The members of this troupe have long become something of a brand of domestic humor. Witty and unlike anyone else, they are extremely popular, and performances and films with the participation of “Quartet I” based on scripts that they write for themselves are instantly quoted and become popular.
The beginning of a creative journey
Not everyone knows that in fact “Quartet I” (the films with their participation will be described separately) consists not of four people, but of five: in addition to Leonid and Rostislav, these are Alexander Demidov, Kamil Larin and Sergei Petreikov (the last of those listed is artistic director).
But it all started in Odessa. More precisely, when Rostislav Khait (better known as Lesha and Slava) became classmates back in 1978 in the first year of study at Odessa school. However, they became friends with other members of the future Quartet only a decade later, while studying at GITIS.
It’s no secret that theatergoers sooner learned the answer to the question: “Who are Quartet I?” Films with their participation (a list of all film works can be seen below) have gained enormous popularity, but the guys are better known as a theater troupe. But the first steps towards success were, as usually happens, uncertain and difficult. Tickets sold poorly, and the proceeds were not enough to cover the costs of productions, renting premises, etc. When things got really tough, the troupe was saved from “death” by one of its members, Sergei Petreikov. He rented out his apartment on Bolshaya Nikitskaya to foreign tenants, and donated the rent to the development of the future theater ($7,000 by those standards was a huge amount). Of course, this money was returned to him over time.
First successes
In 1995, the play “La Comedy” was released - the first project, after which regular viewers appeared. Three years later, the guys took up stage improvisations called “ Acting games" In 1999, “La Comedy 2” was released - the first performance from which the income exceeded the costs of production. But real success came in 2001. It was this year that the guys launched their new performance- “Radio Day”, which became their business card. This was followed by a sequel - “Election Day”, then “Faster than Rabbits”, as well as the first works in cinema...
Films with the participation of “Quartet I”
The list opens with the film “Election Day.” In fact, the guys have long had a desire to create films. And then one day a St. Petersburg businessman came to them with the desire to make a film out of the play “Election Day”, because he believed that this was the most hot topic for the viewer. Having become not only a sponsor, but also a producer, Nikolai Ulyanov (that’s the businessman’s name) invited him to the director’s chair. But in the end, the film’s distribution did not bring profit to the investor. And the members of the “Quartet” themselves were dissatisfied with the film, citing the fact that it was too similar to a play, and they suggested filming the play “Faster than Rabbits”, they say, it is more cinematic. But the final word was not theirs. This was followed by a continuation - “Radio Day”, this time more successful. And although the plot of the sequel is in no way connected with the first film, leading role- our favorite “Quartet I”. Films with their participation (the list can be seen below) after that began to win an increasingly large audience.
"Election Day" (2007)
This, in the author’s definition of “force majeure,” comedy begins with a telephone call in the apartment of the director of the Moscow radio station “Kak would radio.” An oligarch named Emmanuil Gedeonovich “asked” to send a radio station staff to one of the Volga regions to promote gubernatorial candidate Igor Tsaplin. The guys will have to face the local mafia, Cossacks, police and soldiers, as well as pressure from the local governor. Despite all the problems, our heroes overcome any situation with humor and enviable professionalism. As a result, Igor Tsaplin wins an overwhelming majority of votes in the elections, but it turns out that the elections were won in the wrong area. The film ends with the oligarch sending a new candidate.
"Radio Day" (2008)
Starring the same "Quartet I". The films with their participation (the list begins to be replenished almost every year) are very diverse and not similar to the previous ones.
Now this is the story of a crazy night in the life of the radio station “As if Radio”. An emergency happened: when there were only a few minutes left before the live broadcast, it suddenly turns out that the theme of the live marathon was intercepted by competitors. However, it is impossible to cancel the marathon, because every employee may find themselves without a job, and besides, the country’s leading rock musicians have been invited to the event. The guys must come up with a new topic.
Meanwhile, a boat with animals from the local regional circus on board set out from the city of Nakhodka on a tour to Japan. Suddenly, on the open sea, the boat stalls. It turns out that a crew member “to the left” drained half the fuel tank. And the remaining fuel should have been enough, but only the second crew member (the captain of the ship) drained half the tank even earlier...
Thanks to the creative efforts of the staff of “As if Radio”, the boat “KCR 12” turned into a huge liner “Doctor of Science Professor Schwarzengold” in distress in the Sea of Japan with rare animals on board. And of course, all this is presented exclusively in live radio stations. While the guys are asking “Brigitte Bardot herself” to comment on the situation, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Ministry of Defense are joining the fight for the animal gene pool...
