In the magnificent actress of the Russian theater Alisa Koonen, the same age as Chaplin and Akhmatova, there was not a single gram of Russian blood. Until 1934, she was a subject of the Belgian kingdom. Nevertheless, she devoted her whole life to Russia.
Childhood
Alisa Koonen, whose biography will be presented in this article, was born in 1889, October 17, in Moscow. Her father, Georgy Koonen, was Belgian. And her mother - a creative person - was from a we althy Polish family, which was against the fact that the girl married a poor Belgian - a judicial officer. And then she went against the will of her parents. As a result, the family turned away from her, considering it a shame. On the day Alice was born, they didn't even have money to buy the cotton needed for childbirth. And the woman in labor had to lay a baptismal cross.
Vivid childhood memories
Even as a little girl, Alice showed creativity and was very artistic. The most vivid memories of childhood found a place in her autobiographical book "Alisa Koonen: Pages of Life". Her family wasvery poor, they did not have the opportunity to organize a Christmas tree. However, Alice was very friendly and cheerful, so it was interesting to communicate with her to the richer neighbor girls who invited her to their home holidays. Alice was everywhere in the center of attention, performed, read poetry, did all sorts of pirouettes, and then bowed, “collecting” universal applause. Despite the fact that their maternal grandparents did not want to receive them in their house, Alisa's own aunt, a we althy landowner living in the Tver region, invited them to her estate for the summer. Being an amateur provincial theater actress, she staged performances in her house, or rather, in the open air by the lake with lilies and water lilies, in which little Alisa Koonen took part. Thus, her first theatrical steps were taken in such a romantic setting. Next was a visit to the drama theater. And this, one might say, was the most vivid memory of her childhood. She was mesmerized by the scene and walked around under the impression for several days.
Meet the master of the Russian theater
Once, during a home performance in her aunt's house, she was noticed by a noble lady close to Konstantin Stanislavsky. She was so impressed with the girl's performance that she later told the great director about her. At that time, Alice graduated from the First Moscow Gymnasium. She was bored studying there, because she had long known about her destiny. Her idol in the theater was Vasily Kachalov. She was delirioustheater and told everyone: “You will soon read the headlines in the press: “Alisa Koonen is an actress”. Her father didn’t even want to hear about it, but her mother supported her, believing that this profession is quite prestigious and no worse than others. And so the mother and daughter came to a meeting with Stanislavsky. The first thing he asked her was: “Are you ready to go to a monastery? The theater is also a monastery.” At that moment, she was ready to give an affirmative answer to this question, but then she returned to him again, but more on that later…
Coming to the Stanislavsky Theater
She came to the exam late, but after she showed everyone what she was capable of, no one remembered about it. So, in 1905, Alisa Koonen entered the "school", or rather, in the stage art class of the Art Theater. Her debut took place in 1906 in the small role of the Guest in Griboedov's play "Woe from Wit", and at the age of 19 she already played the role of Mitil ("The Blue Bird"). It was her first serious role. After that, she had a patron in the theater - philanthropist Nikolai Tarasov. Despite the fact that envious people insisted that Alice was in the theater solely due to her acquaintance with certain powerful people, her talent was louder than their voices, her every appearance on the stage proved the opposite. She was definitely the best. The famous director Gordon Craig, who came from England to Russia, asked Stanislavsky to give him his favorite actress, promising to open a monotheatre for her in Italy. To which the master replied that Alice would die from loneliness in the monotheatre,because she cannot live even a minute without communication. By 1913, she was considered a celebrity and a star of the Moscow Art Theater skits.
How was Alisa Koonen represented in the press?
According to media reports, the great actress had wide-set aquamarine eyes, her artificial eyelashes trembled every now and then. She had a habit of looking not at people, but a little higher, above them. She did not like to look into the eyes, especially when it was a game partner. Her gait was like a victory over space, and each of her appearances could be called a triumphant exit of the winner. Her voice was like hot magma. He could effortlessly fill the space of thousands of halls. Theater critics wrote about her: "Alice is a great actress!" Even looking at her photographs, you notice how perfect her plasticity is, how bright the sparkle of her beautiful eyes is, especially in moments of anger or passion. From the memoirs of contemporaries, we learn that Alisa Koonen (see photo in the article) owned the plasticity of a ballerina, she was even compared with Isadora Duncan, who had a strong influence on her. Alice knew how to juggle, and also mastered the art of swordsmanship. In her body, special plasticity, feelings, and the melody of her voice merged in unison. Depending on her role, she could dance barefoot or move slowly and smoothly, be strict or uncontrollably cheerful. However, she avoided casual gestures and intonations. Everything about her was measured and precise. Her friend and admirer Vasily Kachalov said about her: “She is the center of a hundred children and a hundred devils.”
