Vladivostok, Primorsky Stage, Great Hall

Marriage


Comedy in two acts

Alexandrinsky Theatre

Performers

Agafya Tikhonovna, the Bride: Yulia Marchenko
Arina Panteleymonovna, the Aunt: Svetlana Sheychenko
Fyokla Ivanovna, the Matchmaker: Maria Kuznetsova
Podkolyolsin, the Clerk: Igor Volkov
Kochkaryov, the Friend of Podkolyosin: Ivan Efremov
Yaichnitsa, the Executor: Pavel Yurinov
Anuchkin, the Retired Jfficer: Victor Shuralyov
Zhevakin, the Sailor: Valentin Zakharov
Panteleev, the Clerk: Lyubov Butyrskaya
Dunyashka, the Girl in the House: Yulia Sokolova
Starikov, the Shopkeeper: Vladimir Lisetsky
The Young Man from Gostinyi Dvor: Vladimir Minakhin
Stepan, Podkolyosin’s Servant: Tikhon Zhiznevsky

Credits

Music by Leonid Desyatnikov
Staged after the play by Nikolai Gogol «Marriage»

Playwriter, Stage Director: Valery Fokin
Set and Costume Designer: Alexander Borovskiy
Musical Director, Assistant Stage Director: Ivan Blagodyor
Lightning Designer: Damir Ismagilov
Plastique: Alexei Miroshnichenko
Assistant Stage Managers: Maria Gavrilova, Lyudmila Filippova

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

The stage life of Nikolai Gogol’s comedy Marriage began on the Alexandrinsky Stage in 1842. In that premiere performance Alexander Martynov, a famous Russian actor, played the role of Podkolesin. Since that time, along with The Government Inspector, Marriage traditionally decorated posters of the Alexandrinsky Theatre. Interpretations of Gogol’s plays have always determined the creative structure of the theater troupe, becoming programmatic. After The Government Inspector, Marriage was also addressed by the artistic director of the Alexandrinsky Theatre, Valery Fokin, for whom Gogol’s work was a source of inspiration for many years.

The current performance was created on the eve of the 200th anniversary of the writer. In his play Valery Fokin reveals a sharp conflict between of the character seeking to preserve his personal world and the reality that acquires an absurd, almost balagan look. Reality provokes men to fabricate the most incredible stunts and participate in ridiculous rides as if imposed by evil spirits. This attraction looks like the history of matchmaking at once to six suitors to Agafia Tikhonovna Kuperdiagina, the merchant’s daughter, who cannot, even in her dreams and fantasies, find her choice, possessing the whole complex of human virtues. The image of balagan that opens from the outside or from inside and that is created by Alexander Borovsky, a famous set designer, emphasizes the active dynamics of the transitions from the inner fantasy world of the character who settles on the comfortable, almost Oblomian sofa, to the outer world that is a hostile and unstable world where the character feels extremely insecure.

In the program of the 2019 Theatre Olympiad in the Far East the role of Podkoliosin in Marriage is performed by Igor Volkov, People’s Artist of Russia.

The performance is a winner of the Golden Mask Russian National Theatre Award.


World premiere: 9 December 1842, Alexandrinsky Theatre, Saint Petersburg
Premiere of this production: 18 January 2008, Alexandrinsky Theatre, Saint Petersburg

Running time: 2 hours 30 minutes
The performance has one interval

Age category 12+

© 2016 – 2024
The Mariinsky Theatre
Primorsky Stage Information Service
+7 423 240 60 60
tickets-prim@mariinsky.ru
Any use or copying of site materials, design elements or layout is forbidden without the permission of the rightholder.

The highlighting of performances by age represents recommendations.

This highlighting is being used in accordance with Federal Law N436-FZ dated 29 December 2010 (edition dated 1 May 2019) "On the protection of children from information that may be harmful to their health"