Bolshoy Drama Theatre. Tovstonogov: repertoire, history

Which was one of the first founded after the October Revolution. In different years, famous directors and actors served and serve there. The BDT is considered one of the most beautiful theaters in the world.

The history of the birth of the theater

Bolshoy Drama Theatre. Tovstonogov was opened on February 15, 1919. Due to the lack of their own building, the troupe gave performances at the Conservatory. The room was not heated, it was very cold, but every evening the halls were full.

The idea to organize a theater belongs to M. Gorky. He was supported by the commissioner of theaters and spectacles. The artist A. Benois also belongs to the founders.

The Artistic Council, which was headed by M. Gorky, decided to invite A. Lavrentiev and N. Arbatov to the positions of directors. Actor N. Monakhov was appointed as a troupe and was engaged in the selection of artists. A. Gauk and Y. Shaporin became the musical directors of the theater. The troupe was assembled from outstanding artists who were leading actors of other theaters, and among them was Y. Yuryev, a movie star.

The BDT received its own building in 1920 and to this day does not change its location.

To Tovstonogov

Since the spring of 1919, A. Blok was the chairman of the theater's artistic council. Bolshoy Drama Theatre. Tovstonogov in the first years of its existence showed performances that corresponded to the plan of its creators, who wanted to see a revolutionary program in it - the repertoire was of a heroic and social nature. Performances based on the works of F. Schiller, V. Hugo, W. Shakespeare were staged, since Soviet dramaturgy had not yet received its development. In many ways, the face of the theater was determined by its artists. The famous actress N. Lejeune, who played in the theater at that time, claimed that props were not used on the stage, things were real: the furniture was borrowed from wealthy houses. Even the costumes were authentic. In 1925, the play "The Conspiracy of the Empress" was staged. The role of Vyrubova was played by N. Lejeune, and in the performance she put on a dress that really belonged to her heroine, who existed in reality. Great importance was attached to music, B. Asafiev, Yu. Shaporin, I. Vyshnegradsky collaborated with the theater.

From 1921 to 1923, great changes took place in the theater. Those who stood at its origins: M. Gorky and M. Andreeva - left Russia. A. Blok died. Some actors returned to the theaters where they served before being invited to the BDT. The chief director A. Lavrentiev left the post in 1921, but returned two years later and held this position until 1929. The artist A. Benois left the theater. In their place came other people who brought something new, expanded the repertoire with plays by domestic and foreign playwrights of that era.

From 1929 to 1935, K. Tverskoy, a student of V. Meyerhold, was the main director. Since then, the number of new productions based on the classics has declined. And for the entire period of leadership of K. Tversky, two new classical plays were staged. Preference was given to the works of contemporary authors: Yu. Olesha, N. Pogodin, A. Faiko, L. Slavin.

In 1932, the theater was named after one of its founders, it became known as "the name of Gorky". Then the repertoire included some of the writer's works.

Theater in 1935-1955

There was a time when the Bolshoi Drama Theater. Tovstonogov experienced a creative crisis. This period lasted 20 years - from 1935 to 1955. This time can be called a crisis of directing, as talented directors appeared and announced themselves with interesting productions, but did not stay long and left the theater (not always of their own free will). K. Tverskoy was expelled from the city in 1935, and was soon shot. A. Dikiy served in the theater for only a year, then he was arrested. All the directors who came after him stayed on average for 1-2 years. Due to the frequent change of leaders, the atmosphere in the team deteriorated, the quality of productions decreased, the BDT lost popularity, there were sometimes fewer spectators than actors on stage, the financial situation worsened, and there was a threat of closure.

In the era of Tovstonogov

In 1956, G. Tovstonogov was invited to the post of chief director of the BDT, who was given great powers. He began his service in the position by firing many actors. The new leader tried to attract the audience, for this reason comedies appeared in the repertoire. Already at the beginning of 1957, the Bolshoi Drama Theater. Tovstonogov returned to its former popularity, and performances began to take place with full houses. After 6 years of work, G. Tovstonogov won the fame of a talented and successful director. The theater went on tour in many countries of the world and gained popularity abroad. Georgy Alexandrovich served as the chief director of the BDT for three decades.

Late 20th - early 21st century

After G. Tovstonogov died, he was replaced by K. Lavrov, who was not a director, and therefore the theater was in constant search for directors. Lavrov gathered a staff that worked on a permanent basis. However, he often invited directors from other theaters to cooperate. In 1992, the BDT received its modern name. In 2004, he found the chief director, T. Chkheidze, who held this position until 2013.

Theater today

In March 2013, A. Moguchy became the artistic director of the BDT. From 2011 to 2014, the Fontanka Theater building was closed for restoration. On September 26, the renovated Bolshoi Drama Theater named after A.I. Tovstonogov. The photo below is an image of the BDT auditorium.

The theater has three venues: there are two halls in the building on the Fontanka Embankment, and one in the Kamennoostrovsky Theatre.

Famous actors of the theater and its repertoire

Over the years, such actors as T. Doronina, P. Luspekaev, O. Basilashvili, I. Smoktunovsky, A. Freindlikh, N. Usatova and others, glorified and continue to glorify the Bolshoi Drama Theater. Tovstonogov.

His repertoire is very wide and includes classical and contemporary plays.

How to get there

In the very center of the city, on the Fontanka Embankment, in the house number 65, there is the Bolshoi Drama Theater. Tovstonogov. The address of its second stage is the Krestovsky Ostrov metro station, Old Theater Square, building 13.

Russian State Academic Bolshoi Drama Theater named after G. A. Tovstonogov (Bolshoi Drama Theater, from 1932 - named after M. Gorky, from 1964 to 1992 - Leningrad Academic Bolshoi Drama Theater named after M. Gorky) - theater in St. Petersburg, founded in 1919, one of the first theaters created after the October Revolution. In 1992 he received the name of the famous director Georgy Tovstonogov, who headed the theater for thirty-three years.

Story

Theater organization

The theater was organized on the initiative of Maxim Gorky and the commissioner of theaters and spectacles of the Union of Communes of the Northern Region, actress of the Moscow Art Theater of the "first call" Maria Andreeva. In August 1918, Commissioner M. F. Andreeva signed a decree on the creation in Petrograd of a "theater of tragedy, romantic drama and high comedy", known today throughout the world under the acronym BDT.

Among the founders of the theater was one of the pillars of the "World of Art" - the artist, who became a theater director and director, Alexander Benois. In September, the actor Nikolai Monakhov was entrusted with the organization of a "special dramatic troupe"; in October, the artistic council, headed by Gorky, decided on the directors, inviting N. I. Arbatov and Andrei Lavrentiev; Alexander Gauk and Yuri Shaporin were invited as leaders of the musical part. At the same time, the leading actors of the theater were also determined: in addition to Monakhov, the premiere of the Alexandrinsky Theater Yuri Yuryev and the "star" of silent films, the actor of the Maly Theater Vladimir Maksimov.

The basis of the troupe was the actors of the Theater of Artistic Drama, created in 1918 by A. N. Lavrentiev, and the Theater of Tragedy, born in the same year under the direction of Yu. M. Yuryev. In December, the first meeting of the troupe took place, which included Vasily Sofronov; rehearsals for two performances began. In January 1919, the board of the BDT was formed; Maria Andreeva became the chairman of the board, Andrey Lavrentiev was appointed the chief director.

Playbill of the play "Don Carlos"

The Bolshoi Drama Theater opened on February 15, 1919 in the Great Hall of the Conservatory with a performance of Don Carlos based on a play by Friedrich Schiller. This historical performance was staged by Andrey Lavrentiev, designed by Vladimir Shchuko, the music for it was written by Boris Asafiev; the best actors of the troupe were employed in it: Monakhov (Philip), Maksimov (Don Carlos), Yuryev (Pose); the performance went on for exactly five hours, the Conservatory was not heated, it was bitterly cold, but every evening the hall was filled with spectators, and no one left.

