Oblomov is Back
It appears that Russian theater is steadily moving from topical mock-ups and avant-garde experiments to the heart of great Russian literature. This tendency is evidenced once again by the stage director and actors of Moscow's Ruben Simonov Drama Theater, who have decided to put llya Oblomov on stage, the famous character from the novel "Oblomov" by Ivan Goncharov, the eminent 19th century Russian writer.The idea to revive the forgotten "Oblomov" belongs to the late stage director and actor Oleg Efremov. In his last years, as he restlessly searched for new forms, Efremov suggested to dramatist Mikhail Ugarov the idea of writing a modern version of "Oblomov" for the Moscow Arts Theater. After Efremov' s death, the play waited for a director until, in the spring 2002, Ugarov himself staged the play. It was a huge success. The play is quite suited to modern Russia. In his novel "Oblomov", Goncharov confronts two contrasting characters: the busy and energetic Schtoltz and the lazy and romantic Oblomov. In his play, Ugarov gives a modern interpretation of their conflict, a timely interpretation of a theme about the difficulties of retaining one's moral values. At first sight, the contradictions of Oblomov' s character appear from relationships with money and commodities. Though he is pure, kind, intelligent, honest, romantic, sensitive, loving, open, sentimental, and quite capable; at the same time, he is lazy, indecisive, timid, estranged, weak-willed, credulous, sometimes naive, physically and spiritually weak, cannot grasp business, and quickly burns out. His philosophy is to live a quiet happy life and avoid any possible turmoil. His only friend, his exact antipode, is Schtoltz, who is energetic and successful, enjoys life in all its aspects, and is always trying to involve Oblomov into his active and healthy lifestyle. Some people view Oblomov simply as a lazy-bones, while others think that he is a highly moral man, who doesn't want to a ccept "filthy" reality and wants to keep his inner purity and dignity intact. But he is a part of nature and that is the definition of his place in life as provided by the creators of the play. The other characters personify destructive reality coming into collision with this "child of nature."The Ruben Simonov Theater production of "Oblomov" will be a peculiar "ecological performance", with real grass on the stage sprinkled by real rain and cooled by real snow. The director says, "We want to take people out of the town and have our spectators find themselves in a clearing in the country. People should be able to relax and forget the turmoil of the city in order to better understand the main heroes and the idea of the play. "The production is being carried out by the Ruben Simonov Theater together with the production company ZET-Creative and assistance from the French Ministry of Culture. The play has an all-star cast, including Valery Garkalin, Mikhail Bezobrazov, Sergei Chonishvili, Vladislav Demchenko, Natalia Masich, and Svetlana Yozephy. Svetlana Sinitsinais is the costume designer.
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