I haven’t worked so much on any show / Article / LSM.lv

On October 10, Alvis Hermanis’ production “Gorbachev” about former USSR leader Mikhail Gorbachev and his wife Rice will premiere at the Moscow Theater of Nations. Actors Yevgeny Mironov and Chulpan Hamatov play in the show.

During the staging of the play, both Hermanis and the actors met in person with Gorbachev himself, as well as studied archive materials, interviews and other historical evidence. Mikhail Gorbachev himself has already seen the show and also called the director.

“The show was made in Riga, only in the last phase we tried differently, there was a lot of video cameras, they heard my voice through the speakers, it was something new,” director Alvis Hermanis told about the production process in Latvian Radio’s “Kultūras Rondo”.

Twelve years ago, Hermanis staged “Shushin Stories” at the Moscow National Theater, and the theater wanted to continue collaborating. For various reasons, it was restored 2.5 years ago, when the director offered to create a production about Mikhail Gorbachev.

“I haven’t worked so much on a single show, there haven’t been so many attempts. Thanks to the virus, it was possible to prepare for a long time and in detail,” revealed Alvis Hermanis.

A year ago, Mikhail Gorbachev invited Alvi Herman to meet. Herman said that Gorbachev trusted him because he had seen “Shushkin’s stories”: “He had called me after the show and that’s how we met. He had reason to trust him. He also has a good relationship with the actors. Human trust, but professional. ”

Gorbachev called Herman after watching the new show.

“Two and a half hours to look at yourself and your wife, who has been in another sun for 20 years.

I can’t imagine what happened to his head, but he called after the show and thanked him, said that he was very moved, ”the director revealed.

In August, both actors – Yevgeny Mironov and Chulpana Hamatov – visited Riga and worked with the director on the production. Alvis Hermanis said that at that moment he could not go to Moscow because he was busy filming the New Riga Theater series. “Since the actors had to come to me, we tried in the afternoons and evenings. The show was made in Riga, ”noted Hermanis.

Of course, in the show you can’t do without the presence of politics, but Herman is more interested in Gorbachev’s personality.

“I was more interested in where the person who redrawn the whole world map appeared. Because, as the last KGB said, [VDK] leader Kryuchkov: The biggest mistake in KGB history is that we laid Gorbachev down. “I am absolutely convinced that without Gorbachev’s personality, Latvia would probably not be an independent state today and still be part of the USSR,” says Hermanis. “It was a large, long chain of coincidences that allow us to live in an independent Latvia today.”

Alvis Hermanis promises that the show will be seen in Riga as well: “Obviously, I really hope that it will happen when all the madness with viruses ends. I hope that it could be in the next year.”

–