"blue monster" carlo gozzi. Theatre-goer's notes

Carlo Gozzi

Blue Beast

A tragicomic tale in five acts

Characters

Zelu - Blue Beast

Dardane- Princess of Georgia, Taera's beloved

Taer- Prince of Nanjing

fanfour- King of Nanjing, decrepit father of Taer

Gulindi- slave, second wife of Fanfour

Smeraldina- servant of Dardane

Pantalone, Tartaglia- Ministers of Fanfour

Brighella- captain of the guard

Trufaldino- Thayer's servant

Enchanted Knight in ancient weapons, chained in armor

seven-headed hydra

Executioner

Nobles

soldiers

Slaves without speeches.

The action takes place in Nanjing and its environs.

Act one

Forest. In the depths under the mountain is a cave.

Zelu - Blue Beast comes out of the cave.

Zelu

O stars! Stars! Thank you!
That moment has come, happy for me,
When I shed this terrible face
At the cost of someone else's grief. Into this forest
Georgian Princess Dardane
I must with my beloved Taer,
Crown Prince of Nanjing, arrive.
There must have been a couple of lovers
Faithful to each other like these two:
Such a woman, so that about no one
Not for a moment, except for one
Didn't think; and such a man
To only one woman in the world
Experienced the excitement of love;
And so that she gets into this forest:
Then, and only then, will the time come
My torments. And, oh miracle! In the world
Such lovers were found.
And soon they will be here - and I am free.

(Offstage.)

Forward, forward, ill-fated couple!
It's hard for me that I should bring down on you
I have so many disasters to myself
Get free. Yes, but who can
To love suffering for the sake of suffering,
Kohl on the other can charge them?
Many terrifying monsters
He will see this forest, thick and dark.
There will come times - and transformations,
that I do can become
A beautiful allegory; and the people
Like me they will be monsters
In an effort to regain a beautiful appearance
And turn others if they can
In monsters.

(Looks offstage.)

Here are the two royal servants:
They precede the unfortunate couple,
To bring news to the capital
About Taer's imminent return.

(Takes a flask and goblet.)

Drink of Oblivion! Make it forget
They are all the past ... their masters ...
And to the yard so that they do not return.

truffaldino, with an umbrella, looking after Smeraldina, Both are dressed in Chinese.

Truffaldino says that we should let the horses graze on the grass, they just fall from fatigue. After all, their masters are still so far away, etc. They can rest in the shade of these nice trees, listening to the babbling of the brook and the chirping of birds, etc., and then go to Nanjing, which is visible from here. There are only two hundred steps here. He sings a famous folk song:

What could be sweeter
And what is dearer to us
Walk in the green
With his beloved.
Ah, ah, I'm dying
I'm dying of love
my beauty
I'm L and Yu and B and L and Yu.

Smeraldina. He is right, this place is capable of awakening love moods, etc., but he is not constant and will soon forget her for some other girl, etc.

Truffaldino

I'm L and Yu and B and L and Yu,
What does it mean - I love
I will love forever
My beauty.
I'm L and Yu and B and L and Yu.

His vows. He will follow the example of Prince Taer, his master, in whose service he entered, meeting him, fortunately, in Georgia. The prince is in love with Princess Dardane and never looked at any other woman - everyone seems ugly to him, etc. He, Truffaldino, saw beauties who were hopelessly in love with the prince, and he despised them, simply - he wanted to spit on them! Ah, his Dardane! His Dardane! Etc.

Smeraldina says that if before him is the example of Taer, his master, then before her, as in a mirror, stands her mistress Dardane. What loyalty! Smeraldina does not think that even in her dreams she has ever seen another such person as Prince Taer, etc.

truffaldino,- in truth, Taer earned her love by the great feats that he performed to save her from the persecution of the magician Bizegel. Does Smeraldina remember his fight with the fiery monkey, and then the fight with the donkey, which tied with his ears and cut with his tail, and then the fight with the bird, which spewed boiling oil in his face? And he overcame all, and he conquered all thanks to his love! Oh great love! Great constancy! great love! Etc.