In 1920, the BDT received at its disposal the building of the former Maly Theater (Suvorin Theater) on Fontanka, 65, where it is currently located.

Early years (1919-1934)

In April 1919, Alexander Blok became the chairman of the Directorate (artistic council) of the Bolshoi Drama Theater, and Maxim Gorky remained the main ideologist.

According to the idea of ​​the initiators, the theater was to become a stronghold of the heroic repertoire, a theater of great social passions, agitated revolutionary pathos, a theater of "great tears and great laughter" (A. Blok).

The performances of the theater in the first years of its existence fully corresponded to the revolutionary program of its founders. At that time, Soviet dramaturgy had not yet taken shape, and the best works of world classics were performed on the stage of the theater: the tragedies of W. Shakespeare and F. Schiller, the dramas of V. Hugo; at the same time, plays by D. Merezhkovsky and V. Bryusov were staged in the theater. Directors Nikolai Petrov and Boris Sushkevich worked in the new theater; artists - representatives of the "World of Art" worked closely with the theater: Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Vladimir Shchuko (before the BDT they designed performances at the Yuryev Tragedy Theater and the Lavrentiev Artistic Drama Theater), Boris Kustodiev, Evgeny Lansere. Artists largely defined the face of the theater in its early period; Nadezhda Komarovskaya, the performer of the role of Elizabeth, recalled how Shchuko created the atmosphere in Don Carlos: “The scale of the scenery created the impression of a person’s helplessness, his impossibility to overturn these walls that crush with their weight. It seemed that the human cry could never be heard, he would drown in them. And five years later, the critic A. A. Gvozdev wrote: “To determine the place of the BDT in the circle of the latest theatrical trends means to point out the role that the decorator played in this theater.” According to the actress Nina Lejeune, everything in the Bolshoi Drama Theater in those years was genuine, not fake: furniture borrowed from rich houses, costumes ... Even in 1925, playing Anna Vyrubova in the play by A. Tolstoy and P. Shchegolev "The Conspiracy of the Empress", Lejeune wore an authentic Vyrubova dress.

An important role was also assigned to the musical design; Boris Asafiev, Yuri Shaporin (musical director until 1928), Mikhail Kuzmin, Ivan Vyshnegradsky collaborated with the BDT.

In 1921, Gorky and Andreeva left Russia, Blok died, Yu. M. Yuryev returned to his native Alexandrinsky; M. Dobuzhinsky left; at the beginning of 1921, the main director, Andrey Lavrentiev, left the BDT.

New people came to the Bolshoi Drama Theater: in 1921-1922, the chief director of the theater was Nikolai Petrov, his successor was Konstantin Khokhlov, who was fascinated by expressionism, who replenished the theater's repertoire with plays by G. Kaiser and E. Toller. “In the works of Georg Kaiser and Ernst Toller,” A. Piotrovsky wrote, “the theater found that abstractness and generalization of images, that journalistic temperament, which, of course, very unreasonably seemed to him an inalienable sign of “high drama”, a true antidote against the theater despised by him. Schiller, "everyday life".

At the end of 1923 A. Benois left the BDT, but new artists came - Nikolai Akimov, Yuri Annenkov, V. M. Khodasevich.

In 1923, Lavrentiev returned to the Bolshoi Drama Theater and remained the chief director until 1929; the literary part of the theater in the same 1923 was headed by Adrian Piotrovsky, largely thanks to him, plays by modern playwrights, both foreign and domestic, appeared on the theater playbill. The theater itself often opened the latter, including Boris Lavrenyov, E. Zamyatin (as a playwright), A. Stein. The striving for a performance “big, abstract, generalized and monumental” during this period, according to Piotrovsky, determined the specificity of the BDT, both its success and its delusion.

Khokhlov worked next to Lavrentiev at the Bolshoi Drama Theater until 1925, when directors Pavel Weisbrem and Konstantin Tverskoy came to the theater. New actors also came to the BDT: Alexander Larikov, Valentina Kibardina, Olga Kaziko.

Konstantin Tverskoy

BDT named after Tovstonogov during the day

From 1929 to 1935 the chief director of the theater was Konstantin Tverskoy, a student of Vsevolod Meyerhold. From the middle of the 1920s, beginning with the play "Mutiny" (based on B. Lavrenyov's play "Smoke"), staged by Lavrentyev in 1925, the theater gradually abandoned abstract romance; K. Tversky succeeded in full. He preferred modern dramaturgy (until 1935, only one classical play, “Profitable Place” by A. N. Ostrovsky directed by V. V. Lutse, was added to the repertoire of the theater), plays by Yuri Olesha, Alexei Faiko, Nikolai Pogodin, Lev Slavin were staged at the BDT ; An important event in theatrical life was the play "Breaking" based on the play by B. Lavrenyov. However, the last performance staged at the Bolshoi Theater by Tverskoy was W. Shakespeare's Richard III.

In 1932, the Bolshoi Drama Theater was named after its actual founder, M. Gorky; under Tverskoy, plays by A. M. Gorky first appeared in the repertoire of the theater: “Egor Bulychov and Others” (1932) and “Dostigaev and Others” (1933).

During this period, talented artists worked at the Bolshoi Drama Theater: Moses Levin (chief artist), Nikolai Akimov and Vadim Ryndin; Tverskoy's last performance was designed by Alexander Tyshler. In the performances of Tverskoy, young actors Vitaly Politseymako and Nikolai Korn declared themselves. Since 1930, Vladimir Lyutse, also a student of Meyerhold, worked as a stage director at the theater.

Selected repertoire

1919 - "Don Carlos" by Friedrich Schiller; director A. N. Lavrentiev 1919 - "Macbeth" by W. Shakespeare; director Yu. M. Yuryev 1919 - "Robbers" by F. Schiller; director B. M. Sushkevich 1919 - “Danton” by M. Levberg; director K. K. Tverskoy 1920 - "Othello" by W. Shakespeare; director A. N. Lavrentiev 1920 - “Tsarevich Alexei” by D. Merezhkovsky; directors A. N. Benois and A. N. Lavrentiev 1920 - “King Lear” by W. Shakespeare; director A. N. Lavrentiev 1921 - “Ruy Blas” by V. Hugo; director N. V. Petrov 1921 - “The Servant of Two Masters” by K. Goldoni; director A. N. Benois 1922 - "Gas" by G. Kaiser; director K. Khokhlov 1924 - "Riot of the Machines" by A. N. Tolstoy; director K. Khokhlov 1924 - "The Virgin Forest" by E. Toller; director K. Khokhlov 1925 - "The Conspiracy of the Empress" by A. Tolstoy and P. Shchegolev; director A. N. Lavrentiev 1925 - "Mutiny" by B. Lavrenev; director A. N. Lavrentiev 1926 - "Flea" by E. Zamyatin; director N. F. Monakhov 1927 - “The Break” by B. Lavrenyov; director K. Tverskoy 1929 - "Enemies" by B. Lavrenev; director A. N. Lavrentiev 1929 - “City of the Winds” by V. Kirshon; director K. Tverskoy 1929 - "Conspiracy of Feelings" by Y. Olesha; director K. Tverskoy 1932 - “My friend” by N. Pogodin; director K. Tverskoy 1932 - "Egor Bulychev and others" by M. Gorky; directors K. Tverskoy and V. V. Lutse 1933 - “Dostigaev and others” by M. Gorky; director V. Luce 1934 - "Intervention" by L. Slavin; director V. Luce 1935 - "Richard III" by W. Shakespeare; director K. Tverskoy.

Crisis of directing (1935-1955)

In the 30-50s, bright directors appeared in the theater, however, having declared themselves interesting productions, for one reason or another, not always voluntarily, they left the theater. Konstantin Tverskoy was first expelled from Leningrad and then shot; Aleksey Dikiy, who headed the theater in 1936, was arrested in August 1937 and then convicted.