"What Men Talk About" (2010)
Four friends go in their car from Moscow, through Kyiv, to Odessa, to a concert of the rock group “Bi-2”. During the journey, friends discuss pressing issues that concern middle-aged men: about love and friendship, about lying, about transferring grandmothers across the road, and even about convention contemporary art... As a result, the guys, despite the accident, get to the concert.
“What else do men talk about” (2011)
December 31, Moscow. Sasha and some wealthy woman missed each other with their cars. Having quarreled, the woman sends two impressive defenders to “deal” with Lesha. Alexander did the only thing he could - he called his friends for help. And now, locked up in Sasha’s office (they are waiting for them on the street), the friends again talk about life, share who wanted to become who in childhood and who has achieved what in life. And they are also trying to figure out the question that torments everyone: what to do with beloved, and sometimes unbearable, women?
"Faster than Rabbits" (2013)
Two friends wake up in a strange room - a house consisting of rooms and corridors, without windows or doors. Trying to find out what happened yesterday, the friends meet people who are dealing with the same problem. The company is also concerned about unexpected finds: a funeral table and a gravestone. Everyone frantically remembers how they got here? And finally, where does this “here” go? Isn't it time to think about what they will leave behind?
"Wonderland" (2015)
This time the heroes are from different corners countries. Here is a family from the provinces who had the chance to get to the “Field of Miracles”, and a PPS employee experiencing his first day of work, and drinking Valera, who is faced with a choice: save the world from or fly away with aliens to another planet, and young lovers introducing their parents, as well as four passengers who cannot fly to Moscow...
"Election Day 2" (2016)
Igor Vladimirovich Tsaplin is re-elected for a third term. Having done nothing for the region, he wonders: is it all his? In addition, the much-advertised bridge across the Volga collapsed right during its grand opening. And this is just before the elections! A team of PR specialists and political strategists from Moscow gets down to business...
What's next?
It is worth noting one detail regarding the name “Quartet I”: the films with their participation (the list was listed) have long gone beyond the scope of ordinary film comedy - they have a place for drama, melodrama, and even philosophy. They amaze their audience with every new project. And once again, after watching a play or movie, the question arises: “What, exactly, next? How else will they surprise? This is what fans have to find out.
: 55°46′44″ n. w. 37°35′25″ E. d. / 55.779° N. w. 37.5902° E. d. / 55.779; 37.5902 (G) (I)
The theater's first activity took place on the stage of GITIS, where four graduates created their first comedy, “It's Just Cliches,” which was based on typical student jokes.
In addition to successful activities in theater and cinema, members of the Quartet I theater also regularly appeared for some time on the STS TV channel in the entertainment and intellectual show “Mind Games” as regular participants in the program (one of the teams participating in the competition). At the beginning of 2010, “Quartet I” starred in two episodes of the TV show “Quartet I” on RenTV. On January 23, 2011, Channel One released the first episode of the new humorous improvisation-based program “Ni Be Ni Me Nehilo Show,” whose participants are also the artists of “Quartet I.”
Programs
- “I Believe - I Don’t Believe” on TNT
- "Mind Games" on STS
- "Quartet I on RenTV"
- “Show Neither Be nor Me is Not Hilo” (4 episodes) on Channel One
Video works
- Video “Hipster”, rock band “Bi-2” (Leonid Barats, Rostislav Khait).
- - Feature film“Five Kidnapped Monks” (as a student, Alexander Demidov starred as Vasya Kurolesov).
- - Feature film Pokhabovsk. The Other Side of Siberia (starred Alexander Demidov as Evgeniy Borisovich Tugovatykh)
- - Video “Accountant”, group “Combination” (starred Leonid Barats as a tapper).
- - Video “Sailor”, rock group “Agatha Christie” (starring Rostislav Khait and Leonid Barats).
- - Video “Somewhere beyond the seas”, singer Clementia, (entire cast)
- Video “Merry World”, rock band “Agatha Christie” (entire lineup).
- Video “It’s dawn outside the window”, rock band “Bravo” (entire lineup).
- - Video “Only you won’t come today”, singer Sasha Ch (entire lineup).
- - Video “Palms”, Svetlana Roerich (starring Leonid Barats and Maxim Averin).
- - Video “The boy wants to go to Tambov”, Murat Nasyrov (starring Kamil Larin).
