Ostrovsky's whole life is a creative search that led him to create a unique, new theater. This is a theater in which there is no traditional division into art for the common people and educated classes, and the characters - merchants, clerks, matchmakers - migrated to the stage directly from reality. Ostrovsky's theater became the embodiment of the model of the national world.

His realistic dramaturgy formed - and to this day forms - the basis of the repertoire of the national theater. For the era when the literary- theatrical activity Ostrovsky, this task was set by life itself. On the stage of theatrical stages, as before, there were mainly foreign - translated - plays, and the repertoire of domestic plays was not only scarce and consisted mainly of melodramas and vaudeville, but also largely borrowed the forms and characters of foreign dramaturgy. It was necessary to completely change the theatrical life of the "image of the theater" as such, it was to become a place for introducing a person with the help of a simple and accessible artistic language to the most important problems of life.

This task was undertaken by the great national playwright. Its solution was connected not only with the creation of repertory plays, but also with the reform of the theater itself. " Ostrovsky's house It is customary to call the Maly Theater in Moscow. This theater opened long before the young playwright came there, the plays of Gogol, the founder of Russian realistic drama, were already on its stage, but thanks to Ostrovsky, it became the Maly Theater that it went down in history and exists today. How did this formation of the theater proceed? How did our great playwright come to create it?

Love for the theater was born in Ostrovsky in his youth. He was not only a regular at the Maly Theater, in which Mochalov and Shchepkin were then shining, but also enthusiastically watched the performances of the folk theater with Petrushka, which took place at the festivities near the Devichy and Novinsky monasteries. Thus, starting to create his plays, Ostrovsky was well acquainted with various forms of theater and managed to take the best from each.

The era of the new realistic theater, headed by Ostrovsky, began precisely in Moscow. January 14, 1853 at the Maly Theater for a benefit performance by L.P. Kositskaya, who was called Mochalov in a skirt, the premiere of Ostrovsky's comedy " Do not sit in your sleigh».

The characters - "living people" - demanded that they be played in a completely new way. Ostrovsky gave priority to this, working directly with the actors. It is known that the playwright was an outstanding reader of his plays, and he did it not just as an actor, but as a director who sought to emphasize the essence of the characters, the manner of the characters, their speech originality.

Through the efforts of Ostrovsky, the troupe of the Maly Theater improved markedly, but the playwright was still not satisfied. “We want to write for the whole people,” Ostrovsky said. - The walls of the Maly Theater are narrow for national art". Since 1869, Ostrovsky sent notes to the directorate of the imperial theaters in St. Petersburg about the need for fundamental theatrical reforms, but they remain unanswered. Then he decided to create a private folk theater and in February 1882 he received permission to do so. It seemed that the playwright was already close to the realization of his cherished dream. He began to prepare a list of future shareholders of the Russian theater, developed a repertoire, outlined the composition of the troupe. But the unexpected abolition of the government theatrical monopoly on theaters and the commercial boom that began after that around the opening of new theaters prevented Ostrovsky from completing the job. After he was given a state pension in 1884, he found it inconvenient to work in a private theater and again turned to the directorate of the imperial theaters with his proposals. All this protracted history had a painful effect on Ostrovsky. Such was the bitter paradox of life: the genius of Russian drama, its creator did not have a theater for a serious, qualified production of his plays.

But thanks to the efforts of brother Mikhail Nikolaevich, who held the high post of Minister of State Property, the matter was moved forward. In October 1884, he traveled to St. Petersburg, where he was offered to become the artistic director of the Moscow imperial theaters. Finally, the author's dream Thunderstorms"began to come true. So the famous playwright, who is already over 60 years old, took up a difficult, but so necessary business for everyone.

On December 14, 1885, he returned to Moscow. He was met by the entire troupe of the Maly Theater. The intense theatrical activity of Ostrovsky began. A repertory council is being created, new actors are being invited, a curriculum for a theater school is being drawn up, Ostrovsky wants to establish state awards for the best plays. But his strength is waning. His days were already numbered: on June 2, 1886, the great national playwright, passionate theatrical figure, creator of the national theater passed away. Not all the planned reforms of the Russian theater he managed to carry out to the end. But its foundation was firmly laid. The contemporaries appreciated the merits of the playwright very highly.

And now it seems that Ostrovsky himself, whose monument was erected at the entrance to his native Maly Theatre, seems to be attentively looking at his main creation and with his living presence helps those who are now playing on the famous stage or who come - like 150 years ago - to performances where the bright, lively word of the playwright sounds again and again.

Plan:

Introduction

• 1. History
• 2 Brief background of creation
  • 2.1 18th century
  • 2.2 19th century
  • 2.3 XX century
• 3 Theater today
• 4 Performances
• 5 Troupe
• 6 Coordinates
  • 7.1 Branch
Notes

Introduction

State Academic Maly Theater of Russia- a drama theater located in Moscow, Teatralny proezd 1, one of the oldest theaters in Russia, which played an outstanding role in the development of Russian national culture. Opened October 14, 1824 in Moscow.

Artistic director of the theatre, People's Artist of the USSR Yuri Methodievich Solomin.

1. History

2. Brief background of creation

The opening of the Maly Theater was preceded by some facts of the development of theatrical business in Moscow.

The original troupe was created at Moscow University in 1757, immediately after the Decree of Empress Elizaveta Petrovna of August 30, 1756, which marked the birth professional theater in our country: . The famous poet and playwright M. M. Kheraskov headed the Free Russian Theater at the university. From 1759 - public theater, which received the name of the University; it was played by students and pupils of the university gymnasium. In the 1760s, having undergone some changes and merged with other troupes, it became known as the Moscow Russian Theater.

In 1759, the Italian entrepreneur Locatelli opened a theater in Moscow (a little earlier, in 1757, in St. Petersburg), which did not last long - until 1762: the Moscow public was not yet ready to understand and accept the performing arts. Then the Moscow troupe was created by N. S. Titov, but it did not exist for a long time (1766-1769). Nevertheless, the Imperial House, realizing the need to introduce European culture in Russia, insisted on opening a theater. And in Moscow, by the highest command, a room for stage productions is being built. However, the building, barely having time to be built, burns down. The business was continued by the English engineer and entrepreneur Michael Medox, who created his own private Petrovsky Theater in 1780. Having gone bankrupt, Michael Medox was forced to give the theater in favor of the treasury, he himself was assigned a life pension. But the building burned down in 1805, and the troupe was left without a stage. The following year, in 1806, the directorate of the Imperial Theaters was formed in Moscow. The artists of the former Petrovsky Theater entered the service in it. The new troupe of the Imperial Moscow Theater performed at various stages, mainly renting halls in the homes of wealthy aristocrats (Theatre on Mokhovaya - from 1806 to 1824; Arbat Theater of the architect Rossi - from 1807 to 1812; in the house of S.S. Apraksin on Znamenka), until, finally, the directorate of the Imperial Theaters began the construction of a theater complex in Moscow, created by the architect O. I. Bove. In 1824, according to the design of Beauvais, the architect A.F. Elkinsky rebuilt the mansion of the merchant Vargin for the theater, this building on Petrovskaya (now Teatralnaya) Square and gradually became known as the Maly Theater, and still bears this name.

2.1. 18th century

The Maly Theater is one of the oldest theaters in Russia. His troupe was created at Moscow University in 1756, immediately after the well-known Decree of Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, which marked the birth of a professional theater in our country: “We ordered now to establish a Russian theater for the presentation of comedies and tragedies ...”. The famous poet and playwright M. M. Kheraskov headed the Free Russian Theater at the university. Its artists were students of the university gymnasium. (The Volkovsky Theater in Yaroslavl is considered to be the first Russian public public professional theater.)

On the basis of the university theater, the drama Bolshoi Petrovsky Theater was created in Moscow, where on January 15, 1787, the first Russian production of The Marriage of Figaro was staged, translated by A. Labzin under the title Figar's Marriage - before that, the play was staged on the Russian stage, but performed by a French troupe .

The repertoire consisted of the best works of Russian and world literature, plays by the most famous authors were staged: D. Fonvizin, I. A. Krylov, J. B. Molière, Beaumarchais, R. Sheridan and Carlo Goldoni). Actors V. P. Pomerantsev and A. A. Pomerantseva, Ya. E. Shusherin, P. A. Plavilshchikov, the couple Sila Nikolaevich and Elizaveta Semyonovna Sandunov shone on the stage.

2.2. 19th century

At the beginning of the reign of Emperor Alexander I, together with the general upsurge in public life, the theatrical art. During these years, the troupe was replenished with actors from serf theaters. In 1805 the building burned down. However, already in the next year, in 1806, the directorate of the Imperial Theaters was formed in Moscow, where the artists of the former Petrovsky Theater entered. In 1806, the theater acquired the status of a state theater, entering the system of imperial theaters. Thus, the actors who entered the troupe from serf theaters were immediately freed from serfdom, such as S. Mochalov, the father of the famous tragic poet, Mochalova P. The troupe did not have its own premises for a long time. The political situation in the country itself was not conducive to this. The country was shaken by instability and military conflicts (with Sweden, Turkey). In 1812 there was a war with Napoleon. A few more years passed when the architect Beauvais was invited to build in Moscow theater building. As early as 1803, the troupes were divided into opera and drama. In this division, a huge role was played by Katerino Cavos, who, in fact, became the founder of Russian opera. However, in fact, opera and drama coexisted side by side for a long time. Until 1824 the ballet-opera and drama troupe The Imperial Moscow Theater was a single whole: a single directorate, the same performers, but for a long time after that the theaters were connected even by an underground passage, there were common dressing rooms, etc.

