Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky is the greatest Russian playwright.

On April 12, 1823, according to the new style, a writer and playwright, whose work revolutionized the Russian theater, Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky, was born into the family of a private lawyer.

The father dreamed of seeing his son become a lawyer, but Ostrovsky did not finish his studies at the Faculty of Law of Moscow University and worked for eight years in the offices of various courts. Childhood impressions and life experience gained in judicial institutions gave him invaluable material for creativity.

Already in 1850, the author published the first play “Our people - we will be numbered!” (another title is “Bankrupt”), which immediately made him famous. But at the same time, it was not understood by everyone, and the author was placed under police supervision.

In the 50s, Ostrovsky’s financial situation was quite difficult, not all the public had a positive attitude towards him, but the playwright still continued to write. Working in the magazine “Moskvityanin”, the author publishes the plays “Don’t Get in Your Own Sleigh,” “Don’t Live the Way You Want,” and the most striking comedy, “Poverty is not a vice,” which idealize Russian life. During this period, he utopianly shows the possibility of resolving the generational conflict, but at the same time depicts the characters’ characters in an absolutely realistic and rich way.

Since 1856, Alexander Nikolaevich has become close to the St. Petersburg editorial office of Sovremennik, sharing their views on art. Significant changes are taking place in the writer’s work, which is especially noticeable in the plays “Profitable Place” and “The Thunderstorm”. The poeticization of folk life is replaced by a dramatic depiction of reality.

In subsequent years, Ostrovsky still wrote a lot, but the tone of his works changed from dark to more satirical. Vaudeville plays were written: “Your own dogs fight, don’t pester someone else’s”, “What you go for is what you will find”. There is an interest in historical themes in the dramatic chronicles “Dmitry the Pretender and Vasily Shuisky”, the play in verse “The Voevoda or the Dream on the Volga” and others.

In post-reform works, businessmen and careerists become the new “heroes”. Be it Glumov from the play “Simplicity is Enough for Every Wise Man,” Vasilkov (“Mad Money”) or Berkutov (“Wolves and Sheep”) - all of them put career and money as the main goal in life. It is these “heroes” that Ostrovsky will remain with until the end of his writing career. But the playwright continues to create folk comedies that have a positive ending. During this creative period, the plays “Not everything is Maslenitsa for the cat”, “Truth is good, but happiness is better” and some others were created.

Besides satirical comedy“The Forest” and the dramatic fairy tale “The Snow Maiden” at a later stage, Ostrovsky also wrote serious psychological dramas. In the center of most of them is the image of a woman who loves, but does not find happiness. The heroines of the comedy “Talents and Admirers” and the melodrama “Guilty Without Guilt” are actresses who find a way out of life’s troubles in serving the theater. The entire plot is built around the heroines in the plays “It shines, but does not warm” and “The heart is not a stone.” The most impressive work of the “female” cycle, without a doubt, can be called the drama “Dowry.” The film based on it is striking in its tragedy, despite the seemingly simple plot.

Working with actors, Alexander Nikolaevich saw their difficult financial situation, dependence on officials and at the same time, the pursuit of cheap popularity and a lack of understanding of the author’s goals. This drove him into despair, but he continued to fight for " new theater”, tried to convince the authorities of the need for urgent changes.

The playwright created about 50 plays (“Profitable Place”, 1856; “The Thunderstorm”, 1859; “Mad Money”, 1869; “Forest”, 1870; “Snow Maiden”, 1873; “Dowry Woman”) ", 1878, and many others). An entire era in the development of Russian theater is associated with the name of Ostrovsky. He is the author of translations from Cervantes, Shakespeare, Terence, Goldoni. Ostrovsky's creativity covers a huge period of Russian development in the 19th century. - from the era of serfdom in the 40s. before the development of capitalism in the 80s.

His dramaturgy played a decisive role in establishing an original and vibrant repertoire on the Russian stage and contributed to the formation of a national stage school. In 1865, Ostrovsky founded an artistic circle in Moscow and became one of its leaders. In 1870, on his initiative, the Society of Russian Dramatic Writers was created, of which he was the permanent chairman from 1874 until the end of his life.

