The tour of the St. Petersburg Maly Drama Theater - Theater of Europe - in Chicago in March was an exceptional event! For the first time in many years, we saw not just another enterprise, not amateur and semi-amateur troupes with actors whose passion and youth made up for the lack of professionalism, but a real, serious, Russian drama theater. A theater where they do not flirt with the audience, but respect them; a theater where they are not afraid to stage Shakespeare, Chekhov, Grossman, O’Neill without modernization or cheap tricks; a theater that manages to remove the cliches and layers of decades and return to the living author’s word; theater, whose actors are distinguished by the most honest, responsible and serious attitude to your profession. During the years of emigration, we almost forgot that such a theater was possible, and the younger generation of spectators did not know this.
For almost three decades now, the permanent chief director of the theater has been Lev Abramovich Dodin. Two thirds of the actors at the Maly Drama Theater are his students. Actors respect their director, trust him, are not afraid to experiment, try themselves in the most unexpected roles, and Lev Abramovich himself calls his theater an acting theater and dissolves in the actors, giving them the opportunity to express themselves.
Much in the Maly Drama Theater is unusual for an ordinary theater group. For example, the distribution of roles is far from the main event. The main thing is to work on the material, discuss the characters’ characters, their behavior and actions. This takes months, or even years, of conversations, sketches, and rehearsals. At the beginning rehearsal process everyone tries themselves in different roles, and only as they crystallize general plan performance, roles are distributed.
The Maly Drama Theater does not stage one-nighters; the theater’s performances live for years, or even decades. Until now, the MDT repertoire includes the performances “Brothers and Sisters” by F. Abramov (premiere – 1985), “Stars in the Morning Sky” by A. Galin (premiere – 1987), “Demons” by F. Dostoevsky (premiere – 1991 g.), “A Play Without a Title” by A. Chekhov (premiere - 1997).
Work on the play does not end after the premiere and does not stop on tour. Rehearsals continue, the search for the optimal solution continues, which means the performance continues to develop. Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” was no exception. Arriving in Chicago, the actors got acquainted with the stage of the Shakespeare Theater and held a regular rehearsal. Not a run-through of the performance, but a full rehearsal.
And then there were five amazing performances. Your correspondent visited two of them and is ready to confirm that he saw different performances. They are different not in Chekhov's text and mise-en-scène, but in the atmosphere and behavior of the characters. Both times the actors of the Maly Drama Theater played mesmerizingly, and each time, as a necessary element of real Art, a feeling of Miracle arose.
The scenery is simple: wooden walls, a window, several doors, three haystacks on the second tier of the stage. And our loved ones, painfully familiar, so close Chekhov's heroes. Each with their own biography, with their own tragedy, with their own life...
“Uncle Vanya” by Lev Dodin and artist David Borovsky is a surprisingly lively and incredibly beautiful performance. This is a performance in which “the pulse beats modern life” (expression by V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, said about Chekhov’s “The Seagull”), performance with “ easy breathing” and love for the author’s word. Chekhov's plays are so poetic that they read like good poetry. It’s not for nothing that Leo Tolstoy called the playwright “Pushkin in prose.” It doesn’t matter that they don’t have action, they have mood! “Uncle Vanya” is a conversational play in which nothing happens other than the arrival and departure of Professor Serebryakov and his young wife Elena Andreevna. Walking in the garden, drinking tea, drinking vodka to the accompaniment of a guitar - that’s all the entertainment. It's very easy to make the audience feel bored. And boredom is not even a diagnosis, it is a death sentence for the performance. The greatest directors made boring performances. In Moscow art theater There is a story about how Gorky, who dropped into the theater for the play “Philistines,” left during intermission with the words “What a bore!” And the director of that performance was none other than Stanislavsky. How often in lately we saw boring Chekhov, and how wonderfully, brightly, lively they play Chekhov in MDT! No false intonations, no painful inner emptiness. Before us is ordinary human life, in which the main events take place in silence. At these moments, the emotion of the previous scene is played out and the emotional explosion of the next one is anticipated. “The shot is not a drama, but an accident... the drama will come after...” Chekhov explained. The shot doesn't solve anything. Life’s catastrophe occurs everyday, in a series of identical days, in the tapping of bills and counting food supplies: “On February 2, 20 pounds of lean butter... On February 16, again 20 pounds of lean butter... Buckwheat...”
Lev Abramovich Dodin did not set himself the goal of showing Russia late XIX century. The story told could have happened anywhere - in the French countryside, in Michigan or on a farm near Melbourne. Voinitsky, Astrov, Serebryakov, Sonya, Elena Andreevna... - these and other Chekhov heroes are outside of time, outside of geographical references, outside national characteristics. Unless, according to Russian tradition, they drink tea and vodka, and the nanny constantly reminds them of the cooling samovar. And the rest is a play about life, where people, in the words of Anton Pavlovich, “have lunch, just lunch, and at this time their happiness is formed and their lives are broken...”.
During a break between performances and rehearsals, I was lucky enough to talk with theater actors Sergei Kuryshev and Ksenia Rappoport, as well as with the theater’s deputy director for working with foreign partners, Dina Dodina.
Sergey Kuryshev: “Ideally, every performance is a rehearsal”
Sergey Vladimirovich Kuryshev
- leading actor of the Maly Drama Theater. Born in the city of Katta Kurgan. In 1989 he graduated from the Leningrad State Institute of Theater, Music and Cinematography, class of L.A. Dodin. In the same year he was accepted into the troupe of the Maly Drama Theater - the theater of Europe. Honored Artist of Russia (2002). Plays: Kirillov - “Demons”, Platonov - “A Play Without a Title” (Golden Sofit Award in 1998), Kopenkin - “Chevengur”, Frank Sweeney - “Molly Sweeney”, Gloster - “King Lear”, Viktor Pavlovich Shtrum - “Life and Fate”, Lukashina - “Brothers and Sisters”, Edmund Tyrone - “Long Journey into the Night”. In the play “Uncle Vanya” he plays the main role - Ivan Petrovich Voinitsky. For his performance in this role he received the “ Golden mask” in 2004.
Sergei Kuryshev's Uncle Vanya appears in a wrinkled jacket, sleepy, lethargic, cynical. What a Schopenhauer, what a failed Dostoevsky! Before us is a Chekhovian man, long worn out by life. The appearance of a beautiful and inaccessible woman in the house crushed him. For twenty-five years he served this “old cracker”, “worked for him like an ox,” and now he is confused, does not know where to go. “Life is gone!”
Sergey Kuryshev says:
– What is the difference between the state of love, passion, hatred, longing for a better life at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the XXI? Nothing! There is no progress. People love the same way, feel the same way. Yes, they wear different costumes, but that’s all. In this sense, Chekhov, like the even more distant Shakespeare, are absolutely modern authors.
– How do you feel about the role?
- Differently. The most interesting thing is when you immediately liked a play or novel. Then a creative inner feeling for the role arises and an understanding that you can do something. Then it will be more interesting and easier to work. It's much more difficult when you don't quite understand the character's character. For example, in “A Play Without a Title,” when Lev Abramovich invited me to rehearse Platonov, I did not understand my hero for a very long time, before the premiere. Rehearsals were painful...
– Do you understand Voynitsky? Do you accept?