- Video “Hug Me”, Lena Zosimova (starring Rostislav Khait).
- Video “Rivers of Love”, rock band Bi-2 (entire lineup)
- Video “Bermuda”, rock band Mumiy Troll (entire lineup)
- Video “Daisy”, Arkady Ukupnik (starring Rostislav Khait and Kamil Larin)
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Criticism and reviews
“Quartet I” has been specializing in entertaining the public for more than ten years and has achieved considerable success in this field. The play “Radio Day” with the participation of Alexei Kortnev and the group “Unfortunate Case” and its continuation “Election Day” became hits, which are crowded with the public, who usually prefer cinema and nightclubs to theaters.
M. Shimadina, Kommersant
“Quartet I” is very different from many of its colleagues who “trade” in the cheerful genre. To put it in a high style, they approach the public with a sense of responsibility. And he tirelessly comes up with something new and funny, sometimes balancing dangerously in the field of political satire, which today even the most daring and full-time domestic satirists almost never indulge in.
G. Zaslavsky, Nezavisimaya Gazeta
According to the writer and director E.V. Grishkovets, the theater’s works are “careless in every sense,” and at the same time have great audience success:
It doesn't matter what it isn't acting skills, there is no idea about stage culture, there is no clear understanding of what they do and why... They force people to listen to them with their drive and confidence. And the fact that they began to listen to them only strengthened this confidence. A chain reaction occurred. It doesn’t matter that the guys haven’t read a lot of plays, don’t know the laws of composition, don’t know how and why plays are written, don’t know how movies are made, what the relationship between author and character is, don’t know what plot and plot are, and hardly know what is between the difference between them. They have confidence in their uniqueness, and this attracts!" ... "confident that natural intelligence, talent, perseverance, charm, sense of humor will more than replace all this. And it worked! It worked and convinced them that they were completely right.
The quartet clearly wanted resounding success, fame, recognition and big money. But not at any cost! Certainly not at the cost of parting with their environment and, most importantly, with their public... The Quartet wanted to step into art. This is an understandable step for those trying to grow. But they did not know how to do this and were afraid of lack of money. Therefore, they continued to make amorphous and careless productions, but with pretensions to art, which they sincerely considered performances. Oh, if only they had critical acclaim, a couple of awards or laureates of some kind big festival... I'm sure their next step would have been different.
At the same time, the writer notes the originality of the theater (“they always followed their own path. Somewhere very much between the stage with KVN and art. At the same time, they adhered to advanced trends.”), its significance (“the phenomenon is very noticeable, iconic and, in any case, worthy of attention") and believes that they deservedly achieved their success: “Quartet I is a collective with all eight feet firmly on the ground. They have a huge audience, they are always sold out (this is true, I saw it myself), and their audience is well dressed, capable of buying tickets at prices that many will not pay for me. They have a good audience (without irony). They are coveted at corporate events. Their films have been outstanding successes at the box office."
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Notes
Literature
- Quartet I. Radio Day. Election day. - M.: Gayatri, 2007. - 224 p. - ISBN 978-5-9689-0094-4.
- Quartet I. The funniest book. Mexican scoundrels and not only... - M.: AST: Harvest, 2008. - 288 p. - ISBN 978-5-17-056757-7. - ISBN 978-5-9713-9510-2. - ISBN 978-985-16-6430-2.
- Quartet I. Six comedies. - M.: Gayatri, 2008. - 496 p. - ISBN 978-5-9689-0161-3.
- Quartet I. Funny book. Groom Fedorov and not only... - M.: AST: Harvest, 2009. - 336 p. - ISBN 978-5-17-057264-9. - ISBN 978-5-9713-9511-9. - ISBN 978-985-16-6501-9.
- Quartet I. Six comedies / Quartet I. - M.: Eksmo, 2011. - 512 p. - ISBN 978-5-699-50872-3.
