Georgy Tovstonogov (1915-1989), theater director: biography, creativity

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

Georgy Alexandrovich Tovstonogov - Soviet theater director, People's Artist of the USSR, Dagestan and Georgia, and winner of many awards, including Lenin and Stalin.

Family

Georgy Tovstonogov was born in 1915 in Georgia, in the city of Tiflis. It is this city that will be the real first impetus for the future director. His father had nothing to do with the theater or acting, but he had a lucrative job at the time and held a fairly high position. Alexander Tovstonogov worked as a railway engineer and was a respected employee of the Georgian Ministry of Railways.

But the mother, unlike the father, was a creative person all her life. Tamara Papitashvili was a real singer, which was officially confirmed by her diploma from the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Georgy had a younger sister, Natela, who, both in childhood and in adulthood, being the wife of actor Yevgeny Lebedev, loved and respected her brother very much and always took care of him first, and then as an aunt about his sons.

Marriage alliances

Becoming an adult, Georgy Tovstonogov, personal lifewhich was not particularly abundant, dreamed of creating the same family as he himself had, but for this it was necessary to find a worthy life partner. Moreover, from the very beginning, the man decided that his wife, like himself, must necessarily be a creative person. As a result, Saloma Kancheli, a pupil of his own theater, became his first wife. The marriage took place in 1943, but the happiness of the family did not last long, in 1945 the couple filed for divorce. And yet, the union with Kancheli played a huge role in the life of the director: marriage gave him two sons - Nikolai and Alexander.

In 1958 Georgy Alexandrovich Tovstonogov decided to marry again. And again, his choice fell on the actress. Together with Inna Kondratiev, the man lived for 4 years and again failed to save the family - the marriage was annulled in 1962.

Like any theatrical figure, Tovstonogov's biography is full of vivid stories and moments from his life: both personal and creative. And it would be strange if the biography of the great director ended without a continuation in his children and grandchildren.

Alexander Georgiyevich Tovstonogov and his son Tovstonogov Georgy Alexandrovich Jr. followed in the footsteps of their father and grandfather. Both connected their lives with the stage and became famous theater directors.

Childhood and youth of the director

As already mentioned, Georgy Tovstonogov was born in Tiflis. Before his peers, he goes to school, and at the age of 15 he finishes it. Even then, as a very young guy, the future director was uncontrollably drawn to the theater, in whichthen his uncle worked. But the family, and in particular the father, pushes the son to a completely different path in life. Not wanting to contradict his relatives, Tovstonogov enters the Tbilisi Railway Institute, where his father, the head of one of the faculties, happily attaches him.

But how can you do something that takes all your strength and does not bring any pleasure? Not having lasted even a year, Tovstonogov left the institute, and already in 1931 he got a job as an actor and assistant director at the Tbilisi Youth Theater. The leader represented by N. Ya. Marshak immediately noted the commendable abilities of the young actor, and therefore in 1933 Georgy Tovstonogov was entrusted with staging his very first performance called “Proposal” (based on the work of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov).

Studying at GITIS

After the success of his performance, the director lights up hope for further luck. In 1933, he enters GITIS, but the age for entering the institute is limited, which forces the future great actor to forge his own documents, attributing 2 years to himself. The famous at that time directors and theater teachers A. M. Lobanov and A. D. Popov. Having entered the educational institution of his dreams, Tovstonogov does not leave his first theater, which put him on his feet - the Youth Theater, thanks to which new performances are shown in the theater again and again.

In 1937, something happened that Tovstonogov could dream of only in the most terrible nightmares - because of the repression of his father, Georgy Tovstonogov was declared the son of an enemy of the people, andtherefore, from the 4th year of GITIS, the guy was expelled. After a number of senseless attempts to return to the acting system, a real miracle happened. And they were the accidentally thrown words of I. Stalin, the leader of the people of that era: "The son is not responsible for the father." As a result, the director was reinstated, and he graduated from GITIS with flying colours.

Start directing

In 1938-1946. Tovstonogov works at the Tbilisi Drama Theater named after A. S. Griboyedov. In those same years, he was noticed by the People's Artist of the USSR A. Khorava, who allowed Georgy Alexandrovich to take over the teaching of one of the acting groups. From that moment on, Tovstonogov began to recognize a professional director.

Moscow theaters

In 1946, the director leaves his native Georgia and rushes to conquer the stages of Russian theaters. Tovstonogov arrives in Moscow, where he takes over the leadership of several theaters at once. The zeal and constant improvement of his methods and programs for working with actors led to the fact that from 1946 to 1949 Tovstonogov Georgy Aleksandrovich, whose personal life now personified various scenes, equally successfully directed two theaters at once - the Central Children's and Touring Realistic.

Leningrad theaters

Since 1949, the director settled in the cultural capital of Russia - Leningrad, now St. Petersburg. This year he becomes one of the directors, in 1950 - the chief director of the Leningrad Leninsky TheaterKomsomol. In this theater, Tovstonogov finally finds a home: he works on plays and performances, helps actors in reincarnation, improves his skills - all this gave Georgy Aleksandrovich incredible pleasure.

For his best work, Tovstonogov is awarded the Stalin and Lenin Prizes, now each of his performances is in demand not only in one city, but throughout the country.

In early 1956, Georgy Tovstonogov - a director with a capital letter - was invited to head the Bolshoi Drama Theater (hereinafter BDT) named after M. Gorky. From 1949 to 1956, at least four directors were replaced in this theater. This meant one thing: the theater ceased to function without a leading person.

Bolshoi Drama Theater (BDT) im. Tovstonogov

For 6 years of work as director of the Leningrad Lenin Komsomol Theater Georgy Tovstonogov, whose personal life now consisted of constant rehearsals, won recognition not only from the public, but also from employees of other theaters in Russia, so that his leadership in one of the most famous theaters of the country only strengthened the respect of the people for him.

Not immediately agreeing, the director nevertheless headed the theater on February 13, 1956. It was clear that radical means were needed to restore the status of the BDT, and Tovstonogov used them. On his instructions, more than half of the entire acting troupe was fired and several new actors were invited. The life of the theater was in full swing again, as in the old days.

In the first theatrical season it wasfour new performances were staged, each of which was warmly received by the public. Gradually, the director managed to re-inject into the cast, into the theater and into its audience that part of the passion that has always been inherent in the theater. But the director did not stop there.

Tovstonogov held the post of director of the theater for almost 33 years - and every year he increasingly raised his status in the eyes of not only Russia, but the whole world. As a result, the theater, which became his home, appropriated his name: BDT im. Tovstonogov.

A worthy successor

Only two of them undertook to continue the director's work of the Tovstonogov family: the director's son and his grandson. And, of course, any viewer had the idea to compare their handwriting. If the son chose a slightly dissimilar style for himself, then the grandson, full namesake of Georgy Alexandrovich, without knowing it, directed productions in an unusually similar way. Unfortunately, the directorial potential of the grandson of the great Tovstonogov was never revealed. In 2012, as a young man, Georgy Tovstonogov Jr. died.

Last years of life

Until his death, Georgy Tovstonogov headed the theater, lived and breathed performances and productions.

On May 23, 1989, the premiere of a new play was to take place at the Bolshoi Theater. The chief director set a date and, sitting in his own car, drove home … However, he never reached his relatives. On one of the streets the car stopped. Georgy Tovstonogov, the man whospent his whole life on stage and behind the stage in excitement for others, the man whose creative yet unused potential pulled the now great theater out of the abyss of oblivion, died on the spot. And only a long memory of him as an amazing person lives now and will live forever.