... For seven years, this theater was practically without a real leader. Then they made a collegium. Then they invited a wonderful person, director Konstantin Pavlovich Khokhlov, who was already old and sick. They "ate" him. There was a very angry troupe, there were a lot of them. For seven years, everyone who was not lazy came to this theater ... -Dina Schwartz

After Wild, the post of chief director was occupied by:

1938-1940 - Boris Babochkin 1940-1946 - Lev Rudnik 1946-1950 - Natalya Rashevskaya 1950-1952 - Ivan Efremov 1954-1955 - Konstantin Khokhlov

Such a frequent change of artistic direction was reflected both in the atmosphere in the team and in the quality of productions. By the end of the 1930s, the theater had lost its popularity.

At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the theater was evacuated to Kirov, but soon after the blockade was broken, on February 11, 1943, it returned to Leningrad to serve the troops of the Leningrad Front and hospitals.

The creative crisis of the BDT, which emerged in the late 1930s, worsened in the postwar years. Artistic directors did not stay long: in the period from 1949 to 1955, four main directors were replaced in the theater, in the 1953-1954 season, the Bolshoi Drama Theater did without a chief director at all - it was managed by a board. In conditions when a new person appeared at the head of the theater almost every season, there could be no question of any development plan, a well-thought-out repertoire policy. All this led to the fact that in the mid-1950s the theater did not have “its own” audience; due to the extremely low attendance (at other performances, the audience in the hall was “less than the artists on the stage”), a significant financial debt was formed, which threatened the theater with closure.

The director's leapfrog had a negative impact on the manageability of the theater, the troupe simply "ate" objectionable directors. There were quite a few talented actors in the BDT at that time, but some who did not belong to the leading group were not in demand, others were stamped in their roles, and others, in the absence of artistic leadership, feeling like the owners of the theater, allowed themselves on the stage whatever they please.

Selected repertoire

See also Performances of the Bolshoi Drama Theater

1936 - "Sailors from Cattaro" F. Wolf; director A. Wild 1937 - "Petty bourgeois" by M. Gorky; director A. Wild 1938 - “Pious Martha” by Tirso de Molina; director N. V. Petrov 1939 - "Summer Residents" by M. Gorky; director B. Babochkin 1941 - "King Lear" by W. Shakespeare; director G. Kozintsev (with music by D. Shostakovich) 1944 - "At the Bottom" by M. Gorky; director L. S. Rudnik 1948 - "Enemies" by M. Gorky; director N. S. Rashevskaya 1949 - “The Servant of Two Masters” by K. Goldoni; director A. V. Sokolov 1949 - “Egor Bulychev and others” by M. Gorky; director N. S. Rashevskaya 1950 - “The Fault” by B. Lavrenev; directors A. V. Sokolov and I. S. Sonne 1951 - “Love Yarovaya” by K. Trenev; director I. S. Efremov 1952 - “Dostigaev and others” by M. Gorky; director N. S. Rashevskaya 1954 - “Guests” by L. Zorin; directors V. V. Merkuriev and I. V. Meyerhold 1955 - “Before Sunset” by G. Hauptmann; director K. P. Khokhlov.

The era of Georgy Tovstonogov (1956-1989)

Georgy Tovstonogov did not immediately accept the offer to head the BDT. However, in order to save the “first proletarian theater”, at the insistence of the Leningrad party bodies supervising the theaters, Tovstonogov nevertheless agreed to become the eleventh chief director of the Bolshoi Drama Theater and on February 13, 1956, on the eve of the next birthday of the theater, was introduced to the troupe.

theater foyer

For six years of work as chief director of the Leningrad Theater. Leninist Komsomol Georgy Tovstonogov forced the exacting Leningrad theatrical community to talk about himself as an extremely talented and successful director. Staged by him in 1955 on the stage of the Leningrad Drama Theater. Pushkin's play "The Optimistic Tragedy" based on the play by Vsevolod Vishnevsky (later awarded the Lenin Prize), no less than the public, liked the party leadership and played an important role in his new appointment.

The new artistic director was given broad powers; from Leningrad Lenkom Tovstonogov invited Dina Schwartz to the post of head of the literary department; Georgy Korkin was appointed director of the theater to carry out the administrative reorganization of the BDT. “He was cruel, he was merciless,” recalled Dina Schwartz. - He could reorganize everything, fire everyone who needed it. And he ran to Georgy Alexandrovich every day. At his first meeting with the troupe, touching on the topic of “eating” artistic directors, Tovstonogov said: “I am inedible! Remember this: inedible! With the blessing of the authorities, the new artistic director fired about a third of the troupe - more than 30 actors.

In his first year at the BDT, Tovstonogov literally “lured” the audience into the theater they had forgotten; proceeding from the fact that “they go to the theater not only for good,” the new artistic director did not shy away from entertainment: he staged the comedies The Sixth Floor by Alfred Géry and When the Acacia Blooms by Nicolas Vinnikov, The Nameless Star by Mikhail Sebastian ... By the beginning of 1957 years Tovstonogov managed to turn the tide: the performances were already in full halls. The new BDT, "Tovstonogov's theatre", began with the play "Aesop" (based on the play by Guilherme Figueiredo), presented to the audience on March 23, 1957; Aesop was followed by the legendary Idiot with Innokenty Smoktunovsky.

The decline of interest in the theater from the end of the 30s, according to Iosif Yuzovsky, was a general trend, not only the Bolshoi Theater, but the entire Soviet theater was going through a crisis during these years. Tovstonogov's transition to the Bolshoi Drama Theater coincided with the beginning of the "thaw", he was one of the first to recognize new opportunities in the changed atmosphere; “Aesop” has already become a “symbol of the thaw”; two years later, during a discussion of Gorky's Varvarov, Yuzovsky, a witness to the bright heyday of the theater in the 1920s, who wrote about the performances of Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko and Vsevolod Meyerhold, said: “What you are doing is related not only to one To the Bolshoi Drama Theater… I want you not to slow down your pace and feel responsible and understand that there is a thirst for a real and big theater. It has been gone for such a long time and this claim can be realized in this theatre…”. Tovstonogov did not deceive expectations: the "Barbarians" was followed by "Five Evenings" by Alexander Volodin and a number of other performances included in the "golden fund" of the Soviet theater.

The big drama, although the central Soviet press did not get tired of praising him, right up to Pravda, especially after being recognized abroad (which did not exclude swear articles, including in Pravda), lived under the constant supervision of party organs; L. Zorin’s “Roman Comedy” was not released, with difficulty, at the cost of numerous concessions, Tovstonogov managed to save the play “Three Bags of Weed Wheat” based on the story of Vladimir Tendryakov - about the post-war famine in the countryside and post-war repressions, he had to fight for one of the most performances beloved by the audience - "The Price", for the sole reason that the author of the play, Arthur Miller, allowed himself critical statements about the foreign policy of the USSR; released productions often had to be corrected. So, in the play “Woe from Wit”, as an epigraph, a quote from A. S. Pushkin was placed on the superzanves: “The devil guessed that I was born in Russia with soul and talent,” - in the end, the quote had to be removed. Nevertheless, the era of Tovstonogov in the history of the Bolshoi Drama Theater became "golden"; over the course of three decades of his leadership, the BDT remained the leader of the domestic theatrical process, the “first stage of the country”, enjoying constant success abroad: among European countries, the BDT over the years has not visited only Portugal, toured Japan, Argentina, Israel, twice in Taiwan … “The Bolshoi Drama Theatre,” A. Svobodin wrote in 1970, “is able to create performances that are cultural values. They are on a par with the release of multi-volume collected works of great writers, with publications that shed new light on the history of the country. And P. A. Markov six years later stated: “What judgments - from enthusiastic, choking to skeptical and arrogant - you can’t make about Tovstonogov’s performances, it remains equally obvious that Tovstonogov occupies a special and extremely significant place in our theatrical life. You will not bypass him with deliberate inattention, you will not deny his decisive, firmly fixed influence on the Soviet theater. In addition, there are all signs of external - sometimes triumphant - success ... Meanwhile, Tovstonogov does not take the minimum step in order to beg the audience for success ... Tovstonogov's theater is devoid of the slightest hint of sensationalism ... Success confirms that the theater hits the very point of the country's social and artistic interests ... »

Directors Roza Sirota (in 1955-1962 and in 1966-1972), Ruben Agamirzyan (in 1961-1966), Yuri Aksyonov (in 1961-1983), Gennady Egorov (in 1982-1984) worked with Tovstonogov at different times. ) and each of them contributed to the "golden fund" of the BDT.

