News

The Maly Theatre, March 5th, 2017

Congratulations and happy anniversary to Alexander Glazunov, set designer at the Maly Theatre and Honored Worker of Culture of Russia, who is turning 70 on April 4th. We would like wish him excellent health, good luck and further creative successes!

It is the second time that the Maly Theatre took part in Moscow Cultural Forum held in the Central Manege from March 24 to 26, 2017. At Maly Theatre’s stand at the forum everyone could get acquainted with books and brochures published by the theatre, take a playbill for March and April, and get a postcard devoted to the premiere productions. The video telling about the recently completed renovation of the historic main stage also premiered at the forum. Fragments of newest productions – «King Lear», «A Streetcar Named Desire», «Vassa Zheleznova. The First Version», «It's Not All Shrovetide for the Cat» were also screened. Last year the visitors of the forum could see the set design model for «The Youth of Louis XIV» production. This year we displayed the the costume from this production.

Our stand at the forum gained a lot of attention. Visitors declared their love for the Maly Theatre and its traditions, congratulated on the long-awaited reopening of the historic stage. We would like to express our sincere thanks for your support and appreciation! We are waiting for you at our premieres and performances of the current repertoire, and we are hoping to see you at next year’s Moscow Cultural Forum!

On March 27, the premiere of Denis Brodskiy's documentary dedicated to People's Artist ofthe USSR Yuri Solomin took place at the Central House of Cinematographers. Before the screening, the great master himself spoke about the film and its filmmakers.

We kindly propose you to enjoy our video and photo report and a short article published on the website of the Central House of Cinematographers. Photos by Sergey Apanasenko.


FILM PREMIERE - The Central House of Cinematographers gives the audience a peep into the backstage life of the Maly Theatre .. 28/03/2017

«... When you leave the stage, being an artist, you have to leave a piece of your heart on the stage». These words belong to Solomin’s teacher Vera Pashennaya that he frequently recalls.

On World Theatre Day, March 27, at the Central House of Cinematographers a new movie «His Majesty the Actor» was released. It was conceived and filmed by Denis Brodskiy, an actor of the Maly Theatre, who has recently finished The High Courses of Film Directors. Cinematography- Alexey Galkin.

There are not enough seats in the crowded auditorium and the audience has to bring additional chairs from the foyer. Before the presentation Yuri Solomin delivers a welcome speech. He is supposed to talk about himself, but interestingly enough, he recounts an exciting story about people he was lucky enough to meet in the course of his life. Those names are inscribed in the history of art.

The film chronicles Solomin’s life story. There he is, rehearsing with actors as a director, then fights at the construction site with workers (yes, he knows when to use strong language). But before going on the stage he gets anxious. The movie demonstrates everything that is usually hidden from prying eyes.

During a meeting at the Central House of Cinematographers, one of the grateful spectators exclaims that we are missing such a minister of culture. Solomin, obviously recalling his experience in this position, replies with a smile: «No way!»

... Dozens of roles in films. Sixty years of service at the Maly Theatre, including thirty - as an artistic director (at the request of the theatre’s company!) And ... sixty years of life with one and only wife ... Yuri Solomin. Yes, he is extraordinary... Charming, cultured, intelligent.

Lubov Yakimova, http://amplua.tv/

Dear guests!

We would like to inform you of the following changes to the Maly Theatre’s repertoire for April and May:

April 4, the Ordynka stage – «The Cherry Orchard» by Anton Chekhov will be staged instead of «Vanyushin's Children».

May 17, the main stage – there will an additional performance «The Queen of Spades» by Alexander Pushkin.

Tickets are on sale. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.

On March 29 People's Artist of Russia Vladimir Dubrovskiy will debut as merchant Dorodnov in Alexander Ostrovsky’s play «Late Love».

Dmitry Koznov, Honoured Artist of Russia, celebrates his birthday on March 29. The Maly Theatre staff wishes him prosperity, good health and further success in his artistic career!

Dear Dmitriy!

Please accept our warmest congratulations on your birthday!

We know and love you, as a gifted and prominent actor and a great teacher, who is absolutely keen on his profession!

You have fully realized your rich potential both as an actor and a teacher!

We would like to wish you health, inexhaustible creative energy, inspiration, and good luck in all your endeavors!

We sincerely wish you and your loved ones happiness and prosperity!

We are always happy to welcome you at our House!


Yours faithfully,
Igor Zolotovitsky, Director of Yablochkina’s Central Actor’s House


29.03.17

The Maly Theatre has remembered the departed and greeted the living on the renovated historic main stage.

RIA Novosti photo report

Photo report by m24.ru

Photo report by 7days.ru

Video m24.ru

One of the oldest theatres in Moscow - Maly- is finally back home. A gala concert was held on Sunday night, March 26 on the historic stage to mark the end of restoration works. The theatre company was excited to accept congratulations from all corners of the country and even from the outer space.

