What's going on in the Volkov theater today. XXI Century. At the start of the new millennium
The theater on the banks of the Volga owes its birth to the actor and director Fyodor Grigoryevich Volkov, who at that time was only 21 years old. On June 29, 1750, near the large stone barn where the merchant Polushkin had previously kept his leather goods, Polushkin's stepson Fyodor Volkov and his comrades gave their first performance. The repertoire of the theater of Fyodor Volkov included plays by Dmitry Rostovsky, tragedies by Lomonosov and Sumarokov, as well as satirical performances by Volkov himself - “Shemyakin Court”, “Entertainment of Moscow Spectators about Shrovetide”, “Every Yeremey Understand Yourself”. The first tour of the theater was a trip to St. Petersburg at the invitation of Empress Elizaveta Petrovna.
Volkov created new theatrical forms, being the director of the "nationwide spectacle", the masquerade "Triumphant Minerva", arranged in Moscow in honor of the coronation of Catherine II. He approved the performing arts as a school of civic feelings, connected it with the problems of the era. Volkov's striving for the democratization of the theater and its general accessibility was extremely important for the further development of the national stage.
Volkov's traditions were further developed by Ivan Dmitrevsky, Volkov's comrade-in-arms, who was destined to go from a scribe of the Yaroslavl provincial office to an academician. Volkov's work was continued by Dmitrevsky's students, the great Russian tragedians Katerina Semenova and Alexei Yakovlev, followed by Pavel Mochalov and Mikhail Shchepkin, new generations of masters of the Russian theater.
In the first half of the 19th century, the best actors of the Volkov Theater troupe asserted a new stage truth; in their work, in contrast to the routine manner of acting, a bright realistic beginning matured.
A great event in the life of Yaroslavl was the tour of the largest Russian actors, masters of theatrical art V.P. Samoilov, V.I. Zhivokini - representatives of the Sadovsky dynasty. On the stage of the Yaroslavl Theater toured in different time G. N. Fedotova, A. E. Martynov, F. P. Gorev, V. V. Charsky, K. N. Poltavtsev, P. M. Medvedev, N. Kh. Rybakov, the famous Negro tragedian Ira Aldridge, the Adelheim brothers , M. V. Dalsky, P. N. Orlenev, M. N. Ermolova, V. F. Komissarzhevskaya, K. A. Varlamov, V. N. Davydov, M. G. Savina, singers N. V. Plevitskaya, A. D. Vyaltseva, Varya Panina. In the 1890s, K. S. Stanislavsky performed here several times
The 1899-1900 season was marked by preparations for the anniversary and the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Russian National Theatre. The best forces of the imperial - St. Petersburg and Moscow Maly - theaters were invited to the anniversary Volkov celebrations in 1900. Celebrations in Yaroslavl in honor of the birth of the First Russian Theater have become a holiday throughout Russia.
In 1909, a competition was announced for best project the building of the new city theater, the old building was dilapidated, and the Duma decided to build a new theater with a capacity of more than 1000 spectators. The first prize in this competition was awarded to the architect N. A. Spirin (1882 - 1938).
In 1911, the new building of the theater was solemnly opened with a huge gathering of people.
At the opening of the theater, a greeting telegram from K.S. Stanislavsky was read out: “Please accept my heartfelt gratitude for the invitation and memory ... I sincerely wish that a nice young business was born and blossomed in the homeland of the founder of the Russian theater. Accept congratulations and convey to the participants of the case. Stanislavsky.
In the same year, the theater was named after Fyodor Grigorievich Volkov.
For two years (1914 - 1916), a young but already well-known director in Russia, I. A. Rostovtsev, held an enterprise in the theater.
A.P. Chekhov, attention to Russian classical dramaturgy.
In the first years of Soviet power, the Yaroslavl Theater received the name "Soviet named after Volkov Theatre".
In the second half of the 1930s, the troupe of the Volkovsky Theater united into a wonderful, strict and harmonious ensemble of stage masters, who for many decades determined the creative face of the theater. These are S. Romodanov, A. Chudinova, A. Magnitskaya, V. Sokolov, S. Komissarov, V. Politimsky, G. Svobodin. The repertoire of the 1930s is represented by Russian classics, primarily Ostrovsky's dramaturgy (Thunderstorm, Dowry, Guilty Without Guilt, The Last Victim).
During the years of the Great Patriotic War many Volkovtsy went to the front, standing up with weapons in their hands to defend their homeland. Among them are actors Valerian Sokolov, Vladimir Mitrofanov, Dmitry Aborkin, Vladimir Mosyagin, decorator, and later actor Konstantin Lisitsyn, who was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, an actress who became a front-line intelligence officer, Sofia Avericheva, actress Maria Rypnevskaya, artistic director theater David Mansky. The young director Semyon Orshansky came to the theater in 1940. He made his debut with the play "Hot Heart"
A. N. Ostrovsky, managed to stage "A guy from our city", "The Gadfly". In 1942 he died in the battles for Stalingrad.
Since the 1950s, the theater has entered a period of true prosperity. The best masters of the stage - People's Artists of the USSR and the RSFSR, laureates of State Prizes Grigory Belov, Valery Nelsky, Sergei Romodanov, Alexandra Chudinova, Klara Nezvanova - carry in their work a considerable charge of the old Russian classical theatrical culture. The performances of the Volkovsky Theater are marked by the unity and integrity of the handwriting.
From 1960 to 1978, the theater was managed by an outstanding figure in the Soviet theatrical art, National artist USSR, laureate of State Prizes Firs Shishigin. The name of Shishigin, who headed the theater for almost two decades, is associated with a significant stage in the history of the Volkovskaya stage.
In the early 60s, an energetic director Viktor Davydov worked on the Volkovskaya stage, captivating with his performances.
Next to the elders of the Volkovskaya stage - G. Belov, V. Nelsky, A. Chudinova, G. Svobodin, K. Nezvanova, S. Romodanov, the talent and talents of the masters of the Volkovskaya stage of the new generation - Nikolai Kuzmin, Yuri Karaev, Vladimir Solopov, are most clearly manifested, Natalia Terentyeva, Sergei Tikhonov, Felix Razdyakonov.
At the turn of the 70s - 80s, the tradition of Russian stage school continued by Vladimir Kuzmin, who headed the theater. Gorky's "Barbarians" and "False Coin" by M. Gorky are sharply modern and psychologically intense. V. Yezhov's "The Nightingale Night" was marked by romantic inspiration and excited lyricism, Ch. Aitmatov's "Mother's Field" conquered with epic breadth.
From 1983 to 1987 the theater was directed by director Gleb Drozdov.
For the first time, the head of the theater so openly declares the intention to abandon the old traditions, justifying this by the need to free himself from "academicism" and conservative ways of stage existence. For the first time, the theater breaks away so sharply from its origins, from its roots, from its core. Drozdov defends the theater of spectacle and performance, guessing the advancing element of the market and the commercialization of entertainment enterprises.
In the early 90s, the theater was headed by director Vladimir Vorontsov, who foresaw and reflected in his work the rhythms of a catastrophic time. His undoubted successes include the acutely psychological staging of "Professor Storitsyn" by L. Andreev, the spectacular and areal "Corsican" by I. Gubach, the poetic confession of "Vie Carré" by T. Williams.
The social shifts that led to the collapse of the USSR and subsequent events undoubtedly affected the sharp attempts to reform the theater personnel and the state of the team, which experienced many upheavals during this period.
Since 1996, Vladimir Bogolepov, a thoughtful artist, who in the past studied with the famous Volkov "old men", honors the historical traditions and artistic achievements of the theater, has become the chief director of the theater. The theater takes a course on Russian and world classical dramaturgy.
In 1997, with the play "Child Killer" by F. Gorenstein, the theater was invited to Prague, to the stage of the National Theater "Narodny Divadlo". In May-June 1998, with the support of the Russian Centers of Culture, the theater made a tour with performances of Dostoevsky's Thomas and Chekhov's Platonov in European cities - Paris, Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, Berlin. The tour had a great artistic resonance and contributed to the establishment of new creative connections of the theatre. In 1999, a new tour of the theater took place in Northern Europe - the theater presented its art in Finland, Denmark and Norway.
Drama Theatre. Fedora Volkova (Yaroslavl, Russia) - repertoire, ticket prices, address, phone numbers, official website.
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There is reason to consider the Russian State Academic Drama Theater named after Fyodor Volkov the first professional theater in the country: it was founded in 1750 by the merchant son F. Volkov. At that time, the theater, however, was an amateur troupe, playing their performances in an old barn. Nevertheless, Volkov's success in creating a professional theater was so noticeable that Empress Elizabeth even invited him to St. Petersburg for similar work. Already in the 19th century. theater in Yaroslavl has become one of the best in the country.
Today, the theater, which bears the unofficial name of the "First Russian", occupies a building built in 1911 by the architect N. Spirin. This is the third building on Yaroslavl's theater square, which was later renamed in honor of the theatre's founder. The facade, portico and walls of the building are decorated with sculptures, including figures ancient mythology associated with art. In the interior of the auditorium you can admire the painting "The Triumph of Dionysus" on the frieze, made by N. Verkhoturov.
Today, the theater hosts federal and national events - in particular, the International Volkov Festival, which is one of the top 5 theater forums in Russia.
Nowadays, the theater stages classics and avant-garde, holds federal and national events - in particular, the International Volkov Festival, which is included in the top 5 theater forums in Russia. The youth festival "The Future of Theater Russia" is also held here.
The latest innovation in the Volkov Theater is a separate project based on the chamber stage. Center them. K. Trepleva is devoted mainly to modern and experimental dramaturgy.
Already in modern times actors and performances brought the theater a total of four Golden Mask awards.
In the 1930s theater museum was opened. His first exhibits were photographic materials, posters and programs. Subsequently, the city art gallery transferred to the museum its entire collection of materials related to theater history Yaroslavl. At present, about 15 thousand exhibits are stored in the museum's funds. The most valuable of them are photos from the 1890s. and glass negatives from the 1930s-1950s. Also of interest are sketches of scenery, manuscripts of plays, theater costumes, etc.
Practical Information
Address: pl. Volkova, 1.
Entrance: the cost of tickets for an evening performance on the main stage is 100-700 RUB.
Prices on the page are for November 2019.
