Tovstonogov Theater

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Tovstonogov Theater at night

Tovstonogov theater in daytime

Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theater(Russian: Большой Драматический Театр имени Г.А. Товстоногова; literally Tovstonogov Great Drama Theater), formerly known as Gorky Bolshoi Drama Theater (Russian: Большой Драматический Театр имени Горького), often referred by the acronym BDT (Russian: БДТ) is a theater in Saint Petersburg, that is considered one of the best Russian theaters^[1]. The theater is named after its long time director Georgy Tovstonogov

The main scene and auditorium of BDT (before a performance of Quartet by Ronald Harwood )

Entrance to the theater

1 Early years
2 Konstantin Tverskoy (1925-1935)
3 Difficult years (1935-1956)
4 Georgy Tovstonogov (1956-1989)
5 After Tovstonogov
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Early years

The theater was organized in 1918 by the order of Maria Andreeva, the Commissar for Theaters and Entertainments of Petrograd and wife of Maxim Gorky. The original name of the theater was Osobaya Drammaticheskaya Truppa (Special Drama Company). The theater was organized by merging the Theater of Tragedy led by Yury Yuryev and the Theater of Art Drama led by Andrey Lavrentyev. The theater performed on the stage of the Great Hall of the Petrograd Conservatory. The chief director of the theater was Andrey Lavrentyev and the Chairman was the great Russian poet Alexander Blok. The first spectacle of the new theater was Don Carlos with the premiere on 15 February 1919.^[2] Since 1920 the theater occupied the building of the former Suvorin_Theatre also known as Maly Imperial Drama Theater^[1].

The main actors of that period were Yury Yuryev and Nikolay Monakhov. Many brilliant painters worked for the theater including Alexandre Benois, Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Vladimir Shuko, Nikolay Akimov; among the composers working with the theater were Boris Asafiev and Yuri Shaporin. The theater produced mostly classical Romantic Dramas like: Don Carlos (1919), Othello (1920), King Lear (1920), Twelfth Night (1921), Ruy Blas (1921), The Robbers (1919), Le Médecin malgré lui, 1921, etc^[2] Since mid 1920ies the theater adds to its repertoire plays of German expressionists including Gas by Georg Kaiser, Virgin Forest by Ernst Toller and influenced by expressionism Machine Mutiny (Bunt Mashin) by Alexey Tolstoy^[2]

[edit] Konstantin Tverskoy (1925-1935)

The main director of that period was Konstantin Tverskoy (real name Konstantin Konstantinovich Kuzmin-Karavayev officially the Artistic Director in 1929-1935^[3]). The theater was producing spectacles of Soviet drmaturgists, including Boris Lavrenev (Myatezh, 1925; Razlom), Vladimir Kirshon (Gorod Vetrov, 1928); Nikolai Pogodin (Moy drug, 1932)^[2].

Very important were the works on Maxim Gorky plays including Yegor Bulychev and the others, 1932; Dostigaeyev and others, 1933^[2]. In 1932 the theater was named in honor of Maxim Gorky. The theater was known as Gorky Bolshoi Drama Theater (Bolshoi Dramaticheskiy Teatr imeni Gor'kogo) until 1992.

[edit] Difficult years (1935-1956)

The years after Tverskoy are considered to be a crisis for the theater. The leaders of the theater frequently change, the the level of performances lowered, the numbers of theater-goes drammatically decreased^[2].

The Artistic Directors (khudozhetvenniy rukovoditel) of that period were:

V.F. Fyodorov - 1934;
Aleksei Dikiy - 1936-1937;
Boris Babochkin - 1939-1940;
L.S. Rudnik - 1940-1944;
N.S. Rashevskaya - 1946-1950;
I.S. Yefremov - 1951-1952;
O.G. Kaziko - 1952-1954;
K.P. Khokhlov - 1954-1955;

During the World War II the theater was evacuated to Kirov. In 1943 in the last days of the Siege of Leningrad the theater returned serving the troops of Leningrad Front and the military hospitals^[2].

[edit] Georgy Tovstonogov (1956-1989)

Georgy Tovstonogov was the Artistic Director of the theater since 1956 until his death in 1989. During his prime Tovstonogov was considered one the best theatre directors of Europe and the theater was one of the best in the Soviet Union

Tovstonogov was the first who returned Fedor Dostoevsky into Soviet theater, by his productions of The Idiot (1957).

Among other famous performances are:

The Three Sisters 1965 and Uncle Vanya (1982) by Anton Chekhov
Five evenings 1958 and My big sister 1961 by Alexander Volodin
Irkusk Story by A. N. Arbuzov 1960
Wit Works Woe 1962 by Alexander Griboedov
Barbarians (1959) and Meschane (1966) by Maxim Gorky
Once again about Love (1964) by Edvard Radzinsky
Henry IV (1969) by William Shakespeare
Revisor by Nikolay Gogol (1972)
Last summer in Chulimsk by Alexander Vampilov (1974)
Energetic people by Vasily Shukshin (1974)
History of a Horse after Leo Tolstoy's Kholstomer (1975)

and many others.

Tovstonogov's grave

The prominent members of his troupe included Alice Freindlich, Zinaida Sharko, Lyudmila Makarova, Tatiana Doronina, Svetlana Kryuchkova, Kirill Lavrov, Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Pavel Luspekaev, Yefim Kopelyan, Sergey Yursky, Vladislav Strzhelchik, Еvgeny Lebedev, and Oleg Basilashvili.

[edit] After Tovstonogov

In 1989, a prominent actor of the theater, Kirill Lavrov was unanimously elected the Artistic Director. He managed to preserve the artistic tradition established by the great Russian director Georgi Tovstonogov, and to rename BDT after G. A. Tovstonogov (1993)^[2].

Lavrov did not acted as a theatrical director. Many spectacles of the period were directed by Temur Chkheidze. Among them were: Intrigue and Love by Friedrich Schiller(1990), Macbeth by William Shakespeare (1995); Antigone by Jean Anouilh (1996), Boris Godunov by Alexander Pushkin (1998)^[2]

27 April 2007 Konstantin Lavrov died and the Artistic Director of BDT was elected Temur Chkheidze ^[4]