In 1824, Beauvais rebuilt the mansion of the merchant Vargin for the theatre, and the dramatic part of the Moscow troupe of the Imperial Theater received its own building on Petrovskaya (now Teatralnaya) Square and its own name - the Maly Theatre. The concept of "small", as well as the nearby "big" theater (for opera and ballet productions), at first meant only their comparative sizes, it took time for these definitions to become the names of theaters.

October 14, 1824 can be considered the opening day of the Maly Theater: a new overture by A. N. Verstovsky was given. “Moskovskie Vedomosti placed an announcement about the first performance in the Maly: “The Directorate of the Imperial Moscow Theater announces through this that next Tuesday, October 14 of this year, a performance will be given at the new Maly Theater, in the Vargin House, on Petrovsky Square, to open it. th, namely: a new overture compositions. A. N. Verstovsky, later for the second time: Lily Narbonskaya, or the Knight’s Vow, a new dramatic knightly performance-ballet ... ""(quoted from: History of the State Academic Maly Theatre).

Theatrical art immediately went on the rise. In addition to the former, already well-known theater masters, new talented artists appeared.

One of the important periods in the history of the development of the Maly Theater is associated with the name of P. S. Mochalov. This great tragedian became a spokesman for the time of hopes and disappointments of Russian society in 1820-1840, the controversial era of Emperor Alexander I. “P. S. Mochalov, “a plebeian actor”, in the words of V. G. Belinsky, who praised him, managed to overcome the canons of the former style, expressed by the aesthetics of classicism. Instead of a recitation and a solemn pose, the actor brought to the stage a bubbling lava of hot passion and gestures that amaze with suffering and pain. The romantic loners of Mochalov protested and fought with the whole hostile world of evil, despairing, and often lost heart ”(quoted from: Krugosvet). Among the roles of P. S. Mochalov: Hamlet, Richard III, (in the tragedies of the same name by W. Shakespeare), Chatsky, Ferdinand (“Treachery and Love” by F. Schiller).

In 1822, the former serf actor M. S. Shchepkin, already known for provincial entreprises, joined the troupe. “He was the first to create truth on the Russian stage, he was the first to become non-theatrical in the theater,” A. I. Herzen said about Shchepkin.

The repertoire of the Maly Theater was extensive: from classical dramas to light vaudeville. “Even during the life of A. S. Pushkin, Maly created stage versions of three works by the poet: Ruslan and Lyudmila (1825), The Fountain of Bakhchisaray (1827) and Gypsy (1832). From foreign dramaturgy, the theater gave preference to the works of Shakespeare and Schiller.(quoted from: History of the State Academic Maly Theatre). On the stage of the Maly Theater on November 27, 1831, for the first time in Moscow, A. S. Griboedov's comedy Woe from Wit was shown in full. Prior to this, censorship allowed only individual scenes to be presented, only in January 1831 the play was staged in its entirety in St. Petersburg, while in Moscow Woe from Wit was played entirely on the stage of the Maly Theater for the first time: Shchepkin played the role of Famusov and Mochalov - Chatsky. This production turned out to be a significant stage in the history of the theater - it became the mouthpiece of new social ideas. On May 25, 1836, Gogol's The Inspector General was shown here (the first production of The Inspector General took place at the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg a little earlier - on April 19 of the same 1836). Some time later (in 1842) the Maly Theater staged dead souls”and staged“ Marriage ”and“ Players ”(first production) by N.V. Gogol. The premiere of both performances at the Maly Theater ("The Marriage" had previously been staged in St. Petersburg in Alexandrinka) took place simultaneously - on February 5, 1843. “The premiere of The Gamblers took place in Moscow on February 5, 1843 (on the same evening as The Marriage), in a benefit performance by Shchepkin, who played Consoling. The role of Zamukhryshkin was successfully performed by Prov Sadovsky. According to S. Aksakov, the performance was approved by the "ordinary" audience. A benevolent review of the performance appeared in Moskovskie Vedomosti (dated February 11, 1843), where it was noted that the intrigue was “carried out with amazing naturalness”, that the characterization testifies to Gogol’s “powerful talent” ”(quoting from: http://www.school770.ru/gogol/theatre/index.html).

Among other actors of this period are M. D. Lvova-Sinetskaya (1795-1875), N. V. Repina (1809-1867), V. I. Zhivokini (1807-1874), P. M. Sadovsky (1817-1872 ), L. L. Leonidov (1821−1889), K. N. Poltavtsev (1823-1865), I. V. Samarin (1817-1885), S. V. Shumsky (1820-1878).

I. S. Turgenev, A. V. Sukhovo-Kobylin, and many other authors wrote for the Maly Theatre. But Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky was of particular importance for the Maly Theater. His plays earned the Maly Theater the unofficial name "Ostrovsky's House". Ostrovsky's new reformist theatrical positions - everyday writing, a departure from pathos, the importance of the entire ensemble of actors, and not a single protagonist, etc. - led to conflicts with adherents of the old traditions. But these innovative ideas of Ostrovsky for that time were already demanded by time. All of his 48 plays were staged at the Maly Theater and have always been part of his repertoire over the years. He himself repeatedly participated in rehearsals, was friends with the actors, and some of his plays were written specifically for certain performers of the Maly Theater, at their request, for their benefit performances. For the benefit performances of Prov Mikhailovich Sadovsky, two plays by Ostrovsky were staged for the first time - “Hangover at a Foreign Feast” - January 9, 1856, “Hot Heart” - January 15, 1869. The play "Thunderstorm" was staged on November 16, 1859 for the benefit performance of S. V. Vasiliev, and for the benefit performance of his wife, actress Ekaterina Nikolaevna Vasilyeva, on October 14, 1863, the play "Profitable Place" was staged for the first time at the Maly Theater. The premiere of the play "In a Busy Place" took place on the stage of the Maly Theater on September 29, 1865 at a benefit performance by Rasskazov.

"Dowry" was held for the first time on November 10, 1878 at the benefit performance of the actor N. I. Musil. In the play Guilty Without Guilt, 1884, the role of Neznamov was written by Ostrovsky specifically for the artist of the Maly Theater Rybakov. In 1929, a monument to Ostrovsky was erected at the doors of the Maly Theater. The plays of the playwright do not leave the stage of the Maly Theater to this day.

With a triumphant debut in the role of Emilia (G. E. Lessing, “Emilia Galotti”) on January 30, 1870, the theatrical career of the great Russian tragic actress M. N. Yermolova began, who then shone in the roles: Laurencia - “The Sheep Spring” by Lope de Vega, Mary Stuart - "Mary Stuart" by F. Schiller; Jeanne d'Arc - "Maid of Orleans" by the same author; Katerina in "Thunderstorm", Negina in "Talents and Admirers", Kruchinina in "Guilty Without Guilt" and many others. This time fell on the heyday of democratic movements in Russia, to which the Maly Theater did not remain indifferent. More than once at performances with the participation of M. N. Yermolova, political demonstrations of students and democratic intelligentsia took place. The now legendary A. P. Lensky, A. I. Yuzhin, O. A. Pravdin, K. N. Rybakov, E. K. Leshkovskaya, A. A. Yablochkina, A. A. Ostuzhev, O O. and M. P. Sadovskie, N. M. Medvedeva, M. F. Lenin.

2.3. 20th century

Postage stamp of the USSR, 1949: 125 years of the State Academic Maly Theater

At the turn of the XIX-XX centuries, the country was going through a severe crisis, it also affected theater life. The Maly Theater was looking for new ways of development. Actor and director A.P. Lensky created in 1898 New theater- branch of the Maly Theater, where he studied pedagogical activity and experimental settings.

The new theater was opened in 1898 by the Directorate of the Imperial Theaters in the premises of the Shelaputinsky Theater rented by the treasury. Not only dramatic performances were staged there, but also musical ones: operas and ballets. It was intended for the work of the youth of the state imperial theaters of Moscow, which was not used because of the overgrown labor in the Bolshoi and Maly theaters. A. P. Lensky transferred 14 of his productions to the Novy Theater for performance by novice artists from the stage of the Maly Theater, including 8 plays by A. N. Ostrovsky, “The Marriage” by N. V. Gogol, etc. Some actors participated simultaneously in performances New Theatre, and performed on the main stage of the Maly Theatre. Among the actors were N. I. Vasiliev, A. A. Ostuzhev, E. D. Turchaninova, V. N. Ryzhova, Prov Mikhailovich and Elizaveta Mikhailovna Sadovskie, N. K. Yakovlev, V. O. Massalitinova and others. Along with Lensky's performances, performances by other directors were staged at the New Theatre. In 1905, the New Theater was formally given the right to self-determination, but nothing came of the independent life of the theater. In 1907 the New Theater was abolished. The remnants of the troupe in 1909 were headed by A. I. Yuzhin, but this did not last long.

