St. Petersburg Academic Lensoviet Theatre: repertoire, description and actors

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

In the life of every person there are so-called iconic, and maybe cult places. For theater-goers, one of these places, of course, is the Lensoviet St. Petersburg Academic Theatre. Not only residents of the city, but also any tourist or business traveler tries to get to the performance in this temple of Melpomene.

New age, new culture

In the 19th century, there were not so many municipal theaters. Basically, acting troupes were supported by patrons and performed on the stage of "home" theaters. The general public has been denied access to such performances.

The beginning of the twentieth century was marked by a revolution not only in the political life of the country. Transformations also affected all areas of art - artists, poets and prose writers, choreographers and directors of the beginning of the century felt freedom and presented their experimental creations to the court of admirers. Against the backdrop of modern art, it is not surprising that in 1933 a theater arose in St. Petersburg, which was called"New". Later, the troupe, headed by Isaac Kroll, turned into the Lensoviet Academic Theater.

Dutch Church

The first performance took place in the building of the Dutch Church, located on Nevsky Prospekt. The church building did not have all the necessary conditions for accommodating a theater in it, and soon after the first performances, the fire almost took the entire staff with it. The theater, having barely begun, almost ceased to exist.

But the performances of director Kroll (a student of V. E. Meyerhold) impressed both the public and critics. The brilliant play of the actors who stood at the origins of this temple of Melpomene did not go unnoticed. Theater and art figures turned to the authorities with a request, and in 1936, in the reconstructed hall for theatrical performances by A. I. Pavlova, the St. Petersburg Academic Theater named after Lensoviet resumed its activities. Posters of the play Mad Money by A. N. Ostrovsky, which began the history of this troupe, reappeared on Troitskaya Street.

During the Second World War, the building was badly damaged by bombing, and the artists who returned from a long tour of the Far East were provided with a new building - the former mansion of Prince V. P..

Meyerholdism

In the late 30s, artists began to fight with progressive directors and actors. The desire to modernize, to read classical works in your own way is now no onesurprising, but on the contrary, very popular. At the same time, having received a common name, “Meyerholdism” (derived from the name of the director V. E. Meyerhold) frightened and even repelled. Reality did not accept creative people who were looking for new ways in art and became obsolete.

Some theaters of St. Petersburg found themselves in this cycle. The Leningrad City Council Theater is no exception. The chief director, Isaac Kroll, was fired from his position. By the decision of the city leaders of culture, B. M. Sushkevich took his place.

Unity Parenting

Outstanding actor, teacher B. M. Sushkevich, brought with him several graduates of the theater institute. Having worked with A. P. Chekhov and E. B. Vakhtangov at the First Studio of the Moscow Art Theater, studying with K. S. Stanislavsky and L. A. would say now). Only such a unity of perception and the methodological basis of the work will truly reveal and convey the essence of a work of art. It was this message that he brought to the Lensoviet Academic Theatre. St. Petersburg was quickly conquered by refined, aesthetic and at the same time quite modern stage solutions by B. M. Sushkevich.

A very diverse, but at the same time competently and balanced repertoire allowed almost all the actors of the troupe to reveal themselves. In Schiller's productions ("Mary Stuart", "The Fiesco Conspiracy in Genoa"), Nadezhda Bromley, Sushkevich's wife and comrade-in-arms, shone on the stage. This woman was also a writer, anddirector; thanks to her attention and romanticism, performances received even more sublime, bright colors.

Deep psychological studies of the characters of the audience with bated breath "read" in "Restless Old Age" (L. Rakhmanov), "Petty Bourgeois" (M. Gorky), "The Miser" (J.-B. Molière). Only having created a real ensemble from the troupe, Sushkevich himself went on stage and played the outstanding role in world dramaturgy of Matthias Clausen from G. Hauptmann's drama Before Sunset. The play is rightly called a theatrical legend by critics.

Cultural Service to Warriors

It was with this wording that the Lensoviet St. Petersburg Academic Theater in October 1940 was sent on a long tour to the Far East. The news of the war found the actors in Khabarovsk. The tour stretched for a long 5 years. Until the summer of 1945, the theater worked in Siberia and the Urals, the Far East and the Far North. Border outposts, cities, gold mines and warships saw 1,300 performances and almost 1,000 concerts. The actors regularly traveled to active units with a front-line brigade.

Of course, in such a difficult time, the artists could well just perform in front of the audience, supporting them. But, in spite of everything, the repertoire of the Leningrad City Council Theater was updated. There were performances by K. Simonov, A. Korneichuk, V. Solovyov, which showed the front-line life and the experiences of those who remained in the rear.

Akimov's link

After the death of Sushkevich in 1946, the directors did not stay in the theater for more than oneseason. For some time, the Lensoviet St. Petersburg Academic Theater was headed by Nadezhda Bromley, who staged Nora based on Ibsen's play. It was a significant event in the theatrical life of the city. Then the actress Galina Korotkevich became the director. Then came a series of successive directors, until, finally, Nikolai Pavlovich Akimov appeared in the theater. He was demoted and "exiled" here from the Comedy Theater for the "formalism" from which I. Kroll suffered in his time.

Akimov brought fresh air, and the troupe came to life. In addition to new acting names, which became known to the public thanks to the sharpness of the director's artistic vision, new performances appeared: the first Soviet musical "Spring in Moscow", the dramatic Russian satire by M. E. S altykov-Shchedrin and A. V. Sukhovo-Kobylin. Nikolai Pavlovich believed that classical works should not be forgotten, it is through them that tastes and understanding of theatrical aesthetics can and should be instilled in the viewer.

And on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the troupe of the New Theater, it was named after the Leningrad Council.

The Vladimirov era

In 1956, Akimov returned to his native Comedy Theatre, and the main directors of the Leningrad City Council were replaced before they had time to "begin their duties." But in 1960, Igor Petrovich Vladimirov received the post of chief director. And an even more interesting life of the troupe began. Vladimirov turned out to be the very leader that the actors had been waiting for and looking for for so long.

Like all directors, he started as an actor. Having worked with G. A. Tovstonogov, IgorPetrovich began to assist him in staging performances and mastered this profession. The appointment of Vladimirov and the transfer in 1962 to the Lensoviet State Academic Theater of Alisa Freindlikh (Vladimirov's wife) determined the creative direction of the troupe for many years.

At that time, the director was fond of modern dramaturgy, staged foreign comedies and turned the audience's idea of the classics upside down. With the production of The Threepenny Opera, the theater acquired an original genre that combined eccentricity, journalism, romance and the grotesque. This is what has been behind the incredible success of 40 years.

Modernity

When Vladimirov passed away in 1999, VB Pazi took his place. A man of the highest culture, he treated the traditions of the theater very carefully. But he was not afraid to take risks and expanded the repertoire with completely unusual, but very interesting productions by Bergman, Nabokov, Berberova. Pazi invited the best eminent directors and young talents, due to which the productions always attracted the attention of the audience.

Since 2011, after 5 difficult years without the chief director, Yu. N. Butusov, whom Pazi once brought with him, became the artistic director of the Leningrad City Council. The performances he staged changed the theatre, but remained true to the spirit of creativity and energy.