In the end of April “The Demon” visited the stage “under roof” of the Mossovet Theatre twice – the first public shows of the new production of Oleg Menshikov’s Theatrical Company 814, which is to premiere in September. However, the run-through gathered such a cream of the artistic elite, that any other premiere could envy – Petr Fomenko and Nikita Mikhalkov (both are meaningful directors in Menshikov’s life), Ludmila Maksakova and Irina Antonova, Andrei Voznesensky and Edward Radzinsky.

Oleg Menshikov always takes risk, no matter what play he chooses for every new production of his Company – be it popular classics (“Woe From Wit” or “The Gamblers” – just try something new with it), or modern “Kitchen” (and how shall these new plays be staged?), and now “The Demon”, which up to now has never “descended” on the dramatic stage.
Even before the premiere the level of the crew could hardly be underestimated. As choreographer they invited the creator of the troupe named “Class of Expressive Plastics” Gennady Abramov with his fearless gutta-percha team (they play a kind of celestial “untouchables” – suite of the Demon). The score was composed by Alexander Bakshi, the connoisseur of the rarest musical instruments and the collector of infernal cosmic sounds – “the music of spheres”, so to say. The production is sponsored by the National Reserve bank, who is famous in the theatre circles by its support of Petr Fomenko Studio for many years. But in the beginning there was director Kirill Serebrennikov, who guessed so precisely how well this cosmic and biblical character – “the melancholy Demon”, “exile of Paradise”, his cosmic solitude, great pride and the desire to love as no one on Earth – will “fit” Oleg Menshikov.
You can’t but admit Serebrennikov’s rich imagination, but he can hardly be praised for integrity. His “Demon”, as in the zone of turbulence, now shoots up and gifts with the deepest emotions, but then dives into some formal boons, the first sacrifices to which are the melody and harmony of Lermontov’s verse. Many directors today try to extract dramatic opportunities from the text itself and disintegrate the phrases and separate words as towers of bricks. But in “The Demon’s” case such combinations at times simply torture the ear.
But anyway “The Demon” strikes to the memory not for these reasons. Wonderful is the scene of the duel between, say, inexorable retributive Good in a sterile white uniform (perfectly performed by Anatoly Beliy and personified first in Tamara’s fiancee and later in the Angel, taking her soul) and the Demon – live, burning as plasma, vulnerable and desperately in love. The decision of “the rise to Heaven” is perfect: the Angel’s wings here are massive climbing leggings, and the rise itself is a hard and sweaty ascent on the vertical rock in the dead silence. And the climax of the performance is the Demon’s oath to Tamara (Natalia Shvets). He doesn’t simply swear with the best and the worst in the world and in himself, but rather self-crucifies: having turned his back on the piano, strikes the keys in full strength as if pins his hands on pegs.
With the second performance in a row (following “Sweet Bird of Youth” starring Marina Neyolova in the “Sovremennik”) Kirill Serebrennikov does a great job – helps a magnificent actor give birth to the role, equal to his gift.