The country was literally captured by innovative trends and currents. It's time to look for new director's ideas. New theatrical aesthetics sprang up everywhere. Stanislavsky, Nemirovich-Danchenko, Evreinov, Vakhtangov, Foregger brought new theatrical reforms; the genres of theatrical parodies and skits developed; At first, the revolutionary situation in the country and the Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917 itself contributed to the formation of these ideas. New artistic trends completely denied academicism and old traditions. In the 1920s, the whole country was captured by the proletarian theatrical movement "Blue Blouse". Nevertheless, the Maly Theater remained true to its traditions. In 1918, a theater school was opened at the theater (since 1938 - the Higher Theater School named after MS Shchepkin, since 1943 - a university), and in 1919 the Maly Theater was awarded the title of academic. And at the same time, calls are heard throughout the country to abandon everything that was old, not to let the stronghold of bourgeois-noble culture into life renewed by the revolution. Under the influence of these appeals, the Maly Theater could be closed if the first People's Commissar of Enlightenment A. V. Lunacharsky did not stand up for him.

In 1926, the Maly Theater gave a premiere - the play "Love Yarovaya" based on the play by K. A. Trenev (directors I. S. Platon and L. M. Prozorovsky; artist N. A. Menyputin, the Theater Encyclopedia calls its scenery an outstanding work). With this successful production, the theater showed the inviolability and fundamental nature of its fundamental ideas, the meanings of traditionalism - the roles in the same interpretations were inherited by young actors, adopting the same classical techniques and characters from the older generation. The roles of G. N. Fedotova were later transferred to A. A. Yablochkina, and the repertoire of O. O. Sadovskaya was inherited by V. N. Ryzhova and V. O. Massalitinova. The theater kept the traditions not of director's delights, but of classical performing arts. In the 1930s, when new reform theaters disappeared one after another, and their founders sometimes also disappeared, but already in Stalin's prisons, the Maly Theater was replenished with actors who came from closing studios.

Theater repertoire 1930-1940 mainly consisted of a return to the classics, which were once performed primarily on the stage of the Maly Theater itself in the years when both the Maly Theater itself and the authors carried new reformist ideas. Plays by Griboyedov, Gogol, Ostrovsky are staged.

During the years of the Great Patriotic War a front-line branch worked at the theater. In 1946, the architect A.P. Velikanov reconstructed the theater building.

From the post-war productions: “Vassa Zheleznova” by M. A. Gorky with the participation of V. N. Pashennaya (1952); historical drama by A. N. Stepanov and I. F. Popov "Port Arthur" in 1953; "The Power of Darkness" by L. N. Tolstoy (1956); "Masquerade" by M. Yu. Lermontov (1962); Macbeth by Shakespeare (1955); dramatizations of Vanity Fair by W. Thackeray (1958); "Madam Bovary" G. Flaubert (1963).

Lack of ideas Soviet period made the theater stagnant and uninteresting for several years. Although, of course, it is impossible not to note several productions. And of course, the acting was always fascinating, the glory of the theater was: I. V. Ilyinsky, E. D. Turchaninova, B. A. Babochkin, V. I. Khokhryakov, M. I. Tsarev, M. I. Zharov, E A. Bystritskaya, V. V. Kenigson, V. I. Korshunov, I. A. Lyubeznov, R. D. Nifontova, E. N. Gogoleva, E. V. Samoilov, E. Ya. Vesnik, Yu. I Kayurov, G. A. Kiryushina, N. I. Kornienko, A. I. Kochetkov, I. A. Likso, T. P. Pankova, Yu. M. Solomin, V. M. Solomin, L. V. Yudina , V. P. Pavlov, E. E. Martsevich, K. F. Roek, A. S. Eibozhenko, pl. others

Over the years, the Maly Theater was directed by: A. I. Yuzhin, I. Ya. Sudakov, P. M. Sadovsky, K. A. Zubov, M. I. Tsarev, E. R. Simonov, B. I. Ravenskikh and others . Since 1988 artistic director theater - Yu. M. Solomin.

3. Theater today

Monument to Ostrovsky at the Maly Theater in Moscow

The current generation of artists and directors of the Maly Theater is distinguished by its adherence to its rich traditions and relies on the experience of its predecessors. Today, as always, the theatre's repertoire is based on plays by A. N. Ostrovsky: "Wolves and Sheep", "There was no penny, but suddenly Altyn", "Forest", "Mad Money", "Labor Bread", "Own People - let's agree! In the old days, the theater could not find a common language with A.P. Chekhov - during the life of the writer, only his funny vaudevilles appeared on the stage of the Maly Theater. However, today performances based on the great plays of Chekhov occupy a significant place in the life of the theater: “ The Cherry Orchard”,“ Uncle Vanya ”,“ Seagull ”. A kind of “calling card” of the Maly Theater was the dramatic trilogy by A. K. Tolstoy, which tells about the history of the Russian State: “Tsar John the Terrible”, “Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich”, “Tsar Boris”. In performances based on A. K. Tolstoy, the music of G. V. Sviridov, which the composer wrote specifically for the Maly Theater, sounds. The theater does not deprive of its attention the theater and foreign classics - in its repertoire there are plays by F. Schiller, A. Strindberg, E. Skrib. The creative life of the theater is extremely active and fruitful. In each season, Maly releases 4-5 new performances and removes some of the old titles from his repertoire. The theater's touring geography is also extensive - in recent years it has visited Germany, France, Japan, Israel, Greece, Cyprus, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Mongolia, South Korea and other countries. The Maly Theater is the initiator and regularly holds All-Russian festival"Ostrovsky in the Ostrovsky House". This festival carries out a noble mission of supporting the Russian theatrical province, always rich in talents. Theaters from different cities and regions of Russia present their productions based on the plays of the great playwright on the stage of the Maly Theater. Another one was just born theater forum- International Festival national theaters. The idea of ​​holding it again belonged to Maly. As part of this festival, theaters from different countries the world bring to the oldest Moscow drama stage their traditional performances, created in line with the national art.

By decree of the President of Russia, the Maly Theater was given the status of a national treasure. Maly was included in the list of especially valuable cultural objects countries, along with the Bolshoi Theatre, the Tretyakov Gallery, the Hermitage.

4. Performances

See the performances of the Maly Theater

5. Troupe

• Troupe of the Maly Theater (Moscow) in 1824-1917
• Troupe of the Maly Theater (Moscow) in 1917-2000
• Troupe of the Maly Theater

The glory of the theater in different years was made up of such actors as:

• Lenin Mikhail Frantsevich ( real name Ignatyuk - theater actor, People's Artist of the RSFSR (1937), author of the memoir "Fifty Years in the Theater" (published in 1957), awarded the Order of Lenin (1949).)
• Yuri Methodievich Solomin (People's Artist of the USSR, laureate of the State Prizes of Russia),
• Viktor Ivanovich Korshunov (People's Artist of the USSR),
• Elina Avraamovna Bystritskaya (People's Artist of the USSR)
• Akimova, Sofia Pavlovna - from 1846 to 1889
• Davydov, Vladimir Nikolaevich - (1925)
• Mazurina, Marya Vasilievna from 1878
• Kenigson, Vladimir Vladimirovich
• Medvedev, Yuri Nikolaevich
• Medvedeva, Nadezhda Mikhailovna, this outstanding actress played in the theater in the 19th century.
• Musil, Nikolai Ignatievich - one of the best performers characteristic roles in the plays of Ostrovsky in the late XIX - early XX centuries (Honored Artist of the Imperial Theaters (1903)).
• Nifontova, Rufina Dmitrievna - since 1957
• Podgorny, Nikita Vladimirovich
• Ryzhova, Varvara Nikolaevna - one of the "great old women of the Maly Theater", from 1894 to 1950 (People's Artist of the USSR)
• Sanin, Alexander Akimovich - the beginning of the 20th century.
• Turchaninova, Evdokia Dmitrievna - since 1891
• Fedotov, Alexander Alexandrovich - since 1893.
• Fedotov, Alexander Filippovich - from 1862 to 1871 and from 1872 to 1873.

6. Coordinates

• Address: Teatralny proezd, 1 building 1, Teatralnaya metro station

7.1. Branch

• Address: Bolshaya Ordynka street, 69, Dobryninskaya metro station
• Coordinates: 55.759529 , 37.620803 55°45′34.3″ N sh. 37°37′14.89″ E d. /  55.759529° N sh. 37.620803° E d.(G)(O)

In the second half of the 19th century, the Maly Theater had a first-class troupe. The life of this theater reflected the social and political contradictions of the time. The desire of the advanced part of the troupe to maintain the authority of the “second university”, to correspond to a high public purpose, ran into an obstacle that was difficult to overcome - the repertoire. Significant works appeared on the stage most often in acting benefit performances, while the everyday playbill was played by V. Krylov, I. V. Shpazhinsky and others contemporary writers, who built the plot mainly on the events of the "love triangle", relationships in the family, and limited themselves to them, without going through them to social problems.

Ostrovsky's plays, new revivals of The Inspector General and Woe from Wit, the appearance in the 1870s and 1880s of heroic and romantic works of the foreign repertoire helped the theater maintain the height of public and artistic criterion, correspond to the advanced moods of the time, achieve a serious impact on contemporaries. In the 1890s, a new decline began, heroic-romantic plays almost disappeared from the repertoire, and the theater "went into conventional picturesqueness and melodramatic brilliance" (Nemirovich-Danchenko). He turned out to be creatively unprepared for the development of new dramatic literature: the plays of L. Tolstoy did not sound on his stage in full force, the theater showed no interest in Chekhov at all and staged only his vaudevilles.

