Location : Academic Maly Drama Theater – Theater Of Europe
Saint Petersburg.
The Small Drama Theater arose in 1944 in the besieged Leningrad and was intended to “serve” the workers of the Leningrad Region. It has come a long and arduous journey, becoming the first Russian theater to which it was awarded the title “Theater of Europe” in 1998. Having arisen at the end of 900 days of the blockade, the theater set the same tasks as Jean Vilar, creating after the end of World War II the National People’s Theater (TNT) – to return people to normal life.
Before the arrival of the main director E. Padve and director R. Malkin, the theater did not play a significant role in the cultural life of Leningrad. The arrival in the theater of E. Padve radically changed the situation. He rebuilt the repertoire, previously designed for an undemanding audience, starting to stage Russian and foreign classics and contemporary drama.
Performances such as “Lord Officers” according to Kuprin, “Fiesta” according to Hemingway attracted a new audience to the theater. Padwe’s close attention to modern foreign drama put the theater in one of the first places in the city. In addition, he invited young talented directors – E. Arie, Yu. Dvorkin, G. Yanovskaya. Her performance “The Glass Menagerie” along with the performances of Padwe’s “Incident” by N. Bauer and “Twenty Minutes with the Angels” by A. Vampilov gained wide fame. Padwe invited L. Dodin to performances. He directed The Robbery by K. Chapek, The Tattooed Rose by T. Williams, Live and Remember by V. Rasputin. In 1980, Dodin staged F. Abramov’s “House”. The success of the performance decided the fate of both Dodin and the theater. In 1983, Padwe gives him the theater, leading the Youth Theater on the Fontanka. Years go by to create an ensemble, now recognized as the best ensemble in the world. For many years, Dodin devotes work to prose, creating his own unique prose theater, on which his artists are brought up. “Brothers and Sisters” by Abramov, a nine-hour epic based on “Demons” by Dostoevsky, “Lord of the Flies” by U. Golding, “Chevengur” by A. Platonov – philosophical and historical canvases in which the pulse of modernity beats. And there was also the “Old Man” by Y. Trifonov, released with students and included in the repertoire of the theater. Starting to teach with A.I. Katzman, after whose death Dodin did not leave pedagogy, having made several graduations at the Theater Academy. Today, his students, along with the older generation of actors, form the core of the troupe. The peculiarity of the Maly Drama Theater is that after graduation, the training of professional actors continues. A new stage in the theater is associated with the entry of students into its troupe,
The theater has always paid attention to foreign drama, and today on its stage are “The fruitless efforts of love” and “King Lear” by Shakespeare, “Treachery and Love” by Schiller, “Enemy of the People” by Ibsen. The first Shakespearean production in the Dodin era was carried out by the famous English director Declan Donnellan, staging The Winter’s Tale.
The Minority Drama became the discoverer of the prominent contemporary Irish playwright Brian Friel, staging his drama “Molly Sweeney.”
Russian drama is represented by a collage by A. Volodin “Portrait with the Rain”, two plays by L. Petrushevskaya “Moscow Choir” and “He is in Argentina”.
On the big stage, the student Dodin O. Dmitriev made his debut, following the teacher who continued to explore Dostoevsky’s prose, releasing a play based on the novel “The Teenager,” in which almost all the roles are played by young actors.
Famous artists T. Shestakova, T. Schuko, I. Ivanov, N. Fomenko, T. Rasskazova, A. Nevolin, S. Kozyrev, S. Vlasov, S. Kuryshev, P. Semaku work in the theater. Famous actors also make up the new replenishment of the theater: K. Rapport, E. Kalinina, E. Boyarskaya, D. Kozlovsky.
An outstanding twentieth-century scenographer D. Borovsky collaborated with Dodin. Collaborate E. Kochergin, A. Borovsky. A. Poray-Kosice.
From November 2012 to November 2013, the We and They = We festival of contemporary national drama, prose and poetry directed by young directors and graduates of the Dodin workshop takes place on the Chamber Stage. He attaches great importance to this festival, believing that these performances “offer to comprehend the difficult issues of today’s being. Existential Issues. ”
The theater has received worldwide recognition. His tour, held in Europe, USA, Australia, received a huge response from critics and the public. Today, the question is debated whether the theater-house survived. The Small Drama Theater, perhaps one of the few theaters, proves that the theater-house has great prospects.