Smeraldina replies that this is all true; but is it not enough that Dardane remained faithful to Thayer even when the magician Bizegel threw on her shoulders that enchanted veil that instills in women madness and the desire to have all the men they see? What fidelity was needed to overcome the spell of this veil out of love for one Taer, etc.

truffaldino,- of course, it's a lot. Was there ever a veil on Smeraldina's shoulders?

Smeraldina,- never, but even if she had it, she would still remain faithful to him.

Truffaldino jokes about this enchanted veil. It seems to him that now all the bedspreads that are sold to women in fashion stores have the same magical properties that Bisegel's veil, etc. He expresses his feelings to Smeraldina, sighs romantically, etc.

Smeraldina Truffaldino answers the same. She says she is hot and thirsty.

Truffaldino worries - ... Ah, my princess, etc. Looking for water, finds a flask and a goblet of Zelu. His considerations: some shepherd left her here; sniffing: smells good; the aroma of Cypriot wine, etc. He is proud that he can treat his princess to such a drink in this deserted place. He gives her a cup.

Smeraldina drinks. Shows with gestures that she has forgotten everything; asks Truffaldino who he is.

Truffaldino- I am L and Yu and B, etc. He is her dear Truffaldino, her passionate lover, equal in his loyalty to Taer, Prince of Nanking, etc.

Smeraldina drives him away; she does not know who Truffaldino is, nor who Taer is, etc.

Truffaldino

Ah, ah, I'm dying

I'm dying of love etc.

tittus reviews: 16 ratings: 16 rating: 19

That means buffoonery... that means people's theater... The task is clear. But why did I want to feel sorry for the actors all the time, blush for them, hide myself or hide them somewhere? Apparently Raikin is deeper than he himself suspects, imbued with the spirit of his roles (in which he himself, by the way, is impeccable) and in the production comic play cannot rise above his own style of performance. As a result, we see a scene filled with actors who are trying their best to work under Raikin. True, there is also a monster here, strongly reminiscent of Jimm Carrey with such a sweet and familiar green face to us since childhood. And to look at how, first, one actor, and then the other, diligently try to repeat his gestures, plasticity, even typically cinematic tricks, is a real torment. Is Jimm even aware of such plagiarism antics? That we have Broadway spread out next to Maryina Grove? But what can I say, how can the image of the hero Kerry serve as a prototype of a multimedia demon? To interpret it this way, one must not understand anything either in the Mask itself or in the madness built by its creator Jim.
The performance focuses on circus aesthetics. Good. Why not. Still, in the square theater without circus performances not enough. But why do the actors climb the rope ladders so timidly, why does one of the heroines move so tensely awkwardly in a suspended hoop, and damn it (!) could one handle a jump rope horse a little more skillfully? And in some scenes it is not at all clear why circus equipment appears on the "arena" ( hanging swing, for example). Apparently, just on someone's whim and without any justification.
In addition, there are a lot of below-the-belt jokes in the play. Very good! They bring the action to life, don't they? But for some reason they do not make laugh, but puzzle. The roofing felts are not in their place, or they give away too much amateur performance, but they rather slow down the action. I don’t know, maybe this is, of course, a game of my taste sensations, but I can’t stand the introduction of modern slang, colloquial, abusive words into old plays. In my opinion, it gives bad taste. By the way, I don’t really understand the parents who brought them to one of the cold winter evenings their offspring to the Blue Monster. I'm afraid the crumbs may have a number of questions about what is happening on stage.
But here's the most interesting thing - people in the hall laughed, applauded ... many liked it. And then a thought came to my mind. Perhaps Raikin did exactly what he wanted? He reproduced in his production Gozzi the internal laws of the medieval folk theater! Where the vulgarity of jokes should overwhelm, where the swords should fall out of the actor’s hands because of the awkwardness of the actor’s movements, where the actor goes to work even if he does not close the cords, where the text is transformed in accordance with the realities of the time ... etc. People in the crowd laugh, paw the girls during the performance, eat, drink, spit at their feet, move from one impromptu scene to another. And they like such a theater, they need such a theater! So maybe this cross section of people in modern interpretation of course accustomed to comedy club and laughed in the hall? And in fact, this performance is not tasteless and inept, but cunning and talented ... And Raikin simply gave certain people what they want. And he watches the laughing spectators, his look is terrible, he is beautiful, and strongly resembles Brain's mouse, who tried to take over the world with the help of a lambada.
Only it is presented to us not as folk art, whose place is not in the theater building, but on the square in front of it. Therein lies the mistake. People go to the "Blue Monster" to join the beauty, they bring their children, forgetting about the "low" source of origin of this art form, of which K. Raikin turned out to be such a devoted admirer.

