CHEKHOV ON THE MONGOLIAN STAGE

Дата публикации: 24 июля 2023
Автор: B. SUHEE →
Публикатор: Научная библиотека Порталус
Рубрика: RUSSIA (TOPICS) →
Источник: (c) Asia and Africa Today, No. 6,30 June 2008 Pages 74-78 →
Номер публикации: №1690157002 / Жалобы? Ошибка? Выделите проблемный текст и нажмите CTRL+ENTER!

B. SUHEE (Mongolia) PhD student at RATI

"In the galaxy of great European playwrights... Chekhov's name shines like a star of the first magnitude, " wrote J. B. Shaw at the beginning of the 20th century. S. Maugham, J. Galsworthy, E. Triolet, T. Mann, and F. Moriac recognized the great influence of the Russian writer and playwright on the literature of France, England, and Germany. For more than 10 years, the Chekhov Festival has been held in Russia, where the best domestic and foreign theater groups participate. Currently, the Chekhov Commission of the Council for the History of World Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Faculty of Philology of Lomonosov Moscow State University, and the Federal Agency for Culture and Cinematography have begun preparations for the anniversary: in 2010, the 150th anniversary of Chekhov's birth will be celebrated. It is planned to hold a festival based on the plays of Anton Chekhov staged by the best directors of the world.

The Mongolian reader was introduced to the work of the great Russian writer A. P. Chekhov in 1938 by the literary magazine "Shine Tol" ("New Mirror"), which published one of his early stories "Patriot of his Fatherland" (1883) translated by D. Natsagdorj. Let us recall the plot of the story, since it was rarely published and was not included in the 12-volume Collected Works of A. P. Chekhov 1. Two Russians arrive in a small German town for treatment "for a large stomach and obese liver." During the day, they play checkers, talk about the success of treatment, and drink beer. One evening, in a blissful state and dreaming of girls, they join a torchlight procession organized by local residents in honor of some holiday. During the celebration, one of the Russians climbs up on the table and shouts "with a stiff, drunken tongue:" Guys! Not... beat the Germans!" And the story ends with the words: "It is his happiness that the Germans do not understand Russian!"

Much later, in 1956, the first collection of Chekhov's short stories was published in Mongolia under the title "The Bouncer" (translated by B. Rinchin, P. Chojil and B. Demchigdorj). Another 13 years will pass before the second collection, "Chamber No. 6" (translated and edited by G. Amar), will be published. In the following years, publishers will offer the collections "Darling" (2003) and "Wallet" (2007) translated by the writer D. Tsoodol, as well as "Children's Stories" (2004) translated by D. Tsoodol. Odonhorloo.

If Chekhov as a writer quickly found his way to the hearts of readers, then the understanding of Chekhov as a playwright remained ambiguous for a long time. The main reasons for this contradiction lie in the fact that in the absence of a professional theater in the country, theaters in aimags* created from drama circles did not yet have sufficient experience in staging performances by European authors, and the audience for which the productions were mainly designed remained small.

In 1927, for the first time in the history of Mongolia, a group of 35 people was sent abroad (to Germany) to study. A little later, in the 40s and 50s, the number of Mongolian students in many cities of the Soviet Union and Europe will grow rapidly, and by the 80s of the XX century. Mongolia will already have tens of thousands of representatives of the European-educated national intelligentsia.

The opening of the State Central Theatre in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, in 1931 was a major event that had a strong impact on the entire development of the national theatre of Mongolia. His team consisted of 15 actors-graduates of the theater studio, two directors, musicians, artists and technical staff.

During the formation of the national drama theater, the creative intelligentsia of Mongolia sought to strengthen ties with the peoples of foreign countries, and above all with the USSR as a carrier of the richest culture. In the 1930s, Mongolian translations of works by M. Gorky, L. Tolstoy, N. Ostrovsky, and N. Gogol appeared.

