Sergey Vasilievich Zhenovach is a famous and popular director, famous for his bright theatrical productions. It is in them that the unsurpassed talent and skill of the artistic director, his non-standard vision of classical works and his own extraordinary style are reflected.
Little is known about the artistic director himself. But still, Zhenovach Sergey Vasilievich, whose personal life is hidden behind a heavy theater screen, leads an open secular life, often at events and gives interviews.
Let's try to open the veil of his life and find out how the famous Russian director lives and breathes.
Childhood
Zhenovach Sergey Vasilievich was born (his family lived in Germany at that time) in Potsdam, a picturesque and beautiful city with well-developed infrastructure, in the spring of 1957.
His father was a military officer.
However, Sergei remembers very little about life in the GDR, as his parents soon moved to Russia. There Zhenovachi settled in Krasnodar.
Youth
From an early age, creative activity attracted little Seryozha. He loved to read, had a vivid imagination and vivid imagination, and also possessed other necessary skills and abilities.
Therefore, no one was surprised when after school Zhenovach Sergey Vasilievich entered the local Institute of Culture, after which he took the place of artistic director of the Krasnodar Youth Theater. There, according to the scripts of the beginning director, interesting performances were staged based on the profound works of Bulgakov and Dostoevsky.
However, life in the province and work in an amateur theater did not appeal to a gifted and ambitious young man. And then he makes an important fateful decision - he goes to enter Moscow.
Moscow
Moving to the capital had a huge impact on the whole future fate and career of a talented provincial.
What did Sergey Vasilievich Zhenovach do in the capital? The biography of a young man from now on begins to dazzle with bright unforgettable colors and sensations.
The provincial director enters the Russian Institute of Theater Arts, where he meets the famous and talented director Fomenko. It is thanks to Fomenko that Zhenovach’s deep talent is revealed and his further career is developing successfully.
friendship
The relationship between Fomenko and his student Sergei can not be called only mentoring. They were united by the same aesthetic principles, the same taste, the same creative approach.
Most likely, it was a friendship between a wise mentor and a gifted student, based on a love of theatrical art.
After finishing the course, the young Zhenovach stays with his teacher. He works closely with him as a second teacher.
The two directors are united not only by the same vision of the stage and productions. They both love talented actors, take care of them, develop them, protect them.
The beginning of directing
However, Zhenovach Sergey Vasilievich is not content with only theoretical activity. By nature, he is a practitioner, he is burning with the desire to embody on the stage his bold ideas and ideas.
Therefore, in parallel with teaching, the gifted director becomes the artistic director of the “Man” theater-studio on the Arbat.
For some three years, he takes the theater to the highest level. The studio acquires its own building and becomes fashionable and popular among metropolitan theater-goers. A significant contribution to this matter was made by the vivid and colorful performances of Zhenovach - “Pannochka” and “Illusion”.
In the theater, Sergey Vasilievich is recruiting his team from young and gifted actors. They are united by one taste, one idea, one talent.
However, after some time, Zhenovach Sergey Vasilyevich was forced to leave the studio. Many of his favorite actors, who cannot imagine their creative activity without a respected director, also leave for him.
Theater on Malaya Bronnaya
At the age of thirty-four, Zhenovach entered the stage of the director in an interesting and complex Moscow theater located on Malaya Bronnaya Street. Sergei Vasilyevich decorated the theater’s repertoire with inimitable classical works that attracted a large number of the audience in the capital.
Five years later, watching Zhenovach's enormous talent as a leader and director, the theater director Ilya Kogan offered him the position of chief director.
It was on Malaya Bronnaya that the gifted nature of Sergei Vasilievich was fully revealed. In his performances there are elements of artistry and modern realism, they breathe freedom and revitalization. Specializing more in classical works, Zhenovach puts on vivid and unforgettable productions that reflect his deep inner world, the whimsical thinking, the florid imagination and fantasy.
In the theater on Malaya Bronnaya, Sergey Vasilievich puts on such wonderful inimitable creations that received state awards and awards as “King Lear” (Shakespeare), “Little Comedies” (Turgenev), “Leshiy” (Chekhov). Here it is also necessary to mention the incredibly expressive and peculiar trilogy created on the basis of the novel by F. M. M. “Idiot” by Dostoevsky.
However, the classical repertoire did not suit the director of the theater, who believed that Zhenovach staged his productions only for a certain circle of viewers, did not count on a mass audience.
In addition, Kogan was worried about the leadership that the chief director captured in his theater. Zhenovach Sergey Vasilievich invited mainly actors from his “People” to his own performances.
For these two reasons, misunderstandings and disagreements often flared up between the director and the chief director, which led to the departure of Zhenovach from the theater. According to tradition, his actors left behind him.
Life after leaving
Yes, Sergey Vasilievich had a great talent not only to stage beautiful performances, but also to lead the actors. For them, he was not just a leader. For them, he was a mentor, father, nanny. He did not treat artists as his subordinates, but, on the contrary, became their ally and workmate, making it possible for self-expression and imagination.
It is noteworthy that the main director left Malaya Bronnaya without high-profile scandals and showdowns. By that time, he had already become a well-known theater director.
Zhenovach Sergey Vasilievich, whose photo has already appeared in many popular print media, has been repeatedly invited by various theaters as an artistic director. Among his works were beautiful, delightful performances, such as “Three Sisters”, “A Month in the Village”, “Wild Duck”, “White Guard”, “Woe from Wit”, “Imaginary Sick”. The director worked not only with the best domestic theaters, but also with outstanding foreign ones.
Own theater
At the age of fifty-two, Zhenovach decided to carry out a personal project - to open his own theater, which was called a theater art studio and the troupe of which included graduates of the Zhenovach workshop in GITIS.
The Sergey Vasilievich Theater is a modern innovative project in the best classical traditions. Most of his productions are based on the immortal works of Russian classics - Chekhov, Dostoevsky and Bulgakov.
The theater went on tour in the USA and Poland, South Korea and Lithuania. He is a multiple laureate and winner of Russian prizes and festivals.
The atmosphere of the theater studio is peculiar. According to Zhenovach’s ingenious idea, before each performance, the audience is tuned for a certain way of setting, offering to try certain dishes. For example, jam was served before the play “Three Years,” and lard with brown bread and potatoes was served in front of the Potudan River.
Film industry
It should be mentioned that Zhenovach Sergey Vasilievich, whose filmography is rather unremarkable, starred in only one film - “Rides on an Old Car”. This happened back in 1985.
Zhenovach directs all his strength and talent to theater directing, trying to give his beloved spectator many pleasant and fascinating moments.