The Russian State Academic Drama Theater named after F. G. Volkov traces its history back to the first public professional theater in Russia, founded in Yaroslavl by Fyodor Volkov in 1750.
XVIII century. First Russian
According to legend, the glory of the Russian theater dates back to the old leather barn, in which the theater of "eager comedians" staged performances, headed by the merchant's son Fyodor Grigoryevich Volkov.
By 1750, not an amateur, but a professional theater appeared in Yaroslavl with a permanent troupe, an extensive repertoire and a new building for the presentation of tragedies and comedies, which could accommodate up to 1000 spectators.
The first Yaroslavl comedians who made up the troupe of Fyodor Volkov were employees of the Yaroslavl Provincial Chancellery Ivan Dmitrevsky, Ivan Ikonnikov, Semyon Kuklin, Yakov Popov, the townsman of the Tveritskaya Sloboda Semyon Skochkov, immigrants from Little Russia (Ukraine) Yakov Shumsky and Demyan Galik. The troupe also includes Fyodor Volkov's brothers Grigory and Gavriil.
The repertoire of the Volkovskaya troupe included the spiritual dramas of Metropolitan Dimitry of Rostov, the tragedies of Racine, Sumarokov, and the comedies of Molière. Fyodor Volkov and his associates from Yaroslavl formed the core of the first state Russian professional national public theater.
In 1751, news of the Yaroslavl theater reached St. Petersburg. The Senate executor Count Ignatiev, while in Yaroslavl by definition of the Senate to investigate abuses of wine farming, attended the performances of the Volkovskaya troupe in his spare time, and upon his return, his enthusiastic reviews of the Yaroslavl theater reached the Empress Elizaveta Petrovna. On January 5, 1752, the highest Decree was issued: “Fyodor Grigoriev, the son of Volkov, who is also Polushkin, with the brothers Gavril and Grigory (who maintain a theater in Yaroslavl and play comedies) and whoever else they need for this will be brought to St. Petersburg ... »
High professional skill, natural talent contributed to the recognition of Volkov's talent, the assertion of the glory of the first actor of the Russian theater. The significance of Volkov's deeds is enormous. He defended the national identity of the Russian theater, laid the foundation for the school of Russian acting, illuminated by the light of noble and humanistic ideals. The Volkov Theater was a civil, patriotic, tyrannical theater; it defended the motives of liberty, freedom, and human dignity.
Volkov created new theatrical forms, becoming the director of the "nationwide spectacle", the masquerade "Triumphant Minerva", arranged in Moscow in honor of the coronation of Catherine II. He approved the performing arts as a school of civic feelings, connected it with the problems of the era. Volkov's striving for the democratization of the theater and its general accessibility was extremely important for the further development of the national stage.
Volkov's traditions were further developed by Ivan Dmitrevsky, Volkov's comrade-in-arms, who was destined to go from a scribe of the Yaroslavl provincial office to an academician. Volkov's work was continued by Dmitrevsky's students, the great Russian tragedians Katerina Semenova and Alexei Yakovlev, followed by Pavel Mochalov and Mikhail Shchepkin, new generations of masters of the Russian theater.
With the departure of Volkov and his troupe to St. Petersburg for some time, the theater ceased to exist, but soon theatrical life in Yaroslavl was revived. Since 1777, the enlightened governor A.P. Melgunov, the patron of literature, theater and book publishing, has contributed to the development of culture. The governor encourages the development of the theater, amateur performances are staged in his house. In 1786, the first actor of the Russian Imperial Theater, Volkov's successor, Ivan Afanasyevich Dmitrevsky, gave his tour at the Melgunov Theater in Yaroslavl. He played Sinav in Sumarokov's tragedy Sinav and Truvor.
XIX century. Formation
In the future, theaters in Yaroslavl arose on a private initiative: the theater was kept in his house by the governor M. N. Golitsyn, in a specially equipped building - Prince D. M. Urusov (from late XVIII century to 1818).
The most important stage in the development of theater in Yaroslavl was the construction in 1819 of the first special theater building. It was built at his own expense and according to his own design by the provincial architect Pyotr Yakovlevich Pankov. The building in the style of classicism was built on the site of a hidden rampart. Since then, for almost two hundred years, the Yaroslavl theater has been located in the very place that Pankov chose for it.
The wife of Pyotr Yakovlevich, Elizaveta Andrianovna, was recorded as the owner of the theater building. She was also involved in the affairs of the troupe. Since 1824, Pankov began to lease the theater. V.S. Tikhmenev became the first tenant. Since 1826, the building was rented by V. Obreskov, a wealthy landowner of the Lyubimsky district, who had his own serf actors. Then the troupe of D. M. Urusov played for one year. He was replaced as an entrepreneur by "dismissed with a full pension from the directorate of the Imperial Moscow Theater" actor Lisitsyn.
As the Yaroslavl historian N. S. Zemlyanskaya found out, in the 1820s Pankov seriously rebuilt the building: according to the documents she found in the archive, it appears that by the end of the 1820s it was already made of stone.
And in 1834, it was acquired by the actor Mikhail Yakovlevich Alekseev, who received a rich inheritance, who in 1841 rebuilt the building again. With minor changes, it served for another forty years.
After the death of Alekseev in 1848, the building was inherited by his young daughter Fyokla (her mother managed the affairs), and in 1855 the former serf musician, and then the theater cashier Vasily Andreevich Smirnov, who married Fyokla, became the owner of the Yaroslavl theater. Smirnov cared little about keeping it in decent condition. Having squeezed everything he could out of the enterprise, in 1880 he sold the theater to the merchant of the 1st guild Sergey Arefyevich Chernogorov.
Shortly after Chernogorov took over the theater, it turned out that the building did not meet fire safety requirements. The City Duma demanded that Chernogorov carry out a serious reconstruction of the premises, including the installation of fireproof stairs. Realizing what kind of collar he put on his neck, Chernogorov preferred to sell the theater building to the city government for 15,000 rubles - even cheaper than the same price (19,000 rubles) that he paid when buying it.
In 1882, the theater passed, in modern terms, into municipal ownership. Given its condition, the city, as a new owner, began a major renovation that same summer. In fact, a new building was built on the basis of the old volume. It is assumed that the author of the project could be a young talented architect Nikolai Ivanovich Pozdeev. However, no documentary evidence of this has been found. Pozdeev really participated in the reconstruction, but at the same time he implemented his own project or someone else's, it is not known for certain.
During the reconstruction, extensions were made along the front and side facades, which gave the theater a completely different look: the public had a complete feeling that a new building had appeared in the city. The layout of the auditorium has also changed. After the reconstruction, it became 677 seats: in the parterre - 195, in the boxes - 215, in the galleries - 267.
Among the entrepreneurs who rented the theater from the city were Derkach, Danilov, Lebedeva, Baron von Tyumen. There is no memory of their theatrical activities in the city.
In 1887-1889, N. A. Borisovsky kept the enterprise. He included in his repertoire plays by Fonvizin, Ostrovsky, Sukhovo-Kobylin, Turgenev, Molière, Shakespeare and other serious authors. A. P. Chekhov’s play “Ivanov” was staged in Yaroslavl under Borisovsky even earlier than in St. Petersburg. He was the first to propose to erect a monument to F. G. Volkov in the city.
After Borisov, the theater was rented by A.P. Nabalov from Vologda, who made a bet on an operetta-farcical troupe. Again, a serious repertoire returned to the Yaroslavl Theater in 1894-1897 during the period of the entreprise of the theater actress Korsha Z. A. Malinovskaya. She was replaced by A.M. Karalli-Tortsov, who focused on a commercially successful repertoire to the detriment of serious dramaturgy. Subsequently, he took the entreprise at the Yaroslavl Theater twice more (1902-1904 and 1912-1914). His daughter Vera Karalli became a famous ballerina.
The Yaroslavl theater brought up great talents, which subsequently adorned the capital's stages.
Three seasons (1844 - 1847) on the Yaroslavl stage formed the talent of Lyubov Pavlovna Kositskaya (later Nikulina-Kositskaya). Young Kositskaya, who had an attractive appearance, a good voice, quickly became the favorite of the Yaroslavl and Rybinsk public. She played in tragedies, comedies, dramas and vaudeville, arousing the delight of the audience with the grace of performance and sincerity of feeling. The younger contemporary of Mochalov and Shchepkin, Nikulina-Kositskaya became the predecessor of Yermolova, Strepetova, Olga Sadovskaya on the Russian dramatic stage. She was destined to become the best performer of the role of Katerina in the "Thunderstorm" by A. N. Ostrovsky.
In the 1860s, the still unknown young actress Pelageya Antipievna Strepetova made her debut on the stage of the Rybinsk Theater. For two seasons - in 1865 - 1866, the actress served in the Smirnov enterprise on the stage of the Yaroslavl Theater.
A great event in the life of Yaroslavl was the tour on the stage of the city theater of the great Russian actor Mikhail Semenovich Shchepkin. He came to Yaroslavl twice: in the spring of 1856 and in May 1858. Shchepkin's first visit to Yaroslavl coincided with the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Russian Theater in St. Petersburg. At a gala dinner hosted in honor of the actor by the provincial marshal of the nobility, Shchepkin called for a monument to the founder of the Russian Theater Fyodor Grigoryevich Volkov.
In the season of 1896 - 1897, Ivan Mikhailovich Moskvin began his stage activity in Yaroslavl. Here came to him the first glory, here his talent received public recognition and support. In the first season of the Moscow Art Theatre, in 1898, Moskvin will be entrusted with the role of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich.
In the Yaroslavl Theater, the young Yaroslavl Leonid Vitalievich Sobinov, the future great Russian singer, began his stage career as an inconspicuous extra. On August 9, 1898, the first concert of Sobinov, the tenor of the Imperial Theaters, who had already won fame, took place in his native city.
In the first half of the 19th century, the best actors of the Volkov Theater troupe asserted a new stage truth, in their work, in contrast to the routine manner of acting, a bright realistic beginning matured.
