The history of the theater began in 1911, when the electric silent film theater “Vulcan” opened on Taganka. Until 1964, at various times there were a branch of the Maly Theater, the Safonov Theater, and the Moscow Theater of Comedy and Drama here.
In 1964, Yuri Lyubimov, a reformer of Russian theater, was appointed chief director.
Yuri Petrovich renewed the troupe and brought in young actors: Vladimir Vysotsky, Valery Zolotukhin, Alla Demidova, Leonid Filatov, Ivan Bortnik and other future famousx artists. Lyubimov's performancesmade Taganka one of the main theaters in the country, a “breath of freedom” for Soviet citizens.Some of them, including"The Good Man from Szechwan", "The Master and Margarita" and "Tartuffe" are still in the repertoire to this day.
In 1984, Yuri Lyubimov had to go abroad. The main director was Anatoly Efros. He staged several performances, including “War Doesn’t Have a Woman’s Face,” “At the Bottom,” and “The Misanthrope.” After 5 years, Lyubimov returned to the leadership, but soon a split occurred, and part of the troupe organized a new theater - the “Commonwealth of Taganka Actors”.
In 2011, Yuri Petrovich left the theater, and Taganka was headed by Valery Zolotukhin. During his tenure, 6 premiere performances were produced, some of which - “The Venetian Twins”, “Enough Simplicity for Every Wise Man” and “No Years” - can be seen on the theater stage today.
In 2015, Irina Apeksimova became the director of the theater. The “Rehearsals” laboratory was launched at Taganka - a project through which the troupe met the younger generation of directors, and the repertoire was replenished with the plays “Golden Dragon” by Lera Surkova, “8 (Eight)” by Sergei Chekhov, “The Eldest Son” by Denis Bokuradze. In 2018, Maxim Didenko, one of the most sought-after Russian directors, presented the production “Run, Alice, Run” based on the poems of Vladimir Vysotsky, and the immersive musical by Alexey Frandetti “Sweeney Todd, the maniacal barber of Fleet Street” received three Golden Masks. - the first in the history of the theater.
The Taganka Theater was founded in 1946. But his real story begins almost two decades later, when Yuri Lyubimov took over as chief director. He came with his graduation performance, which caused a resonance from the very first showing. on Taganka, involved in Lyubimov’s productions in subsequent years, became known throughout the country. Among them are Vladimir Vysotsky, Valery Zolotukhin, Leonid Yarmolnik.
Short story
The theater was founded a year after the end of the war. It was called differently then. The first production at the Drama and Comedy Theater, whose chief director was A. Plotnikov, was a play based on the work of the writer Vasily Grossman.
Yuri Lyubimov, who took Plotnikov's place in 1964, came to the theater with his students. The first performance of the new director was “The Good Man from Sichuan.” The leading actors of the Taganka Theater at that time were Boris Khmelnitsky, Anatoly Vasiliev, Alla Demidova.
Lyubimov regularly updated the troupe. He gave preference to graduates of the Shchukin School. So, in the mid-sixties, Vladimir Vysotsky, Nikolai Gubenko, Valery Zolotukhin came to the theater. A few years later, the director invited Ivan Bortnik, Leonid Filatov, and Vitaly Shaposhnikov to join the troupe.
Heyday
The Taganka Theater soon becomes known throughout the country as the most avant-garde. Lyubimov uses almost no scenery. His productions cause incessant controversy among critics. The actors of the Taganka Theater become real stars. In the sixties and seventies, every Soviet intelligent person dreamed of attending Lyubimov’s productions.
In the eighties, Yuri Lyubimov went abroad. During this period, the popularity of the theater declines. Nikolai Gubenko becomes the head. Then, after Lyubimov returned from emigration, the theater was reorganized. Valery Zolotukhin has been holding the position of artistic director for several years.
Today the actors of the Taganka Theater are Dmitry Vysotsky, Anastasia Kolpikova, Ivan Bortnik and others.
Vladimir Vysotsky
The theater has gone through different times. The composition of the troupe was constantly updated. But the name of this actor, even more than thirty years after his death, is forever associated with him.
Vladimir Vysotsky has been an actor at the Taganka Theater since 1964. He was involved in sixteen years of work in fourteen productions. In a few of them - in the leading role. However, it was partly to Vysotsky that the theater owed such a resounding fame that swept throughout the Soviet Union. Millions dreamed of attending a production of Hamlet. However, not even every resident of the capital was able to purchase the coveted ticket.
For the first time, Vladimir Vysotsky appeared on stage in the role of the Second God in the production of “The Good Man from Sichuan.” Then there were works in such performances as “Antiworlds”, “Ten Days That Shook the World”, “Fallen and Living”. In 1966, the premiere of “The Life of Gelileus” took place. In this production, Vysotsky played the main role.