Larisa Nikolaevna Nikulina reviews: 97 ratings: 151 rating: 257

The hall gave a standing ovation. And there was something to applaud. The guys are working. Circus acrobatic sketches, incredible Italian music and humor (unfortunately below the belt).

O"K reviews: 4 ratings: 4 rating: 7

Whenever I come to the "Satyricon", for me the performance starts before the actors appear on the stage. Still, this is an art, to make a request to turn off Cell phones joke, tradition, show, and thereby pave the way for the performance. And just when Raiken says that "sometimes stupid people come to us," I understand: "It will start right now."
Yes, lo and behold, real circus performers appear on the stage, although they behave strangely: they take out an imaginary board, put it on an imaginary barrel, put a very real, albeit somewhat awkward, woman on the end of the board and jump to the other end of this board . Strange, but the woman flies to the other end of the stage into the hands of other "circus performers" and breaks her neck. However, this does not bother them, show must go on" so to speak, they take the loser away, bow and run away. Isn't it weird start for the play "The Blue Beast"? And then It appears on stage to the music of the "Black Box" from "What? Where? When?", Insanely similar to the hero of the film "Mask" both in appearance and behavior. Such a fool. Constantly screaming, laughing and grimacing character. Not a monster, of course, but a miracle Yudo for sure. And it wants to separate two lovers, the Chinese prince Taer and the beautiful Georgian princess, Dardane. They go to the clearing on quite nice horses (almost on Alphas, if anyone remembers this series), and Zelu proceeds with his plan: Dardane dresses up as a man and sends her lover to the service of her father (strictly forbidding anyone to speak that she is a woman), and Taer gets the role of a new monster and his task is to make Dardane fall in love with him again. Agree, this is difficult, given that she hates the Blue Beast and does not know that now this is her lover, but of course you can’t tell her this. You are probably wondering what happened to that monster that was before? Well, oddly enough, it has become an ordinary Anapa tourist in Panama and with a film camera. Then we suddenly see the Chinese king and his ministers (a funny grandfather and a bespectacled uncle), they zealously argue about the situation in the country and decide by lot that the captain’s sister will go to feed the seven-headed hydra, which eats one virgin a day and corrupts people with her breath Chinese army and part-time servant of Dardane, but soon the king goes to his wife's chambers, and the ministers begin to actively discuss the gossip of their state in a very strange Venetian dialect.
To be honest, I was very carried away by the plot, I won’t tell further, it’s not interesting. I really like their way of joking with a very serious face. It's twice as funny. For example, four men who are floundering in a puddle and blowing fantanchiki from their mouths, or a gondola floating in the background, and a man in a mask with tangerines sits in it. Very positive. All two and a half hours I sat, as Small child and did not know what would happen next, whether to put on main character a gas mask to fight the hydra, or the queen will appear in fishnet tights and with a “sexy” belt, or the hydra will turn out to be an iron bandura with television cameras. I know it all sounds a little crazy, but trust me, it's great together.
And at the end, you know, goosebumps ran down my spine. “Sometimes we don’t see who we are not, and life becomes like a circus or a Venice carnival.”

Mitya Zolotov reviews: 8 ratings: 236 rating: 11

The performance evoked a disgust in me that I hadn't felt in a long time.
Is not circus show and not dramatic performance- that's for sure.
This is some kind of terrible Full House, which probably other aesthetes can dream of in a nightmare.

Here, I registered on the poster specifically for the reason that positive and neutral feedback too much about this show.

Of course, there is some more pyrotechnic show and maybe it's not bad - but it's all in the second act, and everyone who is even a little interested in the theater must first painfully survive the long and useless first act. I left the theater at intermission. I think that the pyrotechnic show can be seen much better somewhere else than on the site of the Satyricon Theater. I'm not talking about some circus elements. Get it out of your head. There is no circus here. A game of charades somewhere in the country - good circus compared to this.