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Soviet directors and teachers A. Yefremov, V. Boreisho, G. Uvarova, B. Smirnov, A. Rabinovich and others came to Mongolia. They are actively involved in the training of professional national personnel: actors, directors, and production designers. Efremov, for example, not only used the experience he gained in training actors Moskov-

* Aimag is an administrative division in Mongolia.

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The Russian Art Theater (Moscow Art Theater), but always tried to take into account the mentality of the Mongolian people, carefully preserving the traditions of the national theater, which later will be very different from Chinese, Japanese, Tibetan and Russian.

The production of Russian classics on the stage of the Mongolian Drama Theater in the years of creation of creative teams acquired for many actors and directors the character of educational work. In the process of preparing each performance, there was a constant search for the most expressive means by which performers and directors embodied the playwright's idea on the stage.

The development of realism in drama and stage art in the 1940s, the accumulation of experience in staging European drama, the transition of theater from naturalistic copying of life to psychological realism, and, most importantly, the active study of Stanislavsky's system created favorable conditions for the implementation of Chekhov's drama on the Mongolian stage.

By the beginning of 1941, the theater had prepared an evening of one-act Chekhov vaudevilles "The Bear", "The Proposal" and " The Wedding "(staged by G. A. Uvarova 2, translated by E. Oyuun). The choice of G. A. Uvarova's plays was dictated, on the one hand, by the lack of translations into Mongolian of these Chekhov plays, and, on the other, by the creative abilities of actors who were just beginning to master the Stanislavsky system. Nevertheless, the theater audience highly appreciated the humor of the great Russian playwright in these vaudevilles. G. Uvarova wrote:: "It would seem that the Russian landowner-noble environment could be... alien and incomprehensible to Mongolian artists and audiences... But it turned out the opposite: "The Bear" and "The Offer" were well played and received with pleasure by the audience. Each of the performances had two line-ups of performers, and it is difficult to say which line-up was better. " 3
Not all three plays, however, were successful. "Wedding" became especially difficult both for the actors ' performance and for the audience's perception of the play. The figure of the wedding "general" Revunov-Karaulov was completely incomprehensible to them. His speech, interspersed with "marine" terms, could not be translated into Mongolian. The general gave the viewer the impression of a madman who was talking all sorts of gibberish. The words bom-bramsails, bom-bram-sheets, breastplates, fore-wind were simply untranslatable.

As a rule, when translating a work of art, it is reproduced by means of another language in accordance with its morphological, syntactic, and stylistic features. However, dramatic works have their own peculiarities: it is not enough for a translator to master the subtleties of both languages and know the rules of stylistic text processing and the laws of literary translation. They should be well acquainted with the basics of theatrical art and the specifics of building a dramatic dialogue. When translating plays from one language to another, initially Mongolian translators did not always correctly use those artistic means and techniques that largely form the speech characteristics of characters, the atmosphere of action, and the features of conflict.

Perhaps the poor quality of the translation of the play "The Wedding" into Mongolian was one of the reasons that it was not possible to convey the atmosphere of petty - bourgeois Russia, and the main thing in the play was lost-Chekhov's humor. These disadvantages also include low-expressive design - the scenery and costumes did not help to reveal the author's idea. After two performances, "The Wedding" was excluded from the theater's repertoire.

In 1957, the Ministry of Culture of the Mongolian People's Republic opened a director's department at the Mongolian State University. The group consisted of 18 students - one representative each from 18 aimags of Mongolia. The initiator of its opening was the famous Mongolian writer, playwright, director L. Wangan, who graduated from the directing department of GITIS in Moscow. "This was the only group of directors who graduated from the Mongolian State University. A. Nikitin, who together with L. Wangan studied in Alexey Popov's studio, was invited as an artistic director and teacher from Moscow," says People's Artist of Mongolia L. Tsogzolmaa4.

Thanks to A. Nikitin, students got acquainted with the Russian theater, first of all with Chekhov's drama, and some chose the production of one-act plays as the topic of their thesis, for example, now People's Artists of Mongolia O. Erentsennorov - " Jubilee "and L. Tsogzolmaa - "Proposal". After the defense of the diploma, these works were included in the theater's repertoire and did not leave the stage for eight years.

