The battle of the sexes, as played out by leaders of the modern stage Chulpan Khamatova and Yevgeny Mironov, kicks where it hurts, as the saying goes.
Karina Ivashko
Courtesy of rus.ruvr.ru, 2011
There is something intensely truthful about the Mironov-Khamatova duo which makes them painful to watch, as though they were a real couple about to make a mistake.
Alla Shenderova
Kommersant, 2011
The [two] actors bring the full strength of their talents to bear on the performance.
... Wrenching free at last from the clinging image of a Dostoyevsky hero, Mironov meticulously constructs the likeness of a serf, who flatters as passionately as he hates.
Natalya Vitvitzkaya
Vash dosug, 2011
When two big artists like Mironov and Khamatova join forces onstage,
... the story
... suddenly becomes a scary one.
... Playing the menial, Mironov, always so elegant and light on his feet, looks to be a different person. That back is spreading from all the hours behind the steering wheel; the fine bones have broadened into those of a proletarian. His whole body language, perfectly on target, feeds the image of a peon determined to rise from the dunghill.
Marina Raikina
Moskovskii komsomoletz, 2011
The practiced teamwork of the cast is evident at every turn.
... Yevgeny Mironov is a funnyman – not exclusively, of course, but he is exceedingly convincing in the comic mode.
... His servant is servile to the tips of his toes. [Mironov] does away with all the potent charm which wins you over even in his Caligula: here he has all the allure of an answering machine.
Grigory Zaslavsky
Nezavisimaya gazeta, 2011
The stage team of Chulpan Khamatova and Yevgeny Mironov is the mighty driving force of this production. Their performance is rich with emotional explosions, dead-on reactions and subtle humor; they know how to hold a pause, play with words and uncover what lies between the lines.
... Yevgeny Mironov, whose heroes are normally full of appeal, possessed of a naïve outlook and childlike wonder, renders this character resolutely unlikable. Don't ask me how, but with a few quick strokes the actor creates what is unmistakably a driver – and not a cabbie or a trucker either. This mousy white-collar type could only be a chauffeur, whose entire notion of what life is about fits comfortably inside a rear-view mirror.
Olga Galakhova
Courtesy of ria.ru, 2011
The fantastic pairing of Mironov and Khamatova is but one show old (ah, but the show was
Shukshin's Stories!), yet they feel each other like two trapezoid artists. They challenge the creators' stylish concept, countering their terrible Garden of Eden with the ugly shameless truth of an awakening consciousness. Thus the ending spites Strindberg and offers hope.
Olga Fuchs
Vedomosti, 2011
[Translated by Vlada Chernomordik for the Yevgeny Mironov Official Website]
