"My Gorin"

Writer, playwright and screenwriter Grigory Gorin was distinguished by his subtle, kind and warm humor. I would venture to note that it is not the humor that is most important to Gorin, but the fact that he, like all true playwrights, was able to accurately convey the essence of a character's character, so that it would become obvious to the audience - and they have encountered similar people in their lives! Because the task of a playwright is to capture and convey such a unique combination of features that both the uniqueness and, paradoxically, the frequent occurrence of such people become obvious. So that the audience would then look for - and find! - similar types in profane life, thereby paving the way from the world of art - into reality, into the recently gray and hackneyed everyday life.

However, Vyacheslav Kaganovich offers the audience not a one-man show, not a collection of excerpts from plays, humorous stories and memoirs, but something else. Something rarer, more elusive and therefore naively beautiful... He offers them a love story.

What is the difference between an adult and a child? No, not the age recorded in documents, not a high school diploma or certificate, not a job, not a level of income, not even the presence of a family or a sense of responsibility. An adult is someone who has experienced the feeling of love. Not infatuation, not attacks of libido, but a complex love that turns everything upside down in the soul and in the attitude to the world, throwing from the peak of delight into the abyss of despair, and then ascending to inexpressibly tender heights of sincerity and understanding, in order to then cast down, and then ascend again.

Why is love so important? Because it is the most complex and at the same time extremely vivid interweaving of feelings, emotions and sensations available to man. Until a person has experienced it – both as pleasure and as pain, and as something that is both at the same time – he does not really know and does not understand himself, his nature. Worse, he sees the world blinkered. And sometimes through some strange light filters, curved lenses and mirrors. True love is the one that liberates, allows you to become the best version of yourself, helps you take a step forward and up.

In the modern world, it is not surprising that a man talks about his love for another man. But this is almost always a physical version of love. There is a heavenly world , there isa lower world . The first is the path to the spiritual, divine, higher, the second - well, let's not get upset, this is the path that almost all of us wander, forced or not.

Vyacheslav Kaganovich shares his memories of his love for the playwright Grigory Gorin, who essentially brought him to the theater – this projection of the heavenly world on the sinful earth.

When we remember love, our memory shows its oddities: unlike computer memory, it better stores what is strongly colored by emotions. To a certain extent, memory is a way of storing not only and not so much factual information, but also the emotions we experienced. It is no easier for a computer to find words written in red letters than those written in blue, black or pale gray. It is difficult for a person to find something in the gray everyday life, and after some, not very long time, it is completely impossible, while something colored by strong emotions seems to have happened not decades ago, but as if it happened yesterday!

Because of this peculiarity of memory, the game of associations becomes so entertaining for observers: what is colored by experiences for one can be lost, becoming nothing more than a part of the background for others.

And that is why love, with its complex, twisted and extremely intense combination of experiences, is so difficult to express in words, to convey to others. That is why the story of true love is always confused, always going off on a tangent, as if distracted, but at the same time it always returns to the essence. It reminds one of a journey along forest paths with a compass: no matter how you wind, you constantly direct yourself in the right direction indicated by the arrow. And if many factors can distract the attention of someone walking away from the compass in the thicket, true love itself returns to where it is needed.

In love there is always admiration and tenderness, as if you are simultaneously looking from below and from above at the object of love. To someone tenderness may seem naive and childish, but it is one of the most important indicators of the authenticity, the utmost frankness of love. And what is funny and even silly to outsiders is a reason to admire for the lover.

When remembering love, as has been said, it is impossible to walk in a straight line, plus you will be forced to constantly stumble and stumble, because memories bring with them an emotional charge that is very difficult to cope with even after many years.

Formally, “ My Gorin ” is dedicated to one playwright, but many digressions, both related and not related to Grigory Gorin himself, reveal that in fact we are talking about the Soviet, Russian and, to some extent, world theater, about the theatrical world, with its deities, priests, idols, humble servants, but most importantly – with those who selflessly worship. And with this service to those who carry the light of the muses – it doesn’t matter, 8 out of 9 ( if we exclude only astronomy , leaving all the rest ) or 2-3-4 ( actually tragedy , comedy , pantomime and dance , not to mention all the versions of poetry ), – to the part of humanity that is not afraid to look through the stage into their own souls.

“My Gorin” is a confession of love for the theatre, focusing not only on the playwright mentioned in the title, but on many directors and actors who have significantly determined the development of Russian theatre over the past 50 years.

God shines with different rays. Art is just one of them, which penetrates much further due to the excess of kindness.

And this excess of kindness that God has given to art sparkles, splashes with warmth, explodes, and embraces the audience.

Like the sun, the light flying through the centuries is accessible to everyone. It will make anyone better if you raise your gaze to the stage, upwards.

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