Bolshoi Drama Theatre. Bolshoi Drama Theater Bolshoi Drama Theater Tovstonogov brief description


To a modern St. Petersburger, the Bolshoi Drama Theater seems to be an integral part of the city, a building of the same age as the Alexandrinsky Theater. However, the building is a little over a hundred years old, and the history of the Bolshoi Drama Theater does not even go back a century: the centenary will be celebrated in 2019. It is Georgy Tovstonogov who is credited with integrating the BDT into the system of cultural values ​​of the city on a par with the Hermitage. We will conduct a brief educational program on the history of the theater - from the beginning to the era of the Master.

Suvorin Theater

In 1862, the chaotic home-made Apraksin market, combined from the Shchukin and Apraksin courtyards, burned down. The fire destroyed all temporary and some permanent buildings. Count Anton Apraksin, whose losses amounted to millions of rubles, began to settle his territories anew. Anton Stepanovich was a man of many talents and interests: he flew in balloons, played music and suppressed uprisings, did not boast of wealth, and did not spare money for charity and art. By his order, the architect Ludwig Frantsevich Fonton redesigned not only the buildings of Apraksin Dvor, but also the building of the theater we know.

The Apraksin Theater was technically considered one of the best private stages in St. Petersburg, but for a long time it did not have its own troupe: Count Apraksin rented out the premises to the Directorate of the Imperial Theaters, and they used the building as a small stage at the Alexandrinsky Theater.

In 1895, the permanent tenant changed and the Apraksin Theater became the theater of the Literary and Artistic Society or, as they also called themselves, the literary and artistic circle, where the main co-founders were Alexey Suvorin, Pyotr Gnedich and Prince Pavel Obolensky.

Suvorin was a journalist, writer and theater critic, born in Voronezh, and came to the capital in 1863, where, already in the status of a promising writer, he got a job at St. Petersburg Vedomosti. There he worked as a caustic feuilletonist under the pseudonym “Stranger.” When the entire editorial staff was fired at once in 1874, there were rumors that the main reason for this was the Stranger. By that time, Suvorin already had a new hobby - publishing, both book and newspaper: it was he who published the first "Yellow Pages" of the city - the address directory "All Petersburg". It is believed that Suvorin contributed to Chekhov’s success by publishing the great playwright on the pages of his publication “New Time”.

Pyotr Gnedich, despite his active literary and journalistic activity before the Suvorin Theater, received recognition later, becoming in 1900 the manager of the Alexandrinsky Theater troupe. As for Pavel Obolensky, the prince did not aspire to become a playwright - he was attracted by the stage. Alexandrinka, where he had played since 1890, was obviously not enough for him.

The theater on Fontanka, 65 was colloquially called Suvorinsky; after the death of Suvorin himself, this name became official, as well as Maly - in relation to Alexandrinka. The Maly-Bolshoi Theater of that time successfully staged fresh plays and delighted the aristocratic audience. In general, the Suvorinsky Theater was a fashionable and well-frequented institution. At the turn of the century, Suvorin became the sole leader of the Maly Theater. After the death of the journalist in 1912, his son supported the theater of the literary and artistic society for several more years, and in 1917 the revolutionaries took the theater away from the Suvorin family. At first - just so that it doesn't happen. Three years later, the then homeless troupe of the Bolshoi Drama Theater was relocated to Fontanka.

Gorky Theater

Strictly speaking, the centenary of the BDT St. Petersburg will have to celebrate in the middle of the World Cup in Russia - in August 2018: it was in August 1918 that the Moscow Art Theater actress and the commissioner of theaters and entertainment of the Union of Communes of the Northern Region, Maria Fedorovna Andreeva, signed a decree on the creation in Petrograd of a “theater of tragedy, romantic drama and high comedy." Andreeva’s position and the wording of the decree sound quite funny in our time, but the Bolsheviks took the matter seriously.