Links
- - official website
- - page on
- Theater "Quartet I"
Excerpt characterizing Quartet I
After Alpatych returned from Smolensk, the old prince seemed to suddenly come to his senses from his sleep. He ordered militiamen to be collected from the villages, to arm them, and wrote a letter to the commander-in-chief, in which he informed him of his intention to remain in the Bald Mountains to the last extremity, to defend himself, leaving it at his discretion to take or not take measures to protect the Bald Mountains, in which he would be taken one of the oldest Russian generals was captured or killed, and announced to his family that he was staying in Bald Mountains.But, remaining himself in Bald Mountains, the prince ordered the sending of the princess and Desalles with the little prince to Bogucharovo and from there to Moscow. Princess Marya, frightened by her father's feverish, sleepless activity, which replaced his previous dejection, could not decide to leave him alone and for the first time in her life allowed herself to disobey him. She refused to go, and a terrible thunderstorm of the prince’s wrath fell upon her. He reminded her of all the ways in which he had been unfair to her. Trying to blame her, he told her that she had tormented him, that she had quarreled with his son, had nasty suspicions against him, that she had made it her life's task to poison his life, and kicked her out of his office, telling her that if she he won't leave, he doesn't care. He said that he did not want to know about her existence, but warned her in advance so that she should not dare to catch his eye. The fact that he, contrary to Princess Marya’s fears, did not order her to be forcibly taken away, but only did not order her to show herself, pleased Princess Marya. She knew that this proved that in the very secret of his soul he was glad that she stayed at home and did not leave.
The next day after Nikolushka’s departure, the old prince dressed in full uniform in the morning and got ready to go to the commander-in-chief. The stroller had already been delivered. Princess Marya saw him, in his uniform and all the decorations, leave the house and go into the garden to inspect the armed men and servants. Princess Marya sat by the window and listened to his voice coming from the garden. Suddenly several people with frightened faces ran out of the alley.
Princess Marya ran out onto the porch, onto the flower path and into the alley. A large crowd of militiamen and servants was moving towards her, and in the middle of this crowd several people were dragging a little old man in a uniform and orders by the arms. Princess Marya ran up to him and, in the play of small circles of falling light, through the shadow of the linden alley, she could not give herself an account of the change that had taken place in his face. One thing she saw was that the former stern and decisive expression on his face was replaced by an expression of timidity and submission. Seeing his daughter, he moved his weak lips and wheezed. It was impossible to understand what he wanted. They picked him up, carried him into the office and laid him on that sofa that he had been so afraid of late.
The doctor brought in drew blood that same night and announced that the prince had a stroke on the right side.
It became more and more dangerous to stay in Bald Mountains, and the next day after the prince was struck, they were taken to Bogucharovo. The doctor went with them.
When they arrived in Bogucharovo, Desalles and the little prince had already left for Moscow.
Still in the same position, no worse and no better, broken by paralysis, the old prince lay in Bogucharovo for three weeks in a new house built by Prince Andrei. Old Prince was unconscious; he lay there like a mutilated corpse. He muttered something incessantly, twitching his eyebrows and lips, and it was impossible to know whether he understood or not what surrounded him. One thing that was certain was that he suffered and felt the need to express something else. But what it was, no one could understand; Was it some kind of whim of a sick and half-crazy person, did it relate to the general course of affairs, or did it relate to family circumstances?
The doctor said that the anxiety he expressed meant nothing, that it had physical causes; but Princess Marya thought (and the fact that her presence always increased his anxiety confirmed her assumption), thought that he wanted to tell her something. He obviously suffered both physically and mentally.
There was no hope for healing. It was impossible to transport him. And what would have happened if he had died on the way? “Wouldn’t it be better if there was an end, a complete end! - Princess Marya sometimes thought. She watched him day and night, almost without sleep, and, scary to say, she often watched him not with the hope of finding signs of relief, but watched, often wanting to find signs of approaching the end.
Strange as it was for the princess to recognize this feeling in herself, but it was there. And what was even more terrible for Princess Marya was that from the time of her father’s illness (even almost earlier, perhaps even when she, expecting something, stayed with him) all those who had fallen asleep in her woke up, forgotten personal desires and hopes. What had not occurred to her for years - thoughts about a free life without the eternal fear of her father, even thoughts about the possibility of love and family happiness, as temptations of the devil, constantly floated in her imagination. No matter how much she distanced herself from herself, questions constantly came to her mind about how she would arrange her life now, after that. These were temptations of the devil, and Princess Marya knew it. She knew that the only weapon against him was prayer, and she tried to pray. She put herself in a position of prayer, looked at the images, read the words of the prayer, but could not pray. She felt that she was now embraced by another world - of everyday, difficult and free activity, completely opposite to that moral world, in which she was imprisoned before and in which prayer was the best consolation. She could not pray and she could not cry, and the cares of life overwhelmed her.
It was becoming dangerous to stay in Vogucharovo. The approaching French were heard from all sides, and in one village, fifteen versts from Bogucharovo, an estate was plundered by French marauders.