Andreev's matchmaking
Besides the affair with Kachalov, Alice, despite hundreds of fans, had another serious love story. Prose writer Leonid Andreev fell in love with her. In those years, he was at the height of his fame. A lot of we althy ladies dried up on him, but he had a special passion for representatives of the acting fraternity. Andreev's courtship to Alisa Koonen was not a surprise. It is said that he sent declarations of love to almost all the actresses of the art theater, and they did not attach much importance to this. However, in the case of Alice, it was something else, as the writer confessed to her that she reminded him of his late wife. Together they spent many beautiful days. However, he, according to the actress, evoked a feeling of pity in her. Then he introduced her to his mother, and she, discarding all conventions, asked Alice to help her son. Despite all her philanthropy, Alice was not ready to accept the proposal of this deeply unhappy man. A sense of unease arose in her. And she did not like when she was forced to do something. This is what she told him…
Leaving the Stanislavsky Theater
After she took a certain position in the Moscow Art Theater, Alisa Koonen remembered Stanislavsky's question regarding the monastery. Now she certainly knew the answer to it. She did not want to sacrifice her freedom for the sake of acting in this theater. Despite the fact that she did not agree with some of Stanislavsky's methods. She didn't like "small scratching roles, useless treading on the spot." She needsthere was fire, flight, fullness and joy from the game. Based on all that has been said, she decided to leave there. She was driven by the desire to enrich the "system", to bring new colors into it, to be ahead of everyone. And so Alice decided to go to the new Free Theater under the direction of Mardzhanov. The theater did not last long, but Alice subsequently recalled how warm, simply magical the atmosphere was in it.
Meet Tairov
After the breakup of Svobodny, Mardzhanov turned to his friend, director A. Tairov. Together they decide to create a theater of a completely new format. And most importantly, they know who will be the prima - Koonen Alisa Georgievna. Tairov had previously seen several of her performances at the Art Theater, but they did not know each other. Marjanov organizes their meeting, and it becomes fateful for them. From that moment on, the director and actress become inseparable. In 1914, after returning from a romantic joint trip from Paris, they begin to live together, but their marriage was unregistered until the end of their days. At the same time, their theater was born. He is her main brainchild, what Alisa Koonen was proud of. Their children with Tairov were never born, so they had to devote their whole lives to the theater.
New Chamber
The building for the theater was chosen by Alice herself. It was located on Tverskoy Boulevard. It was a big mansion. It had an auditorium for 500 people. To open the theater, it was decided to give the play "Sakuntala". Alice, of course, was the leading lady. Atthe young spouses had no money for advertising, and they almost invited the audience into the hall themselves. However, the popularity of the Chamber Theater in Moscow could be envied. Each appearance of Alice on stage was accompanied by an explosion of applause. The repertoire of the theater included such performances as "Famira Kifared", "Salome", "Zhirofle-Zhiroflya", "Princess Brambilla" and others. Soon they traveled all over Europe on tour, and Alice's name became recognizable in the Old World. In 1917, after well-known events, the theater was closed, but it was revived in 1924. Already under Soviet rule, the couple celebrated the 10th anniversary of their theater.
Crash
Already in the 30s, the fight against the "formalist theater" was proclaimed. What was being done by Tairov and Koonen was incomprehensible to the proletariat. And a furious attack began on Kamerny. In 1937, a decision was made to merge the two theaters: Tairov and Okhlopkov. About this event, Alice expressed herself as follows: “The first nail was driven into the lid of our coffin.” In this composition, during the war years, they went to the city of Balkhash. The last performance of the Chamber was the play “Adrienne Lecouvreur”.
Tragedy
Further, the fate of Alisa Koonen was completely tragic. During the existence of the theater, he and Alexander lived in an apartment, which was located on the same staircase with the theater premises. And now, after the theater no longer belonged to their family, the question arose of where they would continue to live. Tairov was diagnosed with brain cancer and soon died. And then everyone remembered that Alice and Alexander were notlegally married, which means she could not claim his apartment. There was a trial, in the past the famous actress argued that they had been together since 1914, and this despite the fact that everyone knew about it.
End
After Tairov's death, she was doomed to loneliness. So she lived for almost 20 years. Only rare creative evenings, at which guests were presented with audio recordings of her performances, brought joy to the aging actress. She died in 1974, on August 20. She was 85 years old.
