The performance "Dad" based on a play by David Decca Dubai audience intended to see at Christmas at the end of last year. But something changed there among the organizers, and the long-awaited theatrical premiere with the participation of Russian theater and cinema stars Mikhail Politsimako and Evgeny Tsyganov was shown on the stage of The First Group Madinat Theater only in early March. And although the matter, according to the plot of the play, takes place on Christmas night, the topic of communication between fathers and children does not cease to be relevant from this.
According to the already established tradition, we met with the actors before the performance and talked about the characters of the characters, the play itself and even the vicissitudes of fate. Most of all, I was pleased that Yevgeny Tsyganov, who, according to Elshan Mammadov, producer of the Independent Theater Project, "usually doesn’t very willingly communicate with the press," gave his consent to participate in the interview. In a word, we were lucky. However, the first question was addressed to Elshan Mammadov.
Elshan, how did you decide to stage the play "Dad"?
You know, it must have been some kind of sign. I was once again in Paris and accidentally saw a poster that today is the play "Dad." Moreover, that day he walked for the last time, it was closed. I don’t know what pushed me, but I went to see. I usually believe in such signs. Over or not, it is not for us to judge. In general, the performance hit me, and I realized that we had no such topic yet. Believe me, I read tons of plays, and very rarely really original ideas come across.
Mikhail, Eugene, you came to Dubai for the first time not to rest, but to work with the play “Daddies”. How close are the images of your heroes?
M.P .: I had a similar situation in life. True, I am different from my hero. But I had a period when it was difficult for me to communicate with my son from my first marriage, he is now eight years old. By the way, he takes part in our performance, voicing the role of the son of the hero Zhenya. The topic of divorce and prohibition of communication with my son is very close to me. What can not be said about Eugene.
Eugene, you are well known to the audience for their roles in the cinema, so far you have not had the opportunity to see you in the theater, living in Dubai. Tell me, please, how do you work on the same stage with such a partner as Mikhail Policeitsimako?
E.Ts .: Perfectly.
M.P .: Our duet is, in general, the merit of the director Victor Shamirov and Elshan, who found this play ... 
E.Ts .: In fact, for Mikhail, who no longer works in the theater, but plays in the entreprise of the "Independent Theater Project", this was the solution. It was easier for me, I still serve in the Pyotr Fomenko Theater. I had six months free, and I received an invitation from Victor and Elshan, whom I have known for a long time, and I respect Victor very much as a director. I agreed. Before Michael, we were practically unfamiliar with this story. And when we three sat down - Mikhail, Victor and I, we decided to read the play and try what happens. As we read it, we began to rewrite it. It took almost three months, since the play was French, and we needed to relate many moments to Russian reality - for example, communication with lawyers, psychoanalysts and so on. Initially, we were not sure that the viewer would perceive the play as something of its own, native. But the public in Russia took Papash well. The hall laughs, cries ...
M.P .: Yes, we have already said that, despite the fact that the play takes place in Paris, this story could happen in any European city.
EM.: I believe that adaptation of the plays is simply necessary, otherwise the viewer perceives the performance as a spectacle, but there is no emotion. And then it turns out not a theater, but a cinema. We all predicted interest as a local topic. And when we invited a famous psychologist to the premiere in Moscow, she went out and said: “Oddly enough, but with this performance you hit the interests of a very wide audience.” Young people perceive this performance very well, although the young guys are not yet married, and the girls are not married ... They have no children.
Maybe the play “Daddy” helps to understand how “not to step on this rake”?
M.P .: Yes, the hall is connecting to us. There is no one indifferent among the audience ....
E.Ts .: We do not provoke the audience to laughter or tears, we just lose the situation offered to us, and those who are close to her react sharply to it.
EM.: Usually all the stories of divorces are shown from the point of view of female psychology, cases in cinema and in books when the point of view of men is considered are extremely rare. You can count on fingers, these are the pictures "Kramer vs. Kramer", "Crew", and, perhaps, "Office Romance", where Novoseltsev has "boy and boy." And then a little different application of this topic. Nowadays there are many single fathers ...
In how many cities and countries have you seen Dad?
M.P .: Countries! While in such as the "country of Volgograd" ...