Troupe

The troupe created by Tovstonogov, according to the famous Polish director Erwin Axer, who staged more than one performance at the BDT, “could compete with the best European teams”: “The leading actors of this theater, masters of their craft, were in no way inferior to world-famous stars, and possibly even excelled them in their ability to combine playing in an ensemble with individual virtuosity. Domestic theater critics are ready to argue with Axer: “The troupe of the Bolshoi Drama Theater, N. Staroselskaya believes, in particular, could not compete with the best European teams, because for several decades it was the greatest troupe in the world.” According to K. Rudnitsky, it was even more difficult to get into the BDT in the 80s than into the troupe of the Moscow Art Theater in the 30s-40s, where there were dozens of stars of all-Union scale. In 1988, formulating the principles by which he selected actors for his theater, Tovstonogov, with his reputation as a despot and dictator, named “intellectual level” as mandatory (“everything important, interesting in our life should concern him”) and “the ability to to improvisational search in the process of work. Tovstonogov knew how to make the actor a co-author of the play; as the theater expert T. Zlotnikova noted, he loved actors “as a class”, but he loved them demandingly, sometimes even burdensomely.

“In the BDT troupe,” writes Elena Gorfunkel, “Tovstonogov had several main actresses - Nina Olkhina, Lyudmila Makarova, Emma Popova, Zinaida Sharko, Tatyana Doronina.” But next to them were such wonderful non-principal ones, like Valentina Kovel and Maria Prizvan-Sokolova, whom N. Staroselskaya also included in the “very, very small star circle”; in the 70s, the young Natalya Tenyakova competed with the “main ones” with dignity.

As for the male part of the troupe, here the list of “stars” could be endless: already in the 60s, next to the highly experienced Vitaly Politseymako, Evgeny Lebedev, Efim Kopelyan and Vladislav Strzhelchik, young Pavel Luspekaev, Sergey Yursky, Kirill Lavrov, Oleg became famous Borisov, Oleg Basilashvili, Vladimir Recepter; in the 70s, the audience recognized and fell in love with Gennady Bogachev, Yuri Demich and Andrey Tolubeev; and there were also Nikolai Korn, Pavel Pankov, Nikolai Trofimov, Vsevolod Kuznetsov, Vadim Medvedev…. A separate page in the history of the Tovstonogov BDT is Innokenty Smoktunovsky, although he played only one unforgettable role on this stage.

Georgy Tovstonogov headed the Bolshoi Drama Theater for thirty-three years; On May 23, 1989, while returning home after a dress rehearsal for The Old Lady's Visit, he died while driving his car.

Selected repertoire

See also Performances of the Bolshoi Drama Theater

1957 - "Aesop" G. Figueiredo; director G. A. Tovstonogov 1957 - "The Idiot" based on the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky; director G. A. Tovstonogov 1959 - “Barbarians” by A. M. Gorky; director G. A. Tovstonogov 1959 - “Five Evenings” by A. M. Volodin; director G. A. Tovstonogov 1960 - “Death of the Squadron” by A. E. Korneichuk; director G. A. Tovstonogov 1961 - “My elder sister” by A. M. Volodin; director G. A. Tovstonogov 1962 - “Woe from Wit” by A. Griboyedov; director G. A. Tovstonogov 1963 - “The Career of Arturo Ui” by B. Brecht; director E. Axer 1964 - "I, grandmother, Iliko and Illarion" N. Dumbadze, G. Lordkipanidze; director R. S. Agamirzyan 1965 - “Three Sisters” by A. Chekhov; director G. A. Tovstonogov 1966 - “Petty bourgeois” by A. M. Gorky; director G. A. Tovstonogov 1968 - “Price” by A. Miller; director R. A. Sirota 1971 - “Tooth, others and major” by I. Erken; director G. A. Tovstonogov 1972 - “The Inspector General” by N. V. Gogol; director G. A. Tovstonogov 1972 - “Khanuma” by Tsagareli; director G. A. Tovstonogov 1973 - “Molière” by M. Bulgakov; director S. Yu. Yursky 1974 - “Three bags of weed wheat” by V. F. Tendryakov, director G. A. Tovstonogov 1975 - “History of a horse” based on a story by L. N. Tolstoy; director G. A. Tovstonogov 1977 - “Quiet Flows the Don” based on M. Sholokhov; director G. A. Tovstonogov 1981 - "Optimistic tragedy" by B. Vishnevsky; director G. A. Tovstonogov 1982 - “Uncle Vanya” by A. Chekhov; director G. A. Tovstonogov 1983 - “Sisters” (“Garden Without Land”) by L. Razumovskaya; director G. S. Egorov 1983 - Tarelkin's Death by A. Kolker (opera-farce based on the comedy by A. Sukhovo-Kobylin); director G. A. Tovstonogov.

After Tovstonogov (1989-2013)

Many had the feeling that on May 23, 1989, not only Tovstonogov died, but BDT died; Tatyana Doronina spoke about this at the memorial service, and Dina Schwartz wrote about the same in her diary. Tovstonogov did not prepare a successor for himself: a new director would come, he would create his own theater. But the new director did not come (for example, Lev Dodin's transition to the BDT did not take place), difficult times for the entire Russian theater came; very soon, the BDT, like many theaters, faced the question of survival.

During this period, the theater was headed by Kirill Lavrov, elected by secret ballot of the team; he was not a director, and one of the main concerns of the new artistic director, along with the preservation of the troupe and the solution of financial problems, was the search for talented directors in general and the chief director in particular. Only in 2004 did the theater finally acquire a chief director in the person of Temur Chkheidze, who had been collaborating with the BDT for a long time. In an interview in 2007, Chkheidze said: “I knew: whatever you do here, it will be worse than in the days of Tovstonogov. But it does not exist, and in general Tovstonogs are born extremely rarely. And life goes on, and I, admiring the theater that was once, do not stage it like Tovstonogov.

In recent years, critics have written about the stagnation at the Bolshoi Drama Theater, and on February 19, 2013, Temur Chkheidze resigned. He explained the reasons for his resignation at a press conference on March 4: “Now, perhaps, the time has come when the BDT needs changes that I personally cannot make. Many call me a retrograde, but it was my principled path - to preserve the legacy of Tovstonogov. I am convinced that less than 10 years will pass and the Russian theater will again need the classics. One young man told me that my performances are perceived as an anachronism. I thank him for his honesty."

Theater today

The main stage of the theater presents works of Russian and world classics, as well as modern dramaturgy: plays by A. N. Ostrovsky, L. N. Tolstoy, N. V. Gogol, I. S. Turgenev, W. Shakespeare, F. Schiller, B Shaw, R. Harwood, M. Frain and others.

On the Small Stage are "The Old Man and the Sea" by E. Hemingway, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" by E. Albee, "The Lady with the Dog" by A. P. Chekhov, "Angel's Doll" by E. S. Kochergin, "Berendey" by S. A Nosova.

Since March 29, 2013, Andrey Moguchiy has been the artistic director of the theater, and Eduard Kochergin has been the chief artist for four decades. The head of the musical part of the theater since 1998 is the composer Nikolai Morozov.

Directors work in the theater on a permanent basis: Nikolai Pinigin, Andrey Maksimov, Grigory Dityatkovsky. Performances in the BDT are also staged by guest directors.