In 1881-1884. Ostrovsky took part in the work of the commission to revise the regulations on the Imperial Theaters. On January 1, 1886, he was appointed head of the repertoire department of Moscow theaters. But by this time the playwright’s health had already deteriorated greatly, and on June 14, 1886, Ostrovsky died on the Shchelykovo estate in Kossush, Troma province.

Screen adaptation of the play " Late love»

Year of manufacture: 1983

Genre: melodrama

Duration: 02:25:00

Director: Leonid Pchelkin

Cast: Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Anna Kamenkova, Rodion Nahapetov, Elena Proklova, Evgenia Khanaeva, Valery Shalnykh, Vyacheslav Nevinny, Valery Khlevinsky, Alexander Yushin, Alexander Mylnikov, Valentina Kravchenko, Galina Dobrovolskaya, Vitaly Komissarov, Alexander Yakulov, Evgeniy Knyazev

Description: Once upon a time, the name of the attorney Gerasim Porfirich Margaritov was widely known in Moscow, since he conducted business with care and great honesty. But one day, a bribed assistant stole from the solicitor and sold to the debtor an important document worth 20 thousand - and Margaritov lost his good name, all his acquired property and, together with his young daughter Lyudmila, was forced to move from his own house in the center to the outskirts. The wife, who was already ill, died, and years of hard and poor life passed. Lyudmila grew up, however, still lives with her father, without a dowry to get married. They rent a room in the house of a poor widow, Felitsata Antonovna Shablova. She has two adult sons, Nikolai and Dormedont, both of whom went into law. The younger one, Dormedont, in love with Lyudmila and dreaming of marrying her someday, helps Margaritov in conducting small matters with which the solicitor now hardly earns a living for himself and his daughter. And the eldest, Nikolai, in the past - a successful lawyer, became a spendthrift, a gambler and a reveler, got into debt, and in a couple of days they will take him to the tsugunder, put him in a debt hole...

Lyudmila falls in love with the son of the mistress of the house - the idle reveler Nikolai. To save him, she is ready to sacrifice everything - even to steal the most important monetary document entrusted to her father...

Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky.

Late love

ACT ONE

FACES:

Felitsata Antonovna Shablova, owner of a small wooden house .

Gerasim Porfiryich Margaritov, lawyer from retired officials, an old man of handsome appearance.

Lyudmila, his daughter, a middle-aged girl. All her movements are modest and slow, she is dressed very cleanly, but without pretensions..

Dormedont, Shablova's youngest son, Margaritov's clerk.

Onufriy Potapych Dorodnov, middle aged merchant.

A poor, darkened room in Shablova’s house. On the right side (away from the audience) are two narrow single-door doors: the closest one is to Lyudmila’s room, and the next one is to Shablova’s room; between the doors there is a tiled mirror of a Dutch oven with a firebox. In the back wall, to the right corner, is the door to Margaritov’s room; on the left is an open door to a dark hallway, in which you can see the beginning of the stairs leading to the mezzanine, where Shablova’s sons are housed. Between the doors is an antique chest of drawers with a glass cabinet for dishes. On the left side there are two small windows, in the wall between them there is an old mirror, on the sides of which there are two dim pictures in paper frames; under the mirror there is a large table of simple wood. Prefabricated furniture: chairs different types and sizes; on the right side, closer to the proscenium, there is an old half-torn Voltaire chair. Autumn twilight, the room is dark.

SCENE ONE

Lyudmila leaves her room, listens and goes to the window.

Then Shablova leaves her room.

Shablova (without seeing Lyudmila). As if someone had knocked on a gate. No, it was my imagination. I have really pricked up my ears. What a weather! In a light coat now... oh-oh! Is my dear son walking somewhere? Oh, children, children - woe is mother! Here is Vaska, what a wandering cat, but he came home.

Lyudmila. Have you come?...Have you come?

Shablova. Ah, Lyudmila Gerasimovna! I don’t even see you, I’m standing here and fantasizing among myself...

Lyudmila. You say he came?

Shablova. Who are you waiting for?

Lyudmila. I? I'm nobody. I just heard you say “he came.”