Last December, the Maly Theatre invited The President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and selected guests to a grand opening of the restored historical stage - Sergey Zhenovach’s production of Griboedov's comedy «Woe from Wit». But Putin's previous visit to the theatre was cancelled because of the killing of the Russian Ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov. The play itself was not cancelled, but it was agreed to have a real housewarming later on. The eve of the World Theatre Day seemed to be perfect occasion for that.

The President, however, decided to visit the theatre a few days earlier - he attended a performance of Alexander Ostrovsky’s play «The Last Sacrifice».

Before the concert you can feel the excitement in the auditorium – guests greet each other and share their impressions. The graduates of Mikhail Shchepkin Higher Theatre School, considered to be Maly Theatre’s alma mater, are among the special guests of the evening - Elena Liadova, Igor Petrenko, Natalya Kharakhorina, Yevgenia Dmitrieva. Their joy was shared by the Artistic Director of the Chekhov Moscow Art Theatre Oleg Tabakov with wife Marina Zudina, Artistic director of the Moscow Pushkin Drama Theatre Yevgeny Pisarev, Alexei Borodin, Artistic Director of the Russian Academic Youth Theatre (RAMT), and popular actors Vladimir Vdovichenkov, Sergei Puskepalis, the Vernik family and other guests.

The stage, decorated with historical posters, accommodated the whole theatre company - from the People's Artists of the USSR to the students of Shchepkin Higher Theatre School («Shchepka»). The gala concert was opened by the Empress Elizabeth of Russia (her role was performed by Lyudmila Polyakova), who decreed the establishment of the theatre.

The vibrant performance marked the most important dates and figures in the history of the theatre, all listed in chronological order - the playwright Ostrovsky appeared on the stage, later replaced by Gorky, Chekhov, Stanislavsky, Yablochkina, Tchaikovsky, whose premiere of the opera «Eugene Onegin» took place on this stage. Then the auditorium turned into a cinema with videos of the theatre’s productions being shown on the screen in the background of the stage. They featured all great artists of the past - Tsarev, Pashennaya, Ostuzheva, Turchaninova, Ryzhova, Zharov, Ilyinskiy, the departed idols - Babochkin, Pankova, Nifontova, Pavlov, Vesnik, Lyubeznov, Martsevich, Vitaly Solomin, and those who perished in the Great Patriotic War.

This stage is, perhaps, perhaps the only one in the country that faithfully preserves the traditions of a traditional Russian drama theatre. The repertoire of the theatre consists of the eternal classics, without footloose readings and wayward interpretations.

All stars of the Maly Theatre were on stage: Irina Muravieva, Boris Nevzorov, Boris Kluyev, Vyacheslav Ezepov, Vasiliy Bochkarev, Liliya Yudina, Sergei Tezov, Polina Dolinskaya, Viktor Nizovoy and, of course, the Artistic Director of the theatre Yuri Solomin.

The Maly Theatre received a lot of telegrams and accepted best wishes and congratulations on that special day. Cosmonauts Andrei Borisenko, Oleg Novitsky and Sergey Ryzhikov, aboard the International Space Station also greeted the artists. The audience on the festive evening was treated not only with a great performance, but also with a glass of vodka and pickled cucumbers – traditional Russian treats. And the Maly Theatre is known for adhering to its traditions.

Izvestia newspaper, March 28, 2017

Dear friends,

On March 24th the Ordynka small stage hosted a remarkable event, a memorial evening in honour of a great Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. The hosts of the evening were the Artistic Director of the Maly Theatre, People’s Artist of the USSR, Yuri Solomin and Vladimir Vasiliev.

Photos by Sergei Apanasenko

For the Maly Theatre this day is a double celebration. After reconstruction, its main historic building was officially opened. The Maly Theatre reopened with a beautiful vibrant chronicle, a chronicle that captured legendary personalities, who left marks in the history of the theatre. The performance consisted of fragments of Maly’s greatest productions and feature the current theatre’s company.

«At the behest and now to establish a Russian language theatre for comedies and tragedies and for which to recruit actors and actresses in appropriate numbers.» This decree of empress Elisabeth of Russia marked the birth of the Russian professional theater. in 1756, Moscow University students formed the theatre troupe.

The gala concert is a colourful theatrical collage dedicated to the history of the Maly theatre and those figures, who stood at the origins of the theatre, their successors and apprentices.

On 1 October, the Maly Theatre started its 261st season. Works to renovate the main building started three and a half years ago and the main task was to preserve the original architectural appearance of the building.