Current repertoire

See also Performances of the Bolshoi Drama Theater

2002 - "House where hearts break" by Bernard Shaw; director T. N. Chkheidze 2004 - "Copenhagen" by Michael Frain; director T. N. Chkheidze 2005 - "Quartet" by Ronald Harwood; director N. N. Pinigin 2007 - “Bliz!” P. M. Nevezhin, A. N. Ostrovsky; director G. R. Trostyanetsky; composer N. A. Morozov 2007 - “The Night Before Christmas” by N. V. Gogol; director N. N. Pinigin 2008 - "Uncle's Dream" by F. M. Dostoevsky; director T. N. Chkheidze 2009 - “Don Carlos, Spanish Infante” by F. Schiller; director T. N. Chkheidze 2009 - “A Month in the Village” by I. S. Turgenev; director A. A. Praudin; composer N. A. Morozov 2010 - “The School of Taxpayers” by L. Verneuil, J. Berr; director N. N. Pinigin 2010 - “Beauty Queen” by Martin McDonagh; director E. V. Chernyshov 2010 - “Merci” by I. D. Syringe; director V. A. Zolotar 2010 - “Summer of a Year” by Ernest Thompson; director A. M. Prikotenko 2011 - "The House of Bernard Alba" Garcia Lorca; director T. N. Chkheidze; composer N. A. Morozov 2011 - “On foot” by Slavomir Mrozhek; director Andrzej Buben 2011 - “Time of Women” by E. S. Chizhova; director G. R. Trostyanetsky; composer N. A. Morozov

Troupe

In parentheses are the years of service of artists in the BDT

Marina Adashevskaya Boris Babochkin (1931-1940) Oleg Basilashvili (since 1959) Tatyana Bedova (since 1976) Gennady Bogachev (since 1969) Oleg Borisov (1964-1983) Irute Vengalite (since 1988) Mikhail Volkov (1961-2001) Olga Volkova ( 1976-1996) Dora Volpert (1932-1941) Grigory Gai (1956-1984) Anatoly Garichev (1959-1993) Dmitry Golubinsky (1919-1924) Ekaterina Gorokhovskaya Elena Granovskaya (1939-1966) Mikhail Danilov (1966-1994) Natalia Danilova (1977-1992) Yuri Demich (1973-1988) Alexey Dikiy (1936-1937) - chief director Tatyana Doronina (1959-1966) Izil Zabludovsky (1947-2010) Mikhail Ivanov (1929-1964) Valery Ivchenko (since 1983) Marina Ignatova (since 1998) Olga Kaziko (1927-1963) Valentina Kibardina (1936-1956) Valentina Kovel (1966-1997) Inna Kondratieva (1958-1962) Yefim Kopelyan (1935-1941, 1943-1975) Nikolay Korn (1935-1941) , 1943-1971) Ivan Krasko (1961-1965) Svetlana Kryuchkova (since 1976) Alexandra Kulikova (since 1998) Andrey Lavrentiev (1919-1921 and 1923-1935) Kirill Lavrov (1955-2007) - artistic ru leader (since 1989) Fyodor Lavrov (since 2007) Masha Lavrova (since 1993) Evgeniy Lebedev (since 1956-1997) Sergey Losev (since 1980) Pavel Luspekaev (1959-1967)

Alexander Mazaev (1933-1957) Lyudmila Makarova (since 1945) Larisa Malevannaya (since 1976) Vadim Medvedev (1966-1988) Georgy Menglet (1936-1937) Yuzef Mironenko (1969-2011) Nikolai Monakhov (1919-1936) Mikhail Morozov ( 1983-1987, and since 1990) Leonid Nevedomsky (since 1967) Anna Borisovna Nikritina-Marienhof Andrei Noskov (since 1998) Nina Olkhina (since 1947) Pavel Pankov (1947-1950, 1965-1978) Vahram Papazyan Elena Pertseva (since 1985) Vitaly Politseymako (1930-1967) Elena Popova (since 1978) Emma Popova (1962-1989) Maria Prizvan-Sokolova (1931-2001) Vladimir Recepter (1962-1987) Vera Romanova (1936-1974) Evgeny Sidikhin (since 1989) Skorobogatov , Konstantin Vasilievich (1928-1935) Innokenty Smoktunovsky (1957-1960, 1966) Vasily Sofronov (1918-1960) Vladislav Strzhelchik (1938-1995) Yuri Stoyanov (1978-1995) Vladimir Tatosov (since 1963) Natalia Tenyakova (1968-1979) ) Semyon Timoshenko (1919-1924) Andrei Tolubeev (1975-2008) Yuri Tolubeev (1978-1979) Yuri Tomoshevsky (1978-1991) Nikolai Trofimov (1964-2005) Nina Usatova (since 1989) Alisa Freindlich (since 1983) Zinaida Sharko (since 1956) Georgy Shtil (since 1961) Sergei Yursky (1957-1979) Yuri Yuryev (1919-1921)

Television recordings of performances

Lyubov Yarovaya (1953) Dostigaev and others (1959) Aesop (1960) Philistines (1971) Truth! Nothing but the truth! Khanuma (1978) Energetic People Uncle Vanya (1985) The Pickwick Club (1986) History of the Horse (1989)

Most likely, there is no person in St. Petersburg who does not know the Bolshoi Drama Theater. G.A. Tovstonogov. The BDT was opened in 1918 with the direct participation of Maxim Gorky and Alexander Blok. And today the green building of the theater on the Fontanka is the hallmark of the city. And viewers from all over the country come here to watch performances with the magnificent Alisa Freindlikh, Oleg Basilashvili and other actors.

theater building

It makes no sense to talk about the troupe and performances: the name of the theater is known all over the world, and the performances themselves just need to go and watch. But the theater building itself deserves special attention. It was built back in the 70s of the XIX century according to the project of the architect Ludwig Fontan. Soon the building was transferred to the Directorate of the Imperial Theaters and the Imperial Maly Theater was opened there.

After the Directorate stopped renting the theater, the owners of the land on which it was built provided it to entrepreneurs.

After the revolution of 1917, the theater building was nationalized, and since 1920 the BDT troupe began to work in it.

Theater reconstruction

By 2011, the building was pretty dilapidated, and the stage equipment was outdated. Therefore, in 2011 the theater was closed for restoration for three years. Performances were held at other venues, and the theater itself was changing at that time!

During the reconstruction, the craftsmen repaired and replaced the stage and production equipment, completely restored the facades of the building, the auditorium, artistic elements of the interior, and the theater's rehearsal rooms.

The chief director of the theater insisted that a modern transforming stage, new lighting and sound equipment appear in the main hall. An updated curtain appeared on the Main Stage. The hall can accommodate 750 spectators (there is also a Small stage for 70 people).

Elements of interior decoration were restored in detail and scrupulously: a magnificent foyer with a three-flight white main staircase and an image of Apollo's chariot, a picturesque ceiling of the artist Angelo Gugiari of 1902, etc.

When updating the facades of the building, modern heavy equipment was used, capable of working in cramped circumstances. YUTIS LLC, which provided the theater with a truck crane for rent in St. Petersburg, recommended stopping at the Kobelko crane. The crane operator carried out the supply of roofing materials at an outreach of 30 meters. Working with the BDT theater is one of the most complex and responsible projects, the successful implementation of which is a matter of pride for the YUTIS company.

In addition, the office of Georgy Tovstonogov, the dressing room of Kirill Lavrov, who worked in this theater, and the famous “dressing room number 9” were restored in the theater building - more than 300 celebrities left their signatures on the ceiling!

In 2014, the Bolshoi Drama Theater was opened after reconstruction and for the third year now it has been pleasing guests with updated interiors.

Well-known film critic, artistic director of the Russian programs of the Moscow International Film Festival Irina Pavlova is a theater critic by education. It so happened that she had an early opportunity to observe the life of the famous theater from the inside. Irina Pavlova shared with Lenta.ru her memories of Georgy Tovstonogov, the actors and performances of the BDT.