There were two directions in the acting art of the Maly Theater - everyday and romantic. The latter developed unevenly, in jerks, flared up in epochs of social upsurge and died out during the years of reaction. Household things developed steadily, gravitating towards a critical trend in their best examples.

The troupe of the Maly Theater consisted of the brightest acting individuals.

Glikeria Nikolaevna Fedotova(1846 - 1925) - Shchepkin's student, as a teenager she went on stage with her teacher Shchepkin in "Sailor", with Zhivokini in the vaudeville "Az and Firth", learning lessons not only in professional skills, but also in the highest acting ethics. At the age of ten, Fedotova entered the Theater School, where she studied first in ballet, then in drama class. At the age of fifteen, she made her debut at the Maly Theater in the role of Verochka in P. D. Boborykin's play "The Child" and in February 1863 she was enrolled in the troupe.

Immature talent developed unevenly. The melodramatic repertoire contributed little to its formation. In the first years of her work, the actress was often criticized for sentimentality, mannerisms of performance, for "aching game". But from the beginning of the 1870s, the true flowering of the bright and multifaceted talent of the actress began.

Fedotova was a rare combination of mind and emotionality, virtuoso skill and sincere feeling. Her stage decisions were distinguished by surprise, performance by brightness, all genres and all colors were subject to her. Possessing excellent stage data - beauty, temperament, charm, contagiousness - she quickly took a leading position in the troupe. For forty-two years, she played three hundred and twenty-one roles of various artistic merit, but if in the dramaturgy of a weak and superficial actress often saved the author and the role, then in classical works discovered amazing ability to penetration into the very essence of character, into the author's style and features of the era. Shakespeare was her favorite author.

She showed brilliant comedic skills in the roles of Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing and Katarina in The Taming of the Shrew. Together with his partner A: P. Lensky; who played Benedict and Petruccio, they made a magnificent duet, captivating with ease of dialogue, humor and a cheerful sense of harmony of the Shakespearean world with its beauty, love, strong and independent people who know how to fight merrily for their dignity, for their feelings.

In the tragic roles of Shakespeare, and above all in Cleopatra, Fedotova, in essence, revealed the same theme only by different means. Unlike her predecessors, the actress was not afraid to show his inconsistency in the versatility of her character, she was not afraid to "lower" her image. In her Cleopatra, for example, there was “a mixture of sincerity and deceit, tenderness and irony, generosity and cruelty, timidity and heroism,” as N. Storozhenko wrote after the premiere, and the main motive of the image passed through all this - “her insane love for Anthony ".

In the domestic repertoire, the love of the actress was given to Ostrovsky, in whose plays she played nine roles. Lunacharsky noted that, having excellent data for playing Shakespearean roles, Fedotova by her nature was "unusually suitable for portraying Russian women, types close to the people." Beautiful with typical Russian beauty, the actress had a special stature, inner dignity, non-vanity, characteristic of Russian women.

“Capturing, domineering, cunning, enchantress, clever, smart, with great humor, passion, cunning,” her Vasilisa Melentyeva experienced a complex drama that the actress revealed with great strength and depth.

Her Lidia Cheboksarova in "Mad Money" skillfully used her irresistible femininity and charm to achieve selfish goals - primarily wealth, without which she could not imagine a "real" life.

At the age of seventeen, Fedotova first played Katerina in The Thunderstorm. The role was given to her not immediately, her actress gradually mastered the complexities, strengthening the social sound, selecting the exact colors, everyday details. As a result of many years of careful work, the actress achieved a remarkable result - the image of Katerina became one of the pinnacles of her work. It was a very Russian Katerina: “music of wonderful Russian speech, rhythmic, beautiful”, “gait, gestures, bows, knowledge of a kind of old Russian etiquette, manner of behaving in front of people, wearing a headscarf, responding to elders” - all this created a rare authenticity of character, but at the same time, purely Russian sincerity was combined in it with the temperament and passion of classical heroines.

Switching to age roles, Fedotova played Murzavetskaya (“Wolves and Sheep”), the elder Cheboksarova, Krutitskaya (“There was not a penny, but suddenly Altyn”).

Fedotova, like Shchepkin, remained an "eternal student" in art. Each of her roles was distinguished by a “passionate and deeply meaningful game” (Storozhenko), because the actress was able to combine accurate analysis with the ability to re-live the fate of her heroine at each performance. Forced to leave the stage due to illness, she remained in the thick of theatrical events. Frequent guests in her house were young actors whom she helped to prepare roles. Fedotova showed a particularly lively interest in the new, young. She was one of those masters who not only welcomed the emergence of new trends in the Society of Arts and Letters, but also contributed to their approval. At her own request, she took an active part in the work of the Society, studied with its members acting skills, "tried to direct our work along the internal line," as Stanislavsky later wrote. She was, as it were, a connecting thread between two eras in art - Shchepkin and Stanislavsky.

In 1924, in connection with the centenary of the Maly Theater, Fedotova was awarded the title of People's Artist of the Republic, although in Soviet times she no longer performed on stage.

Olga Osipovna Sadovskaya(1849--1919) -- one of the brightest representatives Sadovsky dynasty. The wife of the remarkable actor of the Maly Theater M. P. Sadovsky, the son of P. M. Sadovsky, the daughter of the opera singer and popular performer of folk songs I. L. Lazarev, Sadovskaya was a pupil of the Artistic Circle.

She was well prepared for artistic activities.

However, she was not going to be an artist until, at the request of the actor of the Maly Theater N. E. Vilde, she replaced the sick actress in the play “Artistic Circle” “Hangover at a Strange Feast”. It was December 30, 1867. On the same day and in the same performance, her future husband MP Sadovsky made his debut. He played Andrei, she is his mother.

Her next role was already a young heroine - Dunya in the comedy "Do not get into your sleigh." After the performance, critics wrote about good luck artist, noted in her "simplicity of manner", "sincere sincerity".

However, the gifted debutante was attracted by age roles, she willingly took on them, although at first she also acted in young roles. She was especially successful in Varvara in The Thunderstorm and Evgenia in In a Busy Place, which she prepared under the guidance of Ostrovsky. But success did not stop her stubborn desire for age roles, and in the end the actress achieved that everyone, including critics, recognized her creative right to "old women".

And when, in 1870, Sadovskaya made her debut at the Maly Theater - and she performed together with M. Sadovsky in the benefit performance of P. Sadovsky in the play “Do not get into your sleigh” - she chose the role in the role that would become the main one in her creativity: she played the "old girl" Arina Fedotovna. This debut took place not at the suggestion of the directorate, but at the insistence of the beneficiary and was not successful. The Maly Theater did not invite Sadovskaya, she returned to the "Artistic Circle" to her various roles not only in drama, but also in operetta, where she also had great success. She stayed in the Artistic Circle for another nine years.

In 1879, on the advice of Ostrovsky, Sadovskaya made her debut at the Maly Theater again. For three debut performances, she chose three roles of Ostrovsky - Evgenia, Varvara and Pulcheria Andreevna (“ old friend better than the new two). All debuts were a great success. And for two years, Sadovskaya played at the Maly Theater, not being a member of the troupe and not receiving a salary. She performed during this time in sixteen plays and played sixty-three performances. Only in 1881 she was enrolled in the troupe.

Sadovskaya led the entire Russian repertoire of the Maly Theatre, she played several hundred roles, not having an understudy in any of them. She played forty roles in Ostrovsky's plays. In some plays she performed two or even three roles - for example, in The Thunderstorm she played Varvara, Feklusha and Kabanikha.

Regardless of the size of the role, Sadovskaya created a complex and vivid character, in which much was expressed, in addition to the text, in the facial expressions of the actress. Anfusa Tikhonovna in “Wolves and Sheep” does not utter a single coherent phrase, she speaks mainly in interjections, and in Sadovskaya’s performance it was an unusually capacious character in which Anfusa’s past was easily guessed, her attitude to everything that happens and Kun’s name day is the fault. Playing the tongue-tied Anfusa, the actress and my role remained a great master of the word, because only Great master could find a lot of semantic shades in the endless “so what”, “where else”.

The word was the main means of expression actress, and she owned it to perfection. In a word, she could express everything. In essence, her game was that she sat facing the hall and talked. She reinforced her speech with facial expressions, a mean gesture. Therefore, she did not like the darkness on the stage and always demanded full light on herself, even if the action took place at night. She understood the truth on the stage, first of all, as the truth of a human character, everything else only interfered with her. The very word Sadovskaya was visible. Contemporaries claimed that listening to the actress without seeing her, they easily imagined her at every moment of the role.

In a word, she knew how to convey everything. But she also owned the great magic of stage silence, which she always had as a continuation of the word. She perfectly knew how to listen to her partner. From silence and speech, naturally flowing into one another, a continuous process of movement of the image was born.

Sadovskaya did not like makeup, wigs, she played with her face and with her hair. If a wig appeared on her head, it was not the actress who put it on, but the heroine, and her own hair was always visible from under the wig. The face of the actress changed from the headdress, from the way the scarf was tied. But these were all minor details. The main thing was the word and facial expressions. Her simple face was transformed from role to role unrecognizably. It could be kind, soft and harsh, strict; cheerful and mournful, smart and stupid, good-natured, open and cunning. It expressed character. It expressed the slightest shades of feelings.