«Nothing is touched here, the only thing, in this dressing room, where I've been sitting for 50 years, I did not know that there was a window. It was discovered during the reconstruction, we actually found some new windows and doors,» - says the People's Artist of the USSR, the Artistic Director of the Maly Theatre Yuri Solomin.

Of the new here - the compound got a unique system of cassette storage of stage settings and a new foyer.

All the leading figures of the Maly Theatre - Shchepkin and Mochalov, Babochkin, Solomin can be seen at a small exhibition in the new foyer. The historical thread - the connection between traditions and generations of the Maly Theatre –is theatre’s everything.

Olga Enina, «Russia – Culture»

Yuri Solomin on «contemporary» theatre

On March 27 we celebrate the World Theatre Day. Of course, as in any family, there are certain disagreements and disputes in our theatre community nowadays. And among the top issues is what exactly is meant by the term «contemporary theatre». Today there is a certain category of theatres that identify themselves as being «contemporary». It is hardly possible to contradict them, but, in my opinion, modernity consists primarily not of the form, but of topical issues and content.

And I think that it is not needed to misrepresent the great ideas of Shakespeare or Dostoevsky. The spectator, who comes to see Ostrovsky's plays at the Maly Theatre, draws conclusions himself - without the directors’ pointing finger in the form of rethinking the classics. The director's vision should be broadly congruent with those issues raised by the authors in their works.

Let’s take any classical work - they have already brought up all possible perennial questions - love and deception, and business, if you wish. Therefore, it is quite incorrect to divide the theatre community into either being «modern» or «traditional» (old) theatre. What does the old theatre mean? On the Main Stage we are playing Lermontov, Gorky, Ostrovsky now, in a classical manner - and all tickets are sold out.

As far as I’m concerned, the modern theatre, first and foremost, is a new drama. At the time of my youth there were Rozov, Arbuzov, Shukshin, and no one believed that these playwrights should be staged only by the modern theatre. And there were their performances at the Maly Theatre as well. There was no problem at that time, but today, apparently, someone needed to make one.

Stanislavsky did not hide that he learned a lot from the artists of the Maly Theatre, as well as from other prominent figures of the stage. However,back then all innovators of the theatre world had respect for the Russian theatre.

Even with the arrival of Meyerhold and Tairov, there were no tense antagonistic relations. On the contrary, in the time of trouble, many leading actors found shelter and work within the walls of the Maly Theatre.

Now we are witnessing separation of the theatrical "family". Many of people think that everything is possible at the modern theatre, event the explicit language. But for me it is no longer a theatre, but an utter rowdiness. The classical writers never wrote anything of the kind. Although Pushkin from time to time used some rather piquant words and phrases, but he was the real master of the language. He used a lot of marks of omission, thus giving the readers some hints. I teach my students that the ellipsis indicates a character's unspoken thoughts or words. And you have to present this thought in an artistic manner instead of inserting a few letters instead of dots.

On World Theatre Day, I call all my fellow theatre professionals to solidarity and mutual respect. After all, one of theatre’s main goals, no matter how trivial it may sound, is to educate. In Asia, Africa, America or Russia – everywhere around the world there is a theatre, and one of its main purposes is to provide an uplifting experience.

I congratulate all playgoers and theatre professionals on our common holiday. Without any single doubt, we will have a contemporary theatre in Russia, and a classical one. And let's maintain our common cause, enlightening people, pointing out the vices and healing people’s souls. Congratulations, friends!


«Izvestia» newspaper, March 27, 2017

«HIS MAJESTY THE ACTOR. YURI SOLOMIN» Teaser Trailer

We are happy to invite you to attend the premiere on March 27 at 19:00 at the White Hall of the Central House of Cinematographers, at 19:00.

Director - Denis Brodskiy, camera - Alexey Galkin.

Russian President Vladimir Putin found time in his busy schedule to attend a performance of Alexander Ostrovsky’s play «The Last Sacrifice» at the State Academic Maly Theatre of Russia. During the intermission, the Artistic Director of the Maly Theatre Yuri Solomin, together with the Director of the Theatre Tamara Mikhailova, and Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky told the head of state about the peculiarities of a large-scale renovation that has been carried out and took the President around a display telling the story of the theatre.

The historical interiors have been restored, and the immortal classics is still on stage of the so-called Ostrovsky's house. « We get a lot of foreign guests, who come to learn Russia. You see, Ostrovsky, Chekhov, we try to keep their rhetorical twists in our productions, that’s why some ambassadors even said that they used to come to the theatre to learn how to speak Russian. And they still come!»- says Yuri Solomin.

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the quality acting. «Their playing is powerful and captivating… What is happening on the stage really catches the spectators. That, of course, is a great talent » - said Vladimir Putin.