A big event in the life of Yaroslavl was the tour of the largest Russian actors, masters of theatrical art V.P. Samoilov, V.I. Zhivokini - representatives of the Sadovsky dynasty. G. N. Fedotova, A. E. Martynov, F. P. Gorev, V. V. Charsky, K. N. Poltavtsev, P. M. Medvedev, N. Kh. Rybakov, the famous Negro tragedian Ira Aldridge, the Adelgeim brothers, M. V. Dalsky, P. N. Orlenev, M. N. Ermolova, V. F. Komissarzhevskaya, K. A. Varlamov, V. N. Davydov, M. G. Savina , singers N. V. Plevitskaya, A. D. Vyaltseva, Varya Panina. In the 1890s, K. S. Stanislavsky performed here several times.
XX century. With the name of Volkov
The 1899-1900 season was marked by preparations for the anniversary and the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Russian national theater. The best forces of the imperial - Petersburg and Moscow Maly - theaters were invited to the anniversary Volkov celebrations in 1900. Celebrations in Yaroslavl in honor of the birth of the First Russian Theater have become a holiday throughout Russia.
In 1906, it turned out that the theater building was in disrepair. At first, the city authorities, having decided to build a new building, entrusted the preparation of the project and estimate to the city architect Alexander Nikiforov. He completed the assigned work, and his project was even approved by the City Duma. But the public of Yaroslavl criticized Nikiforov's project and it was eventually rejected.
Meanwhile, the old building was demolished in the summer of 1907, and the construction of the new one did not begin.
In 1909, an all-Russian competition was finally announced for the best project for the building of the new city theater. The Duma decided to build a new theater with a capacity of at least 1,000 spectators. The competition jury was headed by the chairman of the Moscow Architectural Society F. Shekhtel. A total of 66 projects were submitted to the competition. And the first prize was awarded to the 27-year-old student of the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture Nikolai Spirin (1882 - 1938).
The building, designed by Spirin and under his supervision, was built in just a year and a half - fantastic short term! On the facade of the theater and on the side walls there are sculptural compositions, on the portico there is a sculptural group, in the center of which is the patron of the arts Apollo-kifared, on the left is the muse of the tragedy Melpomene, on the right is the muse of comedy Thalia (or, according to another version, the muse of lyrical poetry Euterpe). Side sculptural high reliefs (metopes) are dedicated to the motifs of ancient tragedy.
The auditorium is decorated with a picturesque frieze "The Triumph of Dionysus" by the famous artist of the "Silver Age" Nikolai Verkhoturov and his assistant Vera Saken. The set designer was the Yaroslavl artist Alexei Kornilov.
On September 28, 1911, the new building of the theater was solemnly opened with a huge gathering of people. At the opening, a welcoming telegram from K. S. Stanislavsky was read out: “Please accept my heartfelt gratitude for the invitation and memory ... I sincerely wish that a nice young business be born and flourish in the homeland of the founder of the Russian theater. Accept congratulations and convey to the participants of the case. Stanislavsky.
By the decision of the City Duma, the new theater was named after Fyodor Grigorievich Volkov.
For two years (1914 - 1916), a young, but already well-known director in Russia, I. A. Rostovtsev, who gathered a very strong troupe, attracted the audience with talented productions of M. Gorky's Petty Bourgeois, A. P. Chekhov's The Seagull, attention to Russian classical dramaturgy.
By a decree of the Council of People's Commissars of November 9, 1917, all the theaters of the country were transferred to the jurisdiction of the People's Commissariat of Education.
But only in August 1918, the leadership of the Volkovsky Theater passed to the art section at the Department of Public Education of the Yaroslavl Provincial Executive Committee. Actor N. G. Kitaev was appointed administrator of the theater. The theater board was headed by the doctor F. S. Troitsky. In October 1918, the municipalization of the theater took place.
Opening of the first season of the Soviet theater. Volkov took place on October 26, 1918. At the opening, the head of the art section delivered a greeting. The theatrical season lasted 9 months, 233 performances were played, 100 (!) plays were staged.
In the 1920s and 1930s, artistic directors B. E. Bertels, I. A. Rostovtsev, D. M. Mansky, artists A. I. Ippolitov, and artists A. I. N. N. Medovshchikov, people of great creative courage, inner temperament, with great demands on themselves and others, with a desire to raise the level of theater to the true heights of art.
In the second half of the 1930s, the troupe of the Volkovsky Theater united into a wonderful, strict and harmonious ensemble of stage masters, who for many decades determined the creative face of the theater. These are S. Romodanov, A. Chudinova, A. Magnitskaya, V. Sokolov, S. Komissarov, V. Politimsky, G. Svobodin.
The repertoire of the 1930s is represented by Russian classics, primarily Ostrovsky’s dramaturgy (“Thunderstorm”, “Dowry”, “Guilty Without Guilt”, “The Last Victim”), where in the roles of Katerina, Larisa Ogudalova, Kruchinina, Yulia Tugina, the poetic- the tragic talent of Alexandra Chudinova.
The theater's ability to deeply, philosophically and psychologically reveal the "crisis" man of the Soviet era becomes stronger. The breath of time burst onto the stage in "Bread" by V. Kirshon and "Far" by A. Afinogenov, "Plato Krechete" by A. Korneichuk and "My Friend" by N. Pogodin.
In the performances "Three Sisters" by A.P. Chekhov, "Anna Karenina" (according to L.N. Tolstoy), "Romeo and Juliet" by W. Shakespeare, "Nora" by G. Ibsen, "Treachery and Love" by F. Schiller Volkovtsy affirm the desire for a deeply psychological theater, for the disclosure of spiritual truth.
The Yaroslavl people were the first to stage Peter the Great by Alexei Tolstoy on the provincial stage. The performance was born in close collaboration with the author of the play. At the premiere of the performance on May 19, 1939, Alexei Tolstoy was present, noting the excellent performance of the central roles by S. Romodanov and A. Chudinova. The Moscow tour in 1939 brought the team well-deserved recognition and fame.
Until December 1938, the theater was listed as a city theater, then it was renamed into a regional one, since 1943 it was called the Yaroslavl State Theater. F. G. Volkova.
During the Great Patriotic War, many Volkovtsy went to the front, standing up with weapons in their hands to defend their homeland. Among them are actors Valerian Sokolov, Vladimir Mitrofanov, Dmitry Aborkin, Vladimir Mosyagin, decorator, and later actor Konstantin Lisitsyn, awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, an actress who became a front-line intelligence officer, Sofia Avericheva, actress Maria Rypnevskaya, artistic director of the theater David Mansky. The young director Semyon Orshansky came to the theater in 1940. He made his debut with the play “Hot Heart” by A. N. Ostrovsky, managed to stage “A Guy from Our City”, “The Gadfly”. In 1942 he died in the battles for Stalingrad.
The enemy was near Moscow. There were disputes in the theater about what is more important for the Motherland in difficult years: art that inspires people to fight, or direct participation in the fight. Opinions were different. And when once our actors V. G. Sokolov, A. P. Demin, S. P. Avericheva, V. I. Mitrofanov joined the troops leaving to the west, everyone envied them.
Severe, strict military dramaturgy becomes the leading theater repertoire from the very beginning of the war - “A guy from our city”, “Russian people” by K. Simonov, “Front” by A. Korneichuk, “Invasion” by L. Leonov, “Boatwoman” by N. Pogodin, “General Brusilov” by I. Selvinsky, “ Field Marshal Kutuzov ”V. Solovyov.
In 1943, the premiere of M. Gorky's The Old Man staged by I. A. Rostovtsev took place on the Volkovskaya stage, which became a noticeable phenomenon in the theatrical life of the country. The role of the Old Man became the zenith of acting glory of the wonderful actor Pavel Gaideburov. The performance revealed the deep nature and bestial ideology of fascism. Gaideburov masterfully conveyed the voluptuous, predatory pleasure of the Old Man, burned by misanthropic animal malice, the rapture of the very process of torture by fear, the possibility of executing a person ... At the same time, the performance was shown on tour in the capital and was called "an outstanding event in the theatrical life of Moscow."
In 1950, the 200th anniversary of the First Russian Theater was solemnly celebrated. On June 11, 1950, “for great achievements in the development of theatrical art, in connection with the 200th anniversary of the founding”, the theater was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.
Since the 1950s, the theater has entered a period of true prosperity. The best masters of the stage - People's Artists of the USSR and the RSFSR, laureates of State Prizes Grigory Belov, Valery Nelsky, Sergei Romodanov, Alexandra Chudinova, Klara Nezvanova - carry in their work a considerable charge of the old Russian classical theatrical culture. The performances of the Volkovsky Theater are marked by the unity and integrity of the handwriting.
At the end of the 40s, a new artistic director Pyotr Vasilyev came to the theater - an artist of bright, powerful and temperamental talent, which was especially evident in the production of Gorky's plays "Egor Bulychov and Others", "Somov and Others".
In the mid-50s, the theater troupe was replenished with graduates of the capital's theater universities. Young actors Tamara Nikolskaya and Felix Mokeev are quickly becoming favorites of the public in Yaroslavl (Larisa and Karandyshev in The Dowry, Nina Zarechnaya and Treplev in The Seagull, Lisa and Panshin in The Noble Nest), Natalia Terentyeva, Sergei Tikhonov, Felix Razdyakonov, Igor Baranov, Lev Dubov, Yuri Karaev.
A diverse and generous acting palette allows director Tikhon Kondrashev to create performances "Tsar Fedor Ioannovich", "The Seagull", " Noble Nest"," Dowry.
From 1960 to 1978, the theater was managed by an outstanding figure of Soviet theatrical art, People's Artist of the USSR, laureate of State Prizes Firs Shishigin. The name of Shishigin, who headed the theater for almost two decades, is associated with a significant stage in the history of the Volkovskaya stage.
It was a Russian character, sweeping, spontaneous, with enormous internal contradictions. The Russian theater of the second half of the 20th century can name few directors who worked so passionately, enthusiastically and temperamentally on the global and tragic problem Russian people and history. Shishigin's time in the theater is a time of creative enthusiasm and unprecedented unity of the troupe.
In different years (1960, 1963, 1975), in an effort to perpetuate the image of Fyodor Volkov, the theater turns to creating a play about the first Russian actor. The author of all stage versions was the Volkovets actor, playwright Nikolai Mikhailovich Sever. In 1960, a romantic drama appears on the stage (directed by R. Vartapetov). Then in 1963, F. Shishigin staged a powerful folk performance, including Russian games, excerpts from the drama "Tsar Maximilian", episodes from Sumarokov's tragedies "Khorev", "Sinav and Truvor", the masquerade "Triumphant Minerva".