"Hamlet"
Actors of the Taganka Theater who played in the production of Shakespeare's work:
- Vladimir Vysotsky.
- Veniamin Smekhov.
- Alla Demidova.
- Natalya Saiko.
- Ivan Bortnik.
- Alexander Filippenko.
The play premiered in 1971. The production received many positive reviews, despite the fact that it was innovative for the Soviet theater scene. In addition, it was easy to consider criticism of the government that existed at that time. For Vysotsky, the role of Hamlet became, according to many, the pinnacle of his acting skills. At the same time, some modern critics believe that the actor succeeded in this role, with the exception of the famous monologue, key to the plot, “To be or not to be.” Vysotsky, according to professionals, could not play the doubt. This actor could only “be.”
"Crime and Punishment"
The play premiered in 1979. Raskolnikov was played by Alexander Trofimov. Boris Khmelnitsky appeared on stage in the role of Razumikhin. The Taganka Theater was the most visited in Moscow. And the production based on Dostoevsky’s work aroused no less public interest than the performances “Hamlet” and “The Life of Galileo”. A year and a half after the premiere, the performer of the role of Svidrigailov passed away. On July 25, 1980, the Taganka Theater, whose poster for the next few days was known to all the capital's theatergoers, was closed to spectators: Vladimir Vysotsky died. The performances were canceled, but not a single person returned the ticket to the box office.
Valery Zolotukhin
This actor played more than twenty roles at the Taganka Theater. Including in the play “Vladimir Vysotsky,” which premiered in 1981. Actors of the Taganka Theater involved in this production:
- Ekaterina Varkova.
- Alexey Grabbe.
- Anastasia Kolpikova.
- Anatoly Vasiliev.
- Tatiana Sidorenko.
- Sergey Trifonov.
In 2011, Zolotukhin was appointed director of the theater. This event was preceded by a scandal caused by disagreements between Lyubimov and the actors. Two years later, Zolotukhin left the post of director. At the end of March 2013, the actor and director passed away.
Anatoly Vasiliev
This actor came to the theater in 1964. He acted little in films, but was involved in most of Lyubimov’s productions. Anatoly Vasiliev is an actor of the Taganka Theater, who devoted more than fifty years to it. The last production in which he played was a play based on Kafka’s phantasmagoric work “The Castle”.
Other actors
Leonid Yarmolnik worked at the Taganka Theater for several years. He was involved in only a few performances. Among them are “Rush Hour”, “The Master and Margarita”, “Fallen and Living”.
Vitaly Shaposhnikov has been an actor at the Taganka Theater since 1968. In 1985 he moved to Sovremennik. But two years later he returned again to the walls of his native theater. Shaposhnikov played Sergeant Major Vaskov in the production of “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” and the main role in the play “Emelyan Pugachev”. After Vysotsky's death, the actor appeared on stage in the role of the scoundrel Svidrigailov. Vitaly Shaposhnikov was also involved in the plays “Tartuffe”, “Mother”, “Fasten your seat belts”.
Boris Khmelnitsky played Woland in the production of Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita. He also has theatrical work in such performances as “The Life of Galileo Galilei”, “Pugachev”, “Three Sisters”.
Dmitry Vysotsky has been an actor at the Taganka Theater since 2001. Involved in the following performances:
- "Venetian Twins"
- "Woe from Wit."
- "Eugene Onegin".
- "Master and Margarita".
- "Arabesque".
- "Lock".
In the play based on the famous work of Mikhail Bulgakov, Vysotsky plays the main role.
"Fallen and Living"
The play premiered in 1965. It is dedicated to writers and poets who participated in the Second World War. The performance featured poetic works by Mayakovsky, Tvardovsky, and Svetlov. Mikhail Kulchitsky, a young poet who died at the front in 1943, played the role of Pavel Kogan, the author of romantic works who also did not return from the battlefield, was played by Boris Khmelnitsky.
"House on the Embankment"
In 1980, Yuri Lyubimov staged a play based on the story by Yuri Trifonov. In those distant Soviet years, this was a rather brave act. They knew a lot about the Stalinist terror of the thirties, but it was dangerous to talk about these tragic pages in Soviet history so loudly. The premiere of “The House on the Embankment” became an exciting event in the cultural life of Moscow. The main roles were played by Valery Zolotukhin and
"Doctor Zhivago"
The premiere of the play based on the novel, for which the author was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1965, took place two years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The director managed to preserve Pasternak's unique poetics. The production featured music by Alfred Schnittke.
Other performances that once took place on the stage of the Taganka Theater:
- "Electra".
- "Teenager".
- "Medea".
- "The Brothers Karamazov".
- "Sharashka".
- "Socrates".