Even if we talk about a purely technical component, the sound, for example, was very bad. Except for the first 5 minutes, perhaps. It got off to a pretty good start. An intriguingly nasty sound, light and a character in a blue mask, written off on the poster from the Joker, grimacing like Jim Carrey, promised something interesting. Alas, nothing interesting followed.

Unfunny attempts to squeeze out laughter with humor from the waist down and in short pants were almost not crowned with success. Some kind of incomprehensible painful eroticism, constantly present in the production, also did not cause any aesthetic pleasure, and in general, pretty actors and actresses were sometimes simply vile in such roles.

The performance is based on the play by Carlo Gozzi: A certain "Blue Monster" enchants and separates two lovers in order to reunite again, they will have to go through many trials.
I think that everyone who comes to this performance will enjoy it very much.

Theater notes. "The Blue Monster", a tragicomedy based on the play by the Italian playwright Carlo Gozzi. Translated by T. Shchepkina-Kupernik

Production - Konstantin Raikin
Scenography and costumes - Alla Kozhenkova
Director-consultant of circus performances - Ekaterina Morozova

Light - Anatoly Kuznetsov
Sound - Ekaterina Pavlova
Stage fight choreographer - Vyacheslav Rybakov
Musical arrangement - Konstantin Raikin
Assistant director - Elvira Kekeyeva

In the play "The Blue Monster" of the Satyricon Theatre. Arkady Raikin music by Shostakovich, Strauss, Falvo, Zelver, Italian musical themes arranged by the Kesady Orchestra, fragment of the soundtrack from the movie "2046".

Carlo Gozzi - Italian playwright, author of fairy tale plays (fiaba; fiabe), using folklore elements plot and principles of commedia dell'arte in the choice of characters-masks. "The Blue Monster" was written by the author in 1764. Many of the playwright's plays were regularly shown at the famous Venice festivals. Is it any wonder that in Konstantin Arkadyevich's production, the theme of Venice runs like a red thread through the entire performance.

Spring. Wonderful time of the year! Time of renewal, new hopes and new discoveries. Time new love. And also a great time to refresh old feelings. And what can serve as such? Trial. Yeah why not! The test of sincerity and strength of love between the Prince of Nanjing Taer and the Georgian Princess Dardane lies at the heart of the plot of this enchanting production.

Zelu, the Blue Beast was bewitched and doomed to live in a forest thicket near the city of Nanjing. But now the time comes when he can remove the spell from himself, get rid of the blue mask and become a man again. But for this he must shift the spell on someone else. At this time, an unsuspecting happy woman enters the forest thicket. married couple- Taer and Dardane. Zelu comes up with a cunning plan to cast the spell on Taer, which he eventually succeeds in doing. The lovers must go through the cruel trials assigned to them by Zelu, risking forever losing not only each other, but life itself. But if they manage to overcome everything, they will be together again and return their love.

The play "The Blue Monster" is dynamic, full of humor and drama. A sharp tense plot, a lot of music and transformations. Heartbreak moments, an impromptu arena in the center of the stage, acrobatic stunts, participation of four traditional characters Italian comedy masks in the form of clowns make this performance related to the circus. An inquisitive viewer, behind all the brightness and variety, can easily catch subtle allusions to today's day. But after all, the classics began to be considered them because they wrote works for all time. And this play is definitely one of them.

And in the finale, when goodness and love, of course, will win, a magnificent pyrotechnic show awaits the audience.

In the end it's hard to resist famous quote Gozzi, which is part of the text of this play: "We are all not what we sometimes seem to each other." Therefore, do not always trust your eyes, but trust the voice of your heart. It certainly won't fool you.

Yesterday we were in the "Satyricon" on this masterpiece. The aesthetics of this theater turned out to be very close to my favorite "theater on Taganka", so I didn't spit all the first act, but tried to penetrate. It turned out, as with the "Chronicles of Shakespeare", (on the same Taganka) it's not clear until I read it. And I can’t find the text of the blue monster. Therefore, let's leave the aesthetics of the performance, but it was very peculiar, very much like not "Square Circles" (TnT) is also a circus, also at the beginning about "shit" (sorry). But it is necessary, it is unpleasant, but it is necessary. The most unpleasant thing is that people laugh at this, but for me it should be so ashamed. This is a beautiful mirror in which you can see how we behave in life. And often that is exactly what we do.