– It seems to me that I understand and accept and sympathize. I started playing the role of Uncle Vanya when I was forty years old. I was younger than my hero. But the realization that it was possible to live a better, more interesting life, in a different place, in other circumstances - these thoughts can arise in a person at twenty-six or thirty-seven years old. Platonov is twenty-seven years old, Ivanov is thirty-five (turning thirty-six), Uncle Vanya is forty-seven. And, in general, the characters’ thoughts are about the same thing. About a better life and about the fact that this better life will no longer exist.
– What is the most important component when working on a role?
- Sympathy. If you sympathize, it means you understand your hero, and his feelings somehow resonate with you. Why does the audience react to the performance? Because he suddenly begins to recognize himself in the heroes. Even if this is a different situation, even if it is about other people from another country, but if the viewer recognizes himself in the characters, the response to the performance is guaranteed.
– When preparing for the role, did you watch the performances of your colleagues? For example, “Uncle Vanya” by Tovstonogov, where Voinitsky was played by Oleg Basilashvili?
– I only saw the television version of the play. Professor Serebryakov was played wonderfully by Lebedev, but this was a completely different Serebryakov in relation to Igor Ivanov. The first Sonya in the BDT was Tanya Shestakova. They say she played superbly. She’s no longer in the TV movie... We have a different performance according to the director’s interpretation. These are different performances different worlds. At Louis Malle I remember very much good movie“Uncle Vanya from 42nd Street.” It is also completely different from our performance... It all depends on the personality of the director and the company of actors. We played for many years" Cherry Orchard”, where I had the role of Petya Trofimov, and with Peter Brook I saw an amazing performance, but completely different. Performances may vary. The main thing is that they are alive.
– Chekhov did not accept Stanislavsky’s production, Chekhov did not like Meyerhold - the first Treplev, Chekhov did not like Leonidov-Lopakhin in “The Cherry Orchard” so much that when informed that one of the Art Theater actresses became pregnant, the playwright exclaimed: “It’s a pity that I didn’t get pregnant.” Leonidov”...
– Chekhov really didn’t like Stanislavsky in the role of Trigorin. This is in Chekhov’s correspondence with Knipper and others...
– What do you think Anton Pavlovich would say about your performance?
- Don't know. I would be scared. Chekhov, of course, would have questions. But Chekhov had huge complaints about the Moscow Art Theater, and yet he chose the Moscow Art Theater. This means that I felt the novelty and vitality of this theater.
– Sergei Vladimirovich, you can be called an actor of one director - Lev Abramovich Dodin...
- Yes, I’ve been with him all my life, starting from student years. Sixteen people completed his course, and eight of them, including me, ended up at the Maly Drama Theater.
– Working with the same director all your life is wonderful, especially if it’s great director, like Dodin. But, on the other hand, have you ever wanted to “take a walk on the side”, work with another master in a different style?
– Dodin alone has so many styles! “Gaudeamus,” which we brought to Chicago sixteen years ago, is absolutely not like “Uncle Vanya,” and “Claustrophobia” is not like either “Gaudeamus” or “Uncle Vanya.” If, as you say, “on the side”... If there was an opportunity to work with Peter Brook or the late Strehler, or Mnouchkine, that’s one thing. But working with Tyutkin is not very interesting. I met with young directors, I know the state of affairs in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Maybe in the future new bright personalities will appear, but so far, apart from Pyotr Naumovich Fomenko, I don’t see them.
– Of all the variety of roles, could you choose the most significant role for yourself?
– I can name my first great job, which gave impetus to future roles. This is Kirillov in “Demons”. After Kirillov, I came to understand theater.
– Please tell us about Dodin's rehearsals. I know that he auditions several actors for one role, and actors audition for several roles...
- As a rule. We read the entire novel or play, and Lev Abramovich suggests doing sketches for any role, including female ones. For example, in “Demons” in sketches, our wonderful artist Pyotr Mikhailovich Semak and I rehearsed several characters. And only closer to the premiere it became clear who was playing whom. Semak played Stavrogin, and I played Kirillov. At the time, this decision came as a surprise to me, although now I can’t imagine myself in a different role. Everything becomes clear during rehearsals. Ideally, every performance is a rehearsal.
– In “Uncle Vanya” I was amazed by the acting ensemble. How well you understand each other!
– We have a large troupe. A small company of nine people came to America. I really like our team. We are friends with each other in life, we treat each other with tenderness and love, and this naturally transfers to the stage. Discord in the theater, which I know about theoretically, because we don’t have it, does not provide the opportunity for ensemble acting. Only a good atmosphere in life and at rehearsals allows you to interact on stage. The older generation sets an example. Tatyana Vladimirovna Shchuko plays Maman. She once played for Lev Abramovich in Fonvizin’s “The Minor” and for many years I was at the Liteiny Theater. Amazing actress! She practically did not act in films, she worked only in the theater. Her attitude towards the role, her behavior during rehearsals is an example to all of us. Sasha Koshkarev, who plays the Worker in Uncle Vanya, is her son. He and Astrov, Igor Chernevich, and I studied together. Three classmates in one performance!
– You said that Tatyana Vladimirovna Shchuko practically did not act in films. So your love affair with cinema did not work out. Is it you who don’t notice the cinema, or the cinema who doesn’t notice you?
– It didn’t happen in the nineties, although there were auditions and they took me to some films. But the timing didn’t match... I would like to star in a film that would be good. ( Laughs.) But you’ll never guess... I have quite enough work in the theater, and interesting work. Not every season had premieres, but we always rehearsed something. I was always busy with Lev Abramovich. Now I have nine roles in my repertoire. This is a serious load.
– You may be the envy of thousands of actors who wait for years for a new role!
- Yes, perhaps. And now we have begun to discuss a new play - “Three Sisters” by Chekhov. I play there too.
– Has there been any distribution yet?
- No. Honestly, in “Three Sisters” I would have played any role. Tuzenbach is, of course, a young man for me...
– Why, you play young people in “Brothers and Sisters”!
- The guys started rehearsing “Brothers and Sisters” when they themselves were young... No, it was a different story. “Brothers and Sisters” in 1979 was the graduation performance of Dodin’s first year. And the premiere of the theatrical version, which is significantly different from the student version, took place in 1985. That year I just entered college. I didn’t rehearse in “Brothers...” When I graduated from college, I played the shadow of the main character’s father for several years. I went out for one minute and did it with pleasure. I really like this performance. I could even work in it as an assembler! Our wonderful artist Nikolai Lavrov died in 2000. He played the Chairman of the collective farm in “Brothers and Sisters”. He was replaced by Sergei Kozyrev. And a year and a half ago, he left the theater for a while, and Dodin invited me to play this role. So now I’m the right age, and maybe even a little older. ( Laughs.) I really like that they let me in amazing world Fedora Abramova. Many years have passed, and due to many circumstances, including tragic ones, the actors had to be replaced, but the core remains the same. Petr Semak, Igor Ivanov. Natalya Akimova, Tanya Shestakova...
– You play completely different roles: Tyrone in Long Journey into Night, Strum in Life and Fate, Gloucester in King Lear... How do you transition from one material to another, from one topic to another?
