How "Children of the Sun" turned out – the first premiere on the Melnikov Stage

Now the Melnikov Stage has presented the first pre-premiere – Maxim Gorky's Children of the Sun, directed by Andrei Moguchy's student Liza Doroniceva. For her, a graduate of the St. Petersburg Theatre Academy, this is her first production in Moscow. The theatre promises that until the end of the season, only young people will stage here, winners of the laboratory for directors under 35 "Search for a Hero".

What century is it – 20th, 21st? There is no time in the play. The characters are placed in the claustrophobic space of the house of chemist Pavel Protasov (a very accurate hit on the image of Sergei Epishev). Cholera is raging outside the window, and the young scientist's friends bring reports on the number of sick people. It seems that all this is reminiscent of 2020, when the whole world found itself in timelessness due to COVID. The scenery only frames the ensuing darkness – a window blinded by the rain and a shelving unit with many ceramic animal figurines going up into the sky. The broken refrigerator for reagents periodically blinks, which Protasov kicks to restore its functionality. And as a musical illustration – the annoying sound of a saw and a piano, to which the heroes sing the famous idealistic melody Over The Rainbow from the 1939 musical The Wizard of Oz. It's high time to build a new Noah's Ark. Indeed, Protasov's house resembles a ship. But can this house, where Protasov, as if clouded by the fumes from his experiments, notices no one, become a refuge?

It all seems reminiscent of 2020, when the whole world found itself in a timeless state due to Covid

That unattainable height of the shelf is either a reminder of the creatures that Noah saved, or an illustration of the argument that animals cannot reach the heights to which reason leads humans. "You are a human being, you are a rational being, you are the brightest, most beautiful phenomenon on earth," says Pavel. The division between animals and people conceals the main conflict of the play "Children of the Sun," written by Gorky in 1905, after the play "At the Bottom," which was originally called "Without the Sun." The class dispute in it is obvious. But in the new production it is obscured by another theme – the intelligentsia, which both 100 years ago and today continues to be afraid of life, like the mad Liza Protasova (Anastasia Terelya). "When you say – we must love people, I do not believe it. You say this out of fear …" – thinks Doctor Chepurnoy (Denis Bondarenko). Who will remain above the rainbow and turn into the new children of the sun who will save humanity if Chepurnoy commits suicide in the finale and Protasov is afraid to live? So they were left without the sun – both of them.

Poster

"Children of the Sun" on the Melnikov Stage on February 17