Which modern directors stage the comedy The Inspector General. Literature lesson summary "The first productions of N.V. Gogol's comedy "The Inspector General" on Russian stages"
It is traditionally believed that the plot of “The Inspector General” Nikolai Gogol suggested it myself Alexander Pushkin: he told the young writer an anecdote about a passing gentleman who posed as a ministry official and robbed all the city residents.
In the 19th century, the story about the pseudo-auditor sounded very plausible, and Gogol wanted to turn it into the real thing. piece of art. He spoke about his idea like this: “In The Inspector General, I decided to collect in one pile everything bad in Russia that I knew then, all the injustices that are done in those places and in those cases where justice is most required from a person, and laugh at everything at once.”
Gogol wrote “The Inspector General” in just a couple of months and in January 1836 he was already reading his first drafts to famous writers, among whom gathered Pushkin, Zhukovsky, Vyazemsky, Turgenev. They laughed until they cried. However, among the critics that evening there were those who were unable or unwilling to see anything funny in Gogol’s comedy.
Serious patron
Many of Gogol’s contemporaries were surprised that “The Inspector General” was allowed to be staged theatrically, because under the conditions of a strict censorship regime Nicholas I Not all plays received such an honor (for example, the less provocative “Woe from Wit” Alexandra Griboedova At first it was generally banned not only from production, but also from publication). Before the work entered the theater, it was carefully studied by the censorship committee, and then the emperor personally became acquainted with the text.
Gogol's accusatory comedy ended up on stage thanks to the efforts of Zhukovsky, who wanted to help the talented author. An honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, he was a member of the royal family and knew the literary taste of Nicholas I very well. He personally made sure that the play was read to the emperor by role, and convinced him that “there is nothing unreliable in comedy, that it is only a cheerful mockery of bad people.” provincial officials."
At that time, Nicholas I still did not understand the true meaning of the play, which ridiculed the entire administrative and bureaucratic system of Tsarist Russia, and gave the go-ahead for production.
Bombshell effect
On March 13, “The Inspector General” was allowed to be published. And already on April 19, 1836 (May 1, new style), the whole of St. Petersburg watched it on the stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater. A full auditorium gathered for the premiere, and thanks to The Inspector General, the theater that day earned a considerable sum for that time - 4,220 rubles. The Emperor himself came to watch the comedy.
Ivan Sosnitsky is the first performer of the role of the mayor in N. V. Gogol’s comedy “The Inspector General” (since 1836). Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
As many predicted, “The Inspector General” had the effect of a bomb exploding: the audience was divided into two camps. Some admired the moral and political meaning of the comedy, while others considered the play to be slander against officials and merchants working for the good of the country. But the fate of the work, and the author himself, was decided by the emperor, who, unexpectedly for many, was pleased. Coming out of the box, he said: “What a play! Everyone got it, and I got it most of all!”
On the margins of the original poster, the inspector of the Alexandrinsky Theater troupe wrote on the day of the premiere: “The Inspector General for the first time.” An original comedy in five acts written by N.V. Gogol. The Emperor and his heir suddenly deigned to be present and were extremely pleased, laughing with all their hearts. The play is very funny, just an intolerable curse on the nobles, officials and merchants. All the actors, especially Sosnitsky, played excellently." And contemporaries recalled: “The comedy was a huge success on stage”; “The Inspector General was a success on stage: the general attention of the audience, applause, heartfelt and unanimous laughter, the challenge of the author... - there was no lack of anything.”
However, the author himself was dissatisfied with the production.
Misunderstood genius
“The Inspector General was played - and my soul was so vague, so strange... my creation seemed disgusting to me, wild and as if not mine,” Gogol wrote shortly after the premiere. And many years later he recalled: “The performance of The Inspector General made a painful impression on me. I was angry with the audience for not understanding me, and with myself, who was to blame for not understanding me. I wanted to get away from everything."
For the unsuccessful production, Gogol blamed not only himself and the audience, but also the actors. Most of all, he was dissatisfied with the performer of the role of the main character: “Dur didn’t understand one bit what Khlestakov was. Khlestakov became something like... a whole line of vaudeville rascals..."
Gogol's own drawing last scene"Inspector". 1836
The “Inspector” was sent to the III Department on February 27, 1836 for permission to submit. On March 2, a resolution was received: “Approved for presentation.” Censor Oldekop seemed not to have read the comedy. He hastily wrote: “The play does not contain anything reprehensible.” “The Inspector General” was approved for publication on March 13, and on April 19, 1836 it was shown in St. Petersburg at the Alexandrinsky Theater, and on May 23, 1836 in Moscow at the Maly Theater. The mayor was played in St. Petersburg by I.I. Sosnitsky, in Moscow - M.S. Shchepkin. Gogol was dissatisfied with the St. Petersburg production.
In the article “A warning for those who would like to play The Inspector General properly,” the author gave the following instructions to the actors: “The thing to be most careful about is not to fall into caricature. There should be nothing exaggerated or trivial even in the last roles. On the contrary, it is necessary The actor should especially try to be more modest, simpler and, as it were, nobler than how the person who appears in reality is. The less the actor thinks about making people laugh and being funny, the more funny the role he has taken will be revealed.
"Inspector". Poster for the first performance of the play in St. Petersburg. 1836
The funny will reveal itself by itself precisely in the seriousness with which each of the persons depicted in the comedy is busy with his work. They are all busily, fussily, even passionately busy with their work, as if it were the most important task of their lives. The viewer can only see from the outside the trifle of their worries. But they themselves do not joke at all and certainly do not think that anyone is laughing at them. An intelligent actor, before grasping the small quirks and minor features of the external face of the person assigned to him, must try to capture the universal human expression of the role. Must consider why this role is recognized; must consider the main and primary concern of each person, on which his life is spent, which constitutes a constant subject of thoughts, an eternal nail sitting in the head. Having caught this main concern of the person he has taken, the actor must be filled with it himself in such a force that the thoughts and aspirations of the person he has taken are assimilated to him and remain in his head inseparably during the entire performance of the play. He doesn't have to worry much about private scenes and little things. They will come out on their own successfully and deftly, if only he does not for a moment throw out of his head this nail that has lodged itself in the head of his hero. All these particulars and various small accessories, which even such an actor can so happily use, who knows how to tease and capture gait and movement, but not create the entire role, are nothing more than paints that need to be applied already when the drawing is composed and done right. They are the dress and body of the role, not its soul. So, first of all, it is this role’s soul that should be captured, and not its dress.”