– If we talk about these three roles, they are very different, and I hope that I play them differently. Although, as Mikhail Chekhov said, the natural idea exists in all roles. But this does not contradict Stanislavsky. During the rehearsal period, immersion in the role is complete. It’s harder if today you play Tyrone, tomorrow – Gloucester, the day after tomorrow – Platonov. This is where difficulties begin, especially with age. If possible (and my family gives me this opportunity), I come to the theater early, and while no one is there, I concentrate and thus reorganize myself for the performance. Although this is not an easy process. Playing only “Uncle Vanya” on tour is easier and more interesting - you see the development of the performance.
– Have you ever had a situation when you internally disagreed with the role that Lev Abramovich offered you?
– There were no conflicts. I quickly realized that it is better to first listen to the director - especially one like Dodin - and try to understand what he offers. If I’m not happy with something or don’t understand something, I can always go up to the director and talk. In this sense, Dodin never refuses! On the contrary, he is always happy to analyze the role.
– Do you have time on tour to go to theaters and watch the work of your colleagues?
- Rarely. In the nineties, on our day off we watched Bejart’s dress rehearsal, and once in New York Baryshnikov invited us to the dress rehearsal. In Israel I was able to watch Brook's performance. At home I sometimes go to the theater. Not to say that often, but I go.
– You mentioned Pyotr Naumovich Fomenko. What's going on in theatrical St. Petersburg?
– In my opinion, with the arrival of Valery Fokin at Alexandrinka (Pushkin Theater), the theater began to revive. Both externally - a colossal repair and re-equipment of the stage has been carried out - and in the creative sense. The theater has become much more lively.
– Looking from afar at theatrical St. Petersburg, I see Maly Drama as a kind of cultural reserve. Aren't you afraid that this might lead to some mothballing in the future?
– In 1980, the play “Home” was released, and a few years later Lev Abramovich became the main director of the theater. And for so many years, conservation has not happened. Moreover... We have been playing “Demons” since 1991. Our hall is small, and when the lights come on, the faces of the audience are visible. The younger generation is coming to the theater! The performance, which begins at twelve o'clock in the afternoon and ends with two breaks at about ten o'clock in the evening, arouses the interest of young people! The vulgarity, of course, increases with terrible force, but such outbreaks as ours, at Fomenko’s, exist, and they are not conserved. The performances are live! Try to mess with our director or play “deadly”. ( Laughs.) “Rake” and force feelings to arise. In order not to become dead, you need to study all the time and, if possible, rehearse.
– Do you have to sacrifice a lot for acting?
“For me, for my wife and, to some extent, for my son, this has become habitual. Although I miss it, especially when there are big tours. But nevertheless, having spent twenty years in the theater, I no longer consider it a sacrifice. I’m interested in working, and if I’m interested in work, then what kind of sacrifice is that?..
At a gala reception at the Shakespeare Theater dedicated to the start of the Maly Drama Theater’s tour, Sergei Kuryshev wished that “the audience’s impressions of Uncle Vanya would not be blown away by the wind into Lake Michigan, but would remain with them.”
Ksenia Rappoport: “Fate sets priorities”
Ksenia Alexandrovna Rappoport.
Born in Leningrad. In 2000 she graduated from the St. Petersburg State Academy of Theater Arts (class of V.M. Filshtinsky). In the same year she was accepted into the troupe of the Maly Drama Theater - Theater of Europe. She made her debut in the role of Nina Zarechnaya in L.A. Dodin’s play “The Seagull” by A.P. Chekhov. Laureate of the independent youth award “Triumph” (2004). Honored Artist of Russia (2009).
Plays: Sophia - “A Play Without a Title.” At the Liteiny Theater he plays: Jocasta – “Oedipus the King”, Ismene – “Antigone”, Beatrice – “The Servant of Two Masters”.
She starred in the films: “Calendula Flowers” (Russia, 1998), “I Pay It Forward!” (Russia, 2001), “Stranger” (Italy, 2006), “Liquidation” (Russia, 2007), “Swing” (Russia, 2008), “St. George’s Day” (Russia, 2008), “The Man Who Loves” ( Italy, 2008), “Italians” (Italy, 2009), “Double Hour” (Italy, 2009), etc. In the play “Uncle Vanya” A.P. Chekhova plays the role of Elena Andreevna. For her performance in this role she was awarded the Golden Sofit theater prize (St. Petersburg, 2003).
One of best scenes in “Uncle Vanya” - a night scene of Sonya and Elena Andreevna’s explanation. The window is wide open and the soul is wide open... Elena Andreevna wants to play the piano and tells Sonya to ask her old husband’s permission: “Go and ask. If it's okay, then I'll play. Go." Sonya, returning, utters one word: “You can’t.” Next, Chekhov wrote: “Curtain.” Sonin “You can’t!” The second act of the play ends. But Dodin’s performance continues, and we see a brilliant sketch of Ksenia Rappoport - Elena Andreevna. The actress is great in her character's short, furious, silent rebellion. Can't you play the piano?! Then I'll play on the table! She takes some kind of stick and starts knocking on jars, flasks, bottles, on her own head, then knocks over all the medicine in one fell swoop. She threw everything off, destroyed this order of life, sat down, a second later came to her senses, again put everything in order, in its place. The riot is over. Now everything will be the same... “Life is lost!”
– You play the explanation scene with Sonya differently. Your rebellion is different! At one performance you violently throw all these bottles of medicine off the table, and at another you just knock them over, but leave them on the table.
– It depends on the night scene with my husband. If it was painful, irreconcilable or offensive, then this gives one emotion. Yesterday she was sick, I felt very sorry for him. This scene left a trace of his real illness, so it was difficult to make a tough move.
– That is, every time you act completely impulsively. Don't you have a strict director's canon?
“We, of course, have a drawing of the scene, and I’ll still make these bottles.” I once thought of this for myself. But how, with what movement I will do this, depends on the performance, on the previous scene... In the repertory theater, the big advantage is that one company works on different works, and all works influence each other. Shakespeare begins to penetrate Chekhov, Chekhov - into Shakespeare. There is only one circle of thoughts, and many years of wandering in this circle yields results.
– And if you were offered to change with Elena Kalinina and play Sonya...
– I would do it with great pleasure. Elena Kalinina is a wonderful actress, and if we switch places, I think it will also be interesting.
– Ksenia, during your ten years of work at the Maly Drama Theater, you played three Chekhov roles: Nina Zarechnaya, Sofia and Elena Andreevna. Why? Does Lev Abramovich see only a Chekhovian heroine in you?
- No, it just coincided. Actually, I also played in “Claustrophobia”, rehearsed Goneril in “King Lear”, but then a film romance with Italy happened, and Lev Abramovich let me go. I don’t think he sees me in some strictly limited role. What is a Chekhov heroine? It’s like Turgenev’s girl: something so speculative.
– How does Lev Abramovich feel about your film novels?
“I think he’s not happy about it, but he understands and lets it go.” I'm not doing anything bad...
– Well, they would have played Goneril if the Italian romance had not happened. How do you prioritize yourself?
“It’s not me who sets priorities, it’s fate that sets priorities.”
– But the choice is still yours. Lev Abramovich offers you a role in the theater, and the next day he calls Giuseppe Tornatore and offers you a role in the cinema...