The doctor insisted that the prince must be taken further; the leader sent an official to Princess Marya, persuading her to leave as soon as possible. The police officer, having arrived in Bogucharovo, insisted on the same thing, saying that the French were forty miles away, that French proclamations were going around the villages, and that if the princess did not leave with her father before the fifteenth, then he would not be responsible for anything.
The princess of the fifteenth decided to go. The worries of preparations, giving orders for which everyone turned to her, occupied her all day. She spent the night from the fourteenth to the fifteenth, as usual, without undressing, in the room next to the one in which the prince lay. Several times, waking up, she heard his groaning, muttering, the creaking of the bed and the steps of Tikhon and the doctor, turning him over. Several times she listened at the door, and it seemed to her that he was muttering louder than usual and tossing and turning more often. She could not sleep and went to the door several times, listening, wanting to enter but not daring to do so. Although he did not speak, Princess Marya saw and knew how unpleasant any expression of fear for him was to him. She noticed how dissatisfied he turned away from her gaze, sometimes involuntarily and persistently directed at him. She knew that her coming at night, at an unusual time, would irritate him.
But she had never been so sorry, she had never been so afraid of losing him. She remembered her entire life with him, and in every word and deed of his she found an expression of his love for her. Occasionally between these memories, the temptations of the devil burst into her imagination, thoughts about what would happen after his death and how her new, free life would work out. But she drove away these thoughts with disgust. By morning he calmed down and she fell asleep.
She woke up late. The sincerity that occurs during awakening showed her clearly what occupied her most during her father’s illness. She woke up, listened to what was behind the door, and, hearing his groaning, said to herself with a sigh that it was still the same.
- Why should that happen? What did I want? I want him dead! – she screamed with disgust at herself.
She got dressed, washed, said prayers and went out onto the porch. Horseless carriages were brought to the porch, into which things were packed.
The morning was warm and gray. Princess Marya stopped on the porch, never ceasing to be horrified by her spiritual abomination and trying to put her thoughts in order before entering him.
The doctor came down the stairs and approached her.
“He’s feeling better today,” said the doctor. - I was looking for you. You can understand something from what he says, with a fresher head. Let's go. He is calling you...
Princess Marya's heart beat so hard at this news that she, turning pale, leaned against the door so as not to fall. To see him, to talk to him, to fall under his gaze now, when Princess Marya’s whole soul was filled with these terrible criminal temptations, was painfully joyful and terrible.
“Let’s go,” said the doctor.
Princess Marya entered her father and went to the bed. He lay high on his back, with his small, bony hands covered with lilac knotty veins on the blanket, with his left eye staring straight and his right eye squinted, with motionless eyebrows and lips. He was all so thin, small and pitiful. His face seemed to have shriveled or melted, his features shriveled up. Princess Marya came up and kissed his hand. His left hand squeezed her hand so that it was clear that he had been waiting for her for a long time. He shook her hand, and his eyebrows and lips moved angrily.
She looked at him in fear, trying to guess what he wanted from her. When she changed her position and moved so that her left eye could see her face, he calmed down, not taking his eyes off her for a few seconds. Then his lips and tongue moved, sounds were heard, and he began to speak, timidly and pleadingly looking at her, apparently afraid that she would not understand him.
Princess Marya, straining all her attention, looked at him. The comic labor with which he moved his tongue forced Princess Marya to lower her eyes and with difficulty suppress the sobs rising in her throat. He said something, repeating his words several times. Princess Marya could not understand them; but she tried to guess what he was saying and repeated the questions he said to the elephant questioningly.
“Gaga – fights... fights...” he repeated several times. There was no way to understand these words. The doctor thought that he had guessed right, and, repeating his words, asked: is the princess afraid? He shook his head negatively and repeated the same thing again...
“My soul, my soul hurts,” Princess Marya guessed and said. He hummed affirmatively, took her hand and began to press it to various places on his chest, as if searching for the real place for her.
- All thoughts! about you... thoughts,” he then said much better and more clearly than before, now that he was sure that he was understood. Princess Marya pressed her head against his hand, trying to hide her sobs and tears.
He moved his hand through her hair.
“I called you all night...” he said.
“If only I knew...” she said through tears. – I was afraid to enter.
He shook her hand.
– Didn’t you sleep?
“No, I didn’t sleep,” said Princess Marya, shaking her head negatively. Unwittingly obeying her father, she now, just as he spoke, tried to speak more with signs and seemed to also be moving her tongue with difficulty.
