Marriage

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.