“Peter and Alexei” completed the third day of the theater festival “White Vezha”

The third day of the XXX International Theatre Festival "White Vezha" was rich. The performances went from morning to late evening, and theatrical venues unfolded both in the halls and in the open air. In the morning, the Voronezh State Puppet Theater presented the street “Tyumovochka”. In parallel, in the large hall of the Brest Academic Drama Theatre, the theater from Georgia showed Village Stories. At 16.00, the troupe of the Russian Drama Theatre from Kyrgyzstan came out on the Brest stage with the production of “The King. Dame”. Jack", and ended the festival day with the performance "Peter and Alexei" of the State Drama Theater "On Litein" from St. Petersburg. The correspondent of sb.by watched a production in which the great Russian history appeared primarily as a tragedy of one family.

In the center of the play based on the work of Dmitry Merezhkovsky is the confrontation between Peter I and Tsarevich Alexei. The autocrat and the heir, the sovereign and the accused of treason, father and son find themselves on different sides of not only the political but also the human conflict. The struggle for power, succession, religion, betrayal, flight and persecution - events replace each other rapidly, not leaving the heroes with time for respite, and the audience with opportunities to distract.

The whole production on the stage rises a huge throne. The action revolves around him, both literally and figuratively. For the prince, he is still too great, as if the power had not yet fallen to the heir by the standards. But will Alexei ever grow up to her? And does he need it at that price?

In just an hour and twenty minutes, the authors of the play lead the viewer through one of the most dramatic episodes of the Petrine era. The historical chronicle here turns into a tense theatrical narrative, in which the state interests clash with personal feelings, and behind the figures from the history textbook, live people appear.

- In a rather laconic theatrical form, we can raise a number of eternal themes: the relationship between fathers and children, the relationship between the state and the personal in the fates of large people who make history. We wanted to show the contradictions of human nature. In the play there was a bright duet of Alexander Tsibulsky in the role of Peter and Vadim Stepanov in the role of Alexei, who reveals this internal dualism, inevitable, probably, for a big personality.

"Peter and Alexei" has already visited several festivals. For the first time the play was played in the courtyard of the Vyborg Castle, then it entered the repertoire of the theater and went to other cities. Brest became another opportunity for the troupe to check the production in a new space and meet the audience who sees it for the first time.

According to Sergei Morozov, the theater needs festivals not only for the sake of showing performances. This is also a creative exchange, an opportunity to see the work of colleagues, compare approaches and get energy for further movement

The other viewer comes in like a white sheet. He doesn’t know you and doesn’t expect anything from you. Therefore, the artists before the performance are really worried, and this is a good test. Any festival is primarily an exchange of creative and human energy. I come to the theater for creative shock and want to leave with good, white envy. It is such meetings that give food for further achievements and make you think that you can also bring to the White Vezha.

Among the spectators was the Consul General of the Russian Federation in Brest Oleg Murashev. In his opinion, the production not only refers to the events of the Petrovsky era, but also offers to think about the fate of the country, the responsibility of the authorities and relations between close people:

- The performance pleased us with a new reading of the famous novel by Dmitry Merezhkovsky and forced us to plunge again into the difficult events of the Petrovsky era. We saw the connection of times, great acting and once again thought about the complex relationship between father and son, between leaders and citizens. This is not an easy performance, and I am especially pleased that the Brest audience received it so warmly. Applause showed that the audience understood the main idea that the creators of the production wanted to convey to them.

The historical canvas and the truth did not leave indifferent viewers. Brest resident Maxim Skvortsov came to the play with the girl Maria. Immediately after the final, he admitted that the production caused a whole range of emotions:

- Emotions were constantly changing. In some moments they were positive, in others there was empathy, anxiety and heavier feelings. Overall, we liked the show very much. I think we will continue to visit such shows.

The finale confirmed those words without further comment. The Brest audience applauded standing, shouted “Bravo!” and for a long time did not let the artists off the stage. The story of Peter and Alexei, separated from us for centuries, sounded sharp and modern. The huge throne remained in the center of the stage - as a symbol of power that can change the state, but can not always save the relationship between father and son.