In the early 60s, an energetic director Viktor Davydov worked on the Volkovskaya stage, captivating with his performances. Next to the elders of the Volkovskaya stage - G. Belov, V. Nelsky, A. Chudinova, G. Svobodin, K. Nezvanova, S. Romodanov, the talent and talents of the masters of the Volkovskaya stage of the new generation - Nikolai Kuzmin, Yuri Karaev, Vladimir Solopov, are most clearly manifested, Natalia Terentyeva, Sergei Tikhonov, Felix Razdyakonov.
April 29, 1966 "for outstanding services in the development of Soviet theatrical art" the Ministry of Culture of the USSR awarded the Yaroslavl Order of the Red Banner of Labor Theater. FG Volkov honorary title - academic.
January 12, 1962 collegium of the Ministry of Culture of the RSFSR adopted a resolution "On the work of the Yaroslavl Drama Theater. F.G. Volkov”, which set the task of reconstructing the theater building. The design task, approved by the regional executive committee on May 9, provided for an increase in the volume of the building due to the superstructure and extension by 16.5 thousand cubic meters - from 38 to 54.5 thousand. At the same time, the number of seats was reduced from 1100 to 1054. The estimated cost of the reconstruction was determined at 628 thousand rubles, which roughly corresponded to the cost of building 125 two-room apartments. The stage box was built six meters high, a three-story part 21 meters long was attached to the back.
The architectural design of the facades of the attached and built-on parts was made in the nature of the existing building while maintaining a single integral appearance. In the new part of the building, the same divisions, rustication, cornices were continued, the same types of windows were adopted. The main facade of the theater was minimally affected by the reconstruction.
As a result, the size of the main stage of the theater has significantly increased: with a width of 21 meters (this parameter has not changed), its depth was 20 meters, and the height from the tablet to the grate was 24 meters. According to these indicators, from the drama theaters of the country with Volkovsky, even today only the Theater Russian army and the Moscow Art Theater in Moscow, the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, the theaters of Arkhangelsk and Yekaterinburg and ... the Yaroslavl Youth Theater. And in 1967, only the Theater of the Soviet Army, Leningrad im. Pushkin (Alexandrinka) and Arkhangelsk. The authors of the project for the reconstruction of the Volkovsky Theater were Yaroslavl architect Lyudmila Vasilievna Shiryaeva (auditor part) and Muscovite Elizaveta Natanovna Chechik (stage complex).
During the period of reconstruction, the Palace of Culture of the Yaroslavl Motor Plant became the main stage for Volkovites. The DK scene was given to the Volkovites 15-17 days a month. On other days, the theater showed performances in clubs and houses of culture, including rural ones, and went on tour.
The grand opening of the theater after reconstruction took place on August 1, 1967. There were no distinguished guests from the capital at the event. Everything went quite like a family: the city leadership praised the builders, the builders wished success to the artists, the artists thanked the city leadership for their care. As reported by the Severny Rabochiy newspaper, at the evening, the first secretary of the regional committee of the CPSU F.I. Loshchenkov. On behalf of the regional committee and the city party committee, the regional executive committee and the city executive committee, he sincerely thanked the builders, architects, installers, designers, all those who invested their work in the reconstruction of the building of the theater named after F. G. Volkov. The renovated theater building, he noted, is a wonderful gift to the working people of Yaroslavl for the 50th anniversary of the Great October Revolution. This is a great event in the cultural life of the city and the region. Congratulating the theater team on the opening of the 218th season, F. I. Loshchenkov wished the artists, artists, directors to create vivid performances that reveal the greatness of the deeds and achievements of the Soviet people in the construction of communism».
The gala evening ended with the play "Fyodor Volkov".
In 1969, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of V. I. Lenin, an agreement on socialist commonwealth was concluded between the theater and the largest enterprise in the city - the Order of Lenin Tire Plant. The parties have assumed mutual obligations.
The theater team, in particular, undertook to "create highly artistic performances about our time, performances that tell about the implementation of Lenin's precepts." A program was developed for the aesthetic education of the workers of the enterprise. Theater workers at the factory sites held talks about creative way collective, about its masters, meetings of actors, directors, artists with workers, impromptu concerts, introduced tire workers to new performances, organized joint evenings, creative and technical workers of the theater assisted factory amateur performances.
For their part, "the factory staff, using the theater's help in the communist education of the workers, more successfully solves production problems, raises the culture of production."
Until 1970, the theater was subordinate to the Department of Culture of the Yaroslavl Regional Executive Committee. In 1970, it was transferred to the Ministry of Culture of the RSFSR.
In 1975, in connection with the 225th anniversary of the Volkovsky Theater, he was awarded the Order of the October Revolution.
At the turn of the 1970s and 1980s, the traditions of the Russian stage school were continued by Vladimir Kuzmin, who headed the theater. Gorky's "Barbarians" and "False Coin" by M. Gorky are sharply modern and psychologically rich. The Nightingale Night by V. Yezhov was marked by romantic inspiration and excited lyricism, the Mother Field by Ch. Aitmatov conquered with epic breadth.
One of the most notable productions of the 1980s was the play Delo based on the play by A. V. Sukhovo-Kobylin (literary edition by Viktor Rozov, staged by Sergei Rozov). Delo on the Volkovskaya stage is a performance about how the human conscience little by little begins to give in, to yield. A man of strict duty, dreams, Muromsky - V. Nelsky becomes a man who disobeyed his own voice. The theater tells not only about the collapse of the Tarelkins, about how the case did not work out, how the bribe failed, but also about the fall of a person, about how the conscience was ruined.
From 1983 to 1987 the theater was directed by director Gleb Drozdov. For the first time, the head of the theater so openly declares the intention to abandon the old traditions, justifying this by the need to free himself from "academicism" and conservative ways of stage existence. For the first time, the theater breaks away so sharply from its origins, from its roots, from its core. Drozdov defends the theater of spectacle and performance, guessing the advancing element of the market and the commercialization of entertainment enterprises.
In 1988, the play "Hot Heart" based on the play by A. N. Ostrovsky, staged by Sergei Yashin and Vladimir Bogolepov, arose as a long-awaited response to the renewal of society, which began with perestroika. Isn't it time today, crushing the former kuroslepovyh and hail-fighting, to remember exactly about the ardent heart? the theater asked. The performance became a kind of test of the Volkovites for creative vitality - for readiness after a painful sleepy depression for a theatrical game-transformation, for bright performances within a well-coordinated ensemble of actors, for depicting "living life" through the poetics of the grotesque and carnival. The beauty of nature (artist Elena Kachelaeva) and the beauty of the soul, having merged, led one, poetic and lyrical melody, and the whole performance was filled with the air of native freedom.
In the early 90s, the theater was headed by director Vladimir Vorontsov, who foresaw and reflected in his work the rhythms of a catastrophic time. His undoubted successes include the acutely psychological production of Professor Storitsyn by L. Andreev, the spectacular-areal Corsican by I. Gubach, the poetic confession of Vieux Carré by T. Williams.
The social shifts that led to the collapse of the USSR and subsequent events undoubtedly affected the sharp attempts to reform the theater personnel and the state of the team, which experienced many upheavals during this period.
The image of an old Russian theatre, a true theatrical brotherhood, arose in the romantic extravaganza The Green Carriage (1993), staged by Mikhail Mamedov according to the script by A. Gladkov.
The troupe of the theater in the 1990s was an ensemble that harmoniously combined the experience of the oldest masters - People's Artists of Russia Nikolai Kuzmin, Natalia Terentyeva, Vladimir Solopov, Felix Razdyakonov - and young actors. The “third” generation of Volkovites, pupils of the Volkov Theater, declared themselves more and more clearly (they all graduated from the Yaroslavl Theater School at the F. G. Volkov Theater, and later the Yaroslavl Theater Institute) - V. Sergeev, T. Ivanova, T. Isaeva, G. Krylova, I. Cheltsova. Acting success marked the images created by actors V. Astashin, S. Kutsenko, V. Romanov. Graduates of the 80s confidently “held” the repertoire - T. Gladenko, I. Sidorova, V. Balashov, V. Kirillov, T. Malkova, N. Kudymov, E. Mundum, I. Sidorenko, A. Zubkov.
Since 1996, Vladimir Bogolepov, a thoughtful artist who studied under the famous Volkov "old men" in the past, honors the historical traditions and artistic achievements of the theater, has become the main director of the theater. The theater takes a course on Russian and world classical dramaturgy.
The repertoire of the theater at the turn of the century included “Thomas” by F. M. Dostoevsky, “The Caucasian Romance” (based on “The Cossacks” and “Hadji Murad” by L. N. Tolstoy), “Platonov” by A. P. Chekhov, “Without Guilt Guilty”, “Forest”, “Enough Simplicity for Every Wise Man” by A. N. Ostrovsky, “Inspector General” by N. V. Gogol. World classics were represented by Shakespeare's Hamlet, G. Boccaccio's The Decameron, C. Goldoni's The Venetian Twins, G. Hauptmann's Before Sunset.
At that time, performances were staged by masters of directing from Russia, near and far abroad Boris Golubovsky, Stanislav Tayushev, Alexander Kuzin, artistic director of the Prague National Theater Ivan Raymont (Czech Republic), chief director of the Minsk Gorky Theater Boris Lutsenko (Belarus), Vladimir Krasovsky , Rostislav Goryaev. Worked as part of creative teams famous artists Dmitry Mokhov (Belarus), Anatoly Shubin, Elena Senatova, Josef Ziller (Slovakia), composers Alexander Chevsky and Yuri Pryalkin.
The theater made significant tours in Russia and abroad. From 1995 to 1998: Kyiv, Minsk, Riga, Nalchik, Novorossiysk, Krasnodar.
In 1997, with the play "Child Killer" by F. Gorenstein, the theater was invited to Prague, to the stage of the National Theater "Narodny Divadlo". In May-June 1998, with the support of the Russian Centers of Culture, the theater made a tour with performances of Dostoevsky's Thomas and Chekhov's Platonov in European cities - Paris, Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, Berlin. The tour had a great artistic resonance and contributed to the establishment of new creative connections of the theatre. In 1999, a new tour of the theater took place in Northern Europe - the theater presented its art in Finland, Denmark and Norway.