The theater was created on the initiative and under the strict control of Maxim Gorky. The design of the performances was done by the artist Alexander Benois, however, he worked part-time, combining work on sets and costumes with the management of the Hermitage art gallery. In 1926, Benoit left Russia completely on a business trip, from which he reasonably decided not to return. The troupe was assembled by the famous operetta artist Nikolai Monakhov - until his death in 1936, he was included in its composition and appeared on stage. Together with him, Alexandrinka actor Yuri Yuryev and Vladimir Maksimov, who, by the way, had previously served at the Maly Theater, were appointed to the honorary first roles. Yuriev also brought the team of his Tragedy Theater to the BDT.

We also decided on the main director: Andrey Lavrentyev, a student of Nemirovich-Danchenko. It was his performance of “Don Carlos” based on Schiller’s play on February 15, 1919 that became the first appearance of the BDT troupe on stage - however, not on their own, but in the Great Hall of the Conservatory. In April of the same year, Alexander Blok became chairman of the BDT artistic council. The following year, the Bolshoi Theater had already settled in the place of the Maly Theater - where it is located to this day. In contrast to the Suvorinsky Theater - sophisticated, aristocratic and avant-garde, the Bolshoi Drama Theater strove for the pathos of the revolution and heroic plots, which, however, were not found in the absence of Soviet playwrights. Therefore, during the first years at the Bolshoi Drama Theater they staged “Macbeth” and “The Servant of Two Masters” with heroic passion.

Theater of many

Two seasons in the theater went off with a bang, and then it was time to let off steam: Gorky and Andreeva left the USSR, Blok left this world, Lavrentiev went on sabbatical for two years. During this time, first Nikolai Petrov and then Konstantin Khokhlov tried themselves in the role of artistic director, who still had to return to the BDT many years later, so that, after working for a year, he would give up the chair to Georgy Tovtonogov. But these were already times of crisis, and in the twenties the BDT was well-known and on horseback: Lavrentiev’s return brought stability, and at the same time Adrian Piotrovsky, a philologist and translator of ancient authors, began to manage the literary part of the theater. It was thanks to the latter that the BDT began staging plays by young Soviet (and not only) playwrights. In 1928, Piotrovsky left the theater for the position of artistic director of the Sovkino factory - the current Lenfilm.

A year later, Lavrentiev gave up the position of chief director to Meyerhold's student Konstantin Tverskoy, while remaining in the theater as an actor. Tverskoy took up modern drama with pleasure, the basis of which was prepared by Piotrovsky. For the next six years at the BDT, if they staged classics, they did so, striving for an original reading. Another student of Meyerhold, Vladimir Lyutse, worked side by side with Tversky. In the Apraksin Theater, young voices began to speak again, style and taste appeared: Lyutse and Tverskoy built a modern theater on the cooling ashes of the revolution. But in 1935, Konstantin Tverskoy was evicted from St. Petersburg in connection with the murder of Kirov, and two years later he was shot in Saratov.

Alexei Dikiy could have become a bright chief director, but he worked at the BDT for only a season (1936-1937), after which he was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison for counter-revolutionary activities. After his liberation, Dikiy did not return to Leningrad. Following him, the main directors were Boris Babochkin, Lev Rudnik, Natalya Rashevskaya, Ivan Efremov and, finally, Konstantin Khokhlov. The theater was dying in its own internal squabbles, it owed everything to everyone, and the audience was completely bypassed by the Big Party. The BDT needed not a director, but a leader.

In 1956, delegates to the 20th Congress of the CPSU were presented with the play “Optimistic Tragedy” at the Leningrad Pushkin Theater. A few months later, the director of the production, an elderly man, the chief director of the Lenin Komsomol theater, the son of an enemy of the people, Tovstonogov, was asked to literally “save the first proletarian theater” by any means necessary. On February 13, 1956 he took office. And after some time, the BDT became as we know it. At least, as they knew before 2013.