Portrait of N.V. Gogol at the rehearsal of the play “The Inspector General” at the Alexandrinsky Theater. Drawing by P.A. Karatygina. 1836
Gogol's comedy caused the most controversial assessments in society. Many laughed, seeing The Inspector General as nothing more than a funny farce. Among those laughing was Emperor Nicholas I, who exclaimed: “Well, a play! Everyone got it, and I got it more than anyone else.” Most of the officials present at the performances guessed the serious, revealing meaning of the comedy. “Comedy was recognized by many as a liberal statement,” wrote Prince P.A. Vyazemsky, - like, for example, Beaumarchais’s comedy “The Barber of Seville”, is recognized as some kind of political brand, thrown into society under the guise of comedy... Some welcomed it, rejoiced at it as a bold, albeit covered up, attack on the powers that be. According in their opinion, Gogol, having chosen his provincial town as a battlefield, was aiming higher... From this point of view, others, of course, looked at comedy as an assassination attempt on the state: they were excited, frightened by it, and in the unfortunate or happy comedian they saw almost a dangerous rebel ". " Gogol wrote to M. S. Shchepkin on April 29, 1836: “The effect produced by it [the comedy] was great and noisy. Elderly and respectable officials shout that nothing is sacred to me when I dared to talk like that about serving people. The police are against me, the merchants are against me, the writers are against me. They scold me and go to the play; they can’t get tickets for the fourth performance.<...>If it were not for the high intercession of the Sovereign, my play would never have been on stage, and there were already people trying to ban it. Now I see what it means to be a comic writer."
The truth said by Gogol rose to a high generalization. The bureaucratic tribe could not forgive Gogol for this. They began to accuse him of crushing the foundations of society - after all, the characters in the comedy and thousands of their prototypes considered themselves to be the founders of the foundations. “To say about a rogue that he is a rogue is considered in our country to undermine the state machine; to say just one living and true line means, in translation, to disgrace the entire class and arm others or his subordinates against it,” Gogol noted with pain. He very accurately formulated his thought about the situation of the satirical writer in Russia: “It’s sad when you see what a pitiful state our writer is in. Everything is against him, and there is no equivalent side for him. "He's a firebrand!" He is a rebel!" And who is speaking? These are people of state speaking, people who have earned a reputation, experienced people who should have some intelligence to understand the matter in its true form, people who are considered educated and whose world, at least Russian the world, calls them educated. They brought rogues onto the stage, and everyone is in bitterness, why bring rogues onto the stage.”
Questions and tasks
- Read the textbook articles and other materials available to you about the comedy “The Inspector General.” Prepare a report on the creative and stage history of comedy.
- Why was Gogol's comedy received sharply negatively by the bureaucratic world and all adherents of class orders? What justification does the writer himself give for this?
Living word
Watch one of the modern theatrical productions of the play and write a review of it.
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol saw in the theater a huge educational, transformative force capable of uniting thousands of people and making them “suddenly shake with one shock, burst into tears and laugh with one universal laughter.” Theater for him was a school of goodness. The playwright understood that the essence of the psychology of theater lies in this common experience. And if the author neglects this law, he faces the indifference of the audience. But if he can use all his spiritual and creative forces in order to create images that excite everyone, he will gain enormous power over the theater audience. Therefore, when Gogol comes to Russian culture in the 1830s, he immediately becomes a central figure in the artistic life of the 19th century. With his dramaturgy, new connections between the author and the viewer-reader are born, an aesthetic shift occurs, both in the perception of art and in the perception of life as its source.
Neither the theater, nor the public, nor criticism as a whole immediately understood the innovative poetics of the playwright. In the theater of that time, a person was accustomed to feeling, worrying about the heroes of historical dramas, following the deft development of a frivolous vaudeville plot, sympathizing with the characters of a tearful melodrama, being carried away into the worlds of dreams and fantasies, but not reflecting, not comparing, not thinking. Gogol, presenting the requirement for the performance to be based on important social conflicts, to truthfully and deeply reveal the phenomena of life, saturating his works with pain for a person, expected from the viewer involuntary, unexpected laughter generated by the “dazzling brilliance of the mind” and turning to oneself, recognizing oneself in these “heroless” characters. He spoke a different aesthetic language.
Theater first half of the 19th century centuries showed a bright, passionate world, full of exploits and incredible events. Gogol introduces real life into the theater and explodes the calm, conflict-free consciousness of the audience. The playwright updates the nature of the conflict: he replaces the dominant love conflict with a social one. And since falsehood, vulgarity, ignorance, bribery, rudeness of morals are widespread everywhere, even a virtuous person lives with a dead, empty soul, then the world of Gogol’s comedies is deprived positive hero, turns out to be a world of homogeneous evil or mediocrity. Only laughter remains the only honest and at the same time punishing face. Gogol's laughter is directed at ourselves, at each of us, purifying and enlightening laughter, laughter through tears. The viewer, according to Gogol's plan, had to find the traits of Khlestakov or Chichikov in himself, courageously resist spiritual darkness, and lead himself to the Christian ideal.
Gogol sees the meaning of art in serving one’s land, in cleansing from “filth,” and the way to improve society is in the moral self-improvement of the individual: in a demanding attitude towards oneself, in the responsibility of everyone for their behavior in the world.