Alexandra Demidov was abandoned by her mother at the age of seven, and Kamil Larin made a living by selling juice and cognac
22 years ago, GITIS graduates - Leonid BARATS, Rostislav KHAIT, Kamil LARIN, Alexander DEMIDOV and Sergei PETREYKOV - created the Quartet I theater. For the first three or four years they subsisted on the money that Petreikov took from foreigners for renting his apartment. Soon their performances began to generate income.
However, along with success, almost each of the guys had problems in their personal lives. Some managed to cope with the crisis, while others started new families. And now the Quartet is in complete chocolate.
The path to phenomenal success was thorny. The main milestones in the lives of fashionable artists are in our improvised alphabet.
"Agatha Christie"
Members of Quartet I appeared in the videos of this group more than once. For example, in “The Sailor” Baratz and Khait played orderlies carrying a stretcher with the corpse of a sailor, and in “The Merry World” they played rioters in straitjackets.
Baratz
It is generally accepted that this surname is derived from a Hebrew abbreviation, translated meaning “son of a righteous rabbi.” Leonid's father, by the way, is a journalist. And Lenya himself is not gay at all, as some thought after “Election Day,” but quite the opposite.
Great
“Thanks to” this means of transportation, ninth-grader Sasha Demidov lost his first love. I became close with Lenochka during the summer holidays. The girl, like him, came to the village to stay with relatives. He had his first kiss with this girl. Under the cover of darkness, the couple climbed into the barn, leaving their bicycles at the entrance. At first, Sasha and Lena looked at each other for a long time, then they touched their little fingers, then they hugged, and only at dawn Sasha tasted her lips. There was nothing left to get to the main thing, but milkmaids passed by the barn and, seeing the bikes, realized: the teenagers were causing debauchery inside. The powerful aunts almost broke down the door - the frightened Sanya held the defense as best he could and did not allow strangers to enter the barn. After this, Lenochka’s parents immediately took her home. They never saw each other again.
"Demidov BAND"
That's what it's called music project Alexandra, created by him in 2011. The artist has been passionate about music for more than 20 years. The style in which he works is characterized as bard rock. Performs together with the group "Beavers".
Zhvanetsky
Thanks to Michal Mikhalych, Slava Khait entered GITIS. The guy was poorly prepared, it was clear that he was flying over. Then the father, Valery Khait, captain of the famous Odessa KVN team of 1967 - 1970, asked an old acquaintance to put in a good word with the selection committee. And everything came together right away, of course.
Ginger tincture
In September, the freshmen were taken to the collective farm to harvest potatoes. There, childhood friends Khait and Barats found two new friends - Demidov and Larin. What brought them together was ginger bitters for 3.50, which the guys bought in the evenings in the nearest village. Sasha then got drunk for the first time. Sitting on the hand of the stone Lenin, he got drunk, fell on the asphalt, broke his face, and the next morning he began to tell everyone, pointing to bruises and scratches, that it was Barats and Khait who beat him. In retaliation, the next night Sanya, sleeping soundly (after again having ginger), was taken by the guys straight from the bed to the women's restroom.
Red socks
Barats pulled them on when he was entrusted with leading the school graduation party. The boy thought he looked very cool in them. And Leonid borrowed the suit from his aunt’s husband. His friends still remember those stupid socks.
Bulb
She saved schoolboy Barats from long lessons in music school. Before the lesson, Lenya ate the whole head and, entering the teacher’s office, began diligently breathing an unpleasant smell onto it. The teacher’s patience lasted only 15 minutes.
Typos
At the beginning of their theater business, the guys were constantly haunted by funny typos in newspapers and posters. For example, instead of the play “These are just cliches”, “Only pants” was indicated, “the comic theater “Quartet I” was called “commercial”, and the surname “Hait” was written with an “th”.
Shameful embarrassment
Thanks to this incident, Rostislav Khait became friends with Leonid Barats forever. This happened in second grade. “Sorry, I screwed myself,” Slava admitted in an interview, “and asked Lesha not to tell anyone about it, but to quickly call my mother so that she would come and pick me up. After which he ran to class and told all the kids about my embarrassment. Each one came in turn to look at me. Here we have it, as Dovlatov said about his wife: “This is not love, but fate!”
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Raikhelgauz
Joseph Leonidovich, artistic director of the Moscow theater "School" modern play", Leonid Barats is a relative. Raikhelgauz is also from Odessa...