"Master and Margarita"
Yuri Lyubimov is the first theater director to transfer the plot of the great novel to the stage. The production uses works by composers Prokofiev, Strauss and Albinoni. The performance has been running for more than a quarter of a century. Reviews from viewers about him vary: from negative to enthusiastic. However, Lyubimov’s production style has always evoked mixed responses from the public.
The masters in the play are played alternately by Dmitry Vysotsky and the role of the protagonist’s beloved is played by three actresses: Maria Matveeva, Alla Smirdan, Anastasia Kolpikova. Pontius Pilate is played by Ivan Ryzhikov. Other actors involved in the production:
- Alexander Trofimov.
- Nikita Luchikhin.
- Erwin Haase.
- Sergey Trifonov.
- Timur Badalbeyli.
- Alexander Lyrchikov.
"Viy"
The premiere of the play based on Gogol’s most mystical story took place in October 2016. This production is an unusual combination of texts by the Russian classic and compositions by musician Venya D’rkin, who passed away in 1999. Khoma Brut plays Pannochka - Alexander Basov.
What performances will the Taganka Theater present in 2017?
Poster
- "Elsa" (January 14).
- "Venetian Twins" (January 15).
- “Vladimir Vysotsky” (January 25).
- "Golden Dragon" (January 26).
- "Faust" (February 1).
- “An old, old tale” (February 5).
- “The Master and Margarita” (February 7).
- "Eugene Onegin" (February 11).
“The Taganka Youth Theater, created by Yuri Lyubimov, continues the traditions of revolutionary theater - the traditions of Mayakovsky, “The Blue Blouse”, Vsevolod Meyerhold, Bertolt Brecht. Subtle psychological dialogue, shadow theater, cinema, pantomime, stage, play of light - everything merged in an extraordinary fusion ", incandescent with the enthusiasm of young artists. This theater is very young. It is only taking its first steps. But these steps are decisive. And let them resound firmly in our art!"
Alexander Svobodin, theater critic
"Krugozor" No. 6 1965
The Moscow Drama and Comedy Theater was founded in 1946, the main director was Alexander Plotnikov, and the troupe consisted of students of Moscow theater studios and actors from peripheral theaters. The first premiere of the new group was the play “The People Are Immortal” based on the novel by Vasily Grossman. The theater was given the premises of the former electric theater (cinema) "Vulcan" built in 1911 (architect G.A. Gelrikh). Actually, cinema existed there only before the revolution, and in the 1920-1930s this hall became a theater venue.
1915:
In the early 60s, the Drama and Comedy Theater turned out to be one of the least visited theaters in the capital - in January 1964, Plotnikov had to resign, the position of chief director was entrusted to Yuri Lyubimov, at that time better known as an actor at the Vakhtangov Theater and a teacher at the Vakhtangov School. Shchukin.
Lyubimov came to the theater with his students from the Shchukin School and their graduation performance - “The Good Man from Szechwan” based on the play by B. Brecht. The performance became the debut on the professional stage for Zinaida Slavina, Alla Demidova, Boris Khmelnitsky, Anatoly Vasilyev. Lyubimov significantly updated the troupe, producing an additional set of young artists - Valery Zolotukhin, Inna Ulyanova, Veniamin Smekhov, Nikolai Gubenko, Vladimir Vysotsky were enrolled in the theater, and in the late 60s - Leonid Filatov, Felix Antipov, Ivan Bortnik, Vitaly Shapovalov.
Under the leadership of Lyubimov, the Taganka Drama and Comedy Theater immediately acquired a reputation as the most avant-garde theater in the country. Like the early Sovremennik, the theater did without a curtain and used almost no scenery, replacing them with various stage structures. Pantomime and shadow theater were actively used in the performances, and music was used in Brechtian style. The name of the theater itself became shorter over time: Taganka Theater.
It was almost impossible to buy a ticket for some performances; they say that theatergoers lined up at the box office in the evening. In the early years, the theater’s repertoire included poetic performances “Comrade, believe ...” (according to A. Pushkin), “Listen!” (according to V. Mayakovsky), “Anti-Worlds” (according to A. Voznesensky), “Fallen and Living” (about poets who died in the war), “Under the Skin of the Statue of Liberty” (based on the poem by E. Yevtushenko), dramatic productions “Ten Days that shocked the world" (J. Reed), "Mother" by M. Gorky, "What to do?" N. Chernyshevsky, “...And the dawns here are quiet” by B. Vasilyev, “House on the embankment” by Y. Trifonov.
1966-1970:
1967-1970:
People flocked to the Tagansky performances, but the idyllic relationship between the artist and the official quickly faded away. Chief director Yuri Lyubimov was not going to bend and the authorities used force: new performances were not allowed, tours were cancelled. In addition to complaints about the repertoire, art critics in civilian clothes did not like the participation in the performances of Vladimir Vysotsky, a poet who performed his own songs with a guitar of very dubious content. Although Vysotsky himself modestly answered in an interview that “without the Taganka Theater there would be no Vysotsky,” he was the cornerstone of Lyubimov’s construction, performing the leading roles in the best performances: “Hamlet,” “The Cherry Orchard,” “The Life of Galileo,” “ Pugachev" and others. Despite all the difficulties, the 1960-1970s became the golden age of Taganka.