The theater contemporary to Gogol had not yet set itself such tasks. Therefore, it is not surprising that the first productions of The Inspector General caused a lot of controversy and mixed responses. The theater did not yet know such drama and did not understand how to play it. The actors, using the techniques of stage existence in vaudeville, tried to make the audience laugh with caricatured grimaces or antics. At the same time, the performances were staged seriously, and wonderful actors were involved in them.
The play premiered in 1836, first in St. Petersburg Alexandrinsky Theater, then at the Moscow Maly Theater.
The reaction in St. Petersburg to The Inspector General was very different. But at the same time, it caused bewilderment among most viewers.
Gogol himself was very dissatisfied with the production, despite his personal participation in the work on the play. He was afraid that the actors would begin to play in a caricatured, exaggerated way. The author was also concerned about the lack of costume rehearsals. So, the playwright wanted to see Shchepkin and Ryazansky in the roles of Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, neat, plump, with decently smoothed hair. At the premiere, the actors appeared on stage with tousled hair, huge shirtfronts pulled out, awkward and unkempt. Actor N.O. Dur presented Khlestakov as a traditional rogue, a vaudeville rogue. Only the mayor performed by I.I. Gogol liked Sosnitsky. Gogol was also upset by the “silent scene”. He wanted the numb facial expressions of the petrified group to hold the audience's attention for two or three minutes until the curtain closed. But the theater did not allow this time for the “silent stage”.
But main reason Gogol's dissatisfaction lay not even in the farcical nature of the performance, but in the fact that with the caricature style of the play, those sitting in the hall perceived what was happening on stage without applying it to themselves, since the characters were exaggeratedly funny. Meanwhile, Gogol’s plan was designed for precisely the opposite perception: to involve the viewer in the performance, to make them feel that the city depicted in the comedy does not exist somewhere far away, but to one degree or another in any place in Russia. Gogol addresses everyone: “Why are you laughing? You’re laughing at yourself!”
In Moscow, the first performance was given to an aristocratic audience, which “The Inspector General” “did not occupy, did not touch, only made them laugh a little.” Despite this, the performance continued to be staged. In Moscow they did not emphasize the vaudeville and farcical aspects - the theater brought its ideological and accusatory content to the fore.
Already the first performances gave two directions in the interpretation of comedy, which we still encounter today: farcical and socially accusatory.
It is necessary to note the traditions of reading one of the leading roles born at the same time - the role of the mayor Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky performed by Ivan Ivanovich Sosnitsky and Mikhail Semenovich Shchepkin. Sosnitsky emphasized more that the playwright spoke about the good looks, poise, and external decency of his hero (“although he is a bribe-taker, he behaves very respectably”); Shchepkin - what concerned his natural rudeness, the sharp transition “from fear to joy, from baseness to arrogance.” All their successors only had to choose which of the two images to follow. For example, Muscovite Ivan Vasilyevich Samarin, according to a contemporary, “adhered to the Shchepkin tradition.” An example of interaction is the interpretation of the role of the Mayor by Vladimir Nikolaevich Davydov.
In the first years of the revolution, according to theater historians, “Marriage” and “The Government Inspector” were the most repertoire plays and ranked first in terms of the number of productions and the number of spectators.
In 1920, “The Inspector General” was revived on the stage of the State Academic Drama Theater (formerly Alexandrinsky). This performance, still largely burdened with cliches, is remarkable in that the famous Russian actor V.N. took part in it. Davydov (mayor) and Kondrat Yakovlev (Osip).
Significant event in life Soviet theater, which largely determined the modern interpretation of the classics, was a new production of “The Inspector General” on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater (premiere on October 8, 1921).
The old theater did not have the means to reveal Gogol’s generalization of “The Inspector General” as “a picture and mirror of our public life", generalized in the form of high comedy. It first appeared at Meyerhold's theater, in the form of a large performance and a powerful stage poem.
Meyerhold's production of The Inspector General caused a lot of accusations of mockery of the classics. The director edited the text from all six editions of the play, added excerpts from Sobachkin, Kochkarev,
« Dead souls" and "Players".
Meyerhold's "The Inspector General" was created as a large performance with monumental architecture. With this performance he asserts independence performing arts as a creative theatre.
The director set himself the artistic task of showing the world of old Russia as a cabinet of curiosities, as a distorting mirror in which its ugliest moments are exaggeratedly reflected. That is why extreme symbolism and realistic depiction were so logically combined in the performance. The atmosphere of the performance had to be scary and funny, so that the audience would laugh at the characters, but would never want them to return to the world of the living. The spatial design of the scene, the lighting, the plasticity of the actors - everything is done so that the depicted world seems surreal, alien, and at the same time “disgracefully alive.”
The performance was full of rich details and at the same time amazed with the clarity and simplicity of the main compositional techniques. So, for example, all the scenes with officials, which are based on a choral principle, are performed on a darkened stage, by candlelight, reflected in the mahogany varnished rear partition with 15 doors. All the female scenes are designed under the bright spotlight, with clearly defined details, exposing the unbridled impulse towards the “flowers of pleasure” that owns the hearts of the selfish ladies and young ladies of the official’s decayed family.
The gradual increase in the dynamics of the performance leads to a grandiose ending - to the “silent stage”. In this final part, Meyerhold completely captured the attention of the viewer and forced him to perceive the “silent scene”, which always and in all theaters remained unperformed to the end. Meyerhold finds a brilliant solution: in the last mise-en-scène the characters were replaced by double mannequins. The dolls form a “petrified group” - an ironic embodiment of Nicholas Rus', with its Derzhimords and “pig snouts” of bureaucracy and bureaucracy. And this task was solved by Meyerhold monumentally, with a powerful scope of poetic imagination and confident means that transform the idea into a real artistic creation.
Its significance in our theatrical life is enormous and exceptional, because Meyerhold’s “The Inspector General” is a signal to raise the level of Soviet theatrical arts, experiencing a dangerous and deep crisis in the first quarter of the 20th century. It opens up a discussion about the importance of theatrical skill in the formation of the young Soviet state.