Sabelka
The only props that were available in the household of the newly created “Quartet I”. The artists performed the number “Butterfly and Grasshopper”. When the spider threw a web on the butterfly, Khait, a grasshopper with a saber, jumped out. “Nothing special, but for some reason people laughed,” notes Rostislav.
Ballroom pianist
He was played by Leonid Barats in the 90s in the video of the group “Combination” for the song “Accountant”. Also, by the way, Lesha (as Barats is called by his friends for some reason) appeared in those years in the video “Palms” by Svetlana Roerich, where the young Maxim Averin flashed in the background. And Kamil Larin “shone” at that time in the video “The Boy Wants to Go to Tambov” by Murat Nasyrov.
Black tuxedo for $500
At the dawn of his career, the artists chipped in and bought it (it was a lot of money back then) for Kamil, so that he could hold the wedding of some huckster in it and at least earn something for the team. This was Larin’s first experience as an entertainer. Since then, the guys decided: we divide the money equally, even if we earn it separately. By the way, Kamil at one time also earned money by reselling juice and cognac to stalls - a friend from Armenia supplied him with cheap drinks.
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Scars on the wrists
They stayed with Demidov and Barats in memory of the unsuccessful group suicide that Sasha and Lenya started to prove to their classmate friends Sveta Pesotskaya and Anya Kasatkina how strong their feelings were. Luckily, they didn’t get to the veins, but my hands were badly scratched and I had to walk around in bandages for several days.
“I forgive you!”
Demidov said these words four years ago to his own mother, who abandoned him at the age of seven. Sasha's parents separated shortly after his birth. The boy lived with his mother, grandmother and grandfather in Shadrinsk (200 km from Sverdlovsk). The old men drank heavily, and the boy was left to his own devices. After having breakfast with free whites and cocoa, which the grandmother sold, Sashka hung out on the street until late at night.
One day, a thin and dirty boy was accidentally met by another grandmother - on his father's side. She took Sasha to his father, who at that time worked as a policeman in Ryazan.
Demidov somehow briefly crossed paths with his own mother when he was already 12, then after a long break - in the mid-90s, having already become an artist. In those years, Alexander had many problems on the personal front; nervous breakdowns began to occur, after which he fell into depression for a long time. He saved himself with alcohol. In one of these difficult moments, he met with his mother and said: “I forgive you! And I don’t hold any grudges.” Then for the first time in for many years he called her mom.
FOR YOUR INFORMATION
* The oldest of the “quartets” is Kamil Larin. He is almost four years older than the others. And all because before entering GITIS, he studied at the Volgograd Energy College.
* Everyone except Khait has two children: Barats has daughters Lisa and Eva, Larin has sons Yan and Daniyar, Demidov has daughter Sofia and son Ignat. Even director Petreikov had two daughters in four marriages.
* Leni Barats’s mother, Zoya Isaevna, who worked for many years as a methodologist in a kindergarten, taught Ksenia Sobchak how to make delicious cheesecakes, which she now serves her husband Maxim Vitorgan for breakfast.
* The most exemplary family man is Leonid Barats. I met my wife Anna Kasatkina, who in the early years was also an actress of the Quartet I theater, during the entrance exams at GITIS. “Seeing her in a gray tight-fitting short dress, I realized that we couldn’t be just friends,” recalls Baratz. Their marriage is 23 years old.
Quotes
Vladimir POSNER:
- I adore Quartet I because they can joke phenomenally without smiling!
Evgeniy GRISHKOVETS:
- They have confidence in their uniqueness, and this attracts!
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Filmography of the theater "QUARTET I":
2007 — “Election Day”
2008 — “Radio Day”
2008 - “Volt” - voicing characters (dubbing)
2010 - " What men talk about»
2011 — “What else do men talk about”
2012 - “Pirates! Band of Losers" - voice acting (dubbing)
The comic theater “Quartet I” was created in 1993 by a group of graduates of the variety department of GITIS.
In order to find out the conditions of the invitation and order a performance for the celebration, call the official website page of the Quartet I theater and contact the direct concert agent on the website.
The theater's first activity took place on the stage of GITIS; four graduates created their first comedy, “It's Just Cliches,” which was based on typical student jokes.
In addition to successful activities in theater and cinema, members of the Quartet I theater also regularly appeared for some time on the STS TV channel in the entertainment and intellectual show “Mind Games” as regular participants in the program (one of the teams participating in the competition).
“Quartet I” created the “Another Theater” project, in which celebrities play not only comedies, but also dramas.
