Semyon Sakseev’s Stage Version of “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” Staged by Pyotr Shereshevsky

The article examines N. Leskov’s novel “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” and the setting based on it, performed by Peter Shereshevsky at the Novosibirsk State Academic Drama Theater “Red Torch”. The research methodology is based on a hermeneutical approach, as well as on comparative analysis techniques. As a result of the analysis, the naturalistic intention of the production was established, which required the genre form of the essay which the writer initially chose for his text. The resulting realistic nature of the work is also shown, correlating an impartial depiction of life with the obligatory horizon of the ideal. The psychology of the main Leskov’s character is interpreted as one of the manifestations of the Russian national character, when the human soul is engulfed by an all-consuming passion. The article shows the author’s change in the staging by Semyon Sakseev of the original concept of the story, carried out by substituting the motivations of the main character. In Leskov’s novel, Katerina Izmailova succumbs to passion, pushing her to commit crimes, against the background of childlessness and the routine of a provincial existence. In Sakseev’s version, the heroine is presented as a limited modern limiter, whose main motive is the fear of returning to her hometown of Prokopyevsk. Russian realism is born out of love for the Russian province and the Russian character, which the writer has studied with conscientious attention. For Sakseev, provincial life causes a deliberate rejection, generating an ironic distance. Such a change in motives affects the perception of the confl ict and creates the direction of staging. Since the psychology of Katerina Izmailova in Semyon Sakseev’s version is not so much investigated as constructed on the basis of the motive attributed to the heroine, the action of the production is transferred to the conditional modernity of the sleeping area. Peter Shereshevsky used a number of techniques inherent in his style of production which were borrowed from cinema, so that the stage action began to approach the nature of a reality show. The lack of full-fledged psychologism provoked a weakness in the plot development of the staging, and the director replaced the denouement with a moralistic epilogue. The advantage of staging is the desire to reproduce the language of the original source, which is an important element of Leskov’s poetics. But Leskov’s tale arose on the basis of careful observation of folk speech, which conveys the outlook and psychology of ordinary storytellers. For Sakseev, the elements of the tale perform only the role of stylization. As a conclusion, the ineffectiveness of the postmodern approach to the stage interpretation of Russian classics is mentioned. In principle, this approach seems outdated, and in dealing with texts that create the basis of national identity, it leads to a displacement of important dominants of the viewer’s cultural outlook.