Thus, each era saw in “The Inspector General” N.V. Gogol's reflection. How brave the theater workers were, so truthful was the performance: from the vaudeville-farcical St. Petersburg performance, through the bold Shchepkin production of the Maly Theater, the conventional Moscow Art Theater, the socially acute readings of the 1917-20s, to the hyperbolic mirror of V. Meyerhold.
Bibliography
1. A. B. V. (Nadezhdin? N.I. (?)) Theater chronicle // N.V. Gogol in Russian criticism: Collection. Art. M.: State. published artist lit., 1953. pp. 316 – 322.
2. Gogol, N.V. About the theater, about the one-sided view of the theater and about one-sidedness in general: (Letter to gr. A.P. T.....mu) // Gogol N.V. Complete works: [In 14 volumes] / USSR Academy of Sciences. Institute rus. lit. (Pushkin. House). [M.; L.]: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1937-1952.T. 8. Articles. 1952. pp. 267 – 277.
3. Zagorsky, M.B. Gogol and theater / Compiler and author of comments M. B. Zagorsky; general editing by N. L. Stepanov. M.: Art, 1952. 568 p.
4. Mann, Yu.V. Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky in two faces // Gogol’s works: meaning and form. St. Petersburg: Publishing House of St. Petersburg University, 2007. pp. 579 – 586.
5. Slonimsky, A.L. A new interpretation of “The Inspector General” // “The Inspector General” at the Vs. Meyerhold: Collection of articles by A.A. Gvozdeva, E.I. Kaplan, Y.A. Nazarenko, A.L. Slonimsky, V.N. Solovyova / Edition prepared by E.A. Kukhta and N.V. Pesochinsky, rep. ed. ON THE. Tarshis. [Reprint of 1927.] St. Petersburg, 2002. P. 7 – 20.
Target: formation of artistic and aesthetic taste of students through studying educational material based on local history aspect
Tasks:
study local history material related to the works of N.V. Gogol and M.S. Shchepkina
development of students' communication abilities, logical thinking, monologue and dialogic speech
fostering a respectful attitude towards theatrical art
Vocabulary work: Parterre, Hyperbole, Grotesque,Plagiarism, Fable, Plot, Screen adaptation
Methods : conversation, analytical, reproductive, personality-oriented
During the classes
I . Organizational moment (SLIDE No. 1)
Hello guys. I ask those who expect something unusual from today's lesson and who came to the lesson in a good mood to sit down (sit down); and find out from the rest what is the reason for the bad mood.
Indeed, our lesson today is not entirely ordinary, although it cannot be said that we have not taught such lessons. See what form our lesson will take and how it sounds topic (read by children): Theater lesson “The first productions of the comedy N.V. Gogol’s “The Inspector General” on Russian stages.” Yes, exactly in the form of a theater lesson. Remember on what topics we conducted similar lessons (the children name a lesson on the work of J.B. Moliere “The Bourgeois in the Nobility” and a lesson in expressive reading, where everyone dramatized their favorite poem).( SLIDE No. 2) The topic of today's lesson was not chosen by me by chance: firstly, of course, because we studied this comedy, and secondly, because this year marks the 220 years since the birth of the great actor, our fellow countryman M. S. Shchepkin, and next year 2009 will be 200 years since the birth of the great writer, playwright N.V. Gogol, which we will talk about today. And of course we will talk about what connected these great people.
(Write numbers and topics in notebooks)
Tell me, what associations do you have when you say the word “THEATRE”?
(students name: applause, stage, actors, stalls, boxes, acting, curtain, scenery, flowers, etc.)
Give an interpretation of the word PARTER
(SLIDE No. 3)
PARTER [ te, ] [fr. PARTERRE< раr по + terre земля].
1. Places in auditorium, located in rows parallel to the stage, stage, screen.Sit in the stalls . | In the theater of the 16th-17th centuries. p. - places without seats in front of the stage, intended for spectators of lower social strata. Wed. amphitheater1, balcony2, mezzanine2, benoir, gallery3, box1.
2. archite . An open part of a garden or park, decorated with lawns, flower beds, swimming pools, fountains, statues, etc., located in a certain system.
3. pl . No,sport . In wrestling competitions: a position where the wrestler is on his knees, leaning on the carpet with his hands or forearms.Fight on the ground . Parterre- related to the parterre 1-3.
And with what name famous actor tied theatrical activity our region? (students name the name of Mikhail Semenovich Shchepkin).
(SLIDE No. 4)
Of course, we're talking about O M.S. Shchepkine, whose 220th birthday is celebrated this year, after whom Belgorodsky is named Academic theater.
You and I cannot say that we know nothing about Mikhail Semenovich, because... We repeatedly visited Shchepkin’s house-museum in the village of Krasnoye, where we were told in great detail about his life and work. And to refresh my memories, I will ask (student) give a report “The Life and Work of M.S. Shchepkina"
(SLIDE No. 5)
II . Student’s presentation of the report “The Life and Work of M.S. Shchepkina.