In the 1960s and 1980s, as a result of radical socio-economic transformations, the face of the entire country changed dramatically, including rapid urban growth. This contributed to the introduction of the European way of life into the life and consciousness of Mongols, primarily, of course, due to close relations with the Soviet Union. Such changes in the way of life were reflected in artistic thinking, and led to the emergence of new aesthetic ideals.

In 1963, the State Music and Drama Theater was divided into the D. Natsagdorj Drama Theater and the Opera and Ballet Theater. In the 60s, the problems and themes of plays of the translated repertoire became even broader and more diverse.

The development of the Mongolian theater is especially clearly traced by two productions of A. P. Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" (1964 and 1986) in the Drama Theater. They were important milestones in his work, which showed that Chekhov's work as a playwright is consonant with the spiritual aspirations of the Mongolian people, because it is not limited to national and time frames.

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Being the first is always difficult. In the 1964 production, the theater failed to bring it to the level corresponding to the depth of Chekhov's drama and the requirements imposed on the director and actors. But this production, nevertheless, is of great interest today, as it was the first attempt to independently comprehend Chekhov's work and became the key to understanding the modern theater of Mongolia.

The drama (staged in 1964), which represented a distant, foreign environment, a Slavic worldview, was not easily given to both actors and the public. Maybe that's why actors most easily grasped the external drawing of roles. More important tasks that convey the background of images sometimes slipped out of the game. Later, these difficulties were generally overcome by the actors, as a result of which the main ideas of the performance reached the audience.

Due to the fact that the archive of the drama theater disappeared in the 90s of the XX century, the author of the article met with the actors and director of the first production of "The Cherry Orchard" in order to restore the atmosphere of that time from their memories and find out how the performance is evaluated by its performers and critics after 43 years.

Director of the play B. Mushgia: "Today I realized that private property is the main thing in human life. But when "The Cherry Orchard" was staged in 1964, it never occurred to anyone that without private property, a person is nobody, without it, life loses its meaning. It seemed to me that the strongest argument of Chekhov's play is that a person cannot exist without his native land. How can I sell land? Such a commercial transaction caused shock among the Mongols. The central issue of the "Cherry Orchard" - the sale of land-was incomprehensible to the Mongolian mentality. When I made my directorial debut in Chekhov's play The Cherry Orchard, I relied on Stanislavsky's system. It must be said that the Mongolian audience in the early 60s had not yet reached the intellectual level of European culture to adequately perceive such a great master as Anton Chekhov.

None of the actors were familiar with his work. Their acting was superficial, too monotonous, too theatrical to convey Chekhov's nuances, and when the actors tried to be more authentic, avoid theatricality, they became expressionless, colorless, faceless. " 5
Honored Artist of Mongolia Lha Dolgor: "In 1964, in a very short time, this performance was staged. Before that, we spent a whole year working on a play by F. Schiller's "Treachery and Love". The cast was exhausted. Almost without a break, they began to rehearse "Cherry Orchard". It was very difficult for me to play Varya, because I didn't fully understand the director's plan. Chekhov is a difficult playwright, and I didn't understand him at all at the time. In Mongolia, almost no materials about it were published. It was a planned performance of the theater. Since the actors did not understand Chekhov's plan, it did not reach the audience either. The performance gathered a full house - this was the main task of the theater's management. But what the audience understood and caught, no one thought about it. It seems to me that at that time, in the 60s, Mongolia had not yet matured to understand Chekhov. " 6
Theater expert S. Dashdondog: "The director managed to reveal the idea and plot of the play, but the events are presented schematically in the play. The performance lacks schematism and straightforwardness " 7.

Academician L. Tudev: "Abstract images, deliberate beauty of the language, artistic cliches often prevented the creation of full-blooded realistic images. National identity is not a frozen phenomenon; it is changing, enriching, and imbued with a new spirit. " 8
Among the Mongols, who for centuries freely chose land for pasture and lived as cattle breeders, A. P. Chekhov's" Cherry Orchard " caused alienation. For them, it was a completely different way of life, a different mentality, different customs and mores. We need to imagine the psychology of our society in the era of socialism. The earth was then perceived not as a means of subsistence, but as a mother, a homeland. And these concepts were sacred.