- First of all, it wasn’t the next day. By that time, we had already been rehearsing “King Lear” for a year and a half... Well, yes, there was a choice, but, you know, there are offers that cannot be refused. There is an actor's destiny, an actor's path in which certain things happen. If you refuse them, do not accept them, then you are turning in some other direction. We must take responsibility for our fate.
– Ksenia, you graduated from LGITMiK in Filshtinsky’s class. How did you meet Dodin?
– We have been friends with the Maly Drama Theater since our first year. And when Lev Abramovich began looking for Nina Zarechnaya, he invited me. I took part in rehearsals and then played this role on stage. I was still studying at that moment.
– It was a trainee group?
– I never look where they wrote me down on a piece of paper. I don't care what I'm called. If I play Nina, I can even be called a barmaid.
– Do you play at the Liteiny Theater as a guest actress?
– I play there like an impudently arrived actress! After graduation, our friendly group of classmates really didn’t want to leave. We wanted to continue playing together. At that moment I was already rehearsing and releasing “The Seagull”, I understood that I wanted to work at the Maly Drama Theater, but after being a student there was a lot of energy, and my classmates and I began making “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles at night. We didn’t have a room, we wandered around different apartments, basements, attics, until finally, without telling anyone, we came to the theater on Liteiny. There you could go through the guards and no one would ask you anything. And the premises are all vacant. We came and started rehearsing there. Then loud screams attracted public attention. The director of the theater came to us and asked: “What are you doing here?” We said: “We’re rehearsing.” “Show me.” We showed it, the director gave us an artist, and we produced a performance, which we later traveled halfway around the world with.
– Do you still play it?
– Yes, we still play it, and in addition, in the same theater with the same company we made two more performances. We are not actors in this theater. We are prodigal children. This is a completely different acting space for me.
– Is this the space where you go away from Dodin for a while?
- It’s not like I’m leaving. I manage to combine this. There is a piece of me there too.
– Which names in Russian theater are most significant to you?
- Pyotr Fomenko. He has a completely unique tone in the theater world. I love him and his artists very much and admire them. Recently an amazingly talented director Sergei Zhenovach appeared. From the old guard - Freundlich, Demidova, Neyolova... In my native theater there are so many wonderful artists from whom to study, study and study.
– I noticed: you have a young troupe. There are no old people.
“It’s just that our old people are so vigorous that you can’t even classify them as old people.” ( Laughs.)
– Do you always agree with Lev Abramovich during rehearsals?
– When we do a performance, we all think together. Of course, all defining thoughts are his. Maybe I'm very happy man, but somehow I never encountered the fact that I disagreed with what I was doing. I have seen several times how an actor suffers on stage. I asked the actors, and they said: “This directorial decision infuriates me, I don’t understand why I’m doing this.” I have never been in such a situation. It happens that Lev Abramovich and I do not agree on some things, but as a result, the work turns out to be such an alloy, which includes both, and becomes ten times more interesting. Working with him is such a pleasure! Just grow, understand, think, gain...
– Is the drinking period obligatory for you?
- Yes. This is not a routine character analysis. Rather, it is a general circle of thoughts, a circle of problems. It doesn’t happen that one actor plays one thing, another – another, a third – a third. Lev Abramovich never tears the whole into pieces. This is a common pain, a common hope, and in all this we are looking for our place. Sometimes it takes years.
– Is the Dodin Theater your home?
- A house is a house. Home is where the children and parents are. But theater is still theater. The Dodin Theater is my favorite director and my favorite partners, people I deeply respect, wonderful artists. We have a wonderful team. We have absolutely amazing people working in all our workshops: artists, prop masters, costume designers, assemblers. We all feel each other's elbow.
– Do you have a favorite theater role?
– I won’t choose just one role. I love them all.
– And in the cinema?
– Cinema is different. In cinema, I am almost never satisfied with the result. I try to enjoy the filming process as much as possible and do my job as honestly as possible. The film comes out and I move on. How can you love it or not love it? This is not what I do every day.
– Do you review your old works?
- Never.
– It seems to me that “St. George’s Day” by Kirill Serebrennikov stands out in your filmography...
– I remember working on this film very well. It was a completely unique experience in terms of intensity, physical costs, and the unbearable conditions of creating the picture. Everything was not easy: the script was not easy, the role was not easy, and this film was difficult for Kirill Semenovich. The work was hard, but incredibly interesting. I hope the film was interesting to someone.
– How do you feel about TV series?
“Unfortunately, the reality is that in the harsh conditions of the series it is impossible to do something interesting. Or I don't have the ability for this. I need a long, serious process. There are artists who do everything easily and shine even in TV series, but I’m not one of them. Therefore, as soon as I had the opportunity not to act in TV series just to survive, I stopped doing it.
– A“ Liquidation”?
– “Liquidation” is still not “soap”. This feature film, only multi-part. We worked on this film in a way that we sometimes don’t work in a big movie in terms of time, rehearsals, discussion, approach. Sergei Vladimirovich Ursulyak is simply a wonderful director. He will never give freebies.
– You once said that when you agreed to Tornatore’s proposal, you only knew Italian “Si" If suddenly you are offered a role, say, in Portuguese, will you play?
- With pleasure. The material and the topic are important to me. Does it excite you, does it interest you, does it excite you.
– Doesn't language matter?
– If an accent is appropriate in the picture, then no. Because, as you understand, it is impossible to learn a language in two weeks and speak it so that everyone thinks that I am Portuguese. But if it's an interesting role, why not?
– And in the theater? Would you work on stage in another language?
- With pleasure.
– How do you feel about the genre of comedy and absurdity?
- Very good. I have been working in the absurd genre for a long time. ( Laughs.) I liked Ionesco back in college, and I dream of doing something in this genre. And I have a comedy. Beatrice in “The Servant of Two Masters” on Liteiny. There I “have a blast” to the fullest...
Dina Dodina: “We don’t do “projects” - we do good performances”
Dina Dodina.
Born in Leningrad. Graduated from the Faculty of Philology of St. Petersburg state university. Second education (Diploma
of
Cultural
Management) received in London.Deputy director of the theater for work with foreign partners.
– Dina Davydovna, right here family business: Uncle puts on plays, niece sells them.
– (Laughs.) Yes, we have the same estate with Uncle Vanya and his niece Sonya...
– Please tell us how your collaboration with Maly Drama began?
– To be honest, I did not intend to connect my life with the theater. When I was in my second year at university, the Maly Drama Theater urgently needed a caption operator for a large English tour. Two days before departure, a person fell ill. And Lev Abramovich remembered his niece, who “seems to speak English.” This is how it all began, this is how it all continues, and I don’t regret it at all. The Maly Drama Theater is an amazing place where art is seriously practiced. I am not afraid of such lofty words, simply because Lev Abramovich teaches us not to be afraid of them. There is no other way to art except seriousness.
– What, in your opinion, is the phenomenon of recognition of Dodin’s theater in the West?
– The phenomenon of recognition lies in our “brand”, in the highest reputation of the theater. Without recognizing the names of any of our actors separately, in the West they know that Maly Drama is one of the best theaters peace. This is a rare case when the audience forgets to check who is playing there, in what films we saw whom, and comes to look at the ensemble. This is, in principle, Stanislavsky's system at its best, when the name of the play and the theater is made by the ensemble. There is no star system in our theater; everyone is dedicated and united in doing the same thing.