Shchepkin (Mikhail Semenovich is a famous artist, the son of a courtyard man, Count Volkenstein, who managed all the estates of his landowner. Born on November 6, 1788 in the village of Krasnoye, Kursk province, Oboyansky district. He was seven years old when home theater He saw his master for the first time the opera “New Family”, and was so amazed by the spectacle. that from that time on he began to rave about the stage. Sent to a public school in the city of Sudzha, he once played the role of the servant Rozmarin in Sumarokov’s comedy “The Foolish Woman,” and this completely captured the imagination of an impressionable and capable child. Then continuing his studies in Belgorod and living with a local priest, who taught him the Law of God and the Latin language, he entered the 3rd grade at the age of 13. provincial school in Kursk and was soon transferred to the 4th (last) grade. In 1803 he was admitted to play a role in the play by Knyazhnin: “Misfortune from the Carriage”, appointed, by the will of the landowner, as an assistant land surveyor who surveyed the lands of the gr. Volkenshtein, Shch., 16 years old, brilliantly passed the final exam and, by order of the landowner, delivered a welcoming speech to the trustee of the Kharkov University, who came to open the gymnasium, transformed from the Kursk provincial school. For the excellent execution of the assignment, the landowner “allowed Shch. to do whatever he wanted.” Shch immediately joined the Barsovs and in 1805 played the role of postman Andrei in the drama “Zoya”, not without success. For about twenty years he led a nomadic life, until, finally, in 1823 he was accepted onto the state stage, into the Moscow troupe, in the role of the first comedians. Before this, he played with enormous success in Poltava, where, with the assistance of Prince Repnin and with his financial assistance, he bought himself out of serfdom. In 1825, Shch made his debut in St. Petersburg, where he also amazed with his acting and became a general favorite, becoming acquainted with all the literary luminaries. Pushkin treated him with deep respect and convinced him to write “Notes”. Shch had a high, inimitable comic talent, combined with humor and amazing gaiety, unique to him.The performance of the roles of Famusov and Gogolevsky Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky was a true triumph of Shch’s talent. To the latter role, according to many eyewitnesses, the great artist gave, so to speak, the generic traits of a provincial; looking at him in this role, one might think that it was not the artist who played the role written by Gogol, but the creator of “The Inspector General” based his mayor on the performer. Despite his powerful talent, Shch worked on developing it with extraordinary energy, not trusting his inspiration, and often recreated the role, looking for features in the type and character that he had not previously noticed.“Living for Shch,” says S. T. Aksakov, “meant playing in the theater; to play meant to live.” The theater was for him a consolation in grief and even a healing agent. Many have witnessed how an artist went on stage completely ill and came off with her healthy. Like an amazing, almost perfect specimen,Shch had the most beneficial influence on the Moscow troupe; thanks to him she achieved perfection in her brilliant days. In addition to his acting, Shch delighted Muscovites with his masterful reading Gogol's works at literary evenings, which he organized since 1843.A man with a flexible mind, an ardent imagination, an unusually kind, friendly, excellent conversationalist, who knew Russia briefly, in his own words, from the palace to the lackey, he interested the entire flower of the intelligentsia of that time; a friend of A.S. Pushkin, A.I. Herzen, N.V. Gogol, V.G. Belinsky, T.G. Shevchenko, he largely determined the ideological and artistic positions of the Maly Theater. In 1855, the 50th anniversary of his service to the Russian stage was celebrated with great celebration. In 1863, on the advice of doctors, he left for the southern coast of Crimea and died on August 11, in Yalta.
“Notes and letters from Shch. ed. in Moscow in 1864"
III . Conversation on questions:
(SLIDE No. 6)
Let us remember which characters, besides the mayor Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, are still present in the comedy.
(children call: Ammos Fedorovich Lyapkin-Tyapkin, Artemy Filippovich Zemlyanika, Ivan Kuzmich Shpekin, Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestakov, etc.)
What rank does each of them have?
And to trace the hierarchy of comedy officials, let's turn to the Table of Ranks, introduced by Peter I in 1722
(SLIDE No. 7)
(We are looking at the “Table...”)
The officials in the "Inspector General" slowly and gradually moved up the stairs
"Table of Ranks", which, with clarifications, existed until 1917.
Each rank was provided with a specific suit, harness and clothing for servants.
Tell me, which of the heroes do we not see in this table? (Children call the mayor). Yes, exactly the mayor, and what this is connected with will be told to us by ___________________________________________, who prepared an answer to this question for us on the card.
Student's speech on the card
Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky is a mayor; Gogol does not indicate his rank, perhaps out of caution: he did not want to offend persons corresponding to his rank. Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, undoubtedly, did not rise to high ranks, but he was not “titular” either. It is possible that Gogol did not indicate the rank of mayor, wanting to say that the strength and power of the mayor, and therefore the burden for the population subject to him, is based not so much on the rank, but on the position, its lack of control...
So, we looked at the hierarchy of officials presented by Gogol in the comedy.
By the way, guys, remember what type of literature comedy belongs to?
What is the difference between drama and epic and lyric poetry? (Drama is at the intersection of two arts - literature and theater.)
What genres does drama fall into? (Tragedy, drama in the narrow sense, comedy)
Before we turn to the conversation about the first productions of The Inspector General, let's remember the features of Gogol's comedies:
The formula of Gogol's laughter is well known, name it. (Laughter through tears)
With the help of which artistic means Gogol achieves this effect? (hyperbole and grotesque)
Give an interpretation of these concepts.
(Hyperbola– artistic exaggeration of certain properties of the depicted object; Grotesque- everything is strange and funny.) (SLIDE No. 8)
Yes, it was with the help of these artistic means that the author wanted “...gather everything bad in Russia into one pile... and laugh at everything at once” (N.V. Gogol). But critics unanimously responded that the artistic meaning of the comedy is much broader and deeper, despite the fact that the plot that Gogol used for his comedy was not so original...
IV . Student's speech on the card:
The story about a minor official, whom the mayor and other officials of a small county town mistook for an auditor, formed the basis of the comedy G.F. Kvitka – Osnovyanenko “Traveler from the capital, or turmoil in a county town”, which was published in 1827 . One of his contemporaries says: “G.F. Kvitka-Osnovyanenko, having learned through rumors about the contents of The Inspector General, became indignant and began to eagerly await its appearance in print, and when the first copy of Gogol’s comedy was received in Kharkov, he called his friends to his house, first read his comedy, and then “The Inspector General”. The guests gasped in one voice and said that Gogol’s comedy was taken entirely from his plot.
The same story was described in the story by Al. Woltman's "Furious Roland"
(SLIDE No. 9)
PLAGIARISM, -A,m. Passing off someone else's work as your own or illegal publication of someone else's work under your own name, appropriation of authorship.
Let's remember:
Fabula- the main idea of the work, it is primary, does not belong to the author, he takes it in ready-made form: a legend, a parable, a fairy tale, i.e. it's short short story.