Despite the criticism, the merit of the theater veteran B. Mushgia is that he was the first to introduce the Mongolian audience to Chekhov's work. However, his services to the Mongolian theater were underestimated - there is no mention of his contribution to the development of the national drama theater in the theater literature.

In 1986, a new attempt was made to stage "The Cherry Orchard", which was made by a young director B. Munkhdorj (a graduate of GITIS in 1975, workshop of A. A. Goncharov). The most important thing that the director did was to choose a comedy genre that was defined by Chekhov himself, although at the time Stanislavsky insisted that the play should be staged as a tragedy.

In the play "The Cherry Orchard", the ideas of restructuring public life that emerged in Russia at the beginning of the XX century became clear to the residents of Mongolia, who in the 1980s and 1990s were experiencing a crisis of public relations - a process similar to the Russian perestroika. Directed by B. Munkhdorj, irony, satire and ridicule became the best way to deal with everything outdated and obsolete. B. Munkhdorj mobilized the entire arsenal of his knowledge in order to more accurately reveal Chekhov's artistic plan. The play is a parody of the life of talkers who do not know how and do not want to do anything.

Before the production of "The Cherry Orchard", it was necessary to make adjustments to the translation of the play, which, according to the translator Z. Dashdorja, was far from perfect, i.e. was "raw". The meaning of the play was perceived with difficulty by both the performers and the audience in the 1964 production, since the text is overloaded with lexically inaccurate words and superfluous sentences. The norms of the modern Mongolian language were violated, and stylistic errors remained. Except

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in addition, many words were left untranslated, i.e. written in Russian. Unnecessarily, the translator added new ones that clarified the text of the sentence, which led to lengthy sentences. But the main drawbacks were that some of Chekhov's phrases were deliberately altered, and individual fragments of text, sentences, words, and dialogues were shortened. When the new translation was submitted to the theater's art council, it turned out that the previous text of the play was 55% reworked.9
In the new production, director B. Munkhdorj (now a People's Artist, Honored Artist of Mongolia) built the play on the contrast between the form and content of the life of the characters of Chekhov's play. The beauty of nature, gorgeous costumes, and refined manners in the characters ' communication stand in sharp contrast to the drama of life and the dissatisfaction with it of each of the characters.

The goal of the production of "The Cherry Orchard" in 1986, according to the plan of the artistic Council of the theater , is to improve acting skills. Here is what B. Munkhdorj says about this:"...Although the foundations of the modern Mongolian acting school-the school of the Stanislavsky system-were first laid by the Russian specialist A. Efremov in the 30s, but, to be honest, until the mid-70s, there was only a "performance school"in our drama theater. It was believed that makeup was needed for greater expressiveness. The text must be recited in different static poses. After graduating from GITIS, L. Wangan and S. Genden worked hard to overcome this tradition and guide the acting school of the Mongolian theater along the path of studying a new method - the "school of experience". They were the ones who demanded a psychological game from the actors. In fact, thanks to the Mongolian graduates of GITIS, the traditions of psychological theater began to strengthen in the national theater. In confirmation of this, the play "The Cherry Orchard" in 1986 was recognized as the best production of the year " 10.

Honored Artist of Mongolia Zh. Lhamhuu: "In the production of the play "The Cherry Orchard" in 1964. I played the role of Anya. I can't say that the actors played poorly. Maybe the director didn't manage to bring the true meaning of Chekhov's play to our consciousness, maybe he didn't have enough experience. The 1986 production was preceded by careful preparation, analysis of roles, and "drinking" rehearsals. Director B. Munkhdorj explained why today we are once again turning to the play written in 1904.Today, too, there are many idle talkers, chatterboxes. The Artistic Council of the theater chose Anton Chekhov as the most modern playwright. Working on the role of Ranevskaya, I felt how difficult Chekhov is. From the first time, it does not give in to awareness. Chekhov is a writer of details. Through the smallest detail, nuance can convey a deep philosophical thought. " 11
An important condition for the success of the production was the realization that Chekhov's work requires both accurate transmission of the author's idea and hard work of the imagination. The audience had to catch what the characters of the play were really thinking about when they uttered insignificant words or simply remained silent. The actor must act in such a way that the audience feels that along with the life that he sees on the stage, the life that is anticipated, expected and also real is equal.