Now about history. The plot is fantastic in terms of intricacy, but everything converges so well, so everything is one to one. Gozzi loved to pervert this I noticed.
In general, there is a blue monster (the once cursed forest spirit Tse Lung). He can be freed only when lovers pass through his forest, whose loyalty knows no doubt. And there are such lovers. Dardane (a Georgian princess) and Taer (a Chinese prince who disappeared many years ago and is returning with his love to his homeland). They sent servants ahead (Smeraldin and *forgot the name, but he is a Moor*). The servants also love each other. The blue monster first separates the servants and makes them forget about everything, they come to the City separately.
The monster also separates Taer and Dardane. Dardane's horse dies and she is the first to come to the monster's clearing. There it changes the face of Dardane and makes Georgian princess pretend to be a young man Ahmet. Ahmet must serve King Fafur (Taer's father) until Ahmet (that is, Dardane) finds Taer, but no later than dawn every other day (that is, there are only 2 days and 2 nights). Then the Beast meets Taer and gives him his vile appearance (in habits and costume reminiscent of the Mask (with J. Carrey)). And being already good spirit says that Dardane pretends to be a man, but only Taer will be given to recognize her. But Taer should not give himself away, He should make Dardane fall in love with the appearance of a blue monster with speeches and deeds. If one of them betrays himself, the other will die. (Ugh, this is an intrigue. But the knot has not yet been tied, everything is still ahead).
The city where King Fafur rules suffers from a terrible hydra, which came as a punishment for Guang Lin (the king's wife, a lustful slave, and just a beautiful, but hot woman). The king, left without an heir, thought that Taer had died, married Guan Lin, she cheated on him right and left, as a result we got a hydra near the city. And the hydra loves very young virgins for breakfast (gosspadi, evil spirits, to eat virgins for fun or something? Is the meat more tender? I never understood). So. Smeraldina, Moor and Akhmet came to the court. Guan Lin left Moor and Ahmet as a servant and guard, respectively, and Smeraldina was chosen for the hydra's breakfast. Briefly, Smeraldina and the head of the royal guard turned out to be brother and sister. But the captain did not save his sister (a cowardly beast, there was a very good insert about "Modern" (a play of the 18th century), "Modern" ideals of the hero).
Further. Guang Lin wants Ahmet. Ahmet is 100% straight, and therefore Guang Lin does not want to, because Ahmet is Dardane. Guang Lin arranges everything so that Fafur sees her from the guards together in an unambiguous pose, after which he begs not to drive Akhmet into the forest, because he really wanted to kill the blue monster. Fafur Ahmeta naturally sends.
Dardane comes to the forest to kill the blue monster. The monster gives her a sword with which to kill him, offers her chest. Na, kill, no, I don't want to. Dardane's heart hardly trembled. They talk for a long time about where Taer (chick) is. The monster binds itself with chains. Ahmet brings the monster to the city, everyone rejoices. They want to execute the monster, but it makes a fiery speech, after which everyone weeps, and the monster is simply given a life sentence in solitary confinement.
Guang Lin is not far behind Ahmet. After another failed yuri attempt, she uses the same trick as the first time to force King Fafur to send Ahmet to fight the hydra.
Ahmet comes to ask for help from the blue monster, with whom they make good friends. The monster says that it is impossible to cut off heads, it is necessary to beat in the body. One hit to the body and the hydra is dead. Along the way, the viewer (but not Ahmet) learns that the hydra and Guang Lin have a connection, and if the hydra dies, Guang Lin will also die.
End of the first act.

I was tormented throughout the intermission, I was wondering how Gozzi would unleash all this, purely in terms of sharing experiences. By the way, do not be embarrassed by what their names are, who in Italian, who like. Gozzi in this play brought together all the peoples and geography did not bother him much (this was said by K. Raikin himself, in the introduction to the play).