– Where is it more difficult to organize tours: in Europe or America?
– There are certain problems with financing, but they exist all over the world. There is, of course, fear, but it is the same for any country. “Uncle Vanya” lasts three hours and ten minutes, in Russian, with subtitles, nothing happens in the play. Apart from unconditional artistic quality, there are no other “selling points”. The quality of the performance is what producers fall in love with and decide to show in different countries.
– And then it turns out, like in Chicago and New York, that all tickets are sold out a month before the start of the tour...
- And then the producers begin to “bite their elbows” and say: “Why do we show so few performances?” Due to the fact that they do not have their own repertory company, and therefore there is no jealousy, Americans have the rare ability to fall in love with the theaters that come to them. If the performance is good, then the technicians, administrators, everyone service personnel they treat him like one of their own.. We’ve only been in Chicago for a week, and it’s already a pity to leave! We met a black Labrador who comes to the Shakespeare Theater with an American make-up artist. And since all the artists went away for five weeks, left their dogs at home and miss them very much, we all immediately fell in love with this Labrador.
– Maybe the success of this tour will encourage the organizers not to wait the next sixteen years to invite you again?
– I will answer you with the cynicism of a person who has been in similar situations more than once. On foreign tours with Maly Drama, the same story always happens. Full houses, all the tickets are sold out, everyone says: “You should come again, you don’t have to wait sixteen years,” etc., etc. And usually this leads to a gap of sixteen years. Funding for foreign theater in America is very difficult. But we will hope. In sixteen years, Chicago has seen enormous changes for the better. If we come back in another sixteen years, Chicago will be even more beautiful.
– I would still like the next meeting to take place much earlier. How can our newspaper help you?
- All you need is money. We have a large troupe. We bring the same scenery, the same costumes in which we play at home. We want the performance to be as technically equipped as on the home stage, so that one person does not run around and try to do the work of eight, as often happens in touring performances. It is expensive and difficult to bring us here. So I can only applaud our longtime friend and partner David Eden, who brought us to Chicago sixteen years later. Apparently, he needed so much time to gather the strength and resources. And, of course, our theater is infinitely grateful to the Ministry of Culture of Russia, whose financial support made these tours possible.
– But in New York last time You were there quite recently – in 2008 – with the play “Life and Fate”. I envied New York theatergoers and asked: “Can’t they come to Chicago?”
– Two questions always amuse me: why did you bring this or that performance, and why didn’t you go to such and such a place? We do not resolve these issues. This is decided by the inviting party. “Life and Fate” is an amazing missionary play that Dodin has dreamed of staging for decades. Unfortunately, in the current financial situation, other theater venues in America, except for the hall at Lincoln Center in New York, have not been able to find funds to show this performance. Fifty people are involved in the performance. This is a very expensive pleasure. You know, I work a lot with Western partners, and it seems to me that if I take their point of view in business matters, we will save a lot of time and energy. We are always happy to see Russian-speaking audiences in the hall - our compatriots and American spectators born in Russian-speaking families in America - but, basically, in each country we play for local residents. We try to convey the word of Chekhov, the word of Grossman in the form in which we convey it to the Russian audience at home. We don’t make “projects” - we make good performances. Artistic compromise is inappropriate here.
A week has flown by, the tour of the Maly Drama Theater - the theater of Europe - has ended. We returned to our usual life, bustle, worries. Life is still the same and the conversations are still the same, and thoughts, and words, and actions... But I would like to hope that the audience’s impressions of the great performance of Lev Abramovich Dodin “were not blown away by the wind into Lake Michigan, but remained with them.” Maybe not forever, but at least for a while... Until the theater's new arrival in Chicago.
I would like to express my gratitude to Dina Dodina for her help in organizing the interview.
Photos for the article:
Photo 1. St. Petersburg Academic Maly Drama Theater - Theater of Europe
Photo 2. Chief Director theater Lev Dodin
Photo 3. Sergey Kuryshev - Voinitsky
Photo 4. Scene from the play “Uncle Vanya”. Sergey Kuryshev – Voinitsky, Elena Andreevna – Ksenia Rappoport
Photo 5. Scene from the play “Uncle Vanya”. Tatiana Shchuko –Maman, Sergey Kuryshev – Voinitsky
Photo 6. Ksenia Rappoport
Photo 7. Scene from the play Uncle Vanya.” “Ksenia Rappoport – Elena Andreevna
Photo 8. Dina Dodina with the chief director of MDT Lev Dodin
Photo 9. Dina Dodina at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Born on May 14, 1944 in Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo region. Wife - Tatyana Borisovna Shestakova, actress of the Academic Maly Drama Theater.
From childhood, Lev Dodin began studying at the Leningrad Theater of Youth Creativity, which was led by the excellent teacher Matvey Grigorievich Dubrovin. Largely thanks to his influence, Leo developed a strong desire to devote himself to the theater. Immediately after graduating from school, he entered the Leningrad State Institute of Theater, Music and Cinematography, where he studied with the outstanding director and teacher Boris Vulfovich Zone.
The year of graduation coincided with the year of Lev Dodin's directorial debut. In 1966, his teleplay “First Love” based on the story by I.S. Turgenev. This was followed by productions at the Leningrad Youth Theater ("Our People - Let's Be Numbered" by A.N. Ostrovsky) and the Drama and Comedy Theater ("The Minor" by Fonvizin and "Rosa Berndt").
Lev Dodin’s collaboration with the Maly Drama Theater began in 1975 with “The Robber” by K. Capek. The production of the play “Home” by F. Abramov in 1980 gained all-Union fame and largely determined the subsequent creative fate of Lev Dodin. In 1983 he became artistic director Maly Drama Theatre. Over the years, the following plays were born: “Brothers and Sisters” by F. Abramov, “Lord of the Flies” by W. Golding, “Stars in the Morning Sky” by A. Galin, “Gaudeamus” by S. Kaledin, “Demons” by F.M. Dostoevsky, “Love under the Elms” by Y. O. Neil, “Claustrophobia” based on the works of modern Russian writers, “The Cherry Orchard” by A.P. Chekhov, “A Play Without a Title” by A.P. Chekhov, “Chevengur” by A. Platonov, "The Seagull" by A.P. Chekhov and others.
In total, Lev Dodin is the author of more than 50 dramatic and opera productions. His creative credits include the performances "Bankrupt" on the stage of the Finnish national theater, "The Golovlevs" at the Moscow Art Theater, "The Meek" on the stages of the Bolshoi Drama Theater and the Moscow Art Theater, as well as the opera "Electra" by R. Strauss at the Salzburg Musical Theater Easter festival 1995 (conductor Claudio Abaddo), "Katerina Izmailova" D.D. Shostakovich at the 1998 festival in Florence, “The Queen of Spades” by P.I. Tchaikovsky in Florence and Amsterdam in 1998 (conductor S. Bychkov), "Lady Macbeth Mtsensk district"at the festival "Florentine Musical May", "Mazepa" by P.I. Tchaikovsky at the La Scala theater in 1999 (conductor M.L. Rostropovich).
In the fall of 1999, at the Bastille Theater in Paris, L. Dodin staged new option"Queen of Spades", and in 2001 in the same theater "Queen of Spades" was restored.
