Moscow is a city where there is no shortage of famous theaters. Each of them has an interesting story and its own audience, which from year to year comes to watch the game of their favorite actors. Such centers of culture of the capital also include the former Moscow Gogol Drama Theater, reorganized into the Gogol Center, which will soon celebrate its 90th anniversary. It is located at 8a Kazakova Street. Today, his artistic director is K. S. Serebrennikov.
Gogol Theater (Moscow): the history of creation
In 1925, under the Central Committee of the Union of Railway Workers, it was decided to organize a new cultural institution. They became the "branch" theater, which was called the "Mobile Theater of Drama and Comedy." His creative team, headed by K. Golovanov, immediately began to conduct a great cultural and educational activity among the railway workers. In particular, in the early years of its existence, the theater often performed with multi-genre prefabricated performances, concerts for the wickedness of the day, often of an agitational and journalistic nature. In 1934, the leading artists of the Moscow Art Theater (Second) - I. N. Bersenev, V. V. Gotovtsev and S. G. Birman took patronage over the theater. As a result of their support, the young actors of the new theater acquired the necessary knowledge that allowed them to cross the border separating amateur performances from professionalism. In 1938, the theater was headed by N. V. Petrov, who is an adherent of realistic art, who staged performances such as “Anything can happen” by B. Romashov, “On the Eve” by A. N. Afinogenov and others over the years.
In the midst of World War II, the theater moved to a pre-revolutionary building located on Kazakova Street, which today is his permanent home.
Post-war activities
At the end of the Second World War, when spectators hungry for art began to attend cultural events again, the theater reached a new level of development. In 1959, he was named after Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, and in honor of this event the premiere of the play based on the novel "Taras Bulba" took place.
Since the beginning of the 60s, the Gogol Theater received new leaders. The head of the cultural institution was A. Dunaev and B. Golubovsky, who carefully preserved its traditions. It was during this period that such performances were staged as Anuya's “Dinner at Sanlis”, “Colleagues” by Aksyonov, “Beach” by Bondarev, “Grumpy Elsa” by Rislakki and others.
History from 1987 to 2012
Particularly difficult, but also interesting for the theater were the years of perestroika, the dashing 90s and the first decade of the new century, when the director of the troupe was assigned to the director S. I. Yashin. Among the actors who performed on his stage, one can mention Igor Ugolnikov, Julia Avsharova, Alexander Bordukov and others, and of the most successful performances - "Theater novel" by M. Bulgakov, "Mistral", "Unknown Williams" and "There Away, over the hill "V. Maximov.
Final story
Each era dictates its own laws, and years must pass before it becomes clear whether the changes were justified or not. Be that as it may, in August 2012 the Gogol Theater received a new artistic director, who became Kirill Serebrennikov. A month later, he announced his plans to create a modern multidisciplinary cultural center. This idea was met with hostility by the majority of members of the troupe, which advocated the preservation of the traditions that have developed over almost 90 years of the continuous existence of this collective.
The struggle of the actors was unsuccessful, in October 2012 the Gogol Theater ceased to exist, and the Gogol Center was created on its basis. It operates in the same building on Kazakova Street, and over the past year and a half has already managed to gain some fame from the capital's public.
Gogol Center
Today, the residents of this cultural institution of a new format are:
- "Seventh Studio", which arose on the basis of the acting and directing course of K. Serebrennikov at the Moscow Art Theater School, where students are prepared to participate in a variety of projects, including avant-garde projects;
- Soun Drama studio, the purpose of which is to combine elements of a theater, musical and concert;
- Dialog Dance company, known for its extraordinary choreographic productions, in which a special place is given to the word;
- troupe of the former MDT named after N.V. Gogol.
Visitors to the center will find interesting lectures and heated debates on the most topical issues related to contemporary art in the walls of the Gogol + discussion club and the premiere of films by foreign directors that have not reached the Russian box office as part of the Gogol-Kino project. In addition, they have access to rare recordings of great performances of the 20-21st centuries, which are stored in the center’s public media library, as well as the opportunity to become a spectator of music concerts and performances of the most interesting domestic and European theater directors.
Gogol Theater: actors
As already mentioned, part of the old MDT troupe today are residents of the newly created center. Among them, the oldest actress who came to the Gogol Drama Theater back in 1960, is Maya Ivashkevich, as well as Alexander Mezentsev, Svetlana Bragarnik, Olga Naumenko, Irina Vybornova, Oleg Gushchin, Anna Gulyarenko, Sergey Reusenko, Vyacheslav Gilinov and other actors .
As for the new generation of the troupe, last year it became a group of graduates of several theater universities.
Directors
Performances on the stages of the Gogol Center have already presented the audience with a number of famous and very young directors. For example, Zhenya Berkovich, a graduate of the Moscow Art Theater School in 2013, presented “Marina” based on the play by L. Strizhak and “Russian Beauty” based on the novel by V. Erofeev. The works of Denis Azarov, Ivan Estegneev, Evgeny Kulagin, Vladislav Nastavshev, Vladimir Pankov and others are also interesting.
Time will tell whether the conversion to the Gogol Center has benefited from the MD Gogol MDT. One thing is clear - the “theater inside the city” appeared in the capital, which at the same time is the “city inside the theater”, where you can get acquainted with modern trends in world art and see exceptionally interesting premieres.