We continue.
Morning, Smeraldani fires his brother because he does not want to save her. Come Ahmet, everyone is waiting for the hydra. She's beautiful by the way. Mass media depicted schematically on several tripods. The blow turned out to be a blow (sorry) to the balls of a gamer who was hiding inside the hydra. (I applaud standing, although I myself worship this hydra). (It is worth noting that in the city everyone indulged in debauchery and sins so that the hydra did not get anything of them, well, this is so note).
In general, Ahmet defeated the hydra, returned victorious to the city. Where Guang Lin had already died, telling her husband that it was Akhmet who had poisoned her. (The scene of Guang Lin's death is something. I bow before the actress. In general, this type of character is very close to me, so personally, despite all her meanness, I felt sorry for her. And she died divinely beautiful!)
Akhmeta is naturally to the blue monster in the cell, to wait for the execution. It's the last night left. through long exhortations, the Blue Monster snatches the kiss of love from Dardane, but this is not enough. The spirit appeared to the blue monster and punished that no matter what happens, Dardane should not give herself away. Therefore, at the execution, the blue monster reveals the gender of Dardana. But the sun is already rising, and Taer must die. As always in last moment, Dardane still says that he loves the blue monster. It immediately turns into Taer, the spell is lifted, everyone is happy.
Here is the story, Here they knew how to write a pancake! Oh! Some excitement. By the way, everything looks very organic, even the inserts of modern realities (they are woven into the monologues of the characters). Everything is just right, everything is very good. But of all the components, of course, the play itself stands out, actor play(incomparable, I even liked it more than in the Taganka theater, although there is something to compare with) and the material base. The scene was so plastic, so transformative. It is something. I advise very much!

Theater "Satyricon" K. Gozzi "Blue Monster".

Actors and performers:
Zelu, the Blue Beast - Anton Egorov,
Dardane - ,
Taer - Alexey Bardukov, Yakov Lomkin
Fanfur - Andrey Oganyan
Gulindi - Yulia Melnikova, Ekaterina Malikova
Smeraldina - Marina Drovosekova, Elena Bereznova,
Pantalone - Artem Osipov, Anton Kuznetsov
Tartaglia - Igor Gudev, Sergey Klimov
Truffaldino - Georgy Lezhava, Alexander Kashcheev
Brighella - Alexander Gunkin, Ivan Ignatenko

Konstantin Raikin is known for his special love for the works of foreign playwrights, both modern and classic. From time to time, he adds new pearls of the foreign collection to the repertoire of the Satyricon Theater, including the play "The Blue Monster", based on the fairy tale of the Italian writer. Tickets for the performance open in front of the audience new world filled with wonder and magic. in this performance, it seems to rethink famous saying Shakespeare "The whole world is a theater, all the people in it are actors." According to the plot of the production, the whole world is a circus, and all the people in it are circus performers, clowns and acrobats, jugglers and entertainers, tamers and magicians. Life is an endless talk show, and each person is its direct participant, actor. Life themes inexhaustible and endless.

Through the efforts talented artist Alla Kozhenkova theater stage turned into a real circus arena, and how could it be otherwise? Indeed, in the playbill of the "Satyricon" the play "The Blue Monster" is designated precisely as "a circus in 2 acts." Spectators who have bought tickets for a fascinating spectacle will see here all the usual circus props - from magic boxes of illusionists to air trapezes. Actors will dance and sing, perform tricks and fly under an impromptu dome, and clowns, as expected, will make the audience laugh. Artem Osipov, Igor Gudev, Ivan Ignatenko and Georgy Lezhava act as clowns this evening. They embody the world's most famous comic characters - Brighella, Pantalone, Tartaglia and Truffaldino. Their task is not only to amuse the audience, but also periodically explain to them what is happening in the world of phantasmagoria, what passions are raging in it? And this is what happens - the Blue Monster is imprisoned and wants to get out of it. To complete this task, the Blue Monster will need a couple in love, these are Taer and Dardane. A magical spell turns Taer into a Blue Beast. Now, if Dardane does not fall in love with him in this frightening guise, he will be doomed to death ... The real monster has disappeared forever, and the lovers will have to see each other again in a crazy colorful carnival, where characters change masks with dizzying speed.