Moscow Theatre Contemporary

The Moscow Theatre was founded by a group of young actors in 1956. In the post-war history of the country, in the years of exposure of the cult of personality, it became the first theater born of a free creative association of a group of like-minded people and managed to defend itself as a holistic artistic collective. The founders of the theater – Oleg Efremov, Galina Volchek, Igor Kvasha, Lilia Tolmacheva, Evgeny Evstigneev, Oleg Tabakov and others who joined them were recent graduates of the Moscow Art Theatre Studio School. “Contemporary” was born in the years when the theater was separated from life by an invisible but deaf wall, in the years, the inertness of the theatrical system practically mummified the legacy of the founders of the Moscow Art Theatre. It was in protest against this "dead man" that young actors created their own theater in order to master and develop the method of K.S. Stanislavsky in new conditions. At the head of their artistic aspirations, the creators of "Contemporary" put the actor's ensemble, a genuine penetration into the inner world of heroes, into the psychology of man, they sought to return a living person to the stage. In their heroes, the audience recognized themselves in these heroes. For the first time in many years, authentic people came to the scene with their daily problems, sorrows and hopes. The programmatic aspiration of the young theater - to speak with contemporaries in the language of modernity - was understood and supported by the public. Very soon "Contemporary" became the favorite theater of youth and intelligentsia. The basis of the repertoire of "Contemporary" has always been the works created by modern authors. But not all plays written specifically for the theater could appear on his stage, but in the first ten years of his life "Contemporary" tried to be a theater that speaks to its audience with the help of plays by playwrights, reflecting in their work the realities and problems of the modern world. The theater wanted to talk at the allotted time, as if anticipating that this time may pass. Already at the first performance of the young theater - "Forever Living" by Viktor Rozov - the audience and critics drew attention to the strong acting potential of yesterday's students. The names of Oleg Efremov, Galina Volchek, Evgeny Evstigneev, Lilia Tolmacheva, Oleg Tabakov, Igor Kvasha became widely known. Almost every new work, the theater opened up new opportunities for the young troupe. The head of the theater Oleg Efremov stimulated directing in the actors, encouraged independent work, attracted young directors close in spirit. By the end of the 1960s, the Moscow Theatre "Contemporary" was an established artistic organism, with pronounced creative and civic aspirations, with a strong talented troupe. The theater traveled a lot around the country, and wherever the posters of "Contemporary" appeared, the halls were filled to capacity. Performances \"Contemporary\": \"Eternally alive\", \"On the wedding day\", Traditional gathering\" Victor Rozov, \"Five evenings\", \"Big sister\", \"Appointment\"Alexander Volodin, \"Naked King\"Evgeny Schwartz, \"Without a cross!\" according to Vladimir Tendryakov, \"Two on the swing\"Williambson, \"Always on sale\"Vasylvanov', many other legends "Always Gorbiakovakova" The crisis came in 1970. Already from the end of the sixties, the "thaw" began to be replaced by the cold breath of modern times. It became difficult for the theater to work. However, it was not easy for him before, not all plans were implemented in the years of the "thaw", but then the team was united, and this helped to maintain a circular defense against the arbitrariness of censorship. In the seventies there was a split. Accepting the invitation to head the Moscow Art Theatre, its founder and head Oleg Efremov left the theater. After him, the troupe left a significant part of the leading actors. The theater was drained, deprived of repertoire, besides it faced the problem of changing generations. Ephraim’s departure was perceived by many as the end of the “Contemporary”. Especially the idea of the end fell to the liking of the press, which, accompanied by arguments about the historical exhaustion of the mission "Contemporary", did much to inspire this idea to the viewer. Such, in the most general terms, was the situation of the theater, when in 1972 the troupe voted for the artistic management of the theaters to take on Galina Volchek. Contrary to the forecast, the theater is not dead. But rebuilding what was destroyed was not easy. New actors came to the troupe and among them Marina Neyolova, Valentin Gaft, Liya Akhedzhakova, Avangard Leontiev. Diligently working on a modern theme director Galina Volchek. It attracts to cooperation with the theater one of the largest masters of modern prose Chingiz Aitmatov. The play based on the play by C. Aitmatov and K. Mukhamedzhanov "Ascent to Fujiyama", staged by Galina Volchek in 1973, showed that the theater was not lost, that it was true to its artistic and civil principles, that "Contemporary" is alive! No one is arguing with that anymore. A milestone for the theater was the next work by Galina Volchek “Echelon” based on the play by Mikhail Roshchin, written specifically for specific performers of roles. And the poster of the theater next to the already well-known names of Viktor Rozov and Alexander Volodin appeared the names of new authors of "Contemporary" - Mikhail Roshchin, Alexander Vampilov, Alla Sokolova, Vasily Shukshin, Alexander Galin and others. Step by step, attracting and discovering new names, the theater