Photo: Sergey Vdovin / Interpress / Global Look

: I got into the BDT at the age of 14 and lived a huge chunk of my life with this theater. Tovstonogov undoubtedly reigned there. And the point was not even in the power that he had in the theater, but in how much any of his words meant for everyone who worked in the BDT. In the theater they talked about Gog all the time. Even from fleeting conversations it was clear that he was a king and a god. Arbiter. That the distribution of roles in the new performance is either an execution or promotion to the rank of general.

Lenta.ru: Have you ever heard people complain about him? Many actors later admitted that they were offended by him - they did not give roles for a long time.

Sometimes, he didn't. But I don't think there was any malicious intent. He simply proceeded from considerations of industrial necessity. Well, for example, he was looking for Prince Myshkin, although there were options - the actor was rehearsing and, probably, would have played the premiere. But Tovstonogov saw the film "Soldiers" with the unknown Innokenty Smoktunovsky and shouted: "Here he is!" Overnight Smoktunovsky became a star. And what happened to the actor who rehearsed Prince Myshkin? He fell asleep. Gone.

With Oleg Basilashvili it turned out differently. He came to the BDT from the theater. Lenin Komsomol, together with his then wife Tatyana Doronina. She already came to the BDT with the rank of a rising theatrical star - after "The Factory Girl" in the same St. Petersburg Lenkom, she was immediately invited to the main female role in the play "Barbarians", and he had until 1965, before the role of Andrei Prozorov in " Three sisters”, there were only modest episodes on the stage of the BDT. But after Chekhov's premiere, Basilashvili "woke up famous."

Tovstonogov summoned Oleg Borisov from Kyiv. He had such a sign: if the troupe lacks some kind of paint, look in the Kiev Russian theater, and you will find your actor there - Kirill Lavrov came from the Kyiv theater to the BDT, from there Tovstonogov “discharged” Pavel Luspekaev, and then Valery also came from there Ivchenko.

Remember Oleg Borisov in the cinema before the BDT? Baltic Sky, Chasing Two Hares. The role of "character actor" brought him success, and, perhaps, if he had stayed in Kyiv then, he would have been an outstanding comedian ... And he was taken to the BDT as a tragic actor! And so Tovstonogov “marinated” him. Although Borisov brilliantly played Ganya Ivolgin in The Idiot! But after it - nothing, only inputs. The actor was about to leave the theater, and he had already written a statement.

Georgy Tovstonogov shakes hands with Oleg Borisov at the premiere of King Henry IV (1969). In the photo from left to right: Vladislav Strzhelchik, Oleg Borisov, Efim Kopelyan, Georgy Tovstonogov

At this time, Tovstonogov was preparing the play "Henry IV", the main role was rehearsed by a good, intelligent, smart actor, who did not succeed at all. Tovstonogov removed him from the role of Prince Harry, and appointed the young Oleg Borisov to the role. And everything immediately fell into place. When this caustic, impudent guy with an unpleasant fractional chuckle appeared in the performance, and all his partners in the performance began to live differently. After all, actors are like matches in a box: one caught fire - and they all flared up.

However, despite the "tyranny", membership in Tovstonogov's troupe was valued. The director himself called his regime "a voluntary dictatorship."

When Georgy Alexandrovich came to work at the BDT, he was given carte blanche: he could fire anyone, regardless of rank and regalia. Many have been fired. But two "troublemakers" remained in the theater, both - People's Artists. They wrote carts for him in the regional committee. He was informed of this immediately. What would ninety-nine directors out of a hundred do in this situation? Both would be kicked out. What did Tovstonogov do? He gave the elderly actress two luxurious roles, and staged an almost benefit performance for the scammer actor. A real director cherishes a good actor, even if that actor commits unseemly acts. And if the actor is mistaken, if he is accustomed, with all his orders and medals, to feel like a master in the theater, then he just needs to explain who is the boss in the house. Why break up with him? Where will you find it then? And the slanderous actor played Aesop with Tovstonogov. And then, according to the memoirs of Dina Morisovna Schwartz, the savior, in Goga's office he sank to his knees and asked for forgiveness. How did Georgy Alexandrovich behave? "What are you speaking about?! I don’t know anything… What are you asking for forgiveness for?” He knew everything. But he did not even consider it possible to discuss it, let alone accept an apology - and even more so. This is how his "tyranny" developed.

They left him. Some very good artists left. Of course, they didn't disappear, nothing bad happened to them. But none of them in the theater had more such accomplishments as with Tovstonogov. And they went to good theaters to good directors. Doronin, Yursky, Tenyakova ... It is enough to compare what these actors had and what became in order to understand what the Tovstonogov "dictatorship" rested on. The actor sees his private and does not see the whole. The only exception to this rule, perhaps, was Oleg Borisov. But his theatrical fate, despite the brilliant work of Efremov, Dodin, Kheifetz, did not turn out the way it could.

They say that he did not “fraternize” with the actors, he communicated as if through a glass wall. And he was friends with Kopelyan and Luspekaev. What was the friendship like?

It wasn't a wall. Distance. He talked with Kopelyan, considered him one of the smartest people in Leningrad (which was pure truth). Evgeny Lebedev was his relative. He simply loved Luspekaev, saw his fantastic talent. The Tovstonogovs' house was rather closed, impenetrable. Even if they went to Natella Alexandrovna, it was the other half. So there were not many people entering his house. And there was no one in his head.

Has your attitude towards Tovstonogov changed over time?

From the outside, not everything is always visible to a person. And often not everything is visible from the inside. Sometimes it seemed to me that something indecent, even disgusting, was happening! Well, for example, director Mark Rozovsky was rehearsing the play "Kholstomer" on the small stage of the BDT. The play based on Tolstoy's short story was written by him, very bright, original. Evgeny Alekseevich Lebedev, who was rehearsing the main role, muttered like a maniac: “These will be the new “Petty Bourgeois”!”

And Tovstonogov's Petty Bourgeois was not just a great performance, but a programmatic one. A performance from the category that makes a reputation not only for the director, but for the theater as a whole. Georgy Alexandrovich came and looked. And he said: "Well, take it to the big stage." They began to rehearse on the big stage, and it turned out that the performance was falling apart on the big stage. Georgy Alexandrovich makes several key amendments, changes the emphasis, and instead of an avant-garde performance, a tragedy was suddenly born before our very eyes.

Scene from the play "Petty Bourgeois" (1968) From left to right: Vladimir Recepter - Pyotr, Kirill Lavrov - Nil, Lyudmila Sapozhnikova - Fields, Nikolai Trofimov - Perchikhin

Photo: Maxim Blokhin / Newsreel TASS

In general, Tovstonogov was already listed as the director on the poster. Horse Story was the hit of the season. Rozovsky, of course, was not delighted with what had happened ... And many young critics (including myself) considered this whole story unseemly. But Rozovsky then himself staged this performance in another theater. And then everything became clear to everyone. And me too. And I stopped exclaiming: “What a shame - stealing the performance!”

In general, Tovstonogov was at that time the main director of the country, whether someone likes it or not. Despite the fact that Efros, Lyubimov, and Efremov worked with him at the same time.

Tovstonogov on the stage of the BDT created not just a unique artistic world, full of incredible directorial insights, paradoxical solutions. He created a fantastic world of feelings, he raised a galaxy of great actors. After all, even those who left him experienced his influence all their lives, the influence of this amazing personality, endowed with some kind of inhuman intuition.

Is it just the actors?

How are actors created? Great actors are made by great performances. Not fashionable, not spectacular - great. He pulled out something incredibly important from any play, and the actors were the conductors of this important. The handsome Vladislav Strzhelchik (before Tovstonogov was listed as a "frock-coat actor") played the ancient old man Gregory Solomon in Arthur Miller's "The Price" so that the audience at each performance sobbed along with the hero ... And Svetlana Kryuchkova - Aksinya literally choking with love in "Quiet Don" ...

