"Since it's my anniversary, I was offered to choose the play myself. I spent a very long time choosing it. It seems to me that the play is very deep, highly moral. This is exactly what our theater needs, with the most complex characters and dramatic line. My heroine is a woman with a difficult human fate who has been searching for love for a long time. She finds this love, carries it through life, fighting for it, and as a result, she finds everything: both a husband and children, and becomes truly happy," Natalia Ivanovna said.

Natalia Ivanovna graduated from the Tambov Music College named after S.V. Rachmaninoff in vocal class, then GITIS named after A.V. Lunacharsky in Moscow. Her creative career began in 1979 in the city of Frunze (Bishkek) at the N.K. Krupskaya State Academic Russian Drama Theater, where she worked for about twenty-five years under the leadership of the legendary V.B. Pazi. Natalia Matveeva joined the troupe of the M. Gorky State Academic Russian Drama Theater in 2003.

"The Gorky Theater, indeed, is considered my home. This is my home, my family and love. This is probably my destiny. I have spent a rather interesting theatrical life here. Here I met my favorite heroines, Sarah from Chekhov's "Ivanov", Anna Andreevna from Gogol's "The Inspector General", Anna Atueva from "Krechinsky's Wedding". Here I also played Elmira from "Tartuffe". Roles large and small, episodic, but all of them are my favorites, and all of them were created in this theater. Our actors are wonderful, we have talented young people. New actors come every time from our course - my students and Sergey Fedorovich's, replenishing the theater troupe. (Note: graduates of KazNUI). And I am infinitely grateful to our theater for giving us such an honor, accepting our students, our graduates. I love the theater, may it prosper," Natalia Matveeva wished.

The play for Natalia Ivanovna's anniversary is staged by an invited director from Russia - Filimonov Mikhail Evgenievich. He has a long-standing friendship with Sergey and Natalia Matveev, which began back in the 70s at the N.K. Krupskaya State Academic Russian Drama Theater.

"We have known Mikhail Evgenievich for a very long time, since 1979, when Sergey Fedorovich and I came to Frunze. And there I met Mikhail Evgenievich and his wife - this amazing family of bright, beautiful people, deeply devoted to the theater. With great and pure love for the theater, they serve it all their lives, worship it. Mikhail Evgenievich and I met a lot in performances as partners. I even remember a fairy tale in which we were together. He played a beetle, and I was Thumbelina. Then I played in his performances, after he trained as a director in Moscow. I remember his first productions. He had very bright productions, one of them was "Caligula", which stuck in my memory for life. It was conceived so wonderfully that this performance captivated everyone from the first minute and kept the audience in suspense until the last. In general, Mikhail Evgenievich is a wonderful director, a dreamer. He is an incredibly pure person whom I love very much," Natalia Ivanovna said.

Filimonov Mikhail Evgenievich has staged more than 40 performances, including "Evening in Copenhagen", "Caligula", "Rhinoceroses", "Romance about Love and Death", "Inconceivable Comedy" and others. All productions are distinguished by a characteristic musical and plastic solution. Filimonov's performance "The Lion in Winter" (based on the play by J. Goldman) was recorded in 1996 on Russian radio as one of the best performances, and was broadcast several times on federal channels. Mikhail Evgenievich's name was entered in the Book of Labor Glory of the Kyrgyz SSR in 1986.

"There have been many different theaters in my life. I led some, some invited me to stage performances. Here, in the capital of Kazakhstan, I discovered a good Russian theater with a broad, intelligent soul. This is true, because I myself am primarily a fan of an intelligent and creative team. And management, especially. A good team. It is recovering after, as they say, "five years of wandering through the deserts." (Note: the theater building was under restoration). I believe that a team that gets back on its feet after this life test deserves all attention and respect," Mikhail Evgenievich noted.

Italian playwright Eduardo de Filippo wrote the play "Filumena Marturano" in 1946. The main characters, Filumena Marturano and Domenico Soriano, have been together for 30 years, but are not married. Domenico does not want to hear about marriage. He is used to the free life of a carefree bachelor. Filumena forgives her beloved his hobbies and patiently waits for a proposal. This is a fascinating story of a woman who does everything possible to preserve love and her own dignity.

"I think the performance will be interesting to the audience, because every woman still strives to live according to the laws that dictate her female essence. The topic is touching. We thought about the title. "Filumena Marturano" seems to be known from the film with Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni, but this title also does not say much. And then I took it straight from the text of the play - "A Woman Living by Her Own Laws." I think the audience will remember this title," Mikhail Evgenievich said.

The play "A Woman Living by Her Own Laws" is running at the M. Gorky Russian Drama Theater at the address: Astana, Zheltoqsan str., 13