Plot– the history of reading the plot, unfolding the plot, history, the author’s story. This is the embodiment in the work of events in which conflict and characters are revealed.
The fundamental novelty of Gogol's comedy lies in the fact that the person who was accepted by officials as an important person did not intend to deceive anyone.
I ask you to pay attention to the epigraph today's lesson: "All ours life is theater, and the people in it are actors!” And to confirm these words, let’s remember where N.V. got it from. Gogol created a plot that served as the basis for the comedy. (Children say from life).
Indeed, the story that Nikolai Vasilyevich took as the basis for his comedy was told to the author A.S. Pushkin and had historical background: in 1835 it happened in the city of Ustyuzhny with Ivan Alekseevich Maksheev, the mayor of the city, who mistook a completely different person for an auditor.
Let's see with you how it all began
(View the first frames of the film adaptation of “The Inspector General.”)
(SLIDE No. 10)
SCREEN -ruyu, -ruesh; –anny;owls Andnesov., that. To film (to film) for showing in cinema, on television (play, performance) or to put (to lay) as the basis for creating a film (literary work).E. opera. E. novel, story.
noun film adaptation, -And,and. E. classics.
Now we have watched the first film adaptation of Gogol’s comedy, where actors Yuri Tolubeev (mayor) and Igor Gorbachev (Khlestakov) especially distinguished themselves. The critic Stepanov wrote that these actors were able to play in such a way that the audience understood: yes, this is what Gogol’s characters should be like.
But during Gogol’s lifetime, when it came to staging the play on stage, everything looked different...
VII . Work on the topic of the lesson. (SLIDE No. 11)
Student message
For the first time, the comedy “The Inspector General” was staged on the St. Petersburg stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater. She surprised the actors even during her first reading by the author. " What is it? Is this a comedy?” the listeners whispered to each other. To the participants in the performance it seemed difficult and incomprehensible.
Actor of the Alexandria Theater Grigoriev wrote: “...This play is still some kind of mystery for all of us...”. Being present at the rehearsals, Nikolai Vasilyevich saw the confusion in which the actors were: they were embarrassed by the unusual characters of the play - officials, the language of comedy, and most importantly - the absence of a love affair, there is only a covert parody of it, which affects everything: and the fact that Over the course of three appearances, Khlestakov falls to his knees, both in exclamations: “Oh, what a passage!”, and in Khlestakov’s pompous expressions.
from act 4, phenomena 12-15 (Khlestakov’s declaration of love)
However, unlike our actors, neither the majority of the Alexandria Theater nor the theater inspector Khrapovitsky attached due importance to the author’s advice and ignored his instructions. Subsequently, Gogol wrote that “the costume design for most of the play was very bad and caricatured.”
The only actor, Ivan Ivanovich Sosnitsky, who played the Mayor, suited Gogol. He truly captivated the audience in this role. Gogol also hoped for the actor Afanasyev, who played Osip and showed, according to the writer, “attention to words.” The performance of the brilliant vaudeville actor Nikolai Osipovich Duras in the role of Khlestakov was not a success. Instead of the lively, psychologically complex nature of Khlestakov, Dur brought a vaudeville scoundrel to the stage.
Yes, the actors at Alexandrinka did not appreciate or understand the social content of the play. And yet, despite the fact that only two of the actors satisfied Gogol, The Inspector General made a stunning impression on the public. And the day of the first production - April 19, 1836 - became a great day for the Russian theater.
(SLIDE No. 12)
Now, pay attention to the blank tables that are on your desks (Appendix 1). Let's fill them in:
Khrapovitsky
The role of Khlestakov
Nikolai Osipovich Dur
The role of the Mayor
Ivan Ivanovich Sosnitsky
The role of Osip
Afanasiev
Result
This premiere was attended by Emperor Nicholas I, who was pleased with the performance: “The play is very funny, just an intolerable curse on the nobles, officials, and merchants,” this is how he assessed the performance. One of the chroniclers wrote about the performance: “the success was colossal, the audience laughed until they dropped and were very pleased with the performance.” The Emperor, leaving, said: “Everyone got it here, but most of all I.” He spoke this way because he did not understand the enormous power that was exposing it, just as neither the actors nor the theater management understood it at first.
After the premiere at the Alexandria Theater, Gogol’s mood changed: he sent the play to our fellow countryman M.S. Shchepkin, who was then working in Moscow:
Dramatization (SLIDE No. 13)
N.V. Gogol - M.S. Shchepkin 1836, St. Petersburg. April 29. (to Moscow)
Finally, I am writing to you, most priceless Mikhail Semyonovich... I am sending you “The Inspector General”. Maybe you've already heard rumors about him... Do it. whatever you want with my play, I won’t bother with it. I'm just as tired of her as I am of worrying about her. The action she performed was large and noisy. Everything is against me. Officials, elderly and respectable, shout that nothing is sacred to me when I dared to speak like that about serving people. The police are against me, the merchants are against me, the writers are against me. They scold and go to the play; It is impossible to get tickets for the fourth performance. If it were not for the high intercession of the sovereign, my play would never have been on stage, and there were already people trying to ban it. Now I see what it means to be a comic writer...
Farewell. I hug you from the bottom of my heart and ask you not to forget your old fellow countryman, who loved you a lot.
M. S. Shchepkin - N. V. Gogol. (May 7, 1836. From Moscow to St. Petersburg).
Your Majesty! Nikolay Vasilievich! I received several copies of the letter and The Inspector General... I thank you from the bottom of my heart for The Inspector General, not as a book, but as a comedy, which, so to speak, fulfilled all my hopes, and I completely came to life. I haven’t felt such joy for a long time... and now just about “The Inspector General”; Is it not a sin for you to leave him to the mercy of fate, and where? in Moscow, which is so cordially waiting for you... Mikhail Nikolaevich Zagoskin, thanking you for the copy, said that he would write to you, and also instructed me to notify you that it would be very pleasant for him if you came so that he could, completely with your desire, do everything necessary to stage the play. On the part of the public, the more angry they are with you, the more I will rejoice, because this will mean that they share my opinion about comedy and you have achieved your goal. You yourself know better than anyone that your play, more than any other, requires that you read it to our superiors and those in action. You know this and don't want to come. God with you! You may be tired of her, but you have to do it for the comedy; you must do this in good conscience; you must do this for Moscow, for the people who love you and take an active part in “The Inspector General”.
