- Georgy Tovstonogov
Georgy Alexandrovich Tovstonogov ( _ru. Георгий Александрович Товстоногов, OldStyleDate|28 September|1915|15 September -
May 23 1989 ) was aRussia n theatre director, the leader ofSaint Petersburg Bolshoi Academic Theatre of Drama (formerlyGorky Theater ), which now bears his name.Biography
Georgy Tovstinogov was born in
Tbilisi (currently Georgia) onSeptember 28 1915 .In 1938 he graduated from
State Institute of Theatrical Art inMoscow . In 1938-1946 worked as a director in Tbilisi Griboedov Theater, in 1946-1949 in Central Children's Theater in Moscow, 1950-1956 Leningrad Leninsky Komsomol Theater, since 1956 until his death in 1989 in Bolshoi Academic Gorky Theater.He was a Professor ofLeningrad Institute for Theatre, Music and Cinema since 1960. In 1957 he becamePeople's Artist of the USSR ,he wonStalin Prize thrice (1950,1952, 1956), got twoOrder of Lenin s and many other Soviet awards. OnMay 23 1989 Tovtonogov died of heart attack in his car returning home after general rehearsal of his new productionThe Visit byFriedrich Dürrenmatt . In 1972, he produced the book "The Profession of the Stage-Director", which is the best example of his directing style, in the book he shares his honest opinions onLee Strasberg andKonstantin Stanislavsky .Main Works
Tovstonogov was the first who returned
Fedor Dostoevsky into Soviet theater, by his productions ofThe Insulted and Humiliated (1956 in Leningrad Leninsky Komsomol Theater) and The Idiot (1957 in Gorky Theater).Among other famous performances are:
*The Three Sisters 1965 andUncle Vanya (1982) byAnton Chekhov
*"Five evenings" 1958 and "My big sister" 1961 byAlexander Volodin
*"Irkusk Story" byA. N. Arbuzov 1960
*"Wit Works Woe " 1962 byAlexander Griboedov
*"Barbarians" (1959) and "Meschane" (1966) byMaxim Gorky
*"Once again about Love" (1964) byEdvard Radzinsky
* Henry IV (1969) byWilliam Shakespeare
*Revisor byNikolay Gogol (1972)
* "Last summer in Chulimsk" byAlexander Vampilov (1974)
* "Energetic people" byVasily Shukshin (1974)
* "History of a Horse" afterLeo Tolstoy 's "Kholstomer " (1975)and many others.During his prime Tovstonogov was considered one the best theatre directors of Europe.The prominent members of his troupe include
Alice Freindlich ,Zinaida Sharko ,Lyudmila Makarova ,Tatiana Doronina ,Svetlana Kryuchkova ,Kirill Lavrov ,Innokenty Smoktunovsky ,Pavel Luspekaev ,Yefim Kopelyan ,Sergey Yursky ,Vladislav Strzhelchik ,Еvgeny Lebedev , andOleg Basilashvili . His contribution to the Russian tradition of theatre education is important, especially where it comes to education of theatre directors. His theories continue to have large influence, especially in Russian and Scandinavian theatre education.External links
*ru icon [http://www.peoples.ru/art/theatre/producer/tovstonogov/ Biography]
*ru icon [http://www.krugosvet.ru/articles/67/1006706/1006706a1.htm Biography]
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