Lev Dodin's performances were performed in 27 countries, including the USA, Australia, Japan, France, Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland, Italy, Finland, Czech Republic, Spain, Sweden, Brazil, Israel, Greece, Denmark, Ireland, Finland, Poland , Romania, Norway, Portugal, Canada, Holland, Austria, Yugoslavia, New Zealand, Belgium, Hungary. In the fall of 1999, a festival of performances by Dodin was held in Italy.
Maly Drama Theater under the direction of L.A. Dodina is one of the most popular theaters in St. Petersburg and “international” theaters in Russia, demonstrating the strength of Lev Dodin’s directorial talent and at the same time the fruitfulness of the Russian acting school. It is no coincidence that in 1992 the theater and the director himself were invited to join the Union of European Theaters, and in September 1998, the Maly Drama Theater from St. Petersburg was the first and so far the only Russian group to receive the status of the Theater of Europe, becoming the third in the world after the Parisian Odeon. and Milan's Piccolo Theatre.
The boldness of the outstanding director's production plans is based on the capabilities of a brilliantly trained troupe, many of whose actors are students of Lev Dodin. For 15 years now, Dodin has been cultivating in himself and his actors a passion for the truth - to live not by lies!
L.A. Dodin - People's Artist of Russia, laureate of State Prizes of the USSR (1986) and the Russian Federation (1998), Prize of the President of the Russian Federation (2001). His theatrical activity and performances have been awarded many domestic and international prizes and awards. Among them: Russian National Independent Award "Triumph" (1992), twice - National Award "Golden Mask" (1997, 1999), awards from the K.S. Stanislavsky "For outstanding achievements in pedagogy" (1996), "Golden spotlight" (1996), Laurence Olivier Prize (1988), French theater and music critics(1992), the regional English theater award (1992), the Italian UBU award (1993, 1994), the Italian Abbiati critics' award for the best opera performance (1998), as well as the highest European theater award "Europe - Theater" (2000). The director was also awarded the French Order of Literature and Art of Officer Dignity "For his enormous contribution to the cause of cooperation between Russian and French cultures" (1994).
Back in 1967, L.A. Dodin began teaching acting and directing. He trained more than one generation of actors and directors. Nowadays he is a professor at the St. Petersburg Academy of Theater Arts, heads the department of directing, and regularly conducts master classes in theater schools Great Britain, France, Japan, USA, is a permanent member of the jury of a professional competition literary works"Northern Palmyra" and a member of the jury of the St. Petersburg theater award "Golden Sofit".
Lives and works in St. Petersburg.
Lev Dodin - professor, laureate of State Prizes of the USSR and the Russian Federation (1986, 1993, 2003), Triumph awards (1992), Golden Mask awards (1997, 1999 and 2004). The first of the figures of the Russian theater awarded with a prize Laurence Olivier (1988). President of the Union of European Theaters (2012).Born May 14, 1944 in Stalinsk (Novokuznetsk) in evacuation. His father was a geologist, his mother worked as a pediatrician. There were three children in the family.
From his childhood (13 years old), Lev studied at the Leningrad Theater of Youth Creativity, which was directed by Matvey Dubrovin, a student of the innovative director Vsevolod Meyerhold.
In 1966 he graduated from the Leningrad State Institute of Theater, Music and Cinematography (LGITMiK, now RGISI - Russian State Institute of Performing Arts), where he studied with director and teacher Boris Zone.
In 1966, Dodin made his debut with the teleplay “First Love” based on the story by Ivan Turgenev.
One of his earliest and most significant works was the play based on Alexander Ostrovsky’s play “Our People - Let’s Be Numbered” (1973) at the Leningrad Youth Theater, thanks to which Dodin’s name was truly heard for the first time in theatrical Leningrad (St. Petersburg).
In 1975-1979, the director worked at the Leningrad Regional Drama and Comedy Theater (now the State Drama Theater on Liteiny).
In 1974, Lev Dodin’s collaboration with the Maly Drama Theater (MDT) began with the play “The Robber” by Karel Capek.
The production of “Home” based on the novel by Fyodor Abramov at the MDT in 1980 determined the subsequent creative fate of the director.
Since 1983, Dodin has been the artistic director of the academic Maly Drama Theater, and since 2002 - director
.
In September 1998, the theater received the status of Theater of Europe - the third after the Odeon Theater in Paris and the Piccolo Theater in Milan. Lev Dodin is a member of the general assembly of the Union of European Theaters. In 2012 he was elected honorary president of the Union of European Theaters.
Lev Dodin's performances were performed in many countries around the world - Australia, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, USA, Finland, France, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Japan, etc. In the fall of 1999, a festival of Dodin's performances was held in Italy.
In total, Lev Dodin is the author of 70 dramatic and opera productions. His creative credits include the performances “The Golovlev Gentlemen” (1984) based on the novel by Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin at the Moscow Art Theater with Innokenty Smoktunovsky in leading role, “The Meek” based on the story by Fyodor Dostoevsky with Oleg Borisov in the title role on the stages of the Bolshoi Drama Theater in St. Petersburg (1981) and the Moscow Art Theater (1985), “Brothers and Sisters” (1985) based on the trilogy by Fyodor Abramov, “Demons” (1991 ) based on the novel by Dostoevsky and “King Lear” (2006) by William Shakespeare at the Maly Drama Theater of St. Petersburg.
Among his latest productions at MDT are “Three Sisters” (2010) by Anton Chekhov, “Portrait with Rain” (2011) by Alexander Volodin, “Cunning and Love” (2012) by Friedrich Schiller, “An Enemy of the People” (2013) by Henrik Ibsen, “ GAUDEAMUS" (2014) based on the story by S. Kaledin, "Hamlet" (2016) according to S. Grammar, R. Holinshed, W. Shakespeare, B. Pasternak, “Fear. Love. Despair" (2017) based on the plays of B. Brecht.
In December 2014 in Moscow at the Moscow Art Theater. A.P. Chekhov's first tour of Lev Dodin's play “The Cherry Orchard” was a triumph. Three evenings in a row auditorium The theater was overcrowded. The performance was shown within theater festival"Stanislavsky's Season".
Dodin is the artistic director of the play “He is in Argentina” (2013) based on the play by Lyudmila Petrushevskaya and directed by Tatyana Shestakova.
Lev Dodin staged the opera Electra by Richard Strauss at the Salzburg Musical Easter Festival (Austria, 1995) and at the Florence Musical May festival (Italy, 1996), Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk by Dmitry Shostakovich at the Florence Musical May festival (1998 ), "The Queen of Spades" by Pyotr Tchaikovsky in Dutch Opera in Amsterdam (1998) and the Paris National Opera (1999, 2005, 2012), at the Bolshoi Theater (2015), the opera Mazeppa by Pyotr Tchaikovsky at La Scala (1999), the opera Salome by Richard Strauss at the Opera de Bastille in Paris (2003), the opera “Khovanshchina” at the Vienna State Opera (2014) and others.
Since 1967, Dodin has been teaching acting and directing at LGITMiK (now the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts), and has trained more than one generation of actors and directors. Today he is a professor, head of the department of directing at the St. Petersburg State Academy of Theater Arts.
