Сhekhov Is Being Staged by “Fomenki”: A Twenty-Year Path to the Classics

The article discusses three productions based on the plays of A.P. Chekhov at the theater of the Peter Fomenko Workshop. The purpose of this article is to show the process of precoding a literary text into the language of a stage text using the example of productions by three directors of one of the leading Moscow theaters of the 21st century. How far do directors go from the author’s text in their interpretation and adaptation of a verbal work to spectacular theatrical art? In Peter Fomenko’s Workshop, classics are treated with respect: the text is not reinterpreted, but carefully read, accents are placed so that the author’s voice from the past resonates in the present. They went to Chekhov in this theater slowly: at first there were “Sketches on the way to the performance” – this is how the master himself, Peter Naumovich Fomenko, designated the genre of his first Chekhov play based on “Three Sisters” (2004). The next performance of Chekhov’s “The Seagull” was staged 15 years later by Kirill Pirogov, an actor and follower of Fomenko. And in 2023, Ivan Popovski, a director from Macedonia, a student and also a follower of Peter Naumovich, staged Chekhov’s third play based on the play “The Cherry Orchard”. All three performances, whose stage life has stretched over almost twenty years, are very different. A metatextual reading characterizes Pyotr Fomenko’s production. Stylization is the main principle of organizing the stage text based on the play “The Seagull”. In the third performance, the role of the stage directions in the comedy “The Cherry Orchard” is updated and elevated to the level of a symbol. A metatextual reading characterizes Pyotr Fomenko’s production. Stylization is the main principle of organizing the stage text based on the play “The Seagull”. In the third performance, the role of the stage directions in the comedy “The Cherry Orchard” is updated and elevated to the level of a symbol. Аt the same time, they are united not only by the acting ensemble formed by the master, but also, in our opinion, the conceptual task of building harmony between the theater and the author’s text.