N.V.Gogol-M.S.Shchepkin (1836, May St. Petersburg to Moscow)
I forgot, dear Mikhail Semenovich, to tell you some preliminary remarks about “The Inspector General”. Firstly, you must certainly, out of friendship for me, take upon yourself the entire matter of staging it. I don’t know any of your actors, what kind and what each of them is good at. But you can know this better than anyone else. You yourself, without a doubt, must take on the role of mayor, otherwise it will disappear without you. There is an even more difficult role in the entire play - the role of Khlestakov. I don't know if you will choose an artist for it.
So, Gogol was asked to come to Moscow and begin rehearsals, but this did not happen. However, he corresponded with Shchepkin and shared his thoughts about the production.
The premiere of the comedy was to take place at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow on May 24, 1836. The presentation program had already been printed. But due to the renovation of the Bolshoi Theater, the performance took place the next day in the Moscow Art Theater building(SLIDE No. 14)
Student message:
On May 25, 1836, the premiere of “The Inspector General” took place at the Moscow Art Theater. Only part of the audience attended the performance: aristocrats from secular drawing rooms, unable to appreciate the comedy.
Shchepkin was not satisfied with either the actors’ performance or his own. In a letter to Gogol, he explained the audience’s indifference to comedy as follows: “Have mercy,” he says, “how could it be better to accept when half the public is taking, and half is giving.
Subsequent performances were a success. But the performance of the performers in the role of Khlestakov did not suit Gogol either in St. Petersburg or in Moscow, since he was usually played as a theatrical rake. Nikolai Vasilyevich said that with such a game the play loses its meaning.
But sooner or later, a “ray of light” necessarily penetrates “ dark kingdom" And after Gogol’s death the situation changes for the better, since ideological meaning the play was solved:
Student message (SLIDE #15)
One of best performers The actor Mikhail Provovich Sadovsky was considered to play the role of Khlestakov in the Maly Theater. In 1884 A.N. Ostrovsky wrote about him: “Sadovsky portrays Khlestakov with such truth...” The actor saw Khlestakov as a naive youth, and Maly actor Nikolai Vasiliev gave the same interpretation. (SLIDE No. 16)
In 1921, the role of Khlestakov on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater was played by Mikhail Chekhov, and the play was staged by Konstantin Sergeevich Stanislavsky. The offensiveness of Chekhov's Khlestakov, his shrill, strange self-aggrandizement, his intoxication with the role significant person, as well as a frantic cry: “I’m everywhere! Everywhere!”, revealed what could have been heard from the stage only in connection with the wide disclosure of the image of the main character: the author’s thought about Khlestakovism in Russian life.
And in 1926, Erast Garin played this role in a unique and significant way in the theater of Vsevolod Emilievich Meyerhold. The production was distinguished by the fact that the comedy was played according to a specially compiled text, which was based on all six editions of the comedy. Additional lines and even new characters from Gogol's works were introduced into the performance. The play was played as if against the backdrop of Dead Souls. Instead of a comedy, Meyerhold staged a tragedy.
In the productions of 1938 and 1949 at the Maly Theater, Igor Vladimirovich Ilyinsky distinguished himself with his acting.
Let's also record the information received in our table:
1884 1921
1938, 1949
Stage director
N.V. Gogol.
Khrapovitsky
N.V. Gogol - consultant
Konstantin Sergeevich
Stanislavsky
The role of Khlestakov
Nikolai Osipovich Dur
M. P. Sadovsky
N.O.Vasiliev
I.V. Ilyinsky
Erast Garin
The role of the Mayor
Ivan Ivanovich Sosnitsky
M.S. Shchepkin
The role of Osip
Afanasiev
Result
Failure; success
(SLIDE No. 17) Among modern productions the production of Georgy Alexandrovich Tovstonogov at the Leningrad Bolshoi was a great success Drama Theater named after Gorky, where the main roles were played by Oleg Basilashvili, Sergei Yursky, Innokenty Smoktunovsky.
So, let's make the last entry in our table (SLIDE No. 18)
1884 1921
1938, 1949
Stage director
N.V. Gogol.
Khrapovitsky
N.V. Gogol - consultant
Konstantin Sergeevich
Stanislavsky
Meyerhold Vsevolod Emilievich
Tovstonogov
The role of Khlestakov
Nikolai Osipovich Dur
M. P. Sadovsky
N.O.Vasiliev
I.V. Ilyinsky
Erast Garin
Oleg Basilashvili
The role of the Mayor
Ivan Ivanovich Sosnitsky
M.S. Shchepkin
Innokenty Smoktunovsky
The role of Osip
Afanasiev
Sergey Yursky
Result
Failure; success
VIII Lesson summary. Reflection.
Complete the sentence: “Today in class I learned...”
Name the new words learned in class
Guys, my dears,
I want to tell you now,
That you should definitely become interested in theater.
After all, this is the level for you,
Reliable indicator
When it's not stupidity on your mind,
And there's a writer on my mind.
When you know about those
Who rules the stage in the world,
How the theater is developing
How is the rehearsal going?
And I will be very proud
When in a conversation with a friend
Someone will support the topic of the day
From cultural news.
When the boys, seeing off
Girls in the evenings
They will tell: Gogol and Shchepkin
They were friends after all.
Let the lesson not be in vain,
And being in the capitals,
Let it pass before your eyes
The lesson is on your faces.
And you will understand only then
That our life is open spaces,
What is our life? Grand Theatre,
And the people in it are actors.