In 1956, Georgy Tovstonogov was appointed chief director and artistic director of the theater. Under him, the BDT became an author's director's theater, known throughout the world, and the best dramatic stage in the USSR. In the performances Tovstonogov was played by Tatyana Doronina and Sergei Yursky, Innokenty Smoktunovsky and Zinaida Sharko, Evgeny Lebedev and Valentina Kovel, Oleg Basilashvili and Svetlana Kryuchkova, Vladislav Strzhelchik, Pavel Luspekayev, Oleg Borisov, Nikolai Trofimov, Efim Kopelyan, Kirill Lavrov and many other wonderful actors . In those years the theater toured a lot. In a situation of confrontation between two political systems, the “Iron Curtain” regime, the BDT was a cultural link between East and West. After Tovstonogov's death in 1989, People's Artist of the USSR Kirill Lavrov took over the artistic direction, followed by director Temur Chkheidze. Since 1992, the theater began to bear the name of Georgy Alexandrovich Tovstonogov.

In 2013, director Andrei Moguchiy, one of the leaders of the theater avant-garde, became the artistic director of the BDT. Under the leadership of Moguchy, the BDT regained recognition from the public and critics and became one of the main theatrical newsmakers in the country. In December 2015, the theater was awarded by experts from the Russian Association of Theater Critics “For building a new artistic strategy for the Bolshoi Drama Theatre.”

The creative credo of the BDT is an open dialogue on topics relevant to modern society. Every performance, every project of the new BDT addresses the problems of a person of his time.

The productions of the Bolshoi Drama Theater involve artists of all generations of the troupe - from very young actors of the trainee group to leading stage masters, such as People's Artist of the USSR Alisa Freindlikh, People's Artist of Russia and Ukraine Valery Ivchenko, People's Artists of Russia Svetlana Kryuchkova, Irute Vengalite, Marina Ignatova, Elena Popova, People's Artists of Russia Gennady Bogachev, Valery Degtyar, Honored Artists of Russia Anatoly Petrov, Vasily Reutov, Andrey Sharkov, Honored Artist of Russia Maria Lavrova and others. Every season, the BDT's performances become laureates of the country's main theater awards, including the national theater award "Golden Mask".

Since 2013, at the BDT named after G.A. Tovstonogov there is a large-scale educational program “The Age of Enlightenment”. These are lectures, concerts, exhibitions, round tables devoted to current creative issues, meetings with people who create modern theater, as well as excursions around the museum and behind the scenes of the theater, original programs dedicated to the history of the BDT. An important direction of the “Era of Enlightenment” is the “BDT Pedagogical Laboratory” - directors, actors, theater critics and teachers train teachers of secondary schools and kindergartens in St. Petersburg to introduce modern theatrical language and stage techniques into the school educational program.

In 2015, the BDT became the first Russian repertory drama theater to permanently include the inclusive play “The Language of Birds” in its playbill, created in collaboration with the Center for Creativity, Education and Social Habilitation for adults with autism “Anton Is Near”. Along with professional actors, people with autism spectrum disorder play in this performance.

At the Bolshoi Drama Theater named after G.A. Tovstonogov three scenes. The Main Stage (750 seats) and the Small Stage (120 seats) are located in a historical building at 65 Fontanka Embankment, erected in 1878 by the architect Ludwig Fontana commissioned by Count Anton Apraksin. The second stage of the Bolshoi Drama Theater (300 seats) is located on the Old Theater Square, 13, in the building of the Kamennoostrovsky Theater, the oldest surviving wooden theater in Russia, built by the architect Smaragd Shustov by order of Emperor Nicholas I in 1827. Every season, these three venues host at least 5 premieres and more than 350 performances.

The Tovstonogov Drama Theater opened in February 1919. His repertoire today includes mainly classical works. Most of them are productions with a unique interpretation.

Story

The theater's first performance was F. Schiller's tragedy "Don Carlos".

Initially, the BDT was located in the building of the conservatory. In 1920 it received a new building, where it is still located. A photo of the BDT Tovstonogov is presented in this article.