Shablova. This is me expressing my thoughts here; It’s going to boil in my head, you know... The weather, they say, is such that even my Vaska came home. He sat down on the bed and purred like that, even choking; I really want to tell him that I’m home, don’t worry. Well, of course, he warmed himself up, ate, and left again. It's a man's business, you can't keep it at home. Yes, here is a beast, and even he understands that he needs to go home - to see how it is supposed to be there; and my son Nikolenka has been missing for days.

Lyudmila. How do you know what's going on with him?

Shablova. Who would know if not me! He doesn’t have any business, he’s just busy.

Lyudmila. He is a lawyer.

Shablova. What abbreviation! There was a time, but it has passed.

Lyudmila. He is busy with some lady's business.

Shablova. Why, mother, lady! Ladies are different. Just wait, I'll tell you everything. He studied well with me and completed his university course; and, as luck would have it, these new courts have started here! He signed up as a lawyer - things went, and went, and went, raking in money with a shovel. From the very fact that he entered the moneyed merchant circle. You know, to live with wolves, howl like a wolf, and he began this very merchant life, that day in a tavern, and night in a club or wherever. Of course: pleasure; he's a hot man. Well, what do they need? Their pockets are thick. And he reigned and reigned, but things went between hands, and he was lazy; and there are countless lawyers here. No matter how much he got confused there, he still spent the money; I lost the acquaintance and again returned to the same poor situation: to my mother, which means that the sterlet fish soup was used for empty cabbage soup. He got into the habit of going to taverns - he had nothing to go to the good ones, so he started hanging around the bad ones. Seeing him in such decline, I began to find him something to do. I want to take him to a lady I know, but he’s shy.

Lyudmila. He must be timid in character.

Shablova. Come on, mother, what a character!

Lyudmila. Yes, there are people of a timid character.

Shablova. Come on, what a character! Does a poor person have character? What other character have you found?

Lyudmila. So what?

Shablova. The poor man has character too! Wonderful, really! The dress is not good, that's all. If a person has no clothes, that’s a timid character; How can he have a pleasant conversation, but he must look around himself to see if there is a flaw somewhere. Take it from us women: why does a good lady have a cheeky conversation in company? Because everything on it is in order: one is fitted to the other, one is neither shorter nor longer than the other, the color is matched to the color, the pattern is matched to the pattern. This is where her soul grows. But our brother is in trouble in high company; It seems better to fall through the ground! It hangs here, briefly here, in another place like a bag, sinuses everywhere. They look at you like you're crazy. Therefore, it is not madams who sew for us, but we ourselves are self-taught; not according to magazines, but as it had to, on a damn wedge. It was also not the Frenchman who sewed for his son, but Vershkokhvatov from behind the Dragomilovskaya outpost. So he thinks about the tailcoat for a year, walks, walks around the cloth, cuts and cuts it; he’ll cut it on one side or the other—well, he’ll cut out a sack, not a tailcoat. But before, too, how money was there, Nikolai was dandy; Well, it’s wild for him in such and such disgrace. I finally persuaded him, and I wasn’t happy either; He’s a proud man, he didn’t want to be worse than others, that’s why she’s a dandy from morning to night, and he ordered a good dress from a dear German on credit.

Lyudmila. Is she young?

Shablova. It's time for a woman. That's the problem. If it were an old woman, she would pay the money.

Lyudmila. And what about her?

Shablova. The woman is light, spoiled, and relies on her beauty. There are always young people around her - she’s used to everyone pleasing her. Another will even consider it a pleasure to help.

Lyudmila. So he bothers for nothing for her?

Shablova. It cannot be said that it was completely free. Yes, he probably would have, but I’ve already taken a hundred and a half from her. So all the money that I took from her for it, I gave it all to the tailor, and here’s your profit! In addition, judge for yourself, every time you go to her, he takes a cab from the stock exchange and keeps him there for half a day. It's worth something! And what does it beat from? Divi... The wind is all in my head.

Lyudmila. Maybe he likes her?

Shablova. But it’s a disgrace for a poor man to court a rich woman and even spend money himself. Well, where should he go: there are such colonels and guardsmen there that you really can’t find words. You look at him and just say: oh, my God! Tea, they’re laughing at ours, and look, she’s laughing too. Therefore, judge for yourself: a sort of colonel will roll up to the porch on a couple with a harness, rattle a spur or saber in front, glance in passing, over his shoulder, in the mirror, shake his head and straight into her living room. Well, but she is a woman, a weak creature, a meager vessel, she will look at him with her eyes, well, as if she’s boiled and done. Where is it?