Dodin is an honorary academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, an honorary doctor of the St. Petersburg Humanitarian University of Trade Unions.
Lev Dodin is the author of the books “Rehearsals of an Untitled Play” (2004), “Book of Reflections” (2004), and the multi-volume publication “Journey Without End” (2009-2011). He has also published several books on foreign languages. Dodin is a permanent member of the jury of the professional literary competition “Northern Palmyra”. He is the artistic director of the Winter International Theater Festival.
The theatrical activities of Lev Dodin and his performances were noted by many state and international prizes and awards. In 1993, he was awarded the title People's Artist of the Russian Federation. He is a laureate of the State Prize of the USSR (1986), State Prize of the Russian Federation (1993, 2003), Prize of the President of the Russian Federation (2001), Prize of the Government of St. Petersburg in the field of culture, literature and architecture (2004). Awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV (2004) and III degrees (2009).
The director is also a laureate of the Laurence Olivier Award (1988), the French Theater and Music Critics Award (1992), the English Regional Theater Award (1992), the Italian UBU Award (1994), the Italian Abbiati Critics Award for Best Opera Performance (1998) . In 2000, Lev Dodin was awarded the highest European theater prize “Europe - Theater”.
In 1994, Dodin was awarded the French Order of Arts and Letters of officer dignity “For his enormous contribution to the cooperation of Russian and French cultures.”
Among Russian awards director - “Triumph” (1992), “Golden Mask” (1997, 1999 and 2004), “The Seagull” (2003), “Golden Spotlight” (1996, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016), “Breakthrough "(2011), Andrei Mironov Prize "Figaro" (2013), Tsarskoye Selo Art Prize (2013).
In 1996 he became a laureate of the K. S. Stanislavsky Foundation award “For outstanding achievements in pedagogy”, in 2008 - “For contribution to the development of the Russian theater”.
Lev Dodin is married to People's Artist of Russia Tatyana Shestakova, actress and director of MDT. His first wife was actress Natalya Tenyakova. The director's brother is Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, Corresponding Member Russian Academy Science David Dodin.
RBC sent a request to the press service of the Ministry of Culture.
The MDT actors found it difficult to comment on what happened. Anzhelika Nevolina said that she knew absolutely nothing, Ksenia Rappoport said that she was “not aware of the situation.” Adrian Rostovsky reported that he learned about thefts at MDT from funds mass media. “I had never encountered this news before. The only thing I’ve encountered is the constant long-term construction, like the whole theater,” he said.
An RBC source familiar with the investigation materials said that the thefts were committed at the design stage. According to SPARK, in 2015 the Stroysoyuz SV company entered into an agreement on the construction of a new stage of the Academic Maly Drama Theater - Theater of Europe for 2.5 billion rubles. The competition documentation is available on the government procurement website. The customer of the work was the state institution North-Western Directorate for Construction, Reconstruction and Restoration. The parent company according to SPARK is the Ministry of Culture of Russia.
Construction of the new MDT stage should be completed by the end of 2019. The contract provides for reconstruction, creation of underground parking, rehearsal rooms, technical and storage facilities.
The artistic director and director of MDT is Lev Dodin. The theater’s website states that the authors of the concept for the new stage on the site of the two-story building of the former fodder yard of the Semenovsky regiment are Dodin himself and the theater’s chief designer, Alexander Borovsky.
Later, the law office “Kachkin and Partners” RBC stated that the author of the concept and architectural design of the new MDT stage is the Mamoshin Architectural Studio.
Initially, the contractor for the new stage was the Stroysoyuz SV company, but in December 2016 a contract was signed with it for 2.5 billion rubles. was torn apart due to missed deadlines, reports 78.ru. Stroysoyuz SV sued the Ministry of Culture and as a result received 200 million rubles. The next contract was signed with Transept Group for 2 billion rubles. Work began in the spring of 2017.
In November 2017, the North-Western Directorate for Construction, Reconstruction and Restoration of the Ministry of Culture announced a tender to select a new general designer (the previous designer, the TDM company, went bankrupt), explaining this by introducing “some changes to the project.” It was planned to spend 38 million rubles on the development of documentation.
According to the SPARK database, in 2018, the theater administration, acting as a customer, entered into contracts with contractors for 20.5 million rubles. In addition to the main activity listed in the database, which is the performing arts, the theater has a license to sell alcohol. Lev Dodin, in addition to his posts at MDT, is a co-owner of the regional charitable public foundation “Friends of the St. Petersburg State Academic Maly Drama Theater under the direction of Lev Dodin.”
Scandals involving allegations of embezzlement in Russian theaters
Maly and Bolshoi theaters in Moscow
In 2006, investigative authorities charged the director of Teplotekhnik LLC, who participated in the reconstruction of the State Academic Maly Theater in Moscow, with fraud. According to investigators, the company carried out work on relaying a section of the heating main and installing underground chamber wells. The contractor who did not complete the work in in full, nevertheless received all the money under the contract. The accused in the case was the managing bishop of the Union of Evangelical Christian Churches of Russia, Alexander Semchenko. He was given a written undertaking not to leave the place and the case was investigated for the next seven years.
In 2013, the Ministry of Internal Affairs spoke about the theft of 90 million rubles allocated for the repair of the State Academic Academy Bolshoi Theater(SABT). Back in 2005, the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Directorate for Construction, Reconstruction and Restoration” and the same LLC “PO Teplotekhnik” signed a contract for work on major renovation theater power supply facilities. According to the investigation, despite the unfinished repairs and violations of technical regulations, the work acceptance certificate was signed and 90 million rubles were transferred to the contractor.
The criminal cases against Semchenko were combined, and he was placed under house arrest. A year later, the investigation into the case of theft during work at the Maly Theater was discontinued, and the bishop was released from arrest on his own recognizance.
"Gogol Center"
In May 2017, searches were carried out at the Moscow Gogol Center theater, as well as at the home of its artistic director Kirill Serebrennikov, and the Investigative Committee announced fraud. After the search, the former general director and chief accountant of the Seventh Studio project, Yuri Itin and Nina Maslyaeva, were detained. Subsequently, Serebrennikov himself, the ex-director of the Gogol Center Alexei Malobrodsky, and the former head of the Ministry of Culture department Sofya Apfelbaum were detained.
According to investigators, a criminal group created by Serebrennikov kidnapped budget funds intended for development in 2011-2014 cultural project"Platform" based on the production company "Seventh Studio". Maslyaeva confessed, and the amount of damage, initially estimated at 68 million rubles, increased to 133 million. The investigation of the case continues. The accusations caused a wide resonance, and many public and cultural figures in Russia and abroad came out in defense of Serebrennikov and other accused.
Puppet Theater named after Obraztsov
In September 2010, they came to the Moscow Puppet Theater named after Sergei Obraztsov with searches. Soon, on suspicion of theft of at least 11.8 million rubles. ex-director of the theater Andrei Luchin was detained. Fraud charges were also brought against his wife, who was a senior economist at the theater.
According to the investigation, in 2008, the couple, when preparing competitions for the right to conclude government contracts with the theater, registered controlled enterprises that won the competitions. As a result, the theater signed nine contracts worth more than 18.5 million rubles with front companies. Alexander Avdeev, who served as Minister of Culture at the time of Luchin’s arrest, stated that the theater director could have become a victim of imperfect laws.
