Description of the attraction
In the fall of 1918, the Bolshoi Drama Theater was founded in Petrograd on the initiative of the writer Maxim Gorky, the poet Alexander Blok and the Moscow Art Theater actress Maria Andreeva. The theater's repertoire policy was determined by its first artistic director, Alexander Blok: "The Bolshoi Drama Theater is, according to its design, a theater of high drama: high tragedy and high comedy." The special aesthetics and style of the BDT were formed under the influence of the architect Vladimir Shchuko and artists from the World of Art association: Alexander Benois, Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Boris Kustodiev - the first stage designers of the theater.
On February 15, 1919, the premiere took place: the tragedy of F. Schiller "Don Carlos" was staged by director Andrei Lavrentiev. Among the directors of the BDT of the following years: a student of Meyerhold Konstantin Tverskoy, a student of Nemirovich-Danchenko Nikolai Petrov, an artist of the world of art Alexander Benois, the famous Chapaev from the film of the same name - actor Boris Babochkin. From 1932 to 1992, the BDT was named after its founder, Maxim Gorky.
In 1956 Georgy Tovstonogov was appointed the chief director and artistic director of the theater. Under him, the BDT became the author's directing theater, known all over the world, the best dramatic stage in the USSR. Tatiana Doronina and Sergey Yursky, Innokenty Smoktunovsky and Zinaida Sharko, Evgeny Lebedev and Valentina Kovel, Oleg Basilashvili and Svetlana Kryuchkova, Vladislav Strzhelchik, Pavel Luspekaev, Oleg Borisov, Nikolai Trofimov, Efirim Kopelyanov and many others … In those years, the theater toured a lot. In a situation of confrontation between two political systems, the "Iron Curtain" regime, the BDT was a cultural link between East and West. After Tovstonogov's death in 1989, People's Artist of the USSR Kirill Lavrov took over the artistic direction, followed by director Temur Chkheidze. Since 1992, the theater began to bear the name of Georgy Alexandrovich Tovstonogov.
In 2013, director Andrei Moguchy, one of the leaders of the theatrical avant-garde, became the artistic director of the BDT. Under the leadership of the Mighty BDT, it regained recognition from the public and critics, and became one of the main theatrical newsmakers of the country. In December 2015, the theater was awarded by experts of the Russian Association of Theater Critics "For building a new artistic strategy for the Bolshoi Drama Theater."
The creative credo of the BDT is an open dialogue on topics relevant to modern society. Each performance, each project of the new BDT addresses the problems of a person of his time.
The performances of the Bolshoi Drama Theater involve artists of all generations of the troupe - from very young actors of the trainee group to leading stage masters, such as People's Artist of the USSR Alisa Freindlikh, People's Artist of Russia and Ukraine Valery Ivchenko, People's Artists of Russia Svetlana Kryuchkova, Irute Vengalite, Marina Ignatova, Elena Popova, People's Artists of Russia Gennady Bogachev, Valery Degtyar, Honored Artists of Russia Anatoly Petrov, Vasily Reutov, Andrei Sharkov, Honored Artist of Russia Maria Lavrova and others. Each season, the performances of the BDT become laureates of the country's main theater awards, including the national theater prize "Golden Mask".
Since 2013, at the Bolshoi Drama Theater named after G. A. Tovstonogov, there is a large-scale educational program "The Age of Enlightenment". These are lectures, concerts, exhibitions, round tables dedicated to topical creative issues, meetings with people who create a modern theater, as well as excursions around the museum and behind the scenes of the theater, author's programs dedicated to the history of the BDT. An important area of the Age of Enlightenment is the Pedagogical Laboratory of the BDT - directors, actors, theater critics and teachers train teachers of secondary schools and kindergartens in St. Petersburg to introduce modern theatrical language and stage techniques into the school curriculum.
In 2015, the BDT became the first Russian repertoire drama theater, the poster of which on an ongoing basis includes the inclusive play "The Language of Birds", created in conjunction with the Center for Creativity, Education and Social Habilitation for Adults with Autism "Anton Is Here Nearby". Along with professional actors, people with autism spectrum disorder play in this play.
At the Bolshoi Drama Theater named after G. A. Tovstonogov three scenes. The main stage (750 seats) and the Small stage (120 seats) are located in a historic building at 65 Fontanka Embankment, erected in 1878 by the architect Ludwig Fontana by order of Count Anton Apraksin. The second stage of the BDT (300 seats) is located at 13, Old Theater Square, in the building of the Kamennoostrovsky Theater, the oldest surviving wooden theater in Russia, built by the architect Smaragd Shustov by order of Emperor Nicholas I in 1827. Each season at these three venues there are at least 5 premieres and more than 350 performances.
