Yekaterinburg today is one of the largest cities in Russia. He owes his greatness to the Soviet period in the history of our country, during which the small county town of the Perm province turned into one of the industrial centers of the union. During the time that the settlement was listed as Sverdlovsk on the map, it managed to become a major theater center. Today, the capital of the Urals in terms of the number of sites takes third place, second only to Moscow and, of course, to St. Petersburg. According to official statistics, the city has 27 theaters and its own institute of this orientation. At the same time, according to popular estimates, the number of stages on which various troupes play exceeds 4 dozen! The largest of them are called "academic." It is believed that the "supplier" of talent for the capital's scenes is precisely Yekaterinburg. The drama theater can rightly be called one of the leading institutions in this direction. Further in the article we will take a closer look at the history of this institution.
Troubled start
Yekaterinburgers have always loved performances, and the city itself was popular with touring companies and the entreprise so much that in 1843 a special wooden building was built for their performances. Two years later, it was rebuilt into stone, it still exists today - it houses the cinema "October". In troubled times, people are always drawn to the beautiful. I got my stage in Yekaterinburg at such a turbulent time. The Drama Theater, which today is considered one of the favorite cultural places in the city, originated in 1912. The unstable situation in the city (it was the center of the revolution in the Urals) did not greatly affect the stage, because everyone wanted to see the spectacles. Therefore, performances were also given during the execution of the royal family (the authorities were red), and when the All-Russian government of Admiral Kolchak occupied Yekaterinburg. The drama theater continued to work when the communists returned again. The latter, contrary to the tale about their lack of spirituality, and increased the number of urban scenes.
After the revolution
Industrialization and the construction boom of the 20s of the last century seriously affected many areas of the country. Thanks to the active construction of metallurgical and machine-building "giants", the entire Urals has risen to a completely new industrial level, in particular its capital, Yekaterinburg. Builders and metallurgists wanted the drama theater for themselves. Their aspirations were heard. First, in 1928-1929, the building of the now-cinema "October", and then the first city theater, was chosen by the acting group "Red Torch". Having played the season, the troupe left Sverdlovsk and moved to Novosibirsk, where it remained. A year later, a new drama theater in Yekaterinburg opened its doors. The premiere performance was shown on October 2, 1930, and it was called in the spirit of the times - "First Horse". They put it on the play of the revolutionary-playwright Vsevolod Vishnevsky.
First frames
In the first performance, which was presented by the Drama Theater (Yekaterinburg; photos of the institution can be seen above), the composition of the troupe involved was already solid. The status of "academic" institution acquired later, in 1977. The theater staff included such stars of the scene of that time as Vsevolod Georgievich Ordynsky and Mikhail Alexandrovich Betsky. Both subsequently became honored artists of the RSFSR. The troupe was completed by Moritz Mironovich Schlugleit, a well-known theater figure and administrator, who had previously worked in the famous Moscow theater Korsh. The presence of stars in the main cast also attracted lesser-known actors, who at that time simply did not have time, as is customary to say, to light up. However, not everything was smooth. In the first season, the Drama Theater (Yekaterinburg), whose poster at that time was no less saturated than now, was not an independent unit. The institution, according to the fashion for universality and gigantomania, was part of the United Spectacular Organization. In addition to him, it included the Lunacharsky Opera House and the newly formed Youth Theater. The enlarged entertainment company in just a year was able to show its bankruptcy, and since 1931 the SATD has been set free sailing, while its leadership is changing. Schlugleit transfers his duties and powers to the equally talented successor who was the director of the theater for the next 10 years. Thanks to his work, the troupe was replenished with a whole galaxy of, if not great, then excellent actors, some of them received the title of people's artists of the USSR.
Classics and revolutionaries
During the first decade of its existence, the Sverdlovsk Theater, contrary to fashion, did not succumb to innovative trends, and built its repertoire based on the school of Russian dramatic art. On stage, at the request of time, gave performances dedicated to the not so long ago past revolution. This is the already mentioned "First Horse", as well as the "Death of the squadron", "Love Spring", "Plato Krechet." They didn’t forget about the classics too - they put Woe from Wit, Marriage of Figaro, and Anna Karenina. The performances "Tsar Fedor Ivanovich" and, of course, "Othello" were popular. Theater directors did not hesitate to stage contemporary foreign prose. Residents of Sverdlovsk were the first in the Union to see performances based on the works of Karel Chapek. In 1939, a year after the death of a Czech writer, the premiere of the fantastic drama "Mother" took place on the main stage of the capital of the Urals. The success was such that his next play, The Means of Makropoulos, was put on the following season. It dealt with immortality.