The first name of the theater is “Special Drama Troupe”. The formation of the troupe was carried out by the famous actor N.F. Monakhov. The first artistic director of the BDT was A.A. Block. The ideological inspirer was M. Gorky. The repertoire of that time included works by V. Hugo, F. Schiller, W. Shakespeare, etc.

The twenties of the 20th century were difficult for the theater. The era was changing. M. Gorky left the country. A.A. died Block. The main director A.N. left the theater. Lavrentyev and the artist New people came to take their place, but did not stay long.

A great contribution to the development of the BDT was made by director K.K., who came in 1929. Tverskoy - student of V.E. Meyerhold. He served in the theater until 1934. Thanks to him, the BDT’s repertoire included performances based on plays by contemporary playwrights at that time.

Georgy Aleksandrovich Tovstonogov came to the theater in 1956. He was already the eleventh leader in a row. With his arrival a new era began. It was he who created the theater, which has been among the leaders for many decades. Georgy Alexandrovich assembled a unique troupe, which became the best in the country. It included such actors as T.V. Doronina, O.V. Basilashvili, S.Yu. Yursky, L.I. Malevannaya, A.B. Freundlikh, I.M. Smoktunovsky, V.I. Strzhelchik, L.I. Makarova, O.I. Borisov, E.Z. Kopelyan, P.B. Luspekayev, N.N. Usatova and others. Many of these artists still serve in the Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theater.

In 1964 the theater received the title of Academic.

In 1989, Georgy Alexandrovich Tovstonogov died. This tragic event came as a shock. Almost immediately after the death of the genius, his place was taken by People's Artist of the USSR Kirill Lavrov. He was chosen by team vote. Kirill Yuryevich put all his will, soul, authority and energy into preserving what was laid down by G.A. Tovstonogov. He invited talented directors to collaborate. The first production created after the death of Georgy Alexandrovich was the play “Cunning and Love” by F. Schiller.

In 1992, the BDT was named after G.A. Tovstonogov.

In 2007, T.N. was chosen for the position of artistic director. Chkheidze.

Since 2013, the artistic director has been A.A. Mighty.

Performances

BDT Tovstonogov offers its viewers the following repertoire:

  • “Man” (notes of a psychologist who survived a concentration camp);
  • "Tolstoy's War and Peace";
  • "Gronholm Method";
  • "Uncle's Dream";
  • "Baptized with Crosses";
  • “Theatre from the Inside” (interactive production);
  • "Measure for measure";
  • "Mary Stuart";
  • “The Soldier and the Devil” (musical drama);
  • "What to do?";
  • “Three texts about the war”;
  • "The Cripple of Inishmaan";
  • "Quartet";
  • “From the life of puppets”;
  • "Languor";
  • "When I'm Little Again";
  • "One Year's Summer";
  • "The Innkeeper";
  • "Player";
  • "Women's Time";
  • “Zholdak dreams: thieves of feelings”;
  • "The House of Bernarda Alba";
  • "Vassa Zheleznova";
  • "Lady with a dog";
  • "Alice";
  • "The Visible Side of Life";
  • "Erendira";
  • "Drunk."

Premieres of the 2015-2016 season.

The Tovstonogov Drama Theater has prepared several premieres this season. These are Tolstoy's War and Peace, Baptized with Crosses and The Gambler. All three productions are unique and original in their interpretation.

"Tolstoy's War and Peace" is not an ordinary stage version of the work. The play is a guide to the novel. This is a kind of excursion through some of the chapters. The performance gives the audience the opportunity to look at the novel in a new way and move away from the perception that developed during their school years. The director and actors will try to break stereotypes. The role of the guide is played by Alisa Freindlich.

The play “The Player” is a free interpretation of the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky. This is the director's fantasy. Several roles are played in this performance. The production is full of choreographic and musical numbers. Svetlana Kryuchkova’s artistic temperament is very close in spirit to the novel, which is why it was decided to entrust her with several roles at once.

