These words belong to Gunther (Oleg Menshikov), a character from the performance "Kitchen" premiered in Kiev on November 17 and 18, 2000. The premiere took place in the former October Palace (by the way, the part of "East – West" was shot there. Remember, Mary's arrival to Sasha in Odessa? He found and called her, and they stood watching the Odessa Port? But it's a trick. At that time they were standing on the observation ground of the very former October Palace situated in Kiev.)
Oleg Menshikov came to Kiev on November 15. He arrived in the International Airport "Borispol" where journalists were welcoming him. This event was shown in the evening news program of a local TV channel. O. M. was met with questions and flowers. He was smiling and very nice, but nothing precise was said as usual. He looked good: fresh and magnificent. It made me happy because the previous appearance O. M. made in the TV program "Kinescope" on the RTR channel frightened me a little, where he looked too weary. I think it was the evidence of the hard work: the withdrawal of "Woe From Wit" (a play by Griboedov) and the rehearsals of a new performance.
The news program informed that O. Menshikov's parents would be present at the premiere.
Strange and striking words. I don't even know why they have engraved on my memory so clearly. "Kitchen" is filled with such phrases: strikingly simple and astonishingly confusing. The whole performance is like that – odd, intricate, sometimes you understand nothing and sometimes on the contrary: everything is easy and clear as noonday. Love, friendship, devotion and betrayal; intelligence and stupidity, beauty and ugliness; strength and weakness, all-forgiveness and vindictiveness at the same time. These feelings you can watch in the play. Mix… yes, yes, yes. The mix of feelings and events, people and times – this is the play in my opinion. "Kitchen" is the title given on purpose. Everything is combined, it's not always delicious, sometimes it's hard to understand what it was made or moulded from. Chaos… and at the same time, you can recognize yourself in it, that's us, that's our life.
Yes, it's very hard to describe the impression. It's better to go and see this performance yourself.
But I just can't keep silence. I want to share it with you.
"Why is it easier to fulfill a dream of the whole mankind, than a dream of one person...?"
The mixture of historical pictures reminds me of "Master and Margarita" (by M. Bulgakov). Here we have the present days and here we have the past. "Kriemhild (Oksana Mysina) has already embroidered the cross…", this cross embroidered on the king Siegfried's (Nikita Tatarenkov) shirt will become the cause of his death, and it reminds me of Bulgakov's "Annushka has already spilt the oil…"
There are a lot of unknown actors (but just for me) in the performance: Galina Petrova, Eugenia Dmitrieva, Anna Dubrovskaya, Lidia Savchenko, Gennady Galkin, Tatiana Rudina, Sergey Medvedev, Alexander Kozlov, Oksana Mysina (one of the main characters – nice, I remembered her very well), Alexey Zavjyalov and Dmitry Mukhamadeev, Alexey Kabeshev, Anatoly Bely. But the names of Nikita Tatarenkov (as Siegfried), Alexey Gorbunov (as Hagen), Alexander Sirin (as Cook) and … Oleg Menshikov (as Gunther) are famous enough.
Nikita Tatarenkov played very well! He is young, but seems to be incredibly talented! His work onstage is unforgettable.
Ticket information: Oleg Menshikov – production, Maxim Kurochkin – writer, Galina Dubovskaya - director, Alexander Popov – art director, Boris Grebenschikov – composer, Igor Chapurin – costume designer, Valery Chekhlyaev – producer.
Frankly speaking, there were a lot of funny episodes in the play and the audience responded all the time. In the performance there was humor of our today's life and problems.
I'm not going to retell you the plot, I just can't do it. I'd like to tell that the events take place at the kitchen of a modern house, but from time to time, suddenly, the spectators find themselves in the Old German past, but instantly you realize it's a game, that's us in the masks, playing; everything is happening close to us, just look around carefully.
The performance began at 7 p. m. and finished at about 10.30 p. m. The play consisted of two parts. The audience gave a long standing ovation. And of course, there were shouts "BRAVO" to HIM. O. M. was right in an interview, when he said that people came to see HIM first of all. And it wasn't self-praise. He is incredibly talented! His talent is a gift of God. His voice and each move are a pleasure to hear and watch. "I have to try hard in order to play badly" - these are Oleg's words about himself… and he is right, it's true. He is unable to be insincere in his roles. The great actor!!!
There were a lot of flowers from fans (Oleg gathered all the ladies' flowers himself), as well as a beautiful bunch from the sponsor.
Maxim Kurochkin, the playwright, came onstage at the end of the performance.
The actors played as if it was the 100th performance not the premiere. I had a feeling of being at the real kitchen not in the theatre. Good work! Well done!
I'd like to say that the play is criticized in Kiev. But I haven't heard that myself yet. I haven't developed my final opinion and I don't have a single impression yet. And I must admit that the public wasn't greatly impressed but was greatly surprised . As for me I long to watch the play once again. As for me I always like O. Menshikov, in any role. I think that my opinion is not very objective, but I wanted to share it with you.
I made an attempt to show you my point of view, to show you the spirit of the performance. The way I saw it … chaos, like our life… but it's just a first impression.

A few days after the performance, some ideas...

It's been a few days since the performance "Kitchen" and I think I finally realized what Menshikov wanted to say to us. He wanted to tell the truth about us. And the following words helped me to realize that…
In the second act Gunther-Menshikov says, "Far away from here there is a country where people made it a tradition to tell each other the truth in a kitchen. If I ever visit this country and find myself in a kitchen, I'll feel like telling the truth about how King Siegfried died".
And then a very wise thing was said by Menshikov's stage wife Brunhild, "I'll tell you a secret - while listening to my husband, think your own thoughts over, and then you'll understand what he is talking about". That's IT, the most important thing. Oleg Menshikov tells us to listen but think about our own problems and everything will become clear. Think about life and people around you. Everything is near. Lead your life and do it properly not to suffer in future that you lived in vain and if… it were possible to start it all over again, then… Oleg Menshikov shows us that it should not be this way. One should see himself now and help, think and act honestly.