I have not seen the play "Five Evenings" with Sharko, Kopelyan, Lavrov and Makarova. I only heard an incomplete audio recording. But how was it all supposed to be on stage, live, if the heart literally stops from the old sound recording?

Tovstonogov came to the BDT, and the first thing he did (unlike most other directors) was to stage a commercial performance. "The Sixth Floor" based on the play by Géry. The common public fell on him like a wave. The performance is multi-figured, it occupied two-thirds of the troupe. Unknown artists suddenly became famous. After that, he makes the play "Señor Mario writes a comedy" by Aldo Nicolai. Nobody really knew this name. But the very fact that an Italian play was staged in our country led to the fact that everyone was thrown into the theater like catechumens. It was impossible to drive anyone into the theater, to the performances of which quite recently, before the arrival of Tovstonogov. He worked with the city. He not only made performances, he also seduced. He was a seducer! And suddenly - performances one after another: about Prince Myshkin, about the Bessemenov family. About a frivolous woman living on the second floor, to whom the entire Bessemenov family aspires, and to whom a loving and misunderstood father is insanely jealous. Everyone wants to go there, to her, where they dance and sing, and not where it's stuffy and dad teaches all the time. And they don’t feel sorry for this dad, but dad is wonderful ... The same thing happened with the Barbarians. The performance turned out to be about the fact that everyone wants to be loved, but they themselves do not know how to love ... And his "The Fox and the Grapes" with the Policemako in the title role - it was some amazing hymn to freedom! Aesop's final phrase "Where is your abyss for free people ?!" always accompanied by an ovation, just a roar of the hall!

I don't know if Tovstonogov squeezed a slave out of himself drop by drop, as Chekhov put it. But the fact that he was squeezing the slave, the cattle, the goon out of his viewers, out of society is completely obvious to me. I experienced it myself. You came to his theater as anyone, and left as a person longing for an ideal. It was there that I understood, like nowhere else, that culture is a taboo system. That there are things that cannot be done, and that's all. And if you want something that is unbearable - act like Tolstoy's father Sergius - cut your finger. Very, you know, distracts from unworthy desires!

The generation that grew up on Tovstonogov's performances squandered these taboos. For many years they squandered, ruffled, got rid of these taboos for their own convenience - but, fortunately, they never got rid of them completely. Because it was driven into people with nails forged by director Georgy Alexandrovich Tovstonogov at the Leningrad Academic Bolshoi Drama Theater.

In fact, these three milestones mark the most significant periods in the life of the theater, born of the revolution. Since 1920 he has occupied the building of the former Suvorin Theater on the Fontanka. Before the revolution, the St. Petersburg Maly Theater was located here, in which the troupe of the Literary and Artistic Society worked at the turn of the century. Since the main shareholder, unspoken artistic director, and also its ideologist was the publisher of the newspaper "New Time" A.S. Suvorin, Petersburgers called the theater Suvorin. From time to time, the life of the theater, not rich in artistic events, was illuminated by creative discoveries. So, for the first premiere of the theater was staged by E. Karpov The power of darkness LN Tolstoy, with P. Strepetova as Matryona. The performances with the participation of P. Orlenev, an actor who created a new role of "neurasthenic", became the same major phenomenon. M. Chekhov studied at the school at the theater, accepted after training at the Suvorin Theater and successfully worked in it until entering the Moscow Art Theater in 1912. After the death of K.Yu. G.A. Tovstonogov was appointed T.N. Chkheidze.

THEATER BORN BY THE REVOLUTION

Actually, the real history of the BDT begins after the October Revolution. The new theater opened on February 15, 1919 with a performance Don Carlos F. Schiller in the Great Hall of the Conservatory. The first theater of Soviet dramatic art was conceived as a theater of heroic repertoire, large-scale images, "great tears and great laughter" (Blok). Born of the heroic era, he had to convey its special greatness. It was to be a theater of "heroic tragedy, romantic drama and high comedy". The main ideological inspirer of the new theater was M. Gorky. In the early years, mainly classical plays were staged, in which tyrannical, freedom-loving motives were emphasized. The troupe received major actors N.F. Monakhov, V.V. Maksimov, for several years moved from the Petrograd State Drama Theater (Akdram) Yu.M. Yuryev, the main romantic premiere of the Alexandrinsky stage. The main director was A.M. Lavrentiev, who staged the following productions: Don Carlos (1919), Othello and King Lear W. Shakespeare (1920). Performances were also staged by N.V. Petrov ( twelfth Night Shakespeare, 1921; Ruy Blas V. Hugo, 1921), B.M. Sushkevich ( Rogues Schiller, 1919), A.M. Benois ( Servant of two masters C. Goldoni and Reluctant healer Moliere, 1921), R.V. Boleslavsky ( Ragged Cloak S. Benelli, 1919). Artists A.N. Benois, M.V. Dobuzhinsky, V.A. Shchuko and composers B.V. Asafiev, Yu.A. Shaporin, in close contact with the directors, sought to adhere to the traditions of scenic romanticism. In the early 1920s, German Expressionist dramas appeared in the repertoire of the BDT, which were embodied by K.P. Khokhlov in an urban spirit, in a constructivist design - Gas G. Kaiser (1922, artist Yu.P. Annenkov), Virgin forest E. Toller (1924, artist N.P. Akimov). Aesthetically, these performances adjoined the performance Machine Riot A.N. Tolstoy (reworking of the play by K. Chapek R.U.R.., 1924, artist Annenkov).

Of great importance for the fate of the theater was the involvement of the poet A.A. Blok to the post of chairman of the Directorate of the BDT.

But along with the heroic-romantic productions of Schiller, Shakespeare, as well as experimental works, the theater focused on box office performances, often staged “lightened” historical melodramas. One of them - The conspiracy of the empress A.M. Tolstoy and P.E. Shchegolev (1925, director Lavrentiev, artist Shchuko) - enjoyed a resounding success.

THEATER IS APPROACHING TO MODERNITY

The most serious performances of that period are associated with the work of K.K. Tversky, who usually worked with the artist M.Z. Levin; among them, the productions of plays by modern authors became important - rebellion(1925) and Fault B.A. Lavreneva (1927), Man with a briefcase A.M. Faiko (1928), City of winds V.M. Kirshon (1929), My friend N.F. Pogodina (1932). From the mid-1920s, Soviet plays began to define the BDT's repertoire. Following the time, the theater for the first time tried to bring Romance closer to reality, to combine heroic pathos with a specific living environment. Strong acting personalities were formed in the theater troupe: O. G. Kaziko, V. T. Kibardina, A. I. Larikov, V. P. Polizeymako, K. V. Skorobogatov, V. Ya.

In the year of production fault, K.S.Stanislavsky during the Leningrad tour of the Moscow Art Theater wrote on a portrait donated by the BDT: “Your theater is one of those few that know that the revolution in art is not only in external form, but in its inner essence ...”.

For many actors, participation in Gorky's plays was a turning point. Gorky's plays had significant success Egor Bulychev and others(1932, directors K.K. Tverskoy and V.V. Lutse) and Dostigaev and other(1933, directed by Luce). The name of Gorky was given to the theater not by chance. Departure from the Gorky laws of dramaturgy, which always presupposed clarity of thought, clarity of ideological position, brightness of characters, irreconcilable conflict and special theatricality, almost every time led the theater to failure.

G. A. TOVSTONOGOV COMES TO THE THEATER

After the departure of Tversky, a difficult time came in the theater. Artistic directors often changed: 1934 - V.F. Fedorov, 1936-1937 - A.D. Dikiy, 1939-1940 - B.A. Babochkin, 1940-1944 - L.S. Rudnik. In an atmosphere of aesthetic unpretentiousness, multidirectional searches, only a few performances have become notable events in theatrical art: Philistines Gorky (1937, directed by Wild); summer residents Gorky (1939) and Tsar Potap A.A. Kopkova (1940 - both directed by Babochkin); King Lear Shakespeare (1941, directed by G.M. Kozintsev). In the first years of the Great Patriotic War, the theater worked in Kirov, in 1943 it returned to Leningrad and continued to work under the blockade, serving the troops of the Leningrad Front and hospitals.