IX . Homework:
Write a miniature essay on the topic: “What do I know about the first productions of the comedy “The Inspector General” on Russian stages.” (use the tables completed in class)
Performance "The Inspector General"
Mayor – Alekhina Anastasia
Anna Andreevna (mayor's wife) -
Marya Antonovna (daughter of the mayor) -
Lyapkin-Tyapkin Ammos Fedorovich -
Strawberries Artemy Filippovich -
Osip –
Khlestakov –
Bobchinsky –
Dobchinsky –
Servant-
Gendarme -
Scene 1. The mayor's room.
Gore: . I invited you, gentlemen, in order to tell you some very unpleasant news: an auditor is coming to visit us.
Lyapkin-Tyapkin . How's the auditor?
Strawberries. How's the auditor?
Gor. Inspector from St. Petersburg, incognito! And with a secret order.
L.-T . Here you go!
Zem . There was no concern, so give it up!
Go R. Here I will read you a letter from Andrei Ivanovich Chmykhov, this is what he writes: “Dear friend, godfather and benefactor... (runs through the lines, muttering indistinctly) and notify you... Ah! Here...I hasten, by the way, to notify you that an official has arrived with orders to inspect the entire province and especially our district! Since I know that you are prone to sins, I advise you to take precautions, because he can arrive at any hour, unless he has already arrived and lives somewhere incognito... This is the circumstance...
L.-T. Yes, this is such an unusual circumstance...
Earth Why, Anton Antonovich, why is this? Why do we need an auditor?
Gore . For what? So, apparently it’s fate!
Earth No, I’ll tell you, the bosses are far away for nothing, but they’re messing with themselves.
Gor. It shakes, it doesn’t shake, I warned you, gentlemen! Artemy Filippovich! Charitable establishments will definitely want to take a look! So that patients have clean caps!
Earth You can also wear clean ones!
Gor. And it’s not good that you have no idea who got sick when, what kind of disease it is.
Earth We have our own measures regarding healing: if he dies, he will die, he will recover, he will recover.
Gore . Oh, and I imposed myself - incognito is a curse! Suddenly he looks in: “Oh, you’re here, my dears!” That's what's bad!
Scene 2. Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky appear.
Bean . Emergency!
Ext. . Unexpected news!
All. What?
Ext. . We arrive at the hotel...
Bean . (interrupting) Eh, let me, Pyotr Ivanovich, I’ll tell you.
Ext. . And you will get confused and not remember everything...
Bean . I’ll remember, don’t bother me, let me tell you! Tell him, gentlemen, not to interfere!
Gor. Yes, tell me, for God’s sake, what it is! My heart is not in the right place.
Music plays, they explain and leave.
Anna Andr. Where are they? Oh my god! Antosha! Anton! (to his daughter) And everything is you, and everything is behind you! “I have a pin, I have a scarf...” (shouting out the window) Anton, where? What, have you arrived? Auditor? With a mustache?
Anna Andr. After? Here's the news - after! But I don’t want to after...I just have one word: what is he, colonel? A? (with disdain) Left! I'll remember this for you! And all this: “Mommy, wait, I’ll pin the scarf in the back, I’ll be right there!” Here you go now! So you didn’t learn anything! And all the damned coquetry!
Marya Ant. But what can we do, mummy? We'll find out everything in two hours anyway!
Scene 4.
Whip. Hello, brother! Well, are you healthy?
Servant . And thank God, everything is fine!
Whip. Are there a lot of people passing by?
Servant. Enough!
Whip . Listen, my dear, they still haven’t brought me lunch there, so please hurry up and make it as soon as possible!
(servant leaves)
Scene 5.
Gor. I wish you good health!
Whip. (bowing) My respects...
Gor. Sorry..
Hest . Nothing.
Gor. It is my duty, as the mayor of this city, to ensure that travelers and all noble people are not harassed.
Whip. So what can we do? I’ll really pay honestly... They’ll send me something from the village... He’s more to blame, he serves me beef like a log, he starved me for days on end... why should I! How dare you? Yes, here I am... I serve in St. Petersburg... I... I...
Gore . (to the side) Oh, my God, my God, so angry! I found out everything, the damned merchants told me everything! Have mercy, don't destroy! Wife, small children, don’t make a person unhappy!
Whip. I don't know, I'll pay, but I don't have a penny yet.
Gor. (to the side) Oh! Subtle thing! If you need money or anything else, then I am ready to serve this minute. My duty is to help those passing by.
Gore . (aside) Well, thank God! He took the money. Things will go smoothly now. I gave him 400 instead of 200.
Is paying
(postmaster runs in)
Scene 6.
Poch. Amazing thing, gentlemen! The official whom we took for an auditor was not an auditor.
All Why not an auditor?
Poch . Not an auditor at all - I learned this from the letter.
Gor. What do you? What do you? From which letter?
Poch . Yes, from his own letter. They brought a letter to my post office... I took it and printed it out. I don’t know, it was an unnatural force that prompted me. In one ear I hear: “Print it out, print it out!”, and in the other ear: “Don’t print it out, you’ll be lost!”
Gore . And what?
Poch. The fact of the matter is that he, this imaginary auditor, is neither this nor that!
Gor. Neither this nor that? How dare you call him neither this nor that?
All. Read.
Poch. (reads) I hasten to notify you, my soul Tryapichkin, what miracles are happening to me. On the road, an infantry captain robbed me all around, so that the innkeeper was about to put me in prison, when suddenly, based on my St. Petersburg physiognomy and costume, the whole city took me for the governor general. And now I live with the mayor, dragging myself around, and his wife and daughter; I just couldn’t decide where to start... Everyone lends me as much as they want. The originals are terrible. You'd die laughing. You, I know, write articles: put them in your literature. Firstly, the mayor is as stupid as a gray gelding...”
Gor. Can't be! It's not there.
Poch. Read for yourself.
(gendarme enters)
G. An official who arrived from St. Petersburg by personal order demands you to come to him this very hour. He stayed at a hotel.
(the sound of thunder, a sigh and everyone turning to stone)
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