Rarely resorting to the means of external characteristic, Sadovskaya nevertheless knew how to be plastically expressive. Playing, for example, Julitta in "The Forest", a hanger-on and a spy who is hated by everyone in the house, the actress found a special, "sniffing" gait.

At the same time, she played Kabanikha, almost without resorting to gestures, moving very little, but in her eyes, in her imperiously folded hands, in her quiet voice, one felt a huge inner strength that suppressed people. However, the actress did not like this role and preferred to play Feklusha in The Thunderstorm.

There are masterpiece roles in the endless list of Sadovskaya's wonderful creations. One of them is Domna Panteleevna in Talents and Admirers, Nogina's mother, a simple, almost illiterate woman, endowed with a quick-witted, worldly grasp of mind, who at first glance recognizes who is worth what, and decisively changes the tone of the conversation depending on the interlocutor. Her dream is to save her daughter from want, to marry her to Velikatov. But, understanding the feelings of Negina, she carefully, with tears in her eyes, escorted her daughter to her last meeting with Meluzov. And her tears are tears of understanding, joy for her daughter, who, before forever uniting her fate with Velikatov, snatches from life a moment of happiness, not overshadowed by calculation.

Ostrovsky, who loved the actress in all his plays, believed that she played Domna Panteleevna "perfectly."

The actress also performed in Tolstoy's plays. On the whole, dissatisfied with the production of Fruits of Enlightenment, the author singled out among the performers he liked Sadovskaya, who played the cook, who calmly, simply expressed her opinion about the gentlemen, telling the peasants about lordly image life.

Tolstoy was especially captivated by her popular speech, its amazing authenticity. He was even more surprised by the actress in the role of Matryona in The Power of Darkness, who was played by a "dry, hard and adamant old woman," according to a critic. Tolstoy was delighted with the simplicity and truth of the image, the fact that Sadovskaya played not a “villain”, but “an ordinary old woman, smart, businesslike, wishing her son well in her own way”, which is how the author saw her.

Sadovskaya superbly played the countess-grandmother in "Woe from Wit" - "the ruins of old Moscow." And in the last year of her life she met with a new drama - in Gorky's play "The Old Man" she played Zakharovna.

Sadovskaya's art delighted literally everyone. Chekhov considered her "a real artist-artist", Fedotova advised her to learn simplicity from her, Lensky saw in her the "muse of comedy", Stanislavsky called her "the precious diamond of the Russian theater". For many years she was a favorite of the public, personifying a truly folk art.

Alexander Pavlovich Lensky(1847 - 1908) - actor, director, teacher, theorist, an outstanding figure in the theater of the late XIX - early XX century.

The illegitimate son of Prince Gagarin and the Italian Verviziotti, he was brought up in the family of the actor K. Poltavtsev. At the age of eighteen he became a professional actor, taking a pseudonym - Lensky. For ten years he worked in the provinces, at first he played mainly in vaudeville, but gradually moved to the role of "first lovers" in the classical repertoire. In this role, he was invited to the troupe of the Maly Theater in 1876.

He made his debut in the role of Chatsky, captivating with softness and humanity of performance, subtle lyricism. There were no rebellious, accusatory motives in it, but there was a deep drama of a man who experienced the collapse of his hopes in this house.

Unusualness, unconventionality distinguished his Hamlet (1877). A spiritual youth with noble features and a noble soul, he was imbued with grief, not anger. His restraint was revered by some contemporaries for coldness, simplicity of tone for the lack of temperament and the necessary power of voice - in a word, he did not correspond to the Mochalov tradition and was not accepted by many in the role of Hamlet.

The first years in the troupe were the search for their own path. Charming, pure in soul, but devoid of inner strength, subject to doubts - these were mainly the heroes of Lensky in the modern repertoire, for which he was dubbed the "great charmer".

And at this time, Yermolova's star had already risen, the vaults of the Maly Theater resounded with the inspired pathos of her heroines. Next to them, the blue-eyed youths of Lensky seemed too amorphous, too socially passive. The turning point in the work of the actor was associated precisely with the partnership of Yermolova. In 1879 they performed together in Gutskov's tragedy Uriel Acosta. Lensky, playing Acosta, could not completely and immediately abandon what had become familiar to him, his acting means did not change - he was also poetic and spiritual, but his social temperament was expressed not through formal techniques, but through a deep understanding of the image of the advanced philosopher and fighter.

The actor performed in other roles of the heroic repertoire, however, deep psychologism, the desire for versatility in roles where the literary material did not require it, led to the fact that he lost, seemed unimpressive next to his spectacular partners.

Meanwhile, his rejection of the external signs of romantic art was fundamental. He believed that "our time has gone far ahead of romanticism." He preferred Shakespeare to Schiller and Hugo, although his understanding of Shakespeare's images did not resonate.

The semi-recognized Hamlet was followed in 1888 by Othello, who was not at all recognized by the Moscow audience and critics, whom the actor had chosen for his benefit performance and had previously played. Lensky's interpretation was distinguished by undoubted novelty - his Othello was noble, intelligent, kind, trusting. He suffered deeply and subtly felt that he was alone in the world. After the murder of Desdemona, he "wrapped himself in a cloak, warmed his hands by the torch, and trembled." The actor was looking for the human in the role, simple and natural movements, simple and natural feelings.

In the role of Othello, he was not recognized and forever broke up with her.

And subsequent roles did not bring him full recognition. He played Dulchin in The Last Victim, Paratov in The Dowry, Velikatov in Talents and Admirers, and in all roles the critics lacked accusatory poignancy. She was, Stanislavsky examined her, Yu. M. Yuryev saw her, but she expressed herself not head-on, not directly, but subtly. Indifference, cynicism, self-interest had to be considered in these people under their external charm, attractiveness. Not everything has been considered.

His success as Muromsky in Sukhovo-Kobylin's "Case" was more unanimously acknowledged. Lensky played Muromsky as a naive, kind, gentle person. He embarked on an unequal duel with the bureaucratic machine, believing that truth and justice would prevail. His tragedy was a tragedy of insight.

But Lensky won universal recognition in Shakespearean comedies and, above all, in the role of Benedict in Much Ado About Nothing.

In the cheerful world of people beautiful with their inner freedom, where justice and love win, in the world funny pranks, where even "evil" cannot do without a game, Benedict Lensky was the epitome of hilarious and ironic misogyny, until he himself was slain by love. Researchers detail the pause when Benedict learns that Beatrice is in love with him. In a silent scene, the actor showed a complex internal process: a wave of joy gradually took possession of his Benedict, at first barely perceptible, it filled him entirely, turning into stormy jubilation.

The acting of the actor in this role was energetic, impetuous, the performer found in his hero a mind, humor and a naive thief in everything that happened around. He did not believe only in the betrayal of Hero, because he was kind by nature and in love.

Beatrice played Fedotov. The duet of two magnificent masters continued in The Taming of the Shrew.

The role of Pstruccio was one of Lensky's debuts at the Maly Theater and remained in his repertoire for many years. The fearless Petruchio boldly declared that he would marry Katharina for money and tame the rebellious, but when he saw his bride, he fell in love with her as violently as before he craved only money. A whole, trusting and tender nature was revealed under his bravado, and he "tamed" Katharina with his love. He saw in her his equal in intelligence, in the desire for independence, in disobedience, unwillingness to obey the will of others. It was a duet of two beautiful people who found each other in the hustle and bustle of life and were happy.

In 1887, Lensky played Famusov in Woe from Wit. He was a charmingly frivolous Moscow gentleman, hospitable and good-natured. Even his dislike of paperwork was endearing. To fetch a pretty maid, to eat a hearty meal, to gossip about this and that - these are the favorite pastimes of his life. He tried not to allow troubles into himself, and Uncle Maxim Petrovich simply admired him, was an unattainable ideal. It seemed to Famusov - Lensky that he had completely smitten Chatsky with his story. He did not even really listen to the beginning of his monologue, and, having delved into the meaning of his words, he was even somehow offended by the interlocutor, turned away from him, showing with his whole appearance that he did not want to listen to him, muttering something under his breath plugged his ears. And when he still did not let up, he simply shouted almost in despair: “I don’t listen, I’m on trial!” -- and ran away. There was nothing sinister about him. This good-natured man with a cheerful tuft of hair and the manners of an old saint simply "blissed in the world", enjoying tasty food, from a well-spoken word, from pleasant memories of an uncle, from the thought of the marriage of Sophia and Skalozub. The appearance of Chatsky brought confusion into his life, threatened to destroy his plans, and in the finale he almost cried at the thought of Marya Alekseevna.

Lensky had a perfect command of Griboyedov's verse, he did not turn it into prose and did not recite it. He filled every phrase with inner meaning, expressed the impeccable logic of character in the impeccability of the melody of speech, its intonational structure, change of word and silence.

The mastery of penetrating the essence of the image, the psychological justification of the behavior of the character, the delicate taste kept the actor from caricature, from the play, from external demonstration both in the role of the Governor in The Government Inspector and in the role of Professor Krugosvetlov in The Fruits of Enlightenment. Satire arose from the essence, as a result of the disclosure of the internal structure of the image - in one case, convinced and not even suggesting that it is possible to live differently, a swindler who dramatically experiences his mistake in the finale; in the other, a fanatic who faithfully believes in his "science" and enthusiastically serves it.

