Marina Lukanina «Farewell to You, You, You…»

Passport 31.10.2010

The Moscow Young Generation Theatre opened its current season with Farewell to You, You, You… on October 2nd. The play is based on a story by the Belgian playwright, Fernand Crommelynck, called Hot and Cold, or Mr. Dom’s Idea. Henrietta Yanovskaya is directing this play for the first time on the professional stage.

The international reputation of Fernand Crommelynck was established in 1922 when the well-known Russian theatre director, Vsevolod Meyerhold, staged his most important and subsequently most popular play, The Magnanimous Cuckold, in Moscow.

The main character of the play, Leona, is an independent, self-confident woman. She feels in control of her own life as well as the feelings and emotions of other people. She is married to an elderly, respectable man who bores her. After he dies, she learns of a mystery that turns her world upside down and makes her doubt her own resilience.

In this skillfully-directed play, each aspect of the performance—the light and set design, actors’ mise-en-scènes, the tone and strength of the voices—seamlessly contributes to the overall ideas of loneliness and despair, loyalty and uncertainty. Farce with tragic overtones and drama depicting human folly are typical for Crommelynck’s plays. This is no exception.

If you are looking for light-hearted entertainment for a family outing on a Saturday night, this is probably not the best performance to choose. However, if you are willing to experience a complex drama that will make you think, and which has a distinct directing style, well-staged dialogue and superb acting, then you should definitely consider this new play at the Moscow Young Generation Theatre.