In 2012, the Simonovsky District Court of Moscow sentenced Luchin to five years of suspended imprisonment; his wife received four years of suspended sentence.
Mariinsky Theater
In 2012, the Accounts Chamber amounted to more than 290 million rubles. during the construction of the second stage Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. The audit showed that construction funds were used ineffectively. However, as a result of the investigation, no charges were brought. The cost of the project for the second stage of the Mariinsky Theater more than doubled during construction, to 22 billion rubles.
Chekhov Moscow Art Theater
In January 2009, a criminal case was opened on suspicion of attempted fraud at the Moscow Art Theater. Chekhov. The head of the Installation and Construction Department, Tatyana Shishkova, stated that the theater management invited her to participate in a scam with money allocated for the reconstruction of the building on Kamergersky Lane. According to investigators, the first deputy artistic director of the theater Igor Popov, deputy director Oleg Kozyrenko and chairman of the competition committee Evgeny Yakimov were going to participate in this scam.
The Prosecutor General's Office twice refused to approve the indictment, and at the end of 2010 it became known that the investigation had been terminated at the request of the theater's artistic director Oleg Tabakov and most of the creative troupe in connection with the reconciliation of the parties. It was also reported that the suspects admitted their guilt and repented.
Drama Theater in Pskov
In the high-profile “case of restorers”, in which Deputy Minister of Culture Grigory Pirumov was involved, there was an episode related to the theft of funds allocated for the renovation of the Drama Theater in Pskov. According to investigators, in 2012 Pirumov created a criminal group of employees of the Ministry of Culture and private enterprises, which entered into contracts for restoration work at inflated prices and appropriated the surplus. In total, the group members were accused of stealing 164 million rubles.
At the beginning of 2017, Pirumov admitted his guilt, and soon the defendants paid the amount of damage. As a result, the cases of some were separated into separate proceedings and the defendants were given suspended sentences.
Pirumov himself was sentenced in early October 2017 and immediately released due to serving his sentence in a pre-trial detention center. The remaining defendants in the case also received sentences that allowed them to be released in the courtroom.
Dzhigarkhanyan Theater in Moscow
In 2017, a scandal broke out in the family of actor and director Armen Dzhigarkhanyan. Amid family disagreements, searches took place in the accounting department of the Moscow Drama Theater under the leadership of Dzhigarkhanyan. According to sources, checks revealed thefts in the theater, which was previously run by the artist’s wife Vitalina Tsymbalyuk. It was reported that the theater accountant was under suspicion.
"Center for Drama and Directing" in Moscow
In May 2016, it became known about a criminal case initiated against former director Moscow theater "Center for Drama and Directing" by Dmitry Palaguta. According to investigators, the head of the theater fictitiously hired an accountant who did not appear there and did not perform job responsibilities, and Palaguta himself received the salary. The damage was estimated at approximately 1 million rubles.
Altai Youth Theater
In August 2014, law enforcement agencies brought charges of theft of property against Tatyana Kozitsyna, who had recently been fired with scandal from her post as director of the Altai Youth Theater after 16 years of work. She was charged with theft of a company laptop and phone worth 17,654 and 7,192 rubles. respectively. Subsequently, the charge was reclassified from theft to negligence.
Famous theater and theater actors came out in defense of Kozitsyna. public figures, including directors Kirill Serebrennikov, Ivan Vyrypaev, Alexander Kalyagin and others. In November 2014, the case against her was closed for lack of evidence of a crime.
Russian theater director Lev Dodin. Known as the director and artistic director of the Maly Drama Theater in St. Petersburg, head of the directing department at SPGATI. Dodin is the owner of the Golden Mask, as well as the titles People's Artist Russia and Honored Artist of the RSFSR.
Lev Dodin was born in 1944 in the city of Stalinsk (Novokuznetsk), where his parents were evacuated from the Leningrad blockade. After the end of the war, Lev returned with them to the city on the Neva, where he remained to live for many years.
WITH early childhood little Lev became interested in the theater and was a frequent visitor to the Leningrad stages for young spectators. As a schoolboy, he began going to the Theater of Youth Creativity at the Palace of Pioneers and there for the first time he felt the power of art and the realization that he should belong to this world.
Immediately after graduating from school, Lev successfully entered the Leningrad Institute of Theater, Music and Cinematography on the course of the famous Boris Zone, which graduated many talented actors. Having studied acting for the required number of years, Dodin continued his studies for another year at the Zone directing studio and graduated from the institute only in 1966.
Just a year after graduating from the institute, Dodin himself became a teacher at LGITMiK, teaching students directing and acting. This post will remain with him for a long time.
Lev Dodin: “I am not so much a director as a teacher. At least for me the first does not exist without the second. And I would have stopped directing long ago if it didn’t include pedagogy.”
The creative path of Lev Dodin / Lev Dodin
The first independent creative work Lev Dodin's television play “First Love”, based on Turgenev's story, became the premiere.
Since 1967, Dodin has come to the Leningrad Theater of Young Spectators, where he stages about 10 performances over six years.
In 1974 he went to the Maly Drama Theater of St. Petersburg. Under his leadership, MDT became part of the Union of European Theaters, and then received the status of “Theater of Europe”.
Lev Dodin is the winner of many theater and state awards. Among them is the Georgy Tovstonogov Prize, Theater Award“Golden Sofit”, Order of Merit for the Fatherland, Presidential Award Russian Federation in the field of literature and art, USSR State Prize, State Prize of the Russian Federation, European Theater Prize.
In 1983, Dodin was appointed artistic director of the MDT, and in 2002 he agreed to take the post of theater director.
Lev Dodin: “When I was offered this post, my first thought was to refuse. But at that time there were already my students in the troupe, who wrote me a letter asking me to come to the theater. Then more issues were added to them, and more. We have been working with many of them for more than a quarter of a century. And so far - pah-pah - not only are we not tired of each other, but, it seems to me, we are just beginning to truly understand each other.”
In parallel with his work at MDT, Dodin occasionally collaborates with other theaters, including the Leningrad Regional Drama and Comedy Theater, the Leningrad Comedy Theater, the Moscow Art Theater. M. Gorky, Leningrad Bolshoi Drama Theater. M. Gorky. He also stages his performances on stages in Amsterdam, Florence, Helsinki and Salzburg.
Dodin's repertoire includes works based on the works of such classics as Anton Chekhov, William Shakespeare, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Dmitry Shostakovich and others.
Lev Dodin: “Directing is a race for long distance. More than a marathon. It requires powerful life training - you need to lead a large group of artists somewhere, lead the theater as a whole, all the employees, spend a lot of money making decisions...”
Dodin prefers not to talk about his personal life. It is only known that he is married to Tatyana Shestakova, and this is his second marriage after his divorce from Natalya Tenyakova.
Filmography of Lev Dodin / Lev Dodin
- 2009 Chevengur (film-play)
- 2009 Untitled play (film-play)
- 2009 Moscow Choir (film-play)
- 2008 Demons (film-play)
- 1989 Stars in the morning sky (film-play)
- 1987 Meek (film-play)
- 1983 Oh, these stars... (film-play)
- 1982 House (film-play)
- 1966 First love (film-play)