decided to bring it to Moscow. It is an experimental performance involving many young artists from our theatre. It is interesting for us to see how Nizami will be accepted in Moscow in this staging. There is a reference to Karayev, but it is an absolutely independent performance which should be judged according to the parameters presented by the director.”
Ahead of the performance, the aide of the Azerbaijani embassy in Russia on humanitarian issues, Nigyar Akhundova, said: “At last the idea became a reality! Several months ago, the Maly Theatre visited Baku where it performed successfully. Today the Maly Theatre welcomes the Samed Vurgun Russian Drama Theatre. As Yevtushenko said “a poet in Russia is more than a poet”, I can say that the Russian Drama Theatre in Baku in Azerbaijan is more than a theatre. This is a center of the Russian culture, the Russian language, a devoted continuer of Russian theatre traditions. The theatre was founded in 1920; it has been working for almost 100 years. During its history prominent artists, directors and screenwriters performed on its stage. I won’t tell you the history in detail, but I will tell you two names – Faina Ranevskaya and Mikhail Zharov.
It is not a simple theatre, but a guardian of traditions; the traditions are preserved today, and the keys to the traditions belong to the theatre director Alexander Sharovsky.”
“We are glad that we made a good beginning and the Baku theatre performed on our stage - unfortunately, the stage is not the main one, because we have reconstruction going on, but this hall is also beautiful and nice,” the Director General of the Maly Theatre Tamara Mikhailova says. “We hope it will help the Baku artists. I want to express gratitude to the embassy and the attaché for culture, because this is a person who believes in us and our ideas.”