The carefree bachelor Lynyaev in Wolves and Sheep, to whom all the pleasure of life is to eat and sleep, suddenly fell into the charming hands of Glafira, who seized him with a stranglehold, in the finale appeared unhappy, aged and saddened, hung with umbrellas, capes, clumsy and an awkward old page with a beautiful young wife.

Lensky's art became truly perfect, his naturalness, ability to justify everything from within, his subordination to any of the most complex material made him the natural leader of the Maly Theater. After playing the role of Nicholas in the "Struggle for the Throne" actor Art Theater L. M. Leonidov wrote: “Only a great world actor could play like that.”

Each role of Lensky was the result of a huge work, the strictest selection of colors in accordance with the given character and the author. The inner content of the image was cast into a precise and spiritualized, justified form from within. While working on the role, the actor drew sketches of make-up and costume, mastered the art of external transformation with the help of one or two expressive strokes, did not like the abundance of make-up, and was excellent at facial expressions. He owns a special article on this issue - "Notes on facial expressions and makeup."

Lensky's activities at the Maly Theater were not limited to acting. He was a teacher and brought up in the Moscow theater school many wonderful students. His directorial work also began with pedagogy, in understanding the principles of which he was close to Stanislavsky. At matinees at the Maly Theatre, and since 1898 at the premises of the New Theatre, a branch of the imperial stage, performances staged by them were performed by young actors. Some of them, such as the Snow Maiden, could compete with the productions of the Art Theater.

Lensky was a theoretician, he owns articles in which the principles of acting are formulated, certain works are analyzed, and advice is given on the problems of acting.

In 1897, the First All-Russian Congress of Stage Workers took place, at which Lensky made a report on "The Causes of the Decline of Theater in the Province."

As an actor, director, teacher, theorist, public figure, he fought to raise the general culture of Russian acting, opposed hopes for "inside", demanded constant work and study. Both in his practice and in his aesthetic program, he developed the traditions and precepts of Shchepkin. “It is impossible to create without inspiration, but inspiration is very often caused by the same work. And the fate of an artist who has not accustomed himself to the strictest discipline in his work is sad: inspiration, rarely invoked, can leave him forever,” he wrote.

Having taken the post of chief director of the Maly Theater in 1907, he tried to carry out the reform of the old stage, but under the conditions of the imperial leadership and the inertia of the troupe, he failed to realize this intention.

In October 1908 Lensky died. Yermolova took this death as a tragic event for art: “Everything died with Lensky. The soul of the Maly Theater died... With Lensky, not only the great actor died, but the fire on the sacred altar, which he maintained with the tireless energy of a fanatic, went out.

Alexander Ivanovich Yuzhin-Sumbatov(1857 - a famous playwright and a wonderful actor. While still a high school student, and then a student at St. Petersburg University, he was fond of theater, played in amateur performances. the theater, where he worked for more than forty years, played two hundred and fifty roles, thirty-three of them in foreign plays, twenty in the works of Ostrovsky.

The predominance of foreign plays is due to the fact that, by the nature of his talent, Yuzhin was a romantic actor. He came to the theater in those years when the heroic-romantic art experienced a short-term, but unusually bright take-off. In many performances, Yuzhin performed together with Yermolova - he played Dunois in The Maid of Orleans, Mortimer in Mary Stuart - and this was another famous duet at the Maly Theater.

Possessing an excellent stage temperament, courageous, handsome, inspired, Yuzhin expressed noble and lofty feelings on stage, in tune with the revolutionary moods of the time, expressed sublimely, non-trivially, was not afraid of pathos, was a statuary in plastic. His Marquis Posa in Schiller's Don Carlos, Charles V in Hernani and Ruy Blas Hugo were huge successes. The scene of Charles at the tomb of Charlemagne was, but according to N. Efros, "a complete triumph of the actor, his beautiful pathos, his declamatory art, his good stage pomp and adorned truth, which did not become a lie."

The short rise of the heroic-romantic art ended in a decline, but not in the work of Yuzhin, who easily switched to the tragic roles of Shakespeare, the best of which was Richard III. The actor revealed in the image not only cruelty and deceit, but also great strength, talent, will to achieve the goal.

He superbly played comedy roles in Russian and foreign dramaturgy. His performance of Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro by Beaumarchais was unsurpassed. His Famusov differed from Famusov-Lensky in that he was an important dignitary, an ideological opponent of Chatsky, a staunch enemy of new ideas. In his face Moscow society had a powerful support, his Famusov was a force that the lonely rebel Chatsky could not break.

The comedic effect of the image of Repetilov was achieved by the discrepancy between his lordly importance and empty talk, gravitas and unexpected naivety.

Later, Yuzhin will become a wonderful Bolinbrock in E. Scribe's "Glass of Water".

A master of virtuoso dialogue, always spectacular on stage, Yuzhin was an actor consciously and defiantly theatrical. They did not find simplicity in him, well, he did not strive for it. It condemned the lack of lifelikeness, but in classical roles it was not included in the figurative system of the actor, who was always on the other side of the ramp and did not try to assure the viewer that this was not a theater, but life. He loved beauty on the stage; make-up, wigs were integral means of his transformations.

The fact that this style of performance was deliberately chosen by Yuzhin can be judged by his modern roles, especially in the plays of Ostrovsky, where the actor had both simplicity, and vital recognition, and subtlety; Murov (“Guilty Without Guilt”), Agishin (“The Marriage of Belugin”), Berkutov (“Wolves and Sheep”), Telyatev (“Mad Money”), Dulchin (“The Last Victim”) - this is not a complete list of his roles in the plays of Ostrovsky, where the actor was not only simple and reliable in a modern way, but significant and deep in a modern way. Due to the peculiarities of his personality, Yuzhin could not play weak or small people, his heroes were always strong, strong-willed, extraordinary personalities. Sometimes this force led them to collapse, sometimes it degenerated into individualism, in comedy it shone through with irony, but it always constituted the organic nature of the characters he created.

After the death of Lensky, Yuzhin headed the Maly Theater, striving to preserve and continue best traditions, the artistic height of his art, which was difficult at the time of the general decline of the theater. “Your significance for the theater is no less than mine,” Yermolova wrote to Yuzhin, “and if only a piece of an old tattered banner remains from me ... then you still invariably go forward, further and further ...”

She wrote a special and brightest chapter in the history of the Maly Theater Maria Nikolaevna Ermolova (1853 -- 1928).

On January 30, 1870, N. M. Medvedeva's benefit performance was Lessing's play Emilia Galotti. Leading actors were involved in the performance, G. N. Fedotova was to play the title role. Unexpectedly, she fell ill, and Yermolova first appeared on the famous stage in an ensemble of famous actors. The audience, according to eyewitnesses, did not expect anything good, the replacement seemed too unequal, but when Emilia Yermolova ran onto the stage and said beautifully, low voice the first words, the whole hall was captured by the power of an amazing talent that made the audience “forget the scene” and experience the tragedy of the young Emilia Galotti with the actress.

The very first performance made the name of Yermolova - the granddaughter of a former serf violinist, then the "wardrobe master" of the imperial troupe, the daughter of the prompter of the Maly Theater - famous. But in the first years of service in the theater, despite a brilliant debut, she was assigned mainly comedic roles in vaudeville and melodramas, she performed them unsuccessfully, thereby confirming the opinion of the management about the accident of the first success. It cannot be said that all the roles of Yermolova were bad in terms of literary material, they simply were not “her” roles. If the actress's individuality were less striking, the discrepancy would not be so striking, but the unique talent does not simply reject "foreign" material, it is helpless in front of it. Nevertheless, the actress played everything, recruited professional experience and biding her time. He came three years after her first performance on stage. On July 10, 1873, she played Katerina in The Thunderstorm.

And then a case came to the rescue: Fedotova fell ill again, her performances were left without the main performer, and in order not to remove them from the repertoire, some roles were transferred to Yermolova.

Breaking the tradition of everyday performance of the role of Katerina, the young actress played a tragedy. From the very first scenes, a passionate and freedom-loving person was guessed in her heroine. Katerina - Yermolova was only outwardly submissive, her will was not suppressed by the house-building orders. The moments of her rendezvous with Boris were moments of complete and absolute freedom. The heroine Ermolova, who knew the joy of both this freedom and this happiness, was afraid not of retribution for “sin”, but of returning to captivity, to her unloved husband, to her mother-in-law, whose power she could no longer submit to.

The last two acts were the triumph of the actress. The scene of repentance shocked the audience with tragic intensity.

It seemed as if the whole world fell like a thunderstorm on a fragile woman who dared to experience moments of happiness in his dark abyss, to enjoy the joy of a huge and free, albeit “forbidden”, stolen from life, but true feeling. The image of Katerina sounded like a challenge to fate and this world, which severely punished the young woman, and the madness of prejudices that threw her on her knees before the crowd, and separation from Boris, whom only her great feeling singled out from this crowd, but whom love did not transform, did not breathe into him. courage and disobedience, as in Katerina, did not rise above philistine fear. Separation from Boris was for this Katerina tantamount to death. Therefore, Yermolova played the last act almost calmly - her heroine seemed to be in a hurry to die, to put an end to her joyless fuss.

In the image of Katerina, features have already appeared that will soon make her call the actress’s art romantic, and she herself is the continuer of the Mochalov tradition on the Russian stage and an exponent of those moods that were characteristic of the new generation of rebels, who had already entered the historical arena and developed into a movement that became the second stage in the revolutionary history of Russia.