E.Ts .: "Country" Samara, "country" St. Petersburg ...
M.P .: Now here is the country of Dubai. This is a new performance. You are one of the first viewers to see him. In fact, it does not matter which country, what kind of viewer is important. If you come to a city in Russia and know that there is a theatrical audience, it’s easy for you. For example, the very theatrical city of Yekaterinburg, the crazy theatrical Vladivostok, Samara ....
E.Ts .: We started playing Dad only in September, so your opinion would be interesting to us. We had a moment when we played in Volgograd, and there was a complete feeling that people came to the concert - they got up, talked, walked around the hall. It took us a while to silence them and start listening. My little daughter is growing and when she asks me: “Dad, where are you going to go?”, I reply to her: “Treat people.” Then she asks: “Do you work for me as a doctor?” And I say to her: “Yes, as a doctor.” I don’t know why I told her so for the first time, but when we were in Volgograd, I realized that we were working as doctors with Mikhail. Because people who grew up near televisions with popcorn in their hands need to, in a sense, really be treated.
M.P .: For example, I’m very interested in how much the audience in Dubai has changed. Because when my wife and I arrived here for the first time, our colleagues played the Boeing Boeing performance here. And then, sitting in the auditorium, it seemed to me that the guys work hard. Children also ran around in the hall, mobile phones rang. But Boeing had a slightly different genre.
EM.: At Boeing, and I had the feeling that half of the hall was generally in the theater for the first time. When I flew to Dubai for the second time to the play “The Truth”, the reaction of the audience was qualitatively different. And by the way, when they say that the theater educates, I always object to the words of Stanislavsky that "theater is entertainment." But when you feel that the spectator is changing from performance to performance, you begin to believe in the educational function of the theater. E.Ts .: In fact, everything always develops differently. It happens that went, and sometimes - no. There is a certain intrigue for us today.
M.P .: It seems to me that if you don’t read books, don’t go to the theater, just don’t think sometimes, even in such a beautiful and prosperous country as the Emirates, you can degrade very quickly. You must listen to music, go to concerts. It is as necessary as nutrition, as well as health care. Otherwise, you will not even notice the moment when emptiness comes .... You need to always find something new in yourself.
All men remain inside children. You play daddies, maybe among the scenery surrounding you, are there those toys that you once wanted to have in childhood?
M.P .: Our scenery was invented by the director, but this yellow machine, of course, Zhenya. I had such a small robot at the very beginning, but then the director seized it, but left me a red car. I like the crane too.
E.Ts .: We have a theater, and we are still looking for answers to some questions that interest us, so it will be interesting for us to hear your opinion about the performance. He is alive, we always change something in him, think out something and add something, and toys too. So, we do not say goodbye, but simply go to the stage with which we will talk with you for an hour and a half.
And then there was laughter, and tears, and songs, and even the “Dance of the Sick Bird”, as his child called it, but in fact Saint-Saëns “Dying Swan” brilliantly performed by Mikhail Policeitsamako. Acute questions were asked about lies, about love, about hate. And, ultimately, about childhood and about how it is seen by us, adults, consciously or, without knowing it, spoiling life for each other and not sparing our own children. Clever play. Philosophical. Infused with subtle humor. Brilliant acting tandem. Bravo! And, for the umpteenth time, thanks to the "Independent Theater Project" and the Stars Dome Group ... The theater does not educate, it still heals. Thanks to everyone. A curtain.
From the announcement of the play:
"On Christmas Eve, fleeing from loneliness, newly made friends come up with a holiday. They dress up a Christmas tree, set the table, dress up in Santa Claus. What can two young and healthy men talk about at the bachelor party over a bottle of alcohol? About women? Of course. About Don Juan adventures? Of course. But not only. They became victims of divorce.
Both have one problem - the child. How to win the right to see him, communicate without any legal obstacles? The idea of the holiday is to drink champagne at midnight, call your child and wish him a Merry Christmas. But the call to the six-year-old son of one of the heroes shockes both - the child is alone at home ... “Daddies” is an original development of the theme, which was announced in Ladies'Night. Only for women and continued in the play “The Truth” and “ Savage Forever ": the world through the eyes of men, the world through male psychology."
