Actress Ekaterina Elanskaya: biography with photo

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

Ekaterina Elanskaya was born in Moscow on an autumn day on September 13, 1929. Her famous parents (actor and director Ilya Yakovlevich Sudakov and actress Klavdiya Elanskaya) largely predetermined her daughter's life path. The art of the theater, which was embodied by parents in various stage images before the eyes of the girl, captivated Ekaterina from childhood.

First steps in career

After graduating from school, Ekaterina Yelanskaya, an actress (see photo below), studies at the Moscow Art Theater Studio. Her teacher was A. M. Karev. It was there that she was destined to meet her first love. It was a novice actor Viktor Korshunov. They met for several years, and two years after completing their studies at the Moscow Art Theater School (1953), they got married. Soon the couple had a son, Alexander.

It was then that Ekaterina Yelanskaya became a sought-after actress at the Maly Theatre. She perfectly succeeded in completely different images, and the emotionality and depth of performance led to the fact that she often got the main roles in performances. Especiallythe brightest works of that time are “When Spears Break” (Lydia), “Vassa Zheleznova” (Lyudmila), “Doctor of Philosophy” (Slavka), “Song of the Wind” (Snub-nosed) and others.

Start directing

Ekaterina Elanskaya is a talented actress, no doubt. But in addition to acting, she was very interested in directing. That is why she went to study at graduate school at GITIS. Maria Knebel taught there, a famous teacher of that time, who was the idol of Yelanskaya. After graduation, she tries her hand at directing in the 60s. Her performances somehow immediately attracted the audience and became very popular. Moreover, as a director, she works in several Moscow theaters at once.

For example, at the Stanislavsky Theater she puts on Robin Hood and The Little Prince, at the Yermolova Theater - "A Month in the Country", at Sovremennik - "The Taste of Cherry", at the WTO Literary and Drama Theater – “Coast”.

Success

Such popular actors as Oleg Dal, Georgy Burkov, Alexander Kalyagin, Ekaterina Vasilyeva and others took part in her productions. It should be noted that Ekaterina Yelanskaya has always taken a very responsible approach to the formation of the cast in her productions, each time thinking over how this or that actor will be able to embody his hero on stage. Her desire for bold experiments and unexpected directorial discoveries determined the popularity of the productions of this talented woman. Most of her performances were filmed and broadcast on television more than once. Many of the performancesbecame part of the golden fund of Soviet TV.

Probably, it was then that they stopped talking about her as the daughter of famous parents. Elanskaya was able to prove that she is an independent person, and can manifest herself in various areas of theatrical activity.

E. Elanskaya is an innovator and experimenter

Innovative ideas didn't stop there. On the contrary, Ekaterina Ilyinichna began to dream of creating a completely new theater, unlike all existing ones. She dreamed of bringing to life grandiose ideas that, by the standards of that time, seemed simply crazy to many. She was especially fascinated by the dream of transforming the auditorium. In the play "Mail to the South", which took place in the concert hall named after P. I. Tchaikovsky, Ekaterina Yelanskaya partly managed to do this. The amphitheater and the stage were combined into a large hemisphere, which changed the viewer's perception of everything that happens in the performance. Other works were presented on the same principle: "Poor People" and "There, Far Away".

Sphere Theater

In 1981, Ekaterina Yelanskaya became the artistic director of one of the famous metropolitan theaters. This is the Sphere Theatre. Initially, the "Sphere" was located in the House of Culture of the "Kauchuk" plant, located on Plyushchikha. And in 1984, a building was specially built for the theater on the territory of the Hermitage Garden. The project of the building was drawn up and implemented by the joint efforts of three people. The generator of ideas, of course, was Ekaterina Ilyinichna, and her ideas were embodied by the main artist of the theater V. Soldatov andarchitect N. Golas. They fulfilled Elanskaya's long-standing dream of creating a spherical space. The uniqueness of the idea was undeniable. The hall was a grandiose circular amphitheater, all the seats in which were removable and could be transformed depending on the nuances of the production. There were several stages inside the amphitheater. One of them was larger than the others and occupied the central part, while the rest were located on the periphery. After the opening of the renovated theater, a huge number of spectators were drawn there. After all, there was the only hall in Moscow where each guest was a kind of participant in all the events of the performance, and not just watched from the side.

The permanent head of the theater "Sphere"

In the last two decades of the last century, Ekaterina Yelanskaya, whose photographs are now rarely seen in the media, heading the Sphere Theater, again and again proved her talent as a director and leader. Many of the performances staged at that time were discussed on all the sidelines. The audience enthusiastically accepted the new works of Ekaterina Ilyinichna. The most famous performances: "Live and Remember" by V. Rasputin (1984), "The Seagull" by A. P. Chekhov (1987), "Fatal Eggs" by M. Bulgakov (1989), "Kingdom - on the table!" based on the drama by H. Ibsen, "Lolita" based on the novel by V. Nabokov (1996), etc. And the production based on the novel by Mikhail Bulgakov "Theatrical Novel" (1985) can be safely called the visiting card of the "Sphere".

And when the chamber stage was opened in 2003, a new stream of spectators reached the theater. Ekaterina Elanskaya, biographywhich is forever associated with the "Sphere", invited experimental directors who embodied their bold ideas on the chamber stage. Among such productions can be attributed the performance of the director A. Parr "Freeloader" by I. Turgenev, "Oh, how good this world is!" directed by A. Korshunov (son of Elanskaya) based on E. Broshkevich. And Ekaterina Ilyinichna herself, in addition to the direct management of the theater, continued to engage in directing work, the result of which was the production of Heaven and Hell based on the work of P. Merimee.

Family

E. Yelanskoy's husband, Viktor Korshunov, spent many years working at the Maly Theater, performing a huge number of different roles. And since 1985 he headed it. V. Korshunov died on April 17, 2015. He outlived his wife by almost two years. Ekaterina Ilyinichna herself passed away on July 16, 2013. She rests at the Novodevichy cemetery.

The son and grandchildren of the famous couple continue the work of their ancestors. Alexander Korshunov is to this day an actor of the Maly Theater. Stepan and Claudia (grandchildren) also decided to become actors. Many point to the similarity of Claudia's granddaughter with her grandmother.

Indeed, Klavdia Korshunova and Ekaterina Elanskaya are very similar. Filmography of the young actress K. Korshunova: "Soldier's Decameron", "Alexander Garden", "977". And the grandson of the famous actress and director Stepan can often be seen on the stages of the Maly Theater and the Sfera Theater.