Efremov's colleagues pointed out his main family trait: his father was the same

Actor and director Mikhail Efremov, who served his sentence in a penal colony as the culprit of a traffic accident, is returning to the theater world. It has become known that the talented artist, who ruined his career with a serious addiction, will serve in Nikita Mikhalkov's theater "Masterskaya 12". The actor's colleagues from "Sovremennik", however, are waiting for Mikhail on their stage, which was founded by his father Oleg Efremov, who passed away twenty-five years ago. The theater's former chief administrator Galina Lishtvanova, who worked in this position for many years, remembers Mikhail's father as the most democratic director.

Actors and staff of the Sovremennik Theatre are expecting to see the renowned Mikhail Efremov on their stage, which is inseparable from the talented family name. Time will tell whether Efremov will be able to earn the trust of the public and the theatre community as a whole again.

— I am very glad that Misha now has a permanent job, Nikita Mikhalkov took him to his theater, — shares Galina Andreyevna, who worked at Sovremennik for 55 years. — But I hope that we will see Mikhail on the stage of Sovremennik, which his father founded almost 70 years ago. Misha is like his parents, the talented actress and outstanding teacher Alla Borisovna Pokrovskaya, and his father Oleg Nikolaevich Efremov, who was the most democratic director at Sovremennik. But with all his greatness, Oleg Nikolaevich never bragged about being the main one. — He was a great man, it is not for nothing that he is buried next to Konstantin Stanislavsky, the founder of the Moscow Art Theater, where Efremov served and taught at the Moscow Art Theater School. Oleg Nikolaevich founded our Sovremennik, which will turn 70 next year! — Lishtvanova is nostalgic, — We lived in Sovremennik as a single family. I came as an usher back in the old building of Sovremennik on Triumfalnaya Square, from which we later moved to Chistye Prudy. Oleg Nikolaevich drank tea and cakes with us in the theater buffet. It was the unity of Sovremennikites! We all sat in a circle and talked to him.

— Oleg Nikolaevich valued the opinion of every theatre employee about the performance, — continues Galina Andreyevna. — All theatre employees had to watch the performances, read the plays on which they were staged. We knew the answers to all the audience's questions. Once, a graduate of the Moscow Art Theatre staged her diploma performance, The Ballad of the Sad Kabachok, on the Sovremennik stage, where Volchok (Galina Volchek's real surname, by which the director is called by the theatre's old-timers, - Author's note) Oleg Tabakov and other actors played. This is an interesting but difficult play by Edward Albee, so the production was difficult for the audience's perception of that time. At the premiere, Efremov was nervous. He entered the hall, then abruptly came out and approached me: "Well, Gal, how is the audience accepting the performance?" Efremov asked me. "Oleg Nikolaevich, the audience does not quite understand the production, they ask us, we explain..." "It's okay, they will understand in ten years," said Oleg Efremov. And indeed, over the years this complex performance was sold out, as were all the productions of Sovremennik with the participation of Mikhail Efremov. The performances in which Misha was involved, the hall was filled two or three months before the production! - Efremov is a talent! People tore the theater's phone off the hook wanting to order tickets for the performance with Efremov! The performance "Amsterdam", which was staged in 2017 by Sergei Gazarov, was especially popular. At the same time, Misha always behaved modestly, like his father, he was never proud of his achievements. "Misha, how great you did this role," I praised him every time. He will smile and answer: "Galina Andreyevna: Oh, come on..." Misha was embarrassed. Efremov is modest, like his outstanding parents.

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