Lyudmila. So that's what she is like!

Shablova. She only looks like a great lady, but when you look closer, she is quite cowardly. She gets entangled in debts and cupids, so she sends for me to tell her fortunes with cards. You talk and talk to her, but she cries and laughs like a little child.

Lyudmila. How strange! Is it really possible to like such a woman?

Shablova. But Nikolai is proud; I got it into my head that I’ll conquer it, so I’m tormented. Or maybe he was out of pity; therefore it is impossible not to feel sorry for her, poor thing. Her husband was just as confused; They wandered around and made debts, they didn’t tell each other. But my husband died, and I had to pay. Yes, if only with the mind, one can still live; otherwise she will get confused, dear, head over heels. They say she started giving bills in vain, she signs without knowing what. And what kind of condition it was, if only it were in hand. Why are you in the dark?

Lyudmila. Nothing, it's better that way.

Shablova. Well, let's wait a bit and wait for Nikolai. But someone came; go get a candle. (Leaves.)

Lyudmila (at the door to the hallway). It is you?

Dormedon enters.

PHENOMENA SECOND

Lyudmila, Dormedont, then Shablova.

Dormedont. I'm with.

Lyudmila. And I thought... Yes, however, I’m very glad, otherwise it’s boring to be alone.

Shablova enters with a candle.

Shablova. Where have you been? After all, I thought that you were at home. You'll feel cold, you'll get sick, look.

Dormedont (warming himself by the stove). I was looking for my brother.

Shablova. Found?

Dormedont. Found.

Shablova. Where is he?

Dormedont. Everything is there.

The owner of a small house, Felitsata Antonovna Shablova, and the lawyer’s daughter, Lyudmila, discuss Nikolenka’s disappearance. Felitsata Antonovna is very sad that her son has been gone for two days now. Dormedont, her youngest, tells his mother that he saw his brother in the billiard room. Then he admits to her that he fell in love with Lyudmila, but she seems to like Nikolai.

A little later, Felitsata Shablova receives a note from her eldest son, where he writes that he is playing too much. He asks his mother, so as not to completely disgrace himself, to send him a certain amount of money to recoup.

Felitsata Antonovna becomes extremely indignant, but Lyudmila, on the contrary, believes that the money should be given and without regret parts with the only bill.

When Nikolai returned, as if nothing had happened, he began to smile at his mother. An angry Felitsata Shablova began to reproach her son, explaining to him that the money was not small. She advised Nikolenka to come to her senses and suppress her gambling passion. The son just shrugged his shoulders cheerfully.

Later Lyudmila admitted to Nikolai that it was she who paid a large amount. The surprised young man thanked the girl.

The next day, young lady Lebyodkina came to Shablova’s house and immediately took Nikolai for a walk. After the walk, when the happy girl went home, having kissed Nikolai goodbye, the worried Lyudmila began to ask her lover who he owed and how much he owed. Feeling the care and warmth in the girl’s voice, Nikolai said that all that remained was to kill the one to whom he owed money or get a letter for which Lebyodkina was ready to pay. The only catch was that the letter was with Lyudmila’s father, and only the girl could get it. Lyudmila clasped her hands in horror and after a while gave Nikolai the document.

Lyudmila smiled happily: now her lover will be able to pay off his debts.

The story teaches that if a person is a player, then it will last for a long time.

Picture or drawing Late love

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A.N. Ostrovsky
"Late love"

Alexander Ostrovsky himself named the play “Late Love” among three best of their works.
The classic subtly senses the secret turns of human destinies and looks at human nature with a piercing gaze. In order not to lose such a sensitive attitude to the soul inherent in the play, the authors of the play try not to immerse themselves in the external attributes of life, but to capture Ostrovsky’s rich style, the beauty and capacity of his images, to comprehend the full depth of the love story...
A shelf, a desk, a hanger, a table, a bench - this is the simple interior of a “outback”. But even in this seemingly unremarkable environment of a measured life, storms sometimes occur...
Lyudmila, the modest daughter of a poor lawyer, falls in love with the wild Nikolai. To save her beloved, a woman is ready to commit theft and betrayal.
The actors, in collaboration with the director and playwright, skillfully guide the viewer through the labyrinths human soul, making you freeze, sympathize, laugh, tremble, admire and hope...

