With this performance about the fate of Abram, a merchant from Tulchin, and his son David, a brilliant violinist who went through the pre-war years and died during the war, the Sovremennik Theater was supposed to open in 1958. But the premiere did not take place by decision of the authorities and took place only in 1988 on the stage of the Studio Theater under the direction of Oleg Tabakov.
The play “The Sailor’s Silence” has been on the Tabakerka poster since 1988, and all these years the main character, the merchant Abram Schwartz, has been played by Vladimir Mashkov. People’s Artist of Russia, artistic director of the Moscow Theater Oleg Tabakov, opening the exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary History of Russia, recalled how the performance in “Tabakerka” began.
– We were sure that the main role would be played by Oleg Pavlovich himself. But he unexpectedly invited me, 23 years old, to play the old employee Schwartz. He was completely confused, confident that he could not master this image, but Oleg Pavlovich led me by the hand through the jungle of my inner suffering. And after the applause died down at the premiere, he told us all behind the closed curtain: “Well, guys, this is our story now.”
“The work itself and the work on the role of Abram Schwartz at the hands of Tabakov turned me into an artist,” Vladimir Mashkov told the guests at the opening. – Yesterday we played the first “Sailor’s Silence” of this season. The audience at the end of the performance, as always happens, gave us a standing ovation, many had tears in their eyes…
The joint project of the Museum of Contemporary History of Russia and the Moscow Theater of Oleg Tabakov “My Great Land” – this was the second title of Galich’s work – shows in a modern multimedia format the history of our country from the NEP to war times. immerses us in the era through the prism of the events that unfold in the play “Matrosskaya silence.” The exhibition includes photographs, documents, paintings, posters, costumes, plates and multimedia materials that reflect the lives of people in the first half of the 20th century. The exhibition takes us back in time, allowing us to feel the spirit of the Jewish shtetls, the New Economic Policy, which recalls the era of mass repressions, industrialization, collectivization and the Great Patriotic War. Exhibits for the exhibition, including props from the play, a copy of the play that belonged to Alexander Galich and other objects, were provided by, among others, RGALI and Oleg Tabakov’s Moscow Theatre.
“This year two dates have come together: the 35th anniversary of the premiere of “The Sailor’s Silence” on the stage of our theater and the 105th birthday of Alexander Galich,” said Vladimir Mashkov at the conclusion of his speech at the opening. “This coincidence reminds us once again of the country in which we live, full of contradictions, full of great victories and tragedies. And let’s not forget the words of Oleg Pavlovich Tabakov: the meaning of life is that life does not end with you.