The successful production of the play is also connected with the fact that most of the theater troupe graduated from the acting department of the State Pedagogical Institute. But, of course, the main credit belongs to the director, who managed to mobilize and lead the entire creative team.

The image of Lopakhin performed by the actor N. Dugarsanzhaa (staged in 1964) appears as a rude peasant, almost illiterate, greedy, aggressive, ruthlessly destroying a beautiful cherry orchard. Actor P. Tserendagwa studied the biography of his character in 1986 and showed the new born capitalist not from the point of view of a greedy, profit-seeking person, but as a balanced, confident, well-mannered person who knows what he needs in life. Bright satirical paint in the characterization of this character is an episode in which he mows a blooming meadow in Ranevskaya's garden at the root. The role of Trofimov, a representative of the Russian intelligentsia, was first played by the actor L. Zhamsarzhav, then by H. Naydandorzh. Both managed to show the futility and emptiness of the existence of the intelligentsia in tsarist Russia. He only talks about the truth of life, but he is all wrapped up in empty illusions. G. Gombosuren played the role of Gaev in 1964, and in 1986 - X. Nyamsuren, as Firs-L. Luvsan (1964) and Z. Shagdarzhav (1986). They were good acting jobs.

Analyzing both productions, it is impossible not to mention the scenography. Theater artist Ts. Dorjpalam, in the first production of The Cherry Orchard (1964), depicted the decline of the Russian serf system, using different stage designs and costumes in four acts. At the same time, he settled the merchants in the house in the traditions of the Mos-

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Kovo Art Theater, with tightly closed windows and a door pinned down by a board, which resembled a prison, which gave a special drama to the performance. Ts Dorzhpalam says: "Chekhov is a very deep author. There is no other deep, subtle writer like Chekhov in Russia. The director wanted to say that "The Cherry Orchard" is the personification of Russia for Chekhov, he wanted to express his attitude to Russian history. A capitalist country was emerging, and new people with a different consciousness entered the arena, not "burdened" by moral laws and prohibitions. I admire Chekhov's genius. I think the misunderstanding of the play is due to the fact that the Mongolian audience is impatient, does not like philosophical arguments, prefers ready-made recipes and ready-made maxims. " 12
The artist B. Tomorkhuyag (staged in 1986) used modern design techniques - the entire performance takes place in one setting. It was an innovation in the art of scenography by Mongolian artists. The Ranevskaya estate, the garden - everything that was so dear to her-is vividly and colorfully shown. In the episode of the destruction of the garden, the artist very figuratively showed what danger for a person is fraught with a violation of harmony between man and nature. The scene of pink flowers falling in clusters from the branches of cherry trees under the blows of an axe leaves a strong impression. The programs for the play "The Cherry Orchard" depicted a garden with only stumps left.

Everyone has a dream. But the question is how he achieves it. Chekhov tries to answer this question. Chekhov has this aphorism: "Everything should be fine in a person." In fact, there are no such people in life, and Chekhov writes about this very thing.

Of course, the success of the play largely depends on the actor. How accurately it is possible to embody in the character the thoughts and ideas laid down by the author, you can judge the acting skills.

In the works of A. P. Chekhov, you can find answers to all the eternal questions of human existence: what should be the life position of a person, what makes him a person, what is the meaning of life, what does a person enjoy in life, what is sad, what dreams, what happens if a person does not achieve what he wants.