XXI Century. At the start of the new millennium
The jubilee, 250th season, the last theatrical season of the 20th century, opened at the Fyodor Volkov Russian Academic Drama Theater unusually late - November 30, 1999. This happened because for seven months the large-scale repair, quite comparable to reconstruction, continued in the theater. The situation was complicated by the financial crisis of the late 1990s, during which the money allocated by the Ministry of Culture for the preparations for the anniversary partly depreciated.
During the repair, which had to be done by the theater director Valery Sergeev, not only the walls of the building were painted, but also about two hundred meters of reliefs on the facades were replaced, supplementing them with some reliefs based on the sketches of the architect Nikolai Spirin, not realized in 1911. A lot of work was done to repair the foyer, dressing rooms and utility rooms, replace the rafters, roofs and all networks - sewerage, water supply, power supply and ventilation, update and replace sound equipment. By the beginning of the season, the theater got a new curtain. And yet - on the main facade, the sculptural group of Apollo and theatrical muses was replaced. For more than eighty years, the sculptures have been badly damaged by bad weather and could simply collapse down on anniversary days. The new Apollo, an exact copy of the former one, was sculpted by the Yaroslavl sculptor Elena Paskhin.
While the theater was being renovated, the Volkovites went on tour to Kostroma and Vladimir, showed their performances in Rybinsk, Lyubim, Danilov.
On November 30, a gala evening was held dedicated to the opening of the 250th theater season. The first performance in the anniversary season was directed by Alexander Kuzin based on the play by Alexander Ostrovsky “Enough Stupidity for Every Wise Man”, which at the beginning of summer the Volkovites showed on tour in Scandinavia - in Finland, Sweden and Denmark. The main roles in The Wise Man were played by Valery Kirillov, Natalia Terentyeva, Vladimir Solopov, Valery Sergeev, Vadim Romanov, Tatyana Ivanova, Tatyana Gladenko, Igor Sidorenko, Evgeny Mundum.
The main premiere of the season was Gogol's The Government Inspector directed by the theater's chief director Vladimir Bogolepov. The premiere took place on February 16, 2000. The season ended on April 9 with the "Auditor". Three days later, the theater showed the play "Enough Stupidity for Every Wise Man" in Moscow on the stage of the Maly Theater - as part of the Ostrovsky festival. This was the first performance of the Volkovtsy in the capital after a long break - since the time of Firs Shishigin! From Moscow, the theater went to St. Petersburg, where four performances were shown on the stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater (which arrived at that time on tour in Yaroslavl): “Enough simplicity for every wise man”, “Platonov”, “Inspector General” and “ Venetian twins».
From May 17 to May 24, the first International Volkov Festival took place in Yaroslavl, the motto of which was the words of Mikhail Shchepkin “To Volkov, Volkov, Volkov we owe everything ...” Both Moscow Art Theater, the Maly Theater, Alexandrinka, the Tovstonogov Bolshoi Theater, academic theaters from Nizhny Novgorod, Minsk and Tver.
On May 25, a gala evening was held dedicated to the 250th anniversary of the first Russian professional theater. The newly elected second President of Russia Vladimir Putin took part in the official part. He congratulated the theater on its anniversary and presented state awards: the Order of Honor - to Nikolai Kuzmin, the Order of Friendship - to Felix Razdyakonov and Vladimir Solopov, the medals of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland - to actors Larisa Golubeva, Viktor Kuryshev, Lyudmila Okhotnikova, property manager Lidia Nesmelova. Certificates of laureates of honorary titles from the hands of Putin received: "Honored Artist" - chief artist Alexander Babaev and chief director Vladimir Bogolepov; "Honored Artist of Russia" - Tatyana Gladenko, Valery Kirillov, Tatyana Malkova and Valery Sokolov; "Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation" - props designer Olga Daricheva, head of the dressing room Tamara Klimova, head of the musical department Vladimir Selyutin, head of the troupe Elena Susanina. The theater was awarded the Volkov Prize, established by the Government of Russia.
The 251st season of the Volkovtsy threw a bridge from the second millennium to the third: it began in the 20th century and ended in the 21st.
Unfortunately, the rise, on which the theater went to the anniversary, after the holiday was replaced by a recession. At first they talked about it on the sidelines, then they began to write in the press. A significant blow to the repertoire was ... the marriage of the Honored Artist of Russia Vadim Romanov to a graduate of the Yaroslavl Theater Institute Irina Goryacheva and the May tour of the Volkovites in St. Petersburg. On the stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater, the theater showed four performances, in three of which Vadim Romanov shone - “There is enough simplicity for every wise man” (Gorodulin), “Platonov” (the main role) and “The Venetian Twins” (two roles of the twins Zanetto and Tonino). Irina was his partner in The Wise Man. And they also played together in Hamlet: he - Hamlet, she - Ophelia.
After a tour in St. Petersburg, Irina and Vadim received an invitation to try themselves in Alexandrinka. In June they got married and left for St. Petersburg.
In Volkovsky immediately "hung" two the best performances repertoire - "Hamlet" by Boris Lutsenko and "Platonov" by Ivan Raimont. In The Wise Man and The Twins, Romanov was replaced, but the former charm of his characters was never achieved. Romanov, however, was ready to come to Yaroslavl to see Hamlet and Platonov, but the theater director Valery Sergeev did not want to hear about it: Vadim became a cut piece for him.
The 251st season opened on October 25, 2000 with the premiere of King Lear directed by Ivan Raimont with Felix Razdyakonov in leading role. The role of the jester, which Raymont planned to give to Vadim Romanov, was played by Vladimir Balashov.
Two days later, on October 27, director Vladimir Krasovsky released the premiere of the play "The Magnificent Cuckold", in which the graduate of the YaGTI Alexandra Chilin-Giri, who had just been accepted into the troupe, played the main role. On December 6, the premiere of the play "Real Laughter" was held. And before the new year, on December 19, the long-awaited opening of the chamber stage of the theater took place.
The first performance on the chamber stage was "Christmas Dreams" with Natalia Terentyeva in the title role. This performance by Vladimir Bogolepov was destined for a long and happy life: it ran for ten seasons and was played nearly 150 times. The performance was awarded the regional prize named after F.G. Volkova.
As if catching up with the "lag" of the anniversary season, before the summer the theater released two more premieres of "Fermosa" based on Feuchtwanger's novel on February 28 and on May 31 addressed to both children and adults "The Nightingale" by Andersen. The performances “Before Sunset”, “Guilty Without Guilt” and “Honest Adventurer” ended their lives in the 251st season.
In April-May, the theater again went on a big foreign tour, having visited Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Germany.
Volkovtsy opened the 252nd season with a tour in Moscow. On the stage of the Maly Theater, Yaroslavl residents showed performances of King Lear, The Inspector General, Enough Simplicity in Every Wise Man, Corsican Woman. On the same days, the Maly Theater held a full-fledged tour in Yaroslavl: Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, Wolves and Sheep and Mad Money by Ostrovsky, Schiller’s Insidiousness and Love, Scribe and Leguve’s Secrets of the Madrid Court were on the stage of the Volkovsky Theater and "Businessman" by Balzac - a total of 16 performances took place from 8 to 23 September!
On September 8, the theater celebrated the 75th anniversary of the People's Artist of Russia Natalia Ivanovna Terentyeva. It is symbolic that on this day she played on the stage of the Maly Theater - in the play "Enough Stupidity for Every Wise Man."
The Moscow audience received the artists of the first Russian professional theater very warmly. On the whole, the performances of the Volkovites were also favorably assessed by the Moscow press. Only in one review, published in Nezavisimaya Gazeta, the theater was subjected to devastating criticism. Most of all went to the premiere of the anniversary season - "The Government Inspector".
On October 16, the second International Volkov Festival opened. The first three Fyodor Volkov Prizes established by the Government of Russia were presented on the stage of the theater. The first, after the Volkovites, the prize winners were the artistic director of the Krasnodar creative association "Premier" Leonard Gatov, the artistic director of the Chelyabinsk Academic Drama Theater Naum Orlov and Evgeny Panfilov, the artistic director of the Perm theater "Yevgeny Panfilov's Ballet". Since 2001, the Volkov Prizes have been awarded annually to three laureates.
After the closing of the festival, the Volkovtsy left for Kyiv, where, as part of the Dostoevsky Evenings in Kyiv festival, they showed the play “Thomas” based on the story “The Village of Stepanchikovo and Its Inhabitants” with Vladimir Solopov in the title role. Felix Razdyakonov, Natalia Terentyeva, Valery Sergeev, Tatyana Pozdnyakova, Andrey Zubkov and others were also involved in the performance.
In the 252nd season on big stage two premieres were played - on December 24, 2001 - "The Gambler" based on the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky, on March 27, 2002 - "Spirits" based on the play by L. N. Tolstoy "The Fruits of Enlightenment". Both performances can be safely attributed to the success of the theater, they were marked by bright acting work, but, unfortunately, they did not stay in the repertoire: The Gambler ran for only two seasons (14 performances), The Spirits ran for four seasons, but in three of them staged only three times (a total of 20 performances). In The Player, a notable debut on the Volkov stage was made by YAGTI graduate Olga Stark, who was introduced to the role of Blanche after Zamira Kolkhieva unexpectedly left the theater.
Two performances have replenished the repertoire of the small stage - "Double Game" by William Congreve and "Tango" by Slawomir Mrozhek. The last games played this season were Liar, True Laughter, Thomas, Baby Killer and King Lear. The last three left the repertoire due to the illness of the People's Artist of Russia Felix Innokentyevich Razdyakonov, who played the main roles in them.
On April 21, 2002, the season ended with a pre-premiere performance of The Sixth Floor based on the play by Albert Géry directed by Stanislav Tayushev, after which the theater went on another foreign tour to Helsinki, Copenhagen and Berlin. This time, the Volkovites showed Europe the Corsican and the Government Inspector.
In the meantime, the first Russian professional theater traveled around Europe, the second Festival of Russian theater schools was held in Yaroslavl, in which all the country's leading theater universities took part.
The 253rd season of the Volkovsky Theater opened on September 5, 2002 with the premiere performance of The Sixth Floor. After playing a week in Yaroslavl, the theater went on tour to Novorossiysk and Krasnodar.
On September 19, the theater suffered a heavy loss - the People's Artist of Russia Nikolai Vasilievich Kuzmin died.
