In 1812, the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte philosophised ironically as he retreated from Moscow: "From the sublime to the ridiculous, one step at a time".
The story of the famous actress Liya Akhadzhakova turns this phrase on its head. And from a funny, comic, very charming and at the same time a gyoplok perpetual "Verochka", Liya Akhadzhakova, due to the pressure of the historical circumstances of the Russian development and the destruction of the civil society, became a well-known tragicomic actress with a capital letter in the first decades of the 21st century. She deliberately transformed herself into a voice of conscience, almost the only voice of rebellion that does not allow us to sleep peacefully, to forget what is happening to the great country and all the people who have any connection with it.
It is an honour and a privilege for any country, any city with Russian-speaking people, to host the tour of Liya Akhadzhakova, and for our cultural life it is also a rare opportunity to see a perfectly staged and acted performance on eternal and, at the same time, everyday poignant themes.
My Grandson Veniamin is a beautifully compelling story of family relationships.
Achedzhakova's character lives in the memories of the past, with the traditions and routines of her childhood alive in her memory. Powerful and accustomed to deciding everything for others, she tries in vain to find a suitable bride for her son. And then one day, she takes the important step of returning to her hometown and bringing with her a beautiful young woman, the heiress of a reliable family. Everything seems to be going well, but the clear plan to create a new world order according to the old understanding collapses. The son resists his mother's imposed marriage and the bride turns out to be not quite what was expected...
The plot of the play is a funny and sensitive story about a mother's love that can both create something beautiful and destroy everything around it. It seems that the protagonist will have to come to terms with the fact that the new world will never follow the old laws...
This funny yet tragic melodrama, written in the late 1980s, is still relevant today - the themes of intergenerational relationships, racial issues and the depths of the human soul will always be interesting.