As they say, every theatre begins with a hanger and the cloakroom does not spoil the impression now: the area has been increased so that the visitors were not cramped. The theatre-goers appreciated this change.

Now it's seems almost impossible that there were no doors, but only windows that went out into the inner courtyard of the theatre. After the renovation, the historical Shchepkin foyer has been expanded, and now there is additional space for exhibitions and chamber performances.

The first exhibition is devoted to the history of the theatre and features the costumes that were used in the 19th century and 20th century productions.

Natalia Yuryeva, Channel One

All photos are available on the Official Website of President of the Russian Federation

Russian President Vladimir Putin found time in his busy schedule to attend a performance of Alexander Ostrovsky’s play «The Last Sacrifice» at the State Academic Maly Theatre of Russia. During the intermission, the Artistic Director of the Maly Theatre Yuri Solomin, together with the Director of the Theatre Tamara Mikhailova, and Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky told the head of state about the peculiarities of a large-scale renovation that has been carried out and took the President around a display telling the story of the theatre.

According to the Artistic Director of the theatre, Yuri Solomin, the theatre's repertoire consists of the eternal classics.

As they say, every theatre begins with a hanger and the cloakroom does not spoil the impression now: the area has been increased so that the visitors were not cramped. The theatre-goers appreciated this change.

Now it's seems almost impossible that there were no doors, but only windows that went out into the inner courtyard of the theatre. After the renovation, the historical Shchepkin foyer has been expanded, and now there is additional space for exhibitions and chamber performances.

The first exhibition is devoted to the history of the theatre.


Natalia Yuryeva, Channel One

Dear friends!

Moscow Cultural Forum opens today March 24 at the Central Exhibition Hall "Manege". More than six hundred state cultural institutions will take part in the Forum within three days. We cordially invite you to join us at Maly Theatre’s stand at the forum and look forward to meeting you there.

All the details of the program can be found on the ICF website.

You can find more information about the program of the forum on the MCF website .

See you at the MCF!

We are shocked and saddened to report that Georgiy Yuryevich Obolenskiy, Honoured Artist of Russia, passed away peacefully on Monday 21st March. He was the last graduate of the legendary course of Nikolai Aleksandrovich Annenkov.

Obolensky was a naturally gifted artist, distinguished by bright individuality, great sense of humor, brilliant fantasy and artistic taste. He joined the Maly Theatre company in 1963 and has devoted himself to the service of art for more than half a century of art, having played a total of 83 roles.

As they say, the artist is alive, as long as the audience remembers his work - many performances with Obolensky are part of the Russian theatrical legacy. And this means that he will continue to have an impact for years to come.

Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this difficult time. In loving memory of Georgiy Obolenksiy, rest in peace!

The staff of the Maly Theatre

The funeral service will be held on Thursday, March 23 at 11:00 at the Holy Trinity Church in Serebryaniki at Serebryanynichesky alley, Building 1a. At 12:00 - departure from the temple with a subsequent passage by the main stage of the Maly Theatre. The funeral will be held atVagankovskoye cemetery.

Dear guests!

We would like to inform you that:

On March 21 (Tuesday) an ADDITIONAL performance of «The Imaginary Invalid» by Jean-Baptiste Molière (Main Stage) will be CANCELLED.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused!

A preview of Denis Brodskiy's film entitled «His Majesty the Actor. Yuri Solomin» will be held on March 27 at 19:00 in the White Hall of the Central House of Cinematographers.

Yuri Solomin is a nationally acclaimed and beloved artist, director and drama teacher. For almost 30 years he has run the Maly Theatre, one of the oldest theatres in Russia.

We will encounter our hero during a very important and exciting period of his life. The reconstruction of the Historical Stage is coming to an end and the Maly Theatre is getting ready for a grand reopening.

The shooting lasted more than a year. You will see something that is generally hidden from viewers' eyes. You are invited to an intriguing world of the theatre, of the stage and of the backstage, where His Majesty the Actor reigns!


The invitations to the premiere are available at the administration of the Maly Theatre.

Idea, script, direction, editing - Denis Brodskiy.

Camera, color, sound - Alexey Galkin.

Starring People's Artist of the USSR Yuri Solomin.

On March 18th Lidia Milyuzina will debut as Stella in «A Streetcar Named Desire» by Tennessee Williams.

Dear guests!

We would like to inform you of the changes in our repertoire:

On March 21 (Tuesday) there will be an ADDITIONAL performance of «The Imaginary Invalid» by Jean-Baptiste Molière (Main Stage). The performance shall start at 7 p.m.

March 22 (Wednesday) instead of «The Life and Love of Monsieur de Molière» by Mikhail Bulgakov there will be a production of Ostrovsky’s comedy «Enough Stupidity in Every Wise Man».

All tickets are valid.

We apologize for any inconvenience!