Actors, members of Quartet I:
- Rostislav Khait - actor, screenwriter.
One of the founders of the comic theater "Quartet I".
He became famous for his role as Slava in the plays “Radio Day” and “Election Day” and in the films of the same name, as well as in the films “What Men Talk About,” “What Else Men Talk About.”
- Leonid Barats - actor, director, screenwriter.
One of the founders of the comic theater Quartet I. Known for his roles in the plays “Radio Day” and “Election Day”, as well as in films of the same name. Author of the play “Radio Day”.
- Camille Larin - actor. One of the founders of the comic theater Quartet I.
- Alexander Demidov is an actor, Russian television personality and screenwriter.
Deputy general director Channel One, producer. One of the founders of the comic theater Quartet I.
« Quartet I"was created in Moscow in 1993 by a group of graduates of the variety department of GITIS. The composition of the theater has remained unchanged throughout its existence: Leonid Barats, Alexander Demidov, Kamil Larin and Rostislav Khait. In addition, numerous artists, musicians and showmen take part in Quartet I’s performances. The director of the theater is Sergei Petreikov.
Rostislav Khait: “I remember how director Sergei Petreikov said that “studies only work when one of these four takes part in them.” And he named four of our names. I remember how we sat in the apartment I rented and discussed the name. And Sasha Demidov came up with the name: “Quartet I”.
“Quartet I” spent its first season on the stage of its native GITIS. At that time, the theater's repertoire included only one performance - “These are just cliches,” which was based on student sketches of actors. The premiere of this comedy took place in October 1993.
The play “It's Just Stamps” ran successfully for many years and disappeared from the repertoire only in 2002.
A year and a half later, in May 1995, Quartet I presented its new job- “La Comedy, or We will entertain you with all the means that are good.” In 1998, the premiere of the next performance, called “Acting Games,” took place. In addition to the Quartet, the authors of the program “Your Own Director” A. Zhigalkin and E. Radzyukevich, as well as the actor of the Lenkom Theater D. Maryanov took part in it.
In the play "Acting Games" for the first time on Russian stage The genre of “improvisational show”, popular in many countries, was introduced, when artists receive a theme from the audience and act out sketches.
In 2001, “Radio Day” appeared, which became a real hit. This performance combined comedy bordering on farce and a rock concert. The music for the play was created by Alexey Kortnev and the group “Accident”, and the play itself was written by members of “Quartet I” L. Barats, S. Petreikov and R. Khait. The production was attended by the producer of “Our Radio” Mikhail Kozyrev, actors Dmitry Maryanov, Maxim Vitorgan and Nonna Grishaeva. The play “Radio Day” is a huge success among the audience.
Two years later, in 2003, a continuation of “Radio Day” appeared. In the play “Election Day,” the theater is once again joined by musicians from the “Accident” group, as well as Mikhail Polizeimako, Valdis Pelsh, Fyodor Dobronravov and others. The performance was no less successful than “Radio Day,” which prompted the artists of “Quarter I” to create films of the same name.
In the following years, the performances “Manifestations of Love” (2005), “Faster than Rabbits” (2005), “Fear” appeared soap bubble"(2006), "Conversations of middle-aged men about women, cinema and aluminum forks" (2008). In parallel, Quartet I was engaged in creative and literary activity for radio and television projects.
In 2007 and 2008, the comedy films “Election Day” and “Radio Day” were released, thanks to which “Quartet I” became even more popular.
In 2010, a film adaptation of the play “Conversations of Middle-Aged Men about Women, Cinema and Aluminum Forks” was released. The film is called “What Men Talk About”.
The growing popularity of the theater made it possible to create, under the auspices of Quartet I, the project “Another Theater”, promoting dramaturgy staged by young directors on the stage. In 2009, the play “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” based on the play was presented English playwright Tom Stoppard.
Leonid Barats: “I think this was the right step for us to at least somehow change the format. We need to somehow modify ourselves. Because we started to get a little repetitive and go in circles.”
In 2018, “Quartet I” celebrated the 25th anniversary of its existence with the play “Letters and Songs of Men” with the participation of Alexander Gradsky and the groups “Time Machine” and “Chaif”.
Initially, the posters for the play “Letters and Songs of Men,” dedicated to the anniversary, did not indicate the theater’s round date, and tickets for the performance were sold rather poorly. Then the quarter participants thought of making new posters indicating the 25th anniversary, and ticket sales immediately increased.
