Description of the attraction
The creation of the MDT by the decision of the Leningrad Regional Executive Committee dates back to 1944. At that time, almost all the theaters of the city were in evacuation. At the time of the beginning of its existence, the theater actually lacked both premises and its own creative program, it was little known in the city, worked mainly in cities and villages of the region.
The popularity of the audience began to grow when Efim Padve, a student of G. Tovstonogov, came to the theater as the chief director. It was thanks to Padva that director L. Dodin appeared in the theater, whose first brilliant performance was The Robber (K. Chapek). This spectacular event was followed by other equally impressive performances. A particularly significant event in the theatrical life of Leningrad in 1980 was the staging of the play "House". In terms of its socio-political essence, the content of the play turned out to be ambiguous for the Soviet censorship, but, nevertheless, it was possible to achieve its open display, and then twenty years of its permanent existence in the theater's repertoire followed, receiving a state prize in 1986, success on tour, both within the country and abroad. The play left the repertoire only with the death of the leading actor - actor M. Pryaslin.
In 1983 L. Dodin was appointed the chief director of the theater. And from 2002 to the present time L. Dodin is the artistic director of the theater and its director.
Today the Maly Drama Theater is one of the theatrical leaders in Russia. There were staged performances that have become masterpieces of the world theatrical art. These include the production of "Brothers and Sisters" (based on the novel by F. Abramov), which over the 20 years of its existence has been seen by almost all of Europe, the USA and Japan; performance "Stars in the morning sky" - winner of the prize. L. Olivier 1988; "Demons"; "Gaudeamus" is the winner of English, French, Italian and Russian theater awards and many others. The performances of the Maly Drama Theater were shown almost all over the world.
In 1992, the Maly Drama Theater was invited to the Union of European Theaters, and in 1998, along with the Parisian Odeon and the Milan Piccolo Theater, it received the status of the Theater of Europe. It was MDT that opened Russian Seasons in Paris in 1994. At the same time L. Dodin was awarded the order on behalf of the French government. In 2000, Dodin was awarded the Europe-to-Theater, the highest theater prize in Europe.
Since 1998, MDT has been a regular participant in the Golden Mask festival, which has repeatedly won his productions: A Play Without a Title, Chevengur, The Moscow Choir, The Seagull, Uncle Vanya and King Lear.
In 2004, as part of the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Golden Mask, the theater showed seven best performances in the capital. In 2005, at the opening of the Legendary Performances of the 20th Century project, the theater showed the play Brothers and Sisters, which celebrated its twentieth season in the same year.
Until 2003, MDT was legally a cultural institution of the Leningrad Region, where it played more than 60 performances per season. Now MDT has the status of an all-Russian theater.
Today it is not only theater in a narrow sense - its teachers conduct master classes for the largest theater schools in America and Europe, and actors and directors from many countries of the world undergo training in the theater itself.
Today, the main backbone of the troupe is graduates of the Academy of Theater Arts of the course of L. Dodin in different years: T. Shestakova, P. Semak, V. Seleznev, N. Akimova, I. Ivanov, S. Vlasov, N. Fomenko, A. Zavyalov, S. Kuryshev, K. Rappoport, T. Rasskazova, E. Boyarskaya and others.