From 11 to 22 October, the third International Volkov Festival took place in Yaroslavl. It opened with the ballet "The Golden Age" of the Krasnodar association "Premier". Its director, the outstanding choreographer Yuri Grigorovich, as well as the artistic director of the Chuvash Drama Theatre, People's Artist of Russia Valery Yakovlev, and the Voronezh Drama Theater named after A. Koltsov received the Fyodor Volkov Prize for 2002.
In the 253rd season, the theater released four premieres on the big stage and two on the small stage. It was in this season that a roll was made towards comedies, which soon took the main place in the repertoire. But if “Wolves and Sheep” and “Kojin Skirmishes” were distinguished by at least good dramaturgy, then the comedies “What the Butler Saw” and “The Last Passionate Lover” did not bring either honor to the theater or the actors of glory. The Decameron, The Gambler and The Magnificent Cuckold ended their lives on the stage.
At the end of April, the Volkovtsy showed "Inspector" on tour in Cairo. The Egyptian Ministry of Culture provided Russian artists with luxurious rooms in a 4-star hotel, organized trips to the pyramids and best museums. In their free time from performances, the Volkovites enjoyed trying on oriental life: they smoked a hookah, rode camels, went to the markets.
The theater season in Yaroslavl ended with a tour of the Alexandrinsky Theatre. These tours for the Yaroslavl theater-goers were interesting, among other things, because they again - three years later - saw Vadim Romanov on the Volkov stage. He was busy in two touring performances - Vanity Fair and Trees Die Standing.
The new, 254th season in Volkovsky opened unusually early - on August 12, 2003. On August 21, Goldoni's Kodzhinsky skirmishes were staged by Ivan Raimont. With this performance, the theater associated serious plans for "", but sound weighty on the main theater competition Volkovtsy succeeded in the country only five years later with "Woe from Wit".
In September, the theater once again took part in a traditional tour in Novorossiysk. IV International Volkovsky Festival took place from 15 to 25 October. The winners of the Volkov Prize were the Norilsk Polar Drama Theater named after V. Mayakovsky, the Khakass republican puppet theater Skazka and the Youth Theater (Tilsit Theater) from the city of Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Region. This theater was then headed by Volkovsky's future artistic director Yevgeny Marchelli. His play "Othello" with Vitaly Kishchenko in the title role closed the festival and became its main event.
The first premiere of the season was in December the comedy The Fool by Lope de Vega. Then came the black comedy of Jean Anouilh "The Birds" and the comedy "Two Veronese" by Shakespeare. Plans to stage the play Biography by the Swiss Max Frisch remained plans.
The theater took part in the festival "Actors of Russia - Shchepkin" in Belgorod (showing "Kodzhinsky skirmishes"), toured in Brazil, and in early summer the Volkovites made a tour of the United States, having visited Washington and New York.
On May 6, 2004, the People's Artist of Russia Felix Innokentevich Razdyakonov died.
Before the start of the 255th season, Volkovsky hosted a performance by ... Sergei Yesenin: in the hall of the first Russian professional theater, the shooting of the serial film "Yesenin" with Sergei Bezrukov in the title role took place. Many Yaroslavl residents also took part in the extras.
Volkovsky in 2004 entered the top ten the best theaters Russian official ranking of the Ministry of Culture. One of the main indicators of the rating is attendance of 72-75 percent, in Russia it was then considered a very high level.
In September, the theater went on tour in Sevastopol, where it showed six performances. And from October 14 to 24, the fifth international Volkovsky festival took place. The winners of the Fyodor Volkov Prize of the Russian Government for 2004 were the Moscow state theater"Russian Ballet" under the direction of People's Artist of the USSR Vyacheslav Gordeev (since the status of the theater is regional, it is, paradoxically, considered provincial) and the Sverdlovsk State Academic Theater of Musical Comedy. The third laureate was the actor of the Samara Academic Drama Theater named after M. Gorky Alexander Amelin.
Volkovtsy started the season on August 5th. On August 17, the premiere of the melodrama Strange Mrs. Savage based on the play by the American playwright John Patrick directed by Lyudmila Zotova took place. The role of Mrs. Savage was played by Honored Artist of Russia Tatyana Pozdnyakova. In early August, director Mikhail Mokeev began rehearsals for Frenchman Georges Feydeau's vaudeville The Ladies' Tailor, but Valery Kirillov had to finish the work. Therefore, the premiere took place only in March 2005, and in December 2004, Savage was shown - a lyrical comedy about love directed by Vladimir Bogolepov by the Spaniard Alejandro Casona.
Immediately after the Volkov Festival, People's Artist of Russia Sergei Yashin began rehearsals for the comedy Mad Money by A. N. Ostrovsky - the premiere took place on April 4. Honored Art Worker of Russia, artistic director of the Sevastopol Academic Drama Theater Vladimir Magar transferred his Cyrano de Bergerac to the Volkov stage (the premiere took place on July 10). In his own staging, Magar mixed fragments from three translations of the famous play - Tatyana Shchepkina-Kupernik, Vladimir Solovyov and Yuri Aikhenvald, and also added a lot of his own. The result was a very strange hybrid, very far from the heroic comedy of Rostand. Surprisingly, some actors refused to participate in the production of Magar already in the course of work (although their names were even included in the program released for the premiere).
Three premieres took place during the season on the chamber stage: Chekhov’s Two Funny Stories of Love (based on the one-act plays The Bear and The Proposal) directed by Valery Kirillov (At first, even three stories were planned - the third was a fragment from Fatherless with Nikolai Schreiber in the role of Platonov. In 2007, "Two Stories" were transferred to the big stage.), the comedy "Hunted Horse" by Francoise Sagan (directed by Anatoly Beyrak) and a gloomy story based on Vasily Sigarev's play "Ladybugs Return to Earth" staged by the well-deserved artist of Russia Galina Krylova. Initially, it was a graduation performance of Valery Kirillov's course at the Yaroslavl Theater Institute. Most of the graduates of this course joined the Volkov Theater troupe.
In the 255th season, Birds ended their lives on the stage (only 13 performances were shown in a year), The Butler, The Sixth Floor and Spirits, as well as the Forest, The Bridegroom in the Closet, which lasted ten seasons in the repertoire and New Pygmalion. In some of them, the main roles were played by the Honored Artist of Russia Vladimir Balashov, who tragically died on November 11, 2004: at night in the very center of Yaroslavl, he was killed by some scumbags.
The event of the season was the play "The Cherry Orchard" staged by Eymuntas Nyakroshyus with stars, shown on the stage of Volkovsky Russian theater starring (Ranevskaya - Lyudmila Maksakova, Gaev - Vladimir Ilyin, Lopakhin - Evgeny Mironov, Firs - Alexei Petrenko). "Northern Territory" devoted two reviews to this very controversial performance.
The season ended with a tour of the Volkovtsy in Denmark and Argentina, where a performance-concert "In the forest near the front" staged for the 60th anniversary of the Victory by Valery Kirillov was shown.
Opening the 256th season, Volkovtsy, of course, could not know that it would be the last for the chief director of the theater, Vladimir Bogolepov.
The last week of August was devoted to rehearsals for two new performances: the chief director of the Kostroma Drama Theater, Sergei Morozov, took on Schiller's Intrigue and Love, and Vladimir Bogolepov began to realize his old dream - staging Chekhov's The Seagull. On the small stage, Anatoly Beirak began work on Strinberg's Miss Julie. Ivan Raimont promised to start work on a new performance. But most of these plans were not destined to come true: the rehearsals of Schiller's play were stopped, work on Miss Julie dragged on for more than a year, Raymont did not come to Yaroslavl.
Volkovtsy began the season with exchange tours: the theater left for Samara, where since September 16 it has shown six performances on the big stage and three on the chamber stage. Then, one after another, three international theater festivals were held. First, the Yaroslavl with "Mad Money" went to Magnitogorsk; October 20 in Belgorod became participants in the festival "Actors of Russia - Shchepkin"; On October 15, the performance "Cyrano de Bergerac" opened the season in Yaroslavl, and from October 25, the theater received guests of the sixth festival "We owe everything to Volkov, Volkov, Volkov."
The Volkov Festival was opened by the Perm State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater under the direction of the winner of the Fyodor Volkov Prize of the Government of the Russian Federation, People's Artist of Russia Georgy Isahakyan. Yaroslavl audience saw the ballet "Bestiary" based on the works of Gozzi, Andersen and Kafka. On October 26, another laureate of the festival, People's Artist of Russia Nikolai Gorokhov, appeared on the Volkov stage in the play "Romeo and Juliet" of the Vladimir Drama Theater. The third laureate of 2005, the Novosibirsk Youth Theater Globus, closed the VI Volkov Festival with Krechinsky's Wedding based on a play by Alexander Sukhovo-Kobylin.
At the end of the year, at a press conference held in Moscow, the decision of the jury of the national theater award "" was announced to award the award in the nomination "For Honor and Dignity" to the actress of the Volkovsky Theater, People's Artist of Russia Natalia Ivanovna Terentyeva. The award ceremony took place on April 17, 2006 at the Bolshoi Theatre.
The first premiere of the 256th season was the play "Rivals" based on the play by Sheridan directed by Anatoly Beirak. On March 27, on International Theater Day, the premiere of The Seagull by Vladimir Bogolepov took place.
They say that, starting work on this performance, Bogolepov once said: "I'll put on The Seagull - you can die." His words became a tragic prophecy. As it turned out, Vladimir Georgievich summed up his work in the theater with this performance. Subtle, built on nuances and halftones, the performance reflected not only Bogolepov's understanding of Chekhov's dramaturgy, but also his attitude to the role of theater in the life of society. Vladimir Georgievich Bogolepov died three weeks after the premiere.
The 246th season ended in June with the premiere of The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill directed by Alexander Pletnev, chief director of the Kaluga Drama Theatre.
After the closing of the 256th theatrical season of the Volkovsky Theater, the Ministry of Culture decided to announce a competition for the position of chief director.
In the new season, the theater intended to continue working on Chekhov. Valery Sergeev wanted to invite Vladimir Magar from Sevastopol, who staged Cyrano at Volkovsky a year ago, to stage the play Uncle Vanya. Sergeev himself hoped to play in new production the role of Professor Voinitsev. The performance based on the play by the American playwright Ivon Menchell “With You and Without You” on the big stage was supposed to be entrusted to director Valery Grishko from St. Petersburg. (These plans were never realized.)
