In the life of every person there are so-called iconic, and maybe even cult places. For theatergoers, one of these places, of course, is the St. Petersburg Academic Theater named after Lensovet. Not only residents of the city, but also any tourist or business traveler tries to get to the performance in this temple of Melpomene.
New Century - New Culture
In the XIX century, there were not so many municipal theaters. Mostly acting troupes were supported by philanthropists and performed on the stage of "home" theaters. The general public was denied access to such performances.
The beginning of the twentieth century was marked by a revolution not only in the political life of the country. Transformations also affected all areas of art - artists, poets and prose writers, choreographers and directors of the beginning of the century felt freedom and presented their experimental creations to admirers. Against the backdrop of contemporary art, it is not surprising that in 1933 a theater arose in St. Petersburg, which was called "New". Later, the troupe, led by Isaac Kroll, turned into the Lensovet Academic Theater.
Dutch church
The first performance was held in the building of the Dutch Church, located on Nevsky Prospekt. The church building did not have all the necessary conditions for placing a theater in it, and soon after the first performances the fire nearly took the whole team with it. The theater, barely starting, almost ceased to exist.
But the performances of director Kroll (a student of V.E. Meyerhold) impressed both the public and critics. The brilliant play of the actors who stood at the origins of this temple of Melpomene did not go unnoticed. Actors from the theater and the arts asked the authorities, and in 1936, A.I. Pavlova, the Lensovet St. Petersburg Academic Theater, resumed its work in the reconstructed theater room. On Troitskaya street again appeared posters of the play A. N. Ostrovsky "Mad Money", which began the history of this troupe.
During the Second World War, the building was badly damaged by bombing, and the artists who returned from a long tour of the Far East were provided with a new building - the former mansion of Prince V.P. Golitsyn, and the Lensovet Academic Theater was replaced with address on Vladimirsky Avenue, 12.
Meyerhold
In the late 30s, artists from art began to fight with progressive directors and actors. The desire to modernize and read classical works in one's own way does not surprise anyone now, but rather, it is very popular. Then, having received a common name, “Meyerhold” (derived from the name of the director V. E. Meyerhold) frightened and even repelled. Reality did not accept and outdated creative people who were looking for new ways in the art of people.
Some theaters of St. Petersburg were in this cycle. The Lensovet Theater is no exception. The main director, Isaac Kroll, was dismissed from his post. By the decision of city cultural leaders, B. M. Sushkevich took his place.
Unity of upbringing
An outstanding actor, teacher B. M. Sushkevich, brought with him several graduates of the theater institute. After working with A.P. Chekhov and E. B. Vakhtangov at the First Moscow Art Theater Studio, studying with K. S. Stanislavsky and L. A. Sulerzhitsky, Boris Mikhailovich was sure that the troupe needed “one wave” (how would say now). Only such a unity of perception and the methodological basis of the work will truly reveal and convey the essence of the work of art. It was this promise that he brought to the Lensovet Academic Theater. Sophisticated, aesthetic and at the same time quite modern stage decisions by B. M. Sushkevich quickly won St. Petersburg.
A very diverse, but at the same time competently and balancedly drawn up repertoire made it possible for almost all actors of the troupe to open up. In the productions of Schiller (“Maria Stuart”, “The Fiesco Conspiracy in Genoa”) Nadezhda Bromley, wife and associate of Sushkevich, shone on the stage. This woman was also a writer and a director; thanks to her attention and romanticism, the performances received even more sublime, bright colors.
Deep psychological elaboration of the characters, the audience, with bated breath, “read” in “Restless Old Age” (L. Rakhmanov), “Petty Bourgeois” (M. Gorky), “Stingy” (J.-B. Moliere). Only after creating a real ensemble from the troupe, Sushkevich himself went on stage and played the outstanding role in the world drama Matthias Clausen from the drama “Before Sunset” by G. Hauptmann. The performance is rightly called by critics a theater legend.
"Cultural service of warriors"
With this wording, the Lensovet Saint-Petersburg Academic Theater was sent on a long tour to the Far East in October 1940. The news of the war caught the actors in Khabarovsk. The tour lasted for a long 5 years. Until the summer of 1945, the theater operated in Siberia and the Urals, the Far East and the Far North. Border outposts, cities, gold mines and warships saw 1300 performances and almost 1000 concerts. Actors regularly traveled to active units with a front-line brigade.
Of course, in such a difficult time, the artists could easily speak in front of the audience, supporting them. But, in spite of everything, the repertoire of the Lensovet Theater was updated. There appeared productions of K. Simonov, A. Korneychuk, V. Solovyov, which showed the front-line life and the experiences of those who remained in the rear.
Link Akimov
After the death of Sushkevich in 1946, the directors did not stay in the theater for more than one season. For some time, the Saint-Petersburg Academic Theater named after Lensoviet was headed by Nadezhda Bromley, who staged Nora based on the play by Ibsen. This was a significant event in the theatrical life of the city. Then the actress Galina Korotkevich became the director . Next came a series of successive directors, until, finally, Nikolai Pavlovich Akimov appeared in the theater. He was demoted and “exiled” here from the Comedy Theater for the “formalism” that I. Kroll suffered from in his time.
Akimov brought fresh air, and the troupe came to life. In addition to the new actor’s names, which became known to the public due to the sharpness of the director’s artistic vision, new performances appeared: the first Soviet musical “Spring in Moscow”, the dramatic Russian satire M.E.Saltykov-Shchedrin and A.V. were revived. Sukhovo-Kobylin. Nikolai Pavlovich believed that classical works cannot be forgotten, it is through them that the audience can and should be instilled in the tastes and understanding of theatrical aesthetics.
And on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the troupe of the New Theater, he was named after the Leningrad Council.
The era of Vladimirova
In 1956, Akimov returned to his native Comedy Theater, and the main directors of the Leningrad City Council were replaced, not having time to "begin duties." But in 1960, Igor Petrovich Vladimirov received the post of chief director. And the even more interesting life of the troupe began. Vladimirov turned out to be the very leader whom the actors had been waiting for and looking for so long.
Like all directors, he started as an actor. After working with G. A. Tovstonogov, Igor Petrovich began to assist him in staging performances and mastered this profession. The appointment of Vladimirov and the transfer in 1962 to the State Academic Theater named after Lensovet Alisa Freindlikh (Vladimirov's wife) for many years determined the creative direction of the troupe.
At that time, the director was fond of modern drama, directed foreign comedies and turned around the audience's view of the classics. Since the production of The Three Penny Opera, the theater has acquired a distinctive genre that combines eccentricity, journalism, romance and grotesque. That was the basis of incredible success lasting 40 years.
Modernity
When Vladimirov passed away in 1999, his place was taken by V. B. Pazi. A man of the highest culture, he was very careful about the traditions of the theater. But he was not afraid to take a chance and expanded the repertoire with completely unusual, but very interesting productions of Bergman, Nabokov, Berberova. Pazi invited the best eminent directors and young talents, due to which the productions always attracted the attention of the viewer.
Since 2011, after 5 difficult years without a chief director, Yu. N. Butusov, whom Pazi had once brought with him, became the artistic director of the Lensoviet. His performances changed the theater, but remained faithful to the spirit of creativity and energy.