“Baptized with crosses” - this is how the prisoners of cross prisons called themselves. These were completely different people. Thieves in law, political prisoners and their children who were in children's prisons or in reception centers. The performance is based on the book by Eduard Kochergin, an artist at the Bolshoi Drama Theater. This is an autobiographical work. Eduard Stepanovich talks about his childhood. He was the son of “enemies of the people” and spent several years in the NKVD children’s detention center.

Troupe

The actors of the Bolshoi Drama Theater are famous for their eccentricity, originality, talent and professionalism. Tovstonogov. List of artists:

  • N. Usatova;
  • G. Bogachev;
  • D. Vorobyov;
  • A. Freundlich;
  • E. Yarema;
  • O. Basilashvili;
  • G. Shtil;
  • S. Kryuchkova;
  • N. Alexandrova;
  • T. Bedova;
  • V. Reutov;
  • I. Botvin;
  • M. Ignatova;
  • Z. Sharko;
  • M. Sandler;
  • A. Petrovskaya;
  • E. Shvareva;
  • V. Degtyar;
  • M. Adashevskaya;
  • R. Barabanov;
  • M. Starykh;
  • I. Patrakova;
  • S. Stukalov;
  • A. Schwartz;
  • L. Sapozhnikova;
  • S. Mendelson;
  • K. Razumovskaya;
  • I. Vengalite and many others.

Nina Usatova

Many actors of the Bolshoi Drama Theater named after. Tovstonogov is known to a wide audience for his numerous roles in films. One of these actresses is the magnificent Nina Nikolaevna Usatova. She graduated from the legendary Shchukin Theater School. She came to work at the BDT in 1989. Nina Nikolaevna is a laureate of various theater awards, she was awarded medals, including “For Services to the Fatherland,” and was awarded the title of People’s Artist of Russia.

N. Usatova starred in the following films and TV series:

  • "Feat of Odessa";
  • "Window to Paris";
  • "Fire Shooter";
  • "Muslim";
  • Next;
  • "The Ballad of the Bomber";
  • “The cold summer of '53...”;
  • “See Paris and Die”;
  • “The Case of Dead Souls”;
  • “Quadrille (dance with exchange of partners)”;
  • Next 2;
  • "Poor Nastya";
  • "Master and Margarita";
  • Next 3;
  • “Features of national policy”;
  • "Mothers and Daughters";
  • "The Widow's Ship"
  • "Legend No. 17";
  • “Furtseva. The Legend of Catherine".

And many other films were released with her participation.

Artistic director

Tovstonogov took the position of artistic director of the BDT in 2013. He was born in Leningrad on November 23, 1961. In 1984, he graduated from the Faculty of Radio Engineering of the Leningrad Institute of Aviation Instrumentation. Another 5 years later there was a department of acting and directing at the Institute of Culture. In 1990, Andrei founded his own independent troupe, called Formal Theatre, which won Grand Prix at festivals in Edinburgh and Belgrade. From 2003 to 2014 A. Moguchiy was a production director

Where is it and how to get there

In the center of the historical part of St. Petersburg is the main building of the Tovstonogov Drama Theater. Its address is the embankment of the Fontanka River, No. 65. The most convenient way to get to the theater is by metro. The nearest stations to it are Sadovaya and Spasskaya.

The Russian State Academic Bolshoi Drama Theater (BDT) is one of the first Soviet theaters. The prefix “named after G.A. Tovstonogov" he received in honor of his leader - the famous director Georgy Tovstonogov.