In the early 1970s, a decision was made to reconstruct the theater. Architect Alexander Anisimov did a lot of work on the sketches, taking into account the wishes of Yuri Lyubimov. Although construction began in 1972, the new theater hall opened only in April 1980. The reason for the long-term construction was the lack of funding, the shortage of building materials, and the adjustment of plans by Lyubimov. As a result, they managed to preserve the old theater and add a red brick building with a new stage to it. Lyubimov seemed to have a presentiment that later scandals would begin in the theater and the troupe would split in two. In the meantime, Vysotsky sang about bricks that “remind everyone of a state-owned house.”
1987:
After Vysotsky’s death, the theater experienced troubled times, as if it were haunted by an evil fate. One of the artists called the Taganka of the 1980s “a terrarium of like-minded people.” Yuri Lyubimov had conflicts with the authorities and in 1984 was deprived of Soviet citizenship. The Taganka troupe was waiting for his return and boycotted the famous director Anatoly Efros, who was appointed instead of Lyubimov. In 1987-1989, the theater was led by Nikolai Gubenko, who contributed to the return of Yuri Lyubimov to his homeland. But even here there were conflicts; in 1992 the theater was divided into Lyubimov’s “Taganka Theater” (old stage) and Gubenkov’s “Taganka Actors’ Commonwealth” (new stage).
In the Nizhny Tagansky deadlock, the Vysotsky Museum opened in the 1990s, and later the Vysotsky club.
Many facets of the twentieth century fit into one person. His father-in-law was the legendary division commander Vasily Chapaev, he worked with Yuri Lyubimov and Vladimir Vysotsky. His first film role was cut short by the bombing of June 22, 1941. He is almost 95, and he drives up to 200 kilometers a day in his Zhiguli.
Son of exiles
I am the son of exiles, my father was exiled from Ukraine to the Arkhangelsk region. The Donetsk region needed forests, and the party decided everything very simply: 18 heated cars were crammed with young men and sent to the North. Cut down the forest. They pushed my father into one of the carriages; he just got caught.
You know, approaching 95 years of my earthly existence, I came to the unshakable conclusion that the source of crime is man. There is no more imperfect creature on Earth than man, and I am sure that there never will be.
My father miraculously returned to Donetsk alive, the men made him a niche in the carriage with the timber, as tight as a hole, and gave him several bottles of water and some crackers. That's how he spent 10 days in this wooden crypt and rode home.
We lived simply extremely harshly, someone “knocked” that our father was an enemy of the people, and our family had to flee to Taganrog, I consider it a real miracle that we survived. But even in such an atmosphere of general fear, I was always drawn to acting, I read a lot, and was never embarrassed by the public. I went to a theater club and was praised for my role as a boy in the play Borodino.
After one of the performances, the director of the city theater approached me and unexpectedly offered me the role of Damis in the play “Tartuffe” based on Moliere. The success was amazing, then the audience immensely believed everything that was on stage. In the auditorium, hysterics were almost a common occurrence.
Director Yuri Aleksandrovich Zavadsky came to us in Taganrog, he worked in Rostov-on-Don, he had a simply wonderful theater. Vera Maretskaya, Rostislav Plyatt, Nikolai Mordvinov played there. So, Zavadsky watched one of our performances and suddenly said to me: “Young man, wouldn’t you like to study to be an artist?” I remember that I could only exhale that this was the biggest dream of my life.
Telegram from Dovzhenko
That year there were about 300 people who wanted to enroll in the Rostov Theater School for a course with Zavadsky. I was enrolled, and for housing we were rented rooms in the private sector. It so happened that Seryozha Bondarchuk and I lived in the same room.
I remember he came up to me and said: “Oh, great art, let’s unite with you in the same room. You are an artist of the Taganrog Theater, and I am an artist of the Yeisk Theater.” This is how our student friendship began.
Bondarchuk smoked, but there weren’t enough cigarettes, or rather, there wasn’t enough money for them. He could tell me: “Mykola, let’s go for a walk.” And what we called “taking a walk” was going to the bus stop and picking up some bulls that someone hadn’t finished smoking. We collected them, came home, he peeled them all, heated them on the stove and rolled the cigarettes. Then he smoked.
This is how life was, this is how we were. And our relationship with Bondarchuk was torn apart by life: somewhere at the end of March, two relatively young men came to us, took a closer look at me, took a few photographs and left. A week later I receive a telegram: “I request you to urgently audition for the role of Andrei in the film Taras Bulba.” Signed by Alