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Exhibition Devoted to Faina Ranevskaya will Open in Vyoshenskaya

On February 16, 2018, an exhibition “I Had the Wit of Living My Life through So Silly” devoted to the great actress Faina Ranevskaya, who was well-known and loved by millions, will begin running in the People’s House of the Museum-Reserve of M.A.Sholokhov. The exhibits are provided by the State Central Theatre Museum named after A.A.Bakhrushin (Moscow).

The life and work of the unforgettable Ranevskaya are shown in pictures, posters, video materials and in manuscripts, letters, and telegrams from the collections of the A.A.Bakhrushin Theatre Museum, Russian State Archives of Literature and Art, where the actress‘ archives are kept, the State Film Fund (Gosfilmofond) of Russia, the “Mosfilm” cinema enterprise, film studios of M.Gorky and “Lenfilm”, Central Scientific Library of the RF Union of Theatre Workers and the Russian State Library.

The figure of the actress is full of contradictions, and her life is full of paradoxes. In her youth she was not admitted to the drama school as “dull”, and in 1992, she was recognized as one of the ten most outstanding actresses of the XX century according to the English Encyclopedia “Who is Who”. As a pseudonym, Ranevskaya chose the surname of the heroine of the play “The Cherry Orchard”, and thanks to her episodic roles in cinema became a national favourite. Her famous irony in relation to herself and others was combined in her with a truly sublime state of her soul and compassion.

The exhibition of the A.A.Bakhrushin Theatre Museum shows a theatrical life of the actress lasting over 65 years: from the debut in the crowd at the Dacha Theatre in Malakhovka in 1915, to the last roles in the Mossovet Theatre in the early 1980s (the performances “Strange Mrs. Savage”, “Further It is Silence”, “The Truth is Good, but Happiness is Better”).

The photo gallery and video fragments of the brightest roles performed in the theatre are added with the legendary film works of Faina Ranevskaya. The visitors will see “The Foundling”, which made her all-Union famous, the films “Dream”, “Native Banks”, “Spring”, “They Have a Homeland”, and others.

A key part of the exhibition is portraits of people, who meant a lot in the life of the actress. Each portrait is commented with a quotation of Faina Georgiyevna or a person shown in it. There are friends, acquaintances, colleagues of

Ranevskaya, who together with her created a unique epoch in the domestic culture. In all, there are more than 70 portraits shown.

The exhibition will run during February 16 – March 25, 2018.

Irina Panchenko