Director Anatoly Beyrak worked actively in the theater throughout the season. In October, he released on the chamber stage the play Miss Julie based on the play by August Strindberg, for the New Year - Pushkin's Tales, in April - for the upcoming anniversary of People's Artist of Russia Natalia Ivanovna Terentyeva - Oswald Zahradnik's Solo for Chilling Clock. A little earlier - on February 25 - the premiere of the play "Boulevard of Fortune" took place, which was staged by film director Vadim Derbenev, well-known to viewers from the films "Woman in White", "The Secret of the Blackbirds", "Snakes", "Black Corridor" (this film with Innokenty Smoktunovsky in the title role Vadim Klavdievich filmed in Yaroslavl) and many others. In April, the premiere of the play "Duck Hunt" based on the play by Alexander Vampilov took place. The performance was staged by the director from Irkutsk Alexander Ishchenko.
During the entire 257th season in Volkovsky, work was underway on the production of the musical Spin (Spinthe Musikal) by Canadian composer Douglas Pashley. The production team of Svenska Teatern, the Swedish Theater from Helsinki, worked on this performance. Director Gunnar Helgasson already in July began the distribution of roles. In Helsinki, the musical was a huge success. Volkovtsy also counted on the attention of the public to this production, which in many ways was to become a milestone for the theater. The premiere took place at the end of the season - on July 1, but the performance did not gain a foothold in the repertoire: it was shown only seven times on the Yaroslavl stage.
In August, the theater went on tour in Sevastopol, in September and October - in Gomel and Vitebsk, and at the end of December, the Volkovites went with the "Inspector" to the festival of Russian art in Japan.
The seventh Volkovsky festival was held from December 1 to 10. The festival program was opened by the laureate of the Volkov Prize of the Government of Russia for 2006, the Bashkir State Opera and Ballet Theater (Ufa), which showed Leyla Ismagilova's ballet Arkaim. The prize winners were also the artistic director of the Volgograd New Experimental Theater Otar Dzhangisherashvili and the Irkutsk Okhlopkov Drama Theater, which closed the festival with the play First Love based on the works of Turgenev.
At the beginning of the summer, the Volkovites visited Prague, where they showed Goldoni's Kodzhinsky Skirmishes and Chekhov's Two Funny Love Stories.
On August 9, the director of the theater, People's Artist of Russia Valery Sergeev, celebrated his 55th anniversary. In September the theater went on a traditional tour to Novorossiysk. And on September 20, a message came to Yaroslavl that during the tour, Valery Valentinovich Sergeev died suddenly ...
The Fyodor Volkov Russian State Academic Drama Theater entered its 258th season not only without a chief director, but also without a director. For more than a year, the duties of the head were performed by Alexei Nikolaevich Ivanov, a man who worked for many years as Valery Sergeev’s deputy, who knew the team and the problems of the theater well, a strong business executive, but by the nature of his previous work, he was quite far from the creative process. And although the theater staff supported Ivanov's candidacy, the decision on the future director was delayed.
During the season, the plans outlined by Valery Sergeev were implemented. From October 25 to November 5, the eighth International Volkov Festival took place. The winners of the Prize of the Government of Russia named after Fyodor Volkov for 2007 were the Minusinsk Drama Theater, the Omsk Theater for Children and Youth (TYUZ) and the artist of the Krasnodar State Academic Drama Theater Stanislav Gronsky.
In December, the theater suffered another loss - the actress Valentina Isidorovna Shpagina passed away.
The first premiere of the season was the play "Hunting more than captivity" based on Ostrovsky's play "Slaves" on a small stage. Under New Year the premiere of “Khanuma” took place on the big stage. In April, director Denis Kozhevnikov released "Memorial Prayer" based on the play by Grigory Gorin. The season ended with the premiere of Charley's Aunt directed by Sergei Yashin. Leaving the repertoire of "Corsican", "Enough of simplicity for every wise man" and "The last ardent lover" - performances in which Valery Sergeev played the main roles. In November 2007, the Threepenny Opera was removed from the repertoire, having withstood only 10 performances. In May 2008, the Inspector General, Wolves and Sheep and Spin were played for the last time.
At the end of May, Volkovtsy twice showed Oswald Zahradnik's Solo for Chilling Clock as part of well-known all-Russian theater festivals - " The oldest theaters Russia" in Kaluga and at the festival-competition in Tambov. The performance was noted by expert critics and the jury of both festivals. People's Artist of Russia Natalia Ivanovna Terentyeva, the performer of the role of Pani Conti, became a true heroine: she was awarded twice - an honorary diploma of the festival "The Oldest Theaters of Russia" in the nomination "For the best performance of a female role" and an award named after the outstanding Russian actor Nikolai Khrisanfovich Rybakov in the nomination "Actress Russia".
At the end of the summer, the theater celebrated the 100th anniversary of the birth of Firs Efimovich Shishigin.
New times of the First Russian
In the 259th season, a new stage in the life of the Volkovsky Theater began.
The Volkov Festival opened on September 25 with the presentation of the Fyodor Volkov Prizes of the Government of Russia. The 2008 laureates were the Saratov Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, the Orenburg Drama Theater named after Gorky and artistic director of the Arkhangelsk Puppet Theater Dmitry Lokhov.
On the eve of the festival, the new director of Volkovsky, Boris Mikhailovich Mezdrich, was introduced to the band.
At this time, the rehearsals of the play "Three" based on a little-known story by Gorky were already being completed. Vladimir Portnov worked on the performance. The premiere took place on November 25, and was coldly received by the public. Time has shown that the choice of Gorky's story turned out to be unsuccessful (by the way, it was originally assumed that Portnov would stage Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra). The performance died in a "record" time - in three months: it was last played on February 28, 2009. There were seven performances in total.
The first premiere, which was prepared entirely with the blessing of the new director, was the New Year's story "Merry Christmas, Uncle Scrooge!". The play based on the novel by Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol in Prose" was written by playwright Olga Nikiforova, whom Boris Mezdrich invited to work in the theater as deputy director of creative activity. The performance staged by Anatoly Beirak was not at all like the well-known children's fairy tales that had been staged before. new year holidays, and became the first herald of changes that began in the oldest Russian professional theater.
On February 10, the first “adult premiere” took place under the new director: a performance based on the play by Alexander Volodin “Do not part with your loved ones” was staged by the famous actor and director, Honored Artist of Russia Sergey Puskepalis.
Immediately after his arrival in Yaroslavl, Boris Mezdrich said that the image of the theater is formed not only from the public's impressions of their own productions, but also from the performances of guest performers. Therefore, Mezdrich promised, neither Kristina Orbakaite nor Valery Meladze would be seen in Volkovsky again. The stage will be provided only to well-known theater groups with a good repertoire. And the director kept his promise already in April, inviting the ballet troupe of the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater to Yaroslavl, which he directed for several years.
At the end of April, the Volkov Theater together with the Yaroslavl State theater institute organized in Yaroslavl the first festival "The Future of Theater Russia" (BTR), which became the successor to the Festivals of Russian theater schools held at the turn of the century. The first BTR festival was attended by 23 universities and theaters, which showed 26 performances.
And to finally believe that the new times in Volkovsky began in earnest, even inveterate skeptics had to after the premiere of the play "Woe from Wit", which took place on June 8, 2009. Volkovsky closed the 259th season with this performance.
The performance was shown twice - on June 8 and 9. Only a few lucky ones were able to get to the premiere, the rest had to wait until autumn. Meanwhile, rumors about what was happening on the stage instantly spread around the city. Some extolled the performance to the skies as a kind of revelation, which had never happened on the Volkov stage. Others scolded him just as confidently, finding many quotes and even borrowings from the famous avant-garde performances of the 1920s and 1930s. The inexperienced audience could hardly find words to tell about what they saw to those who were not at the premiere. Enthusiastic assessments of Mezdrich and the director of the performance, Igor Selin from St. Petersburg, were interspersed with almost curses. Success, as they say, was complete.
At the end of June, the troupe went on vacation. And before leaving, the team was introduced to a new chief director - Sergey Puskepalis. In a keynote speech to the troupe, Sergei Vytauto called Konstantin Sergeevich Stanislavsky his idol in theatrical art, and his teaching - "by the theatrical ship." In the Volkovsky Theatre, Puskepalis said, he feels like a navigator of a ship on which there is a strong, confidently leading ship captain - director of the theater Boris Mezdrich.
The gathering of the troupe, which preceded the 260th season, took place in mid-August 2009. In the repertoire plans, which the chief director Sergei Puskepalis introduced to the Volkovites, they were impressed not only by the variety and novelty of names, different, famous, rare or not at all known to our public. The level of directing attracted attention: from Vladimir Petrov, Honored Art Worker of Russia, professor at the Moscow Art Theater School, Evgeny Marchelli, Honored Art Worker of Russia (both laureates of the Golden Mask national theater award) to the youngest in Russian directing, twenty-four-year-old Timofey Kulyabin from Novosibirsk.
In early September, Volkovtsy presented the play "Don't Part With Your Loved Ones" at one of the most prestigious theater festivals - the All-Russian festival "Real Theatre", which takes place annually in Yekaterinburg and is recognized as the third most important in Russia after the capital's "Golden Mask" and the St. Petersburg "Baltic House" ". The Volkovsky theater season opened on September 12 with the play Woe from Wit. On October 24, the first premiere was the musical performance "Concert" directed by Andrei Rusinov from Yekaterinburg. Libretto based on famous songs of the 20th century (the history of the country in a song from Silver Age until the 70s) was created by Olga Nikiforova, the composer of the performance is Igor Esipovich, the new head of the musical part of the theater.
In the fall, the first, double issue of the Theater Circle magazine was published. Born, in the words of the magazine's editor-in-chief Elena Medvedskaya, "in the heart of the Volkovsky Theatre", the magazine reflected in detail his life in the past season.
The tenth International Volkovsky Festival was held from 3 to 9 November. His core credo is "Russian dramaturgy in the languages of the world". Government Prize Winners Russian Federation named after Fyodor Volkov in 2009 were the Goncharov Drama Theater from Ulyanovsk and the Kolyada Theater from Yekaterinburg, as well as the People's Artist of Russia, actress of the A. Koltsov Voronezh Drama Theater Lyudmila Zolotareva-Kravtsova.