Competition against the backdrop of world tragedy
In 1941, the number of spectators at the Sverdlovsk Drama Theater increased dramatically. In connection with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, many industries, enterprises and organizations were evacuated. In addition to organized immigrants, there were many refugees from all over the Union. It would seem that according to the laws of the market, the troupe should have become easier to work with - the demand for spectacles has grown many times, in addition, there were many people of art among the “new” townspeople. However, in the theater, as in the country, a difficult situation has developed. In addition to the fact that the leaders were replaced once a couple of years, serious competitors appeared. Among the evacuated organizations were the Moscow Art Theater and the Central Theater of the Red Army. The rivalry with Moscow stars for the hearts of the audience went with varying success. According to the command of the time, mostly patriotic performances were shown on the SADT stage: "Field Marshal Kutuzov", "Front", "A guy from our city." However, again, they did not forget about the classics - they put Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya”. This performance in 1944 received the first prize at the All-Russian show.
Everything for the front!
Sverdlovsk, which became a very important center of engineering and metallurgy, worked, as they say, for wear and tear. His contribution to May 1945 is truly invaluable. The actors did not lag behind the working people. In addition to quite frequent premieres and constant competition, the theater was engaged in front-line work. Special concert teams during the Second World War spent a total of one and a half years at the front line and gave about 2,000 concerts in front of the soldiers. Work was carried out in the rear - in hospitals. The actors of the Sverdlovsk troupe took part in about 16 thousand performances in front of the wounded and workers of the defense enterprises, conducted jointly with colleagues from other cultural institutions. Work directly in his hometown was also aimed at winning. In addition to raising the spirit of workers at local factories, the troupe is engaged in material support for the “people's struggle”. The actors contributed 824,000 hard-earned rubles to the defense fund. A fund for helping children of front-line soldiers also received their share - Sverdlovsk cultural figures sent 90 thousand rubles to them.
Repertoire Opal and Revolution
Any war, even victorious, brings changes to society. Two years after the victory, the Sverdlovsk Drama Theater, together with yesterday's competitors - the Moscow Art Theater, Central Theater and other scenes - fell into disgrace. In 1946, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party adopted a decree on the repertoire of cultural institutions and measures to improve it. Now the performances should be ideological and “well-meaning”, and not contain sedition, which was seen in most classical works.
As a result, the theater’s repertoire policy is changing dramatically. A whole series of beloved performances closes, and they are replaced by productions based on, to put it mildly, bad plays of contemporaries, the only plus of which is following the "precepts of Ilyich". However, diamonds are also found among modern authors. The play of the author of "The Kuban Cossacks", Nikolai Pogodin, "The Velvet Season" is briefly put on. The performance is short - the Soviet press did not like the production very much. Viewers see the "Girls" three-time winner of the Stalin Prize - Vera Pogodina. The performance is staged before the official publication of the play. The first Sverdlovsk actors show "The Road of the First" by Athanasius Salynsky. The Moscow Drama Theater on this work will deliver the play "Brothers" only three years later.
Reward period
The time for any censorship is short, and after a decade, the opal comes to naught. Sverdlovsk Drama Theater returns to the classics. In the early 70s of the 20th century, the troupe tour in Moscow. Sverdlovsk actors showed Boris Godunov, Mindaugas and At Time in Captivity to the Moscow public. The performances were taken with a bang not only by the audience, but also by critics. And past merits do not go unnoticed. So, in 1977, the Theater was recognized as one of the best in the Union and received the title of "academic", and three years later was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. Having become the Sverdlovsk Academic Drama Theater, the stage didn’t change its name anymore, although the city itself is called differently.
New time
In the early 1990s, the Soviet Union ceased to exist. Sverdlovsk disappeared from the map after him - the historical name was returned to him. However, this did not affect the Theater itself. The institution was founded in the USSR, and therefore, by and large, has nothing to do with Yekaterinburg. The only thing that replaced the Drama Theater (Yekaterinburg) is the address. The scene moved from the 10th house along Weiner Street, where it has been since the opening, to the 2nd house on October Square.
Modern life
Today the Sverdlovsk Academic Drama Theater is again a holding. True, not as gigantic as in the 30s of the last century. Nevertheless, he occupies a dominant position in the new United Spectacular Organization. Today the Drama Theater (Yekaterinburg) has an official website (uraldrama.ru). On the pages you can learn more about the history of the institution. In addition, the site of the Drama Theater (Yekaterinburg) contains information on staged performances, tours, ticket prices.