Yermolova consciously approached the understanding of the social role of art. In 1911, she named two sources for the formation of her civic and aesthetic views - Moscow University and the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature, which elected her in 1895 as its honorary member. At various times, members of the Society were Zhukovsky and Pushkin, Gogol and Turgenev, Ostrovsky and Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy and Chekhov. Yermolova was the first artist to be elected its honorary member - this happened in the year of the twenty-fifth anniversary of her stage activity, but her connections with the advanced intelligentsia of the time date back to the very beginning of the actress's creative path. Among her friends were university professors, members of various stage circles, some of the populists, the actress was well aware of "social needs, the poverty and poverty of the Russian people", about the revolutionary moods of the time. Her work reflected these ideas.

In 1876 Ermolova received her first benefit performance. The writer and translator S. Yuryev made for her a translation of Lope de Vega's The Sheep Spring, and on March 7, 1876, for the first time on the Russian stage, the actress played Laurencia, a Spanish girl who raised the people in revolt against the tyrant.

The audience perceived this image as revolutionary. Those who saw the performance wrote that Laurensia Yermolova made a "deep, amazing impression." In the third act, where the heroine’s angry and inviting monologue sounds, “the delight of the public reached enthusiasm,” wrote Professor N. Storozhenko, who noted that Yermolova’s benefit performance “was in the full sense of the word a holiday of youth.” The performance has gained quite obvious political sense, his revolutionary pathos could not but disturb the authorities. Already at the second performance, the hall was full of detectives, and after several performances, the play was removed from the repertoire and banned from staging for many years.

After Laurencia, Yermolova became a favorite, an idol of youth, a kind of her banner. Each of her performances turned into a triumph. The hall was filled with the "Yermolov audience" (as Ostrovsky called it in his diary). After the performance, the actress was waiting on the street for a crowd of students and female students. After one of the performances, she was presented with a sword as a symbol of her art. In Voronezh, they put her in a carriage decorated with flowers and drove her to the hotel by torchlight. This audience love will remain with the actress forever.

Such an attitude obliged to meet the hopes that the younger generation placed on their favorite. And it was difficult to match - the repertoire consisted mainly of vaudeville and melodramas. Nevertheless, out of ten - twelve roles played by the actress in each season, several fell out of those that allowed Yermolova's talent to sound in full force. She played in Shakespeare's plays - Hero ("Much Ado About Nothing"), Ophelia, Juliet, Lady Anna ("King Richard III"); and plays by Lope de Vega, Calderon, Moliere. In "Urnels Acoustes" K. Gutskova acted as Judith, in "Faust" by Goethe - in the role of Margarita. In her benefit performance in 1881, Yermolova played Gulnara in A. Gualtieri's play "The Corsican", which in many ways continued the theme of Laurencia. In official circles, the play first called sharp criticism, and then it was forbidden not only to play and print it, but also to mention it in print.

A truly triumphant success fell to the lot of the actress in the plays of Schiller, who was close to her in purity. tragic pathos, nobility of ideas, high intensity of passions. Since 1878, Yermolova dreamed of playing The Maid of Orleans in Zhukovsky's translation, having achieved the removal of the censorship ban from the play. But she managed to realize this dream only in 1884.

Yuzhin recalled with what concentration Yermolova already conducted the first rehearsals, with what detachment from everything that was happening around, immersed not even in the process of creating a stage image, but in the process of internal merging, “complete identification” with Joanna. And during the performance, her immersion in the thoughts of the heroine literally fascinated the audience, and they believed in the authenticity of this chosen and tragic fate.

The embodiment of the heroic spirit of the people became the main theme of the image. In the first act, when Joanna, addressing the English king and his subjects through a herald, called them “the scourges of my country,” the power with which the actress uttered these words made Yuzhin recall Salvini, with whom he played Othello, and assert that "the greatest tragedian of our time did not have a single moment equal to Ermolov's in this phrase."

In the final scene, when Joanna in prison, with chains on her hands, heard the screams of approaching enemies, she suddenly broke the chains and rushed to where the French troops were fighting. And a miracle happened - with Joanna at the head, they won. She died in battle - not at the stake, as we know from the biography of Joan of Arc - she died, having accomplished another feat for the glory of her homeland and bringing liberation to her people. The power of Yermolova's inspirational impulse was so great that at every performance the actress made a thousand spectators forget about the props and believe in the truth of the miracle taking place before their eyes.

Yermolova played The Maid of Orleans for sixteen years and considered playing the role of Joanna "her only merit to Russian society."

On February 1886, Yermolova put Schiller's Mary Stuart in her benefit performance and created another stage masterpiece. Elizabeth in the play was played by Fedotova, which is why the struggle between the two queens took on a special scale. The audience was especially shocked by the scene of the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth and Yermolova's monologue, about which Yuryev wrote that “it was no longer even “stage truth”, but “truth” - the pinnacle of heights.” Dooming herself to death, cutting off all paths to salvation, Maria Yermolova triumphed here like a woman and a queen.

Whoever the actress plays, her performance always combines this eternally feminine and rebellious beginning - a huge spiritual potential and moral maximalism, high human dignity, courageous rebellion and sacrifice. In one of her letters to M. I. Tchaikovsky, Ermolova wrote that she loved life, “everything that is good in it.” And she knew how to see this "good" in each of her heroines, it was no coincidence that she was called the lawyer of her roles.

Yermolova was extremely attentive to the works of her contemporaries and performed even in weak plays if she found a living thought or intonation in them. Not to mention such authors as Ostrovsky, in whose plays she played about twenty roles during the life of the playwright. The playwright himself rehearsed a number of roles with her - Eulalia in Slaves, Spring in The Snow Maiden, Negin in Talents and Admirers. Ostrovsky, not without pride, wrote: "I am a teacher for Fedotova and Yermolova."

Among the many roles played in his plays, Katerina and Negina, Evlalia and Yulia Tugina (“The Last Victim”), Vera Filippovna (“The Heart is Not a Stone”) and Kruchinina (“Guilty Without Guilt”) belong to the highest achievements of the Russian stage. There were also roles that Yermolova tried, but could not play. So, she was forced to abandon the role of Barabosheva in the comedy “Truth is good, but happiness is better”, frankly confessing to Yuzhin: “The role is not given to me from any side.” This is natural. Ermolova was not an everyday artist, and such roles as Barabosheva did not correspond to her personality. She was closer to another Ostrovsky - a difficult singer female share and a theater singer, Ostrovsky is poetic, lyrical, psychologically subtle. Where Yermolova found a way out into tragedy, as in Katerina, the opportunity to reveal the inner drama or oppose the world of noble and disinterested aspirations of her provincial brothers - actors to the philistine human "forest", there she not only achieved the greatest success, but also contributed to the images of Ostrovsky that passionate and quivering note that transformed his works.

Unsurpassed in the stage history of Ostrovsky was Yermolova's performance of the role of Negina in "Talents and Admirers" - a young provincial actress, "a white dove in a black flock of rooks," as one of the characters in the play says about her. In Negina-Yermolova there was an absolute preoccupation with art, a detachment from everything petty in everyday life. Therefore, she did not immediately understand the true meaning of Dulebov's proposals, the mother's meticulous lamentations, Smelskaya's hints. Negina lived in her own world, sober rationalism and calculation were completely unusual for her, she did not know how to resist vulgarity. Accepting Velikatov's offer, with his help she saved the most sleepy thing in herself - art. Yermolova herself was close to the preoccupation with creativity, and the feeling of being chosen, and the ability to sacrifice in the name of art. She sang and affirmed this in Negina.

In Wolves and Sheep, the actress played Kupavina, suddenly transforming into a simple-hearted, unsophisticated, trustingly unthinking creature. In The Slaves, her Evlampia dramatically experienced the drama of disappointment in the “hero”, the drama of early emptiness. In The Last Sacrifice, Yermolova played with great force the first love in Yulia Tugina’s life, sacrifice in the name of love and liberation from the slavery of her feelings.

Returning to the stage in 1908, she performed the role of Kruchinina in the play Guilty Without Guilt. She did not play the first act, she appeared immediately in the second, where the main theme of Kruchinina began - the tragedy of her mother. This theme will firmly enter later in her work.

On May 2, 1920, the half-century anniversary of the stage activity of the actress was celebrated. On the initiative of V. I. Lenin, a new title was approved - People's Artist, which was the first to be received by Yermolova. It was a recognition not only of her talent, but also public interest her art.

K. S. Stanislavsky, who called the actress " heroic symphony Russian stage,” wrote Yermolova: “Your ennobling influence is irresistible. It brought up generations. And if they asked me where I was educated, I would answer: at the Maly Theater, with Yermolova and her associates.

At the end of the 18th century, the place under the current Maly Theater in Teatralny proezd, 1 occupied the banks of the Neglinnaya River, which was eventually filled up and enclosed in an underground pipe. The narrow strip was built up with private houses that belonged to three owners.

By 1818, when the plan for the arrangement of Theater Square was approved, a merchant from Serpukhov V.V. Vargin bought these plots completely.

By 1824 when architectural ensemble Theater Square was completed, V.V. Vargin was offered to rent the house to the treasury for the installation of a theater. The merchant not only agreed, but also invested huge amounts of money for the reconstruction of the building. The work was carried out directly under the guidance and design of the architect O.I. Beauvais.