On December 3, Yaroslavl residents saw “Beautiful World” (“The Trick of the Great Deadviarch”) based on the play by Michel de Gelderod, directed by Vladimir Petrov. On December 17, YaGTI professor Alexander Kuzin released Volkovsky's "Silva" by Imre Kalman with his course on the big stage. Sergei Puskepalis staged the play Snowball Bustle based on the play by Olga Nikiforova for the New Year.
On December 8, at a press conference held in Moscow at the Meyerhold Center, the nominees for the 2009 Golden Mask national theater award were announced. The performance of the Academic Drama Theater named after Volkov "Woe from Wit" staged by director Igor Selin was named a nominee for the "Mask" in five categories at once! Director Igor Selin, artist Alexander Orlov, lighting designer Gleb Filshtinsky and actor, lead actor Chatsky - Alexei Kuzmin are presented in the following categories: " Best Job director”, “Best work of an artist in a drama theater”, “Best work of a lighting designer in a drama theater”, “Best male role”. The performance as a whole claimed the title of laureate in the nomination "Best Performance in a Drama/Large Form". The Volkovsky Theater was among the three non-capital theaters in Russia included in the Golden Mask shortlist.
In January, Volkovsky's big stage hosted ... a theatrical presentation of the released "How I Spent This Summer", in which he played the main role, became the triumphs of the 60th Berlin Film Festival. Puskepalis and his co-star Sergei Dobrygin were awarded the main prize for the best acting work. The film directed by Alexei Popogrebsky received the second "Silver Bear" in the nomination "For Outstanding Contribution to Art". The cinematographer Pavel Kostomarov became the owner of this award.
On February 20, the premiere of the play "Carmen" was scheduled, which was staged by Timofey Kulyabin. But... at the beginning of the month, fire inspectors came to the theater and stopped work for as much as 60 days! Nothing like this had ever happened before in the life of the theater.
On April 5, 2010, as part of the festival of performances - nominees for the Golden Mask, the Volkovites showed Woe from Wit in Moscow on the stage of the Mossovet Theater. Unfortunately, the stage of this theater is smaller than the Volkov theater, so the Moscow audience was not able to see the performance in all its splendor. The “Mask” was not received this time, but the very inclusion of the theater in the number of nominees was a recognition of the creative achievements that the theater has achieved in such a short time.
The premiere of "Carmen" took place on April 17. From April 19 to April 25, the second festival "The Future of Theater Russia" was held. Then, before the end of the season, the performances "Ekaterina Ivanovna" by Leonid Andreev directed by Evgeny Marchelli and Chekhov's "Three Sisters" staged by Sergei Puskepalis were released.
All three premieres of the Volkovites became events in the theatrical life not only of Yaroslavl: before the start of these performances, cars with Moscow numbers and numbers of regions neighboring our region began to constantly park near the theater building. The assessments of the performances both in the press and among the audience were very different, many, having weaned from the "injurious theater", continued to wait for simple entertaining performances. But, despite the machinations of ill-wishers, Mezdrich did not turn off the intended course. During the season, the repertoire was significantly “cleaned up”, and seven performances went to the archive at once: “The Venetian Twins”, “The Fool”, “The Savage”, “Mad Money”, “Cyrano de Bergerac”, “Rivals” and “Memorial Prayer” . The changes have become irreversible.
Before the start of the new season, Northern Territory took a long interview with theater director Boris Mezdrich, in which he assessed the past two seasons and spoke about the prospects for the future. Speaking about the upcoming work, Boris Mezdrich unequivocally stated: “There will be no more “Simple Theater” ...”
In September, three puppet theaters from Japan performed on the Volkovsky stage, and on September 30, the premiere of the play "Devil's Dozen" took place. The play based on the stories of Arkady Averchenko was written by Olga Nikiforova and directed by Alexander Kuzin.
The XI International Volkov Festival was held from October 29 to November 7. The winners of the Prize of the Government of the Russian Federation named after Fyodor Volkov for 2010 were the Novosibirsk State Academic Drama Theater "Red Torch", Khakassia national theater puppets "Fairy Tale" (this was already the second Volkov Prize received by the theater from Abakan, the first was awarded in 2003) and the artistic director of the Kazan Academic Russian Bolshoi Drama Theater named after V.I. Kachalov Alexander Slavutsky.
In April, the third festival of theater schools "The Future of Theater Russia" took place in Yaroslavl, the first events of the "Konstantin Treplev Center" took place on the chamber stage.
In early May, Volkovsky acquired a new director - he was Honored Worker of Culture of Russia, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Candidate of Economic Sciences, Professor Yuri Konstantinovich Itin.
The season ended on July 6 with a pre-premiere showing of the play "Tartuffe" directed by Alexander Kuzin.
After two previous turbulent seasons, characterized by active work on the main stage, the 262nd season became, at first glance, a quiet time. So if in the 260th and 261st seasons twelve premieres were played on the main stage, then in the 262nd - only three, including New Year's fairy tale. But on the chamber stage, where the Konstantin Treplev International Center began its work, creative life literally boiled.
The season opened on 15 September 2011 with Yevgeny Marchelli's play Zoya's Apartment. At the end of September, it was one hundred years since the completion of construction and the opening of the building of the Volkovsky Theater - this anniversary was celebrated in a chamber setting. On October 6, Alexander Kuzin's Tartuffe premiered. This performance was prepared during the previous season and was delivered in early July, but the public was only able to see it now. On October 18, the anniversary benefit performance of the People's Artist of Russia Natalia Ivanovna Terentyeva also took place with brilliance on the big stage.
From 3 to 12 November, the twelfth Volkov Festival took place. The winners of the Russian Government Prize for 2011 were the Omsk Academic Drama Theatre, the Omnibus Theater from the city of Zlatoust and the Saratov Youth Theater named after Kiselyov.
A unique event was the visit to Yaroslavl of the outstanding director Yuri Petrovich Lyubimov. He had not been in his homeland for several decades, so during this visit he not only met Yaroslavl, but also visited Danilov, where his grandfather's house was preserved. Yuri Petrovich watched some performances of the festival, and also took part in the opening after the repair of the chamber stage, where on November 2 a retrospective screening of animated films directed by Alexander Petrov took place.
10 December on main stage The theater premiered the play "Untitled" based on the early play of the young Chekhov "Fatherlessness" ("Platonov") directed by Evgeny Marchelli. This work, along with "Ekaterina Ivanovna", became the hallmark of the theater for the next two seasons and was nominated for the "Golden Mask" in three categories. By the New Year, Vladimir Maisinger, under the direction of Evgeny Marchelli, staged Snow White, and in March, the long-awaited premiere of Shakespeare's The Tempest took place.
The search for new forms continued actively on the chamber stage. In January, the premiere of "Nekrasova net" took place, in February - the play "Viy" (play by Natalia Vorozhbit, director Semyon Serzin), then Yevgeny Marchelli released here the play "Two Poor Romanians Speaking Polish" based on the play by the Polish playwright Dorota Maslovskaya, in April was shown "Theatrical Blues" directed by Igor Esipovich. In April, the theater, together with YAGTI, held the 4th festival "The Future of Theater Russia". Both the premieres of the chamber stage and the performances of the festival were held with full halls, which was the answer to the question: does modern theater need “new forms”?
The theatre's tour program was varied. In the first half of the season, the performance "Ekaterina Ivanovna" was shown in Riga and St. Petersburg, "Three Sisters" - at the O. Yankovsky festival in Saratov. At the end of the season, the theater went on tour in Baku (“Ekaterina Ivanovna”, “Untitled”, “Concert”), then the performance “Viy” was shown in St. "- at the III International Theater Festival "Academy" in Omsk.
For almost the whole year, Evgeny Marchelli worked on the play “The House of Bernarda Alba”, in July it was shown privately, but the premiere took place only in the next, 263rd season.
The theater began its 263rd season with a trip to Taganrog, where Yevgeny Marchelli's play "Untitled" opened the program of the IX International Festival "In Chekhov's Homeland". And in Yaroslavl the season began with the performances of the thirteenth International Volkov Festival.
In 2012, the Fyodor Volkov Komi-Permyak Drama Theater named after M. Gorky from the city of Kudymkar, the chief director of the Perm theater "At the Bridge" Sergey Fedotov and the chief director of the Krasnoyarsk Drama Theater named after A.S. Pushkin Oleg Rybkin became the winners of the Fyodor Volkov Prize of the Government of the Russian Federation.
In early October, the theater went on tour to Vilnius, where the Yaroslavl people showed Ekaterina Ivanovna and Theatrical Blues. On November 8, within the framework of the II All-Russian Festival in memory of Oleg Yankovsky in Saratov, the play "Untitled" was played. Then this performance was shown in Moscow on VIII International theater festival "Season of Stanislavsky".
On October 26, the premiere of Eugene Marchelli's performance "The House of Bernard Alba" took place. On the small stage, Valery Kirillov released Finest Hour Local Time, Olga Toropova staged a play based on Katya Rubina's play "Babanya" with Tatyana Isaeva in the title role. For the New Year, Eugene Marchelli staged the fairy tale "Aladdin's Magic Lamp".
In the second half of the season, the main stage hosted the premieres of "Talents and Admirers" based on Ostrovsky directed by Alexander Kuzin and Juan Jose Alonso Millan's black comedy Potassium Cyanide ... Do You Have Milk or Without?, directed by Evgeny Marchelli. On the chamber stage, the performances “North” by Semyon Serzin based on the play by Vyacheslav Durnenkov, the musical and poetic performance “To Love You ...” staged by Sergey Karpov were released.
The performance "Untitled" was played on the stage of the Moscow City Council Theater as part of the Golden Mask festival, where it was presented in three categories: "Best dramatic performance large form", "Drama - the work of the director" - Evgeny Marchelli and "Best Actor" - Vitaly Kishchenko.
And the loudest triumph of the Volkovsky Theater took place in April 2013 at the Golden Mask theatrical award ceremony. The main theatrical award of Russia was given to Evgeny Marchelli's play "Untitled" - in the nomination "Best dramatic performance of a large form", and actor Vitaly Kishchenko - in the nomination "Best male role".