“ONE AS A NAIL THAT TRIES TO HOLD A BLANKET OF CULTURE.”

LARISA PANKRATOVA SHARES ARCHIVES AND MEMORIES ABOUT MARK WAIL AND THE ILKHOM THEATER.
In 1978, Leonard Babakhanov (actor, director and script-writer) and his wife Dilya Babakhanova brought me to the theater. “Petty-bourgeois wedding” was being rehearsed.

That’s how I discovered the creative space of Ilkhom.
We often hung out in the cafe of the Yoshlik Hotel. On the right was a semi-basement – life was in full swing, there were jazz festivals, artists exhibited, concerts and meetings took place.

Mark “patted” me as the photographer with his careful and non-critical attitude, allowing me to shoot premiere performances and rehearsals. – The only thing I ask for is do not get on the stage.
And I spent in the “Ilkhom” days and nights: I would shoot without end.

PERIOD OF “STAGNATION AND FEASTS”
Most of the people of that time were suffocated by the inability to realize themselves. No wonder this time was called the time of “stagnation and feasts.”
People used to gather at the table and “murmur” complaining about: power, impossibility of action, double morality. Official slogans trumpeted that we were successful, but in reality there were empty shelves and the inability to buy yourself something basic from clothes.
I held a lot of exhibitions at Ilkhom. And the most significant one was when we did an exhibition of seven artists. We exposed nude figure for the first time. The exhibition was scandalous, was a huge success. Then we repeated it and showed it as “one-day trips” on the Uzbek Arbat Street.
I want to separately recall Zhenya Rakhmanov: he was the director of the Youth Home and the guardian angel of what was happening in the theater.

PERIOD OF “GREAT EXODUS”
Then came the period of “Great Exodus”: in the late 80s, many actors began to leave. I also began to think about moving. But I was able to leave at the beginning of 1990, when friends of mine found me an apartment. This turned out to be a huge help, because then it was impossible to easily check in the hotel and terribly expensive.
With Mark we continued to be friends and work. In the Moscow Soviet Theater, Mark produced three performances – “No joking with love”, “Twelfth Night” and “Man is Man”.
He would always ask with a smile:
– Lariska, how do you manage to maintain this “childishness”?

From the moment we lost him, I still have a spoke inside that cannot be pulled out.
He was a unique artist: subtle, sensitive. Thanks to him, I learned to see how directors work differently, to compare their approaches. And thanks to him, I started working in the cinema and in the theater – it was he who laid the bridgehead.

“LARISKA, I CAN’T” … OUR LAST TALK
Why could a man of such creative power be murdered? He was recognized by Moscow, the entire world recognized him.
I remember the last time we talked, Ilkhom was threatened of not being financed any longer. Mark was in a slight confusion, the existence of the theater was in doubt.
I asked him:
-Marik, why do you need this?” After all, haven’t you practically left Tashkent?
He replied:
– This is my theater, I can’t betray the guys
– But if this place squeezes you out, you’re like a bone in the throat.” One single man, like a nail, that is trying to hold a cultural blanket.
– Lariska, I can’t.

Mark is an amazing person. Thanks to him, many artists were brought up and emerged. And a light graceful form of plastic theater: when music, psychology, stage design and beauty are combined.
When you just enjoy the piece of painting; in any performance, you need to overcome convention, but here you fall into the depths of the action and you can’t fall out completely: he did it so well.
With Mark we were friends and stayed in touch until the last day. I still can’t stand the thought of his passing.