It is interesting to know that V.V. Vargin, being a supplier of the army during the war with Napoleon, visited Paris in 1814. The Palais Royal and the theater located in it sunk into the soul of a merchant who wanted to create something similar in Moscow.

V.V. Vargin made a significant contribution to the creation of the appearance of Theater Square, working closely with the architect Beauvais, although he was not the author of this grandiose project.

From the history of the Maly Theater

On October 14, 1824, the imperial troupe gave its first performance at the Maly Theatre. Thus, he opened his hall for theater-goers three months earlier than the nearby Bolshoi Theater.

Modern look of the entire building is somewhat different from the original structure, in which there was only one, the South, a risalit in which the main entrance was located. The building looked more like a private house than a theater institution.

In 1832 the directorate of the imperial theaters bought the building from V.V. Vargin for 158 thousand rubles.

And now about the roll call of times and theft in Russia!...

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History of the State Academic Maly Theater

Small theater - the oldest theater Russia. His troupe was created at Moscow University in 1756, immediately after the well-known Decree of Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, which marked the birth of a professional theater in our country: “We have now ordered the establishment of a Russian theater to present comedies and tragedies ...” Famous poet and playwright M.M. .Kheraskov headed the Free Russian Theater at the university. Its artists were students of the university gymnasium.

On the basis of the university, the Petrovsky Drama Theater was created. During these years, the theater troupe was replenished with actors from serf theaters. But the building burned down in 1805, and the troupe was left without a stage. However, already in the next year, 1806, the directorate of the Imperial Theaters was formed in Moscow. The artists of the former Petrovsky entered the service in it. The new troupe of the Imperial Moscow Theater performed on various stages, until, finally, the directorate of the Imperial Theaters began to implement the idea of ​​the architect Beauvais: the construction of a theater center in Moscow.

Thus, the “progenitor” of the Maly Theater was the theater at Moscow University. But not because of this, Maly was called the “second University”, but because of the influence that it had on Russian culture, on the minds, on the mood in society. The Maly Theater has been one of the most important centers of Russia's spiritual life since its foundation.

In 1824, Beauvais rebuilt the mansion of the merchant Vargin for the theatre, and the dramatic part of the Moscow troupe of the Imperial Theater received its own building on Petrovskaya (now Teatralnaya) Square and its own name - the Maly Theatre.

“Moskovskie Vedomosti” placed an announcement about the first performance in the Maly: “The Directorate of the Imperial Moscow Theater announces through this that next Tuesday, October 14 of this year, a performance will be given at the new Maly Theater, in Vargin’s house, on Petrovsky Square, to open it. th, namely: a new overture compositions. A.N. Verstovsky, later for the second time: Lily Narbonskaya, or the Knight’s Vow, a new dramatic knightly performance-ballet ...”

The word "small" at first was not even capitalized - after all, it is explained simply by the size of the building, which was small compared to the nearby Bolshoi Theater, intended for ballet and opera performances. But soon the words “Big” and “Small” became proper names, and now they are heard in Russian in all countries of the world. Until 1824, the ballet-opera and drama troupes of the Imperial Moscow Theater were a single whole: the same artist could participate in performances of various kinds. For a long time, theaters were connected even by an underground passage. The interpenetration of genres also continued.

Even during the life of A.S. Pushkin, Maly created stage versions of three works by the poet: “Ruslan and Lyudmila” (1825), “The Fountain of Bakhchisarai” (1827) and “Gypsy” (1832). From foreign dramaturgy, the theater gave preference to the works of Shakespeare and Schiller. However, along with serious plays, there was also a “light” repertoire at the Maly Theater: melodramas and vaudevilles. An important event in Maly's life was the staging of AS Griboedov's comedy Woe from Wit. In 1830, censorship allowed only certain scenes from the play to be presented, and in 1831 theatrical Moscow saw the play in its entirety for the first time. Two great masters of the Moscow stage took part in the performance - Shchepkin in the role of Famusov and Mochalov in the role of Chatsky. An equally important step in creative life The Maly Theater staged plays by N.V. Gogol. Myself great writer, hoping for an accurate reading of his play "The Inspector General" at the Maly Theater, wrote a letter to M.S. Shchepkin, where he gave him advice for staging. The theater also created a staging of "Dead Souls", and subsequently staged "Marriage" and "Players" by N.V. Gogol, and "Players" saw the light for the first time. I.S. Turgenev highly appreciated the art of the Maly Theater. Especially for Maly and his coryphaeus - M.S. Shchepkin - he created his plays “The Bachelor” and “The Freeloader”. The famous comedy "Krechinsky's Wedding" by A.V. Sukhovo-Kobylin was presented on the stage for the first time in the Maly Theater.

The famous writer I.A. Goncharov, addressing A. Ostrovsky, wrote: “Only after you, we Russians can proudly say: “We have our own Russian, national theater. It, in fairness, should be called "Ostrovsky's Theatre". Today Ostrovsky and the Maly Theater are names that are inseparable from each other. The great playwright wrote 48 plays, and all of them were staged in the Maly. Ostrovsky created plays specifically for Maly and always read them to the actors himself. In addition, he held rehearsals with the actors, determining the interpretation and nature of the performance of the plays. Many works were written by Ostrovsky for benefit performances, at the request of one or another actor of the Maly Theater.

Even during the life of the playwright, Maly began to be called the "House of Ostrovsky." The monument to the great playwright is installed at the entrance to the theatre. And no matter what changes take place in the theater and in society, Ostrovsky's plays have retained and retain their leading position in the Maly. A century and a half ago, an alliance was concluded, indissoluble to this day: Ostrovsky found his own theater, the Maly Theater - his playwright.

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the basis of the repertoire of the Maly Theater continued to be the works of Russian and foreign classics. At the same time, the interest of the public in the art of the Maly Theater remained exceptionally high - for example, the play “The Maid of Orleans” by F. Schiller with the great Yermolova in leading role went on stage for 18 years, and 9 years after the premiere, he was transferred to the stage of the Bolshoi Theater, since the Maly did not accommodate everyone who wanted to see it. It also happened that, on the contrary, opera and ballet performances were staged in the Maly. It was here, at the request of P.I. Tchaikovsky, that the premiere of the opera “Eugene Onegin” took place.

The current generation of artists and directors of the Maly Theater is distinguished by its adherence to its rich traditions and relies on the experience of its predecessors. Today, as always, the theatre's repertoire is based on plays by A.N. Ostrovsky: "Wolves and Sheep", "There was no penny, but suddenly Altyn", "Forest", "Mad Money", "Labor Bread", "Own People - let's count!” In the old days, the theater could not find a common language with A.P. Chekhov - during the life of the writer, only his funny vaudevilles appeared on the stage of the Maly Theater. However, today performances based on the great plays of Chekhov occupy a significant place in the life of the theater: "The Cherry Orchard", "Uncle Vanya", "The Seagull". A kind of “visiting card” of the Maly Theater was the dramatic trilogy of A.K. Tolstoy, telling about the history of the Russian State: “Tsar John the Terrible”, “Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich”, “Tsar Boris”. In performances by A.K. Tolstoy sounds the music of G.V. Sviridov, which the great composer wrote specifically for the Maly Theater. The theater does not deprive its attention of the theater and foreign classics - in its repertoire there are plays by F. Schiller, A. Strindberg, E. Skrib.

The theater is headed by the artistic director - People's Artist of the USSR Yu.M. Solomin - and CEO- People's Artist of the USSR V.I.Korshunov. The troupe of the theater has many famous, beloved by the people artists - People's Artist of the USSR E.V. Samoilov, People's Artist USSR E.A. Bystritskaya, People's Artists Russia T.P. Pankova, A.I. Kochetkov, I.V. Muravieva, A.Ya.Mikhailov, Yu.I. Kayurov, V.P. Pavlov, E.E. continue. The troupe of the theater has more than 100 people, and the total number of theater workers is more than 700. The Maly - the only one of all the drama theaters in the country - has retained its vocal and dramatic composition, choir and small symphony orchestra. The orchestra consists of musicians of the highest professional level, laureates of international competitions.

In October 1995, a branch of the Maly Theater was opened after repairs on Bolshaya Ordynka Street. If only the classics are shown on the main stage of the Maly Theater, then the branch is supposed to be an experimental platform where the classics will coexist with new ones for the oldest team forms - for example, a musical by A. Kolker based on the play by A.V. Sukhovo-Kobylin "Krechinsky's Wedding" was recently staged there.

The creative life of the theater is extremely active and fruitful. In each season, Maly releases 4-5 new performances and removes some of the old titles from his repertoire. The theater's touring geography is also extensive - in recent years it has visited Germany, France, Japan, Israel, Greece, Cyprus, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Mongolia, South Korea and other countries. The Maly Theater is the initiator and regularly holds the All-Russian Ostrovsky Festival in the Ostrovsky House. This festival carries out a noble mission of supporting the Russian theatrical province, always rich in talents. Theaters from different cities and regions of Russia present their productions based on the plays of the great playwright on the stage of the Maly Theater. Recently, another theatrical forum was born - the International Festival of National Theaters. The idea of ​​holding it again belonged to Maly. As part of this festival, theaters from around the world bring their traditional performances created in line with national art to the oldest Moscow drama stage.

By decree of the President of Russia, the Maly Theater was given the status of a national treasure. Maly was included in the list of especially valuable cultural objects of the country, along with the Bolshoi Theatre, the Tretyakov Gallery, the Hermitage.