Vragova Svetlana: retro avant-garde director

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Her career is the envy of every director who takes the first steps in art. She puts on phenomenal performances in the theater, and dresses beautifully, and skillfully teaches her actors the tricks of acting. And Vragova Svetlana founded the amazing temple of Melpomene, which created serious competition for her metropolitan "brothers". Well, who does not dream of this from the director's environment? Surely everyone. Vragova Svetlana herself made her way into the profession, she did not have influential patrons in art. Principle and exactingness in her work turned her into a wise and authoritative leader of the theater. What was remarkable in the creative career of a female director? Let's take a closer look at this issue.

Dream of the "sublime"

Vragova Svetlana Alexandrovna (nee Gyurjyan) is a native of the city of Yerevan. She was born on March 31, 1953. The future star of directing, was brought up in strict conditions. His father had a high and responsible rank of foreign intelligence general, and his mother worked as a translator and at the same time provided editorial services.

It should be noted that Svetlana Vragova already at a young age becametake an interest in great art. But I didn't want to be a director. On the contrary, the girl considered this profession secondary compared to acting. Svetlana dreamed that someday she would come out to act on stage, and thousands of spectators would applaud her with delight. However, the girl's parents did not share her passion for theatrical art, prophesying her a "mundane" and, if possible, "money" profession.

Study acting

And yet Vragova Svetlana disobeyed her father and mother. Having received a certificate of maturity, she firmly decided to go to Moscow and enter GITIS. And so she did. Moreover, having successfully passed the competitive selection. The girl was enrolled immediately in the second year. Svetlana was somewhat surprised that she was "assigned" to the directing department. She ended up in the workshop of Y. Zavadsky.

Slowly she developed a taste for directing. Already in her student years, she puts on "trial" performances. When the time came for graduation, Vragova Svetlana Aleksandrovna was intensively preparing for her graduation production: “The Fifth Ten” (according to A. Belinsky). The work turns out to be successful. Soon the girl receives a document on the end of the directing department of GITIS.

Career start

After studying at the legendary university, the girl worked for some time at the Kirov Youth Theater, and then got a job at the Moscow Theater. A. S. Pushkin. On its stage, Svetlana Alexandrovna begins to stage her debut performances in the retro avant-garde style (a specific perception of the past). Some time later, she is working on the play “Waiting forMan” (R. Solntsev), where the representative of the working class appears not as the master of the Land of Soviets, but as an uncomplaining element that is easily manipulated. Naturally, such a vision of the play caused indignation among the party officials responsible for "introducing art to the masses." The play "We are waiting for a man" was eventually deleted from the repertoire, and the director Vragova was offered to look for another job.

New Horizons

After that, Svetlana Alexandrovna had a break in her work, which lasted two years.

In the early 80s, a woman director was called to the New Drama Theatre. And again, Vragova begins to stage performances, interpreting their plot in her own way. Naturally, at first they were difficult for the perception of the audience, but over time, there were many connoisseurs of her work. In parallel with directing, Svetlana Alexandrovna began teaching acting at the Theater School. Shchepkina.

Own temple of Melpomene

Becoming an authoritative specialist in staging performances in the late 80s, a graduate of GITIS decided to create her own theater. And there were all the prerequisites for this: Svetlana Alexandrovna was respected by her colleagues, and she herself already had the makings of a leader, whom they would follow and believe in. But in order to organize their temple of Melpomene, Enemy and her wards had to work hard.

The director was given an old building on Spartakovskaya Square for the theater, which was originally a grain exchange. The dilapidated house left something to be desiredbetter not only from the outside, but also from the inside. It took a whole year to transform the interior of the future temple of Melpomene, which was called: "Studio Theater on Spartakovskaya". But rehearsals did not stop even during the repair work. The debut performance was an unprecedented success with the audience.

Svetlana Vragova directed the play "Dear Elena Sergeevna", participation in which glorified the aspiring actress Oksana Mysina throughout the country. With the above performance, the troupe of the "Studio Theater on Spartakovskaya" went on tour "overseas", and the American audience highly appreciated this work of Vragova. The repertoire of the theater gradually expanded. And then Svetlana Alexandrovna decided to stage the play by Leonid Andreev "Katerina Ivanovna", about which Stanislavsky himself spoke critically. But she succeeded in this experiment, perhaps because she had an unconventional approach to staging performances. "Katerina Ivanovna" is a kind of tribute to Russian modernity.

Modern

And then the "Studio Theater on Spartakovskaya" was renamed. The brainchild of Vragova began to be called the Moscow Drama Theater "Modern". The woman director came up with this name for a reason: in such an original way she emphasized her commitment to the retro avant-garde style.

Soon the Moscow Drama Theater "Modern" will celebrate its thirtieth anniversary. His diverse repertoire today satisfies the needs of not only adults, but also children.

Leaving the theater

In 2016 SvetlanaVragova was forced to leave Modern. The initiative to dismiss came from officials of the Department of Culture of the city of Moscow. As the reason for the termination of the employment relationship, they identified repeated violations of financial statements and serious flaws in business activities.

At present, the ex-artistic director of the Modern theater wants to implement new projects in art. In particular, Svetlana Vragova intends to try herself as a film director. Does she have a family? Is Svetlana Vragova married? The personal life of the ex-artistic director of the Modern Theater is hidden from prying eyes. It is known that she was previously married, which broke up.