Why is Anton Chekhov still a living classic for us? It shows us a person as he is, regardless of his geographical place of residence, nationality, property status, shows his joys, sufferings, envy, love, hypocrisy. Even today, we find answers to our difficult questions from Chekhov. That is why he remains our contemporary.

The works of Chekhov, and later Gogol, Ostrovsky, and Gorky on the stage of the Mongolian theater were considered as dramaturgy of actual and acute social problems, the scale of which captured the audience. The theme of affirming the human personality-integral, strong, involved in the national cause and giving it all its thoughts, or, on the contrary, searching, restless in search of itself and its place in life-dictated the choice of Russian and modern Soviet plays to the theater.

Under their influence, Mongolian playwrights also turned in their works to identify the underlying causes of social conflicts, and, most importantly, to depict the most subtle nuances of human psychology. At this new stage of theater development, Mongolian actors rethink the psychological school of Russian theater through the prism of the national national culture that they understand, receive spiritual support and creative impulses in creating deep, voluminous, polyphonic characters.

Mongolian theater critics believe that the first and subsequent productions of A. P. Chekhov's works brought the country's stage art to such a milestone, from which its new stage - the stage of psychological realism-began.

Today, Chekhov's drama is one of the main components of the curriculum in theater universities in Mongolia. Examples include the Mongolian University of Culture and Arts, where acting and directing departments have staged performances (as theses) based on Chekhov's plays Uncle Vanya (1998), Three Sisters (2002), Ivanov (2004), and The Cherry Orchard (2006), etc. In memory of People's Artist of the USSR A.D. Papanov (my teacher at GITIS), the play "Wedding" was staged at the State Academic Drama Theater in 1998.

Today, Chekhov's plays, staged on various stages in cities and aimags of Mongolia, attract the attention of viewers, revealing in their own way the inner world of the writer and the secrets of the soul of his characters.

In late September - early October 2004, Ulaanbaatar hosted the international festival "Chekhov-XXI Century", organized on the initiative of cultural figures of Mongolia with the assistance of the Russian Embassy in Mongolia. The festival was attended by the Mongolian Academic Drama Theater, the Irkutsk Academic Drama Theater named after N. P. Okhlopkov, the Buryat Academic Theater and the theater from Hohhot (Inner Mongolia), etc. The great Russian writer's love for drama united professional theaters and amateur groups within the framework of the festival.

The Russian writer B. Akunin in the almanac "Other Shores" noted the possibility of a diverse reading of Chekhov.: "The whole joke is that Chekhov's drama is like an empty glass into which everyone pours their own wine. That is why it is short-lived, and therefore it cannot be definitively deciphered. " 13
Chekhov A. L. 1 Sobr. Op. in 12 volumes, Moscow, 1962.

2 Galina Alekseyevna Uvarova worked at the Mongolian State Theater from 1940 to 1942. Before coming to Mongolia, she taught theater history in Turkmenistan. Later, for many years, she worked at the GITIS Faculty of Theater Studies.

Uvarova G. 3 Sovremennyi mongol'skii teatr [Modern Mongolian Theater], Moscow, 1947, p. 86.

4 From the author's conversation with the People's Artist of Mongolia L. Tsogzolmaa, 10.02.2007.

5 From the author's conversation with director B. Mushgia, 16.02.2007.

6 Ibid.

Dashdondog S. 7 The sixty-year chronicle of the theater. Ulaanbaatar, 1996, p. 42.

Tudev L. 8 Vzaimodeistvie i vzaimoobogashchenie sotsialisticheskikh kul'tury [Interaction and mutual enrichment of socialist cultures]. Moscow, 1980, p. 116.

Dashdondog p 9 Edict. soch., p. 42.

10 From the author's conversation with director B. Munkhdorj, 10.02.2007.

11 From the author's conversation with Honored Artist of Mongolia Zh. Lhamhuu, 8.02.2007.

12 From the author's conversation with the artist Ts. Dorjpalam, 7.02.2007.

13 Other Shores, Moscow, 2006, No. 21, p. 95.

Опубликовано 24 июля 2023 года