Theater of Big Names

Before this, the theater bore the name of M. Gorky and was called the Leningrad Academic Bolshoi Drama Theater. Actually, thanks to Maxim Gorky, the theater was organized in 1919; The basis of his troupe was made up of artists from the Art Drama Theater, created a year before. In 1920, the theater received a building on Fontanka, and remains there to this day. An interesting fact: the first performance of the theater - “Don Carlos” based on Schiller’s play - lasted for five whole hours; the premiere took place in winter, in mid-February, in the frost, and the building was not heated - but the audience willingly spent the whole evening in the hall. What was happening on stage was so exciting! And this is not surprising. After all, throughout its existence, the charisma of the Bolshoi Dramatic Theater was based on the bright energy of outstanding figures of Russian culture. Many big names are associated with this theater. In 1919, poet Alexander Blok was appointed chairman of the artistic council. Maxim Gorky continued to take the most ardent part in the fate of the theater. This cultural platform was intended to become a source of heroic pathos, revolutionary ideology, majestic passions that are not limited to the fate of one person, but capture the fate of many. In those years, the repertoire of the Bolshoi Drama Theater was based on a revolutionary program. It consisted of works of world drama that corresponded to heroic sentiments: Shakespeare's tragedies, Hugo's dramas, plays by Merezhkovsky and Bryusov. But the fate of the theater turned out to be changeable. For various reasons - political or personal - talented directors did not stay there for long, the team remained without a leader for a long time, without a strong hand, the theater gradually lost popularity... And only in 1956 a new era began: the outstanding and successful director Georgy joined the team Tovstonogov, very demanding of the quality of acting, setting the highest standard in his work. For more than 30 years, the fate of the theater was decided: the popularity and love of the audience returned to it.

According to the most stringent criteria of stage quality

The most important criterion for an actor's skill in the theater remains his intellectual level and ability to improvise. This is what has made the Bolshoi Drama troupe one of the strongest theater groups in the world for decades. “Trained” by the strict director Tovstonogov, the actors passed on to new generations the tradition of being demanding of themselves and impeccable smart acting. In the 90s, after the death of the main director, the theater was again “in search”; it was temporarily headed by Kirill Lavrov, who then transferred the leadership to director Temur Chkheidze. Changes affected the Bolshoi Drama Theater in 2011-2014: like many other theaters at this time, it underwent technical restoration. Critics, and many spectators, feared that after the reconstruction the theater would no longer be the same - its ideology and philosophy would change... But the very first performance - “Alice” based on the works of L. Carroll with Alice Freundlich in the title role - became the owner of the highest theatrical award. St. Petersburg "Golden Sofit" award in the categories "Best Performance" and "Best Actress". It is impossible to buy tickets to the Bolshoi Drama Theater on the day of the performance - after all, this is one of the most popular stage venues, a historical and cultural center, for which you prepare in advance...

The Bolshoi Drama Theater was organized on the initiative of the writer Maxim Gorky, actress and commissioner of theaters and performances Maria Andreeva and poet Alexander Blok in 1918. The special aesthetics and style of the BDT were formed under the influence of the architect Vladimir Shchuko and artists from the World of Art association Alexander Benois, Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Boris Kustodiev - the first set designers of the theater. The repertoire policy was determined by the first artistic director, Alexander Blok: “The Bolshoi Drama Theater is, by design, a theater of high drama: high tragedy and high comedy.” The ideas of the founders of the BDT were embodied in the works of Andrei Lavrentyev, Boris Babochkin, Grigory Kozintsev, Georgy Tovstonogov - outstanding directors who worked in the theater over the years. The BDT became the most famous stage of the USSR under the leadership of Georgy Tovstonogov, who was the theater's chief director from 1956 to 1989.
In 2013, director Andrei Moguchiy, one of the leaders of the modern theatrical avant-garde, became the artistic director of the BDT. A new history began for the theater, filled not only with performances, but also with socially significant projects. Maintaining its credo for a century, the Bolshoi Drama Theater conducts an open dialogue on topics that concern modern society and raise the problems of the people of their time. Every season, the BDT's performances become laureates of the country's main theater awards, including the national theater award "Golden Mask".
At the Bolshoi Drama Theater named after G.A. Tovstonogov three scenes. The main (750 seats) and Small stages (120 seats) are located in a historical building on the Fontanka embankment, 65. The second stage of the Bolshoi Drama Theater (300 seats) is located on the Old Theater Square, 13, in the building of the Kamennoostrovsky Theater. Every season at these three venues there are at least 5 premieres and more than 350 performances, social and educational projects are implemented, exhibitions, round tables, concerts and lectures by leading figures of contemporary art are held.



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