forms a repertoire, trying to keep up with the times. He closely follows the contemporary literary process. In the 1970s, the creative friendship of the theater with the writer Konstantin Simonov resumed. The theater includes in the repertoire scenic versions of his novels “From the notes of Lopatin” and “We will not see you”. He was especially interested in adapting literary works for the theater director Valery Fokin. He brought to the stage the story of Boris Vasiliev “Do not shoot at white swans” and the story of Grigory Baklanov “Forever nineteen years old”. This line in the repertoire of the theater will continue. The largest victory in the development of literary material by means of the theater, staged in 1989 by Galina Volchek, the play “Steep Route” based on the autobiographical book by Eugene Ginzburg. Its importance is not limited to solving the problems of stage adaptation of prose, this performance expressed the maturity of the artistic handwriting of the entire team and its civil, human convictions. The performance "Cool Route", which received international recognition during the tour "Contemporary" in the United States of Germany, Finland, convincingly demonstrated the creative state of the theater at the present stage. The creative cooperation of Galina Volchek and Alexander Getman (the author of the translation for the stage), started on the "Cool Route", successfully continued ten years later - the play "Three Comrades" appeared in the repertoire of "Contemporary", which instantly and rightfully became one of the hallmarks of the theater. "Contemporary", as already mentioned, one of his main tasks saw in the need to speak to the audience in the language of modernity. Of the more than a hundred performances staged on the stage of the theater for all the years of its existence, almost two-thirds were written by the authors specifically for "Contemporary" and for the first time saw the light of the ramp on its stage. From here began the procession of plays by Lyudmila Petrushevskaya, Alexander Galin, Vladimir Gurkin, Nikolai Kolyada and many others on many scenes of our country and abroad. Remaining true to modernity, the theater is now looking for it in the classics, through the prism of which it seeks to see the living, today’s problem. Galina Volchek refers to the plays of A.P. Chekhov. Back in 1976 in her production appeared "Cherry Orchard", and six years later "Three Sisters". In 1991, G. Volchek staged Leonid Andreev’s play “Anfisa”, almost unknown in our country, but in many ways consonant with Chekhov’s poetics. In the repertoire of the theater - the great comedy of N.V. Gogol "The Inspector", the theater puts G. Ibsen and L. Pirandello, W. Shakespeare and A. de Musse. Igor Kvasha staged the play Kabala Svyatosh and especially for the younger generation of actors Days of Turbins. And in recent years, "Contemporary" very often turns to the classical repertoire - in 1997, Galina Volchek releases a new edition of Chekhov's "Cherry Orchard", on the poster appears her production of "Pygmalion" by Bernard Shaw, Valery Fokin puts the play "Karamazov and Hell" based on the late Dostoevsky, invited from Lithuania director Rimas Tuminas offers the viewer "Contempor" his solution to the tragedy by Friedrich Stuartler - Stuartor. Schiller! Clearly understanding that modern theater is a single space, "Contemporary" has always shown a keen interest in foreign drama. Even in the first years of its formation, Eduardo de Filippo’s play “Nobody” was staged here, close to neorealistic aesthetics, “The Fifth Column” by Ernest Hemingway, plays and “young angry Englishmen” by John Osborn and Arnold Wesker were staged here. But the greatest success in the 1960s fell to the share of the play by the American William Gibson "Two on the swing". A special page was made by two plays by American playwright Edward Albee - "The Ballad of the Unpleasant Zucchini" (1967) and "Who is afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1984). Both of them became events of theatrical life and remained in the repertoire of the theater for a long time. Work on foreign works continues: the repertoire of the theater includes the names of American playwrights Tennessee Williams and Ariel Dorfman, Israeli author Yosef Bar-Yosef, Italian Renato Mainardi. For almost four decades of its history, the theater "Contemporary" toured a lot. He was in Siberia and Central Asia, in the Far East and Transcaucasia, in the Baltic States and the Urals. He visited all countries of Eastern Europe, and recently in Italy, Germany, USA, Switzerland, Finland. A special place in the touring fate of "Contemporary" is occupied by truly touring in New York on Broadway, held in 1996 and 1997. For the first time after the famous tour of the Moscow Art Theatre, which took place in 1924, the Russian troupe played on Broadway. "Three Sisters" and "Cherry Orchard" by A.P. Chekhov and "Cool Route" by Evgenia Ginzburg were received by the American audience with great success. This is evidenced by the awarding of the theater with the US national award in the field of dramatic art "Drama desk award". This award has been awarded for decades. And for the first time in such a long history of the award, it was awarded the theater from abroad - "Contemporary". Like any theater, "Contemporary" knew the ups and downs, experienced a period of crisis and moments of triumph. But no matter how difficult the situation was, he always felt the support of his audience, his interested, friendly attention. Perhaps it was this support, this faith of the audience in their theater and helped "Contemporary" to survive!