The creative crisis of the BTC, which emerged as early as the mid-1930s, worsened in the post-war years. Artistic directors stayed in the theater only for a short time: 1946-1950 - N.S. Rashevskaya, 1951-1952 - I.S. Efremov, 1952-1954 - O.G. Kaziko, 1954-1955 - K.P. Khokhlov. The introduction into the repertoire of numerous thematically relevant, but handicraft, and sometimes frankly false plays, led to a decrease in the artistic level of performances, acting skills, and the loss of the audience. In 1956, G.A. Tovstonogov, who had 25 years of fruitful work experience in various theaters (Tbilisi, Moscow, Leningrad), became the chief director of the theater. His arrival coincided with the "thaw" - the revival of the country's public life after the XX Congress of the CPSU. In a short time, Tovstonogov brought the theater out of the crisis, turned the dysfunctional troupe into a close-knit team capable of successfully solving the most difficult creative tasks. Decisive in the theatrical policy of the chief director was the renewal of the troupe and the choice of repertoire. To restore the viewer's trust, Tovstonogov begins with unpretentious, but lively and recognizable plays ( Sixth floor A.Geri, When does the acacia bloom? N. Vinnikova). Talented young people are actively involved in these productions, which soon became the basis of the renewed team (K. Lavrov, L. Makarova, T. Doronina, Z. Sharko). They brought to the stage the living breath of truth, open lyrical hearts, genuinely sincere voices of our time. Liberated by the spiritual atmosphere of their time, the young actors, together with the director, approved a new hero - outwardly not at all heroic, but close to everyone in the audience, glowing with inner beauty and talent of humanity. Staging works of modern dramaturgy - five evenings(1959, in the center of which is an unusually delicate duet of E. Kopelyan and Z. Sharko), My older sister(1961 with the brilliant T. Doronina and E. Lebedev) A. M. Volodin, and Irkutsk history A. N. Arbuzova (1960) - went in parallel with the careful work on Russian classics, in which the director heard, first of all, the nerve of today. Performances Moron according to F.M. Dostoevsky (1957 and 1966), Barbarians Gorky (1959), Woe from Wit A.S. Griboedov (1962), Three sisters A.P. Chekhov (1965), Philistines Gorky (1966, State Prize of the USSR, 1970) became major events in the spiritual life of society and determined the leading position of the BDT in the domestic stage art. Of particular interest was the form of “performance-novel” that developed in the BDT, which is characterized by the thoroughness and subtlety of the psychological analysis of the behavior of the characters, the enlargement of the images, close attention to the inner life of all the characters.

Barbarians A.M. Gorky turned out to be the first performance that turned the until recently heterogeneous troupe of the BDT into a powerful and rich sounding ensemble, where the director prepared and ensured the great acting victories of P. Luspekaev-Cherkun, V. Strzhelchik-Tsyganov, V. Polizeymako-Redozubov, O. Kaziko-Bogaevskaya, Z. Sharko-Katya, T. Doronina- Nadezhda, E. Lebedev-Monakhov, her husband.

An event in the theatrical life of the country was the production idiot with I. Smoktunovsky in the title role. A performance in which the director's innovative style was especially clearly manifested: elusive in its diversity on the one hand, and outward discreetness on the other. The director creates through the actor, together with the actor, and reveals their individuality often unexpectedly for them (O. Basilashvili, V. Strzhelchik, O. Borisov).

No idea exists for Tovstonogov outside the artist. But the director does not "die in the actor." Critic K. Rudnitsky wrote: "... the director comes to life in the actors, the art of each of the artists reveals one of the many facets of the art of the director himself ...". Therefore, the main work in the theater is working with the author and artist. The main result of the work is the creation of an ensemble of the highest culture, which can solve the most complex creative tasks, achieve stylistic integrity in any performance.

Contact with the audience in BDT performances is always heightened. But there were performances where this condition became paramount. This is how the show was staged. Woe from Wit(1964) with the tragic and at the same time eccentric Chatsky-S. Yursky, who was looking for associates in the hall, addressing the audience, with lively youthful spontaneity, hoping for understanding.

Each performance of Tovstonogov has its own way of communicating with the audience, whether horse history(1975) with E. Lebedev as Kholstomer, Chekhov, Gorky or Gogol ( Auditor, 1972), where the director poses the toughest questions to his characters, and therefore to the audience. At the same time, the novelty of reading arises from the depth of the read text, those layers of it that have not yet been seen and studied.

The revolutionary themes of performances are read and comprehended in a new way The death of the squadron A. Korneichuk, An optimistic tragedy V. Vishnevsky, staged repeatedly, at different times, as well as Rereading M. Shatrova (1980), where a simple person who finds himself in the face of History is examined intently, without false pathos.

The characteristic slow development of Tovstonogov's "performance-novels" ( Barbarians and Philistines; upturned virgin soil according to M.A. Sholokhov, 1964, etc.) gradually brought actors and spectators to stormy, “explosive”, climaxes.

In the 1970s, the director continued his theatrical searches, staging an epic novel in the field of great prose. Quiet Don with O. Borisov in the role of Grigory - the central figure of the performance, eclipsing all other persons who have lost their scale in this system. The epic performance considered Gregory as a tragic hero who has no personal guilt before the fate of History. The "novel" productions of the director have always been accompanied by such a quality as polyphony.

But the BDT was not alien to a cheerful, mischievous comedy. Viewers of the 1970s will long remember the festive, light-winged Khanuma A. Tsagareli (1972), staged with special lyricism, grace and brilliant acting work by L. Makarova, V. Strzhelchik, N. Trofimov. The experience of a special "Vakhtangov" reading, with his open play in the theater, was successfully mastered by the director in Wolves and sheep A.N.Ostrovsky (1980), the opera-farce by A.N.Kolker sounded like a sharp tragicomic grotesque Tarelkin's death according to A.V. Sukhovo-Kobylin (1982), which revealed the great potential of BDT actors in the field of open theatricality (acting works by E. Lebedev, V. Kovel, S. Kryuchkova, etc.). The comedic skills of the artists were honed both on the material of a modern play ( energetic people according to V. Shukshin, 1974), and in staging Pickwick Club according to Ch. Dickens, 1978).

In the troupe, in addition to the already mentioned artists, E.A. Popova, M.A. Prizvan-Sokolova, O.V. Volkova, L.I. Malevannaya, Yu.A. Demich, A.Yu. Tolubeev, S.N. .Kryuchkov. In 1983, the BDT troupe was replenished with another unique master of the stage - A.B. Freindlikh, who played and continues to play the most diverse roles - from three women who are opposite in comedy This passionate lover(N. Simon, 1983) to the tragic images of Lady Macbeth and Nastya ( At the bottom A.M. Gorky, 1987), etc.

THEATER NAMED AFTER G.A.TOVSTONOGOV

After the death of G.A. Tovstonogov in 1989, K.Yu. Lavrov became the artistic director of the BDT. In 1993, the theater was rightfully named after its former chief director, who became a whole theatrical era, not only for his theater, but also for his country.

A valuable contribution to the life of this theater was made by the productions of director T. Chkheidze, which largely coincided with Tovstonogov's requirements for the performance. The depth and scale of T. Chkheidze's director's intention were embodied by him through a carefully selected ensemble of actors. The most interesting of his performances: Deceit and love F. Schiller (1990), Macbeth At . Shakespeare, (1995), Antigone J. Anuya (1996), Boris Godunov A. Pushkin (1998).

In the modern BDT, many performances by G.A. Tovstonogov continue to go on, which are not just preserved, but live a full-blooded life.

In 2007, after the death of K. Lavrov, Temur Chkheidze was appointed artistic director, who had worked with the BDT since 1991, and in 2004 agreed to become the chief director. In February 2013, Chkheidze resigned and stepped down as artistic director.

Ekaterina Yudina