Vladimir Tumanov about the play: “There is a lot of space in the play, and there is a danger of rushing into the “curly-pop” environment: Moscow, Zamoskvorechye, the outskirts of Moscow - all this is quite dense and juicy in our idea of ​​that life. And I would like to penetrate into the moment human feeling, to comprehend the full depth of this love story, or rather, the story of the survival of love in any context of life.”

“Late Love” by A.N. Ostrovsky does not have the extensive history of stage incarnations that other works of the author have acquired. However, among other theaters, the Maly Theater approached her (where the premiere took place in November 1873 with Maria Nikolaevna Ermolova in leading role- the role of Lyudmila) and the Moscow Art Theater (Mikhail Yanshin - Margaritov, 1949), the film of the same name by Leonid Pchelkin with Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Elena Proklova and Rodion Nakhapetov is well known. These days the play was staged at the Moscow Central Theater Russian army(Larisa Golubkina-Shablova), “Studios theatrical arts directed by Sergei Zhenovach,” Alexandrinsky Theater.

The performance is a laureate of the Slavic Bazaar festival in Vitebsk (Belarus), 2010;
Special Prize of the International theater festival“Golden Knight” “For introducing youth audiences to the classical heritage”, 2010;
The highest theater award of St. Petersburg “Golden Sofit” for the 2009-2010 season. in the category “Best Actress” (Emilia Spivak for the role of Lyudmila).

Duration of the performance: 2 hours 45 minutes with intermission

For persons over 12 years

Production director Vladimir Tumanov Production designer Honored Artist of Russia
Alexander Orlov Costume designer Stefania Graurogkaite Choreographer Nikolai Reutov Lighting designer Gidal Shugaev Musical arrangement Vladimir Bychkovsky

Characters and performers:

Felitsata Antonovna Shablova, owner of a small wooden house Irina Polyanskaya Gerasim Porfirich Margaritov, lawyer from retired officials Honored Artist of Russia
Petr Zhuravlev Lyudmila, his daughter, a middle-aged girl Emilia Spivak Nikolai Andreich Shablov, Shablova's eldest son Andrey Kuznetsov Dormedont, Shablova's youngest son, Margaritov's clerk Evgeniy Titov Varvara Kharitonovna Lebedkina, widow Svetlana Strogova Onufriy Potapych Dorodnov, middle-aged merchant Alexey Oding

(“scenes from the life of the outback in four acts”) by Alexander Ostrovsky. Written in 1873.

First staged on the stage of the Maly Theater, this play has not left the stage of many theaters since then. Based on the play, a film of the same name was made at Mosfilm in 1983.

Characters

• Felitsata Antonovna Shablova, mistress of a small house.
• Gerasim Porfiryich Margaritov, a lawyer from retired officials, an old man of handsome appearance.
• Lyudmila, his daughter, a modest, middle-aged girl.
• Nikolai Andreich Shablov, eldest son of Felitsata Antonovna.
• Dormedont, youngest son of Felitsata Antonovna, clerk for Margaritov.
• Varvara Kharitonovna Lebedkina, widow.
• Onufriy Potapych Dorodnov, middle-aged merchant.

Plot

Once upon a time, Gerasim Porfiryich Margaritov was one of the most famous Moscow lawyers and handled big cases. But the clerk stole a document from him for a large sum and sold it to the debtor. Gerasim Porfiryich had to answer to his client with his condition. His wife died of grief, he himself thought about suicide, but only pity for his little daughter held him back.

Years have passed. Margaritov and his adult daughter rent a room in a poor house from Felitsata Antonovna Shablova.

Lyudmila falls in love with the son of the mistress of the house, the frivolous and irresponsible Nikolai. To save him from debt, she steals the most important monetary document entrusted to her father. A young man in love with another woman immediately hands the bill to her, and his rival burns it... The story ends happily: the destroyed bill turns out to be a copy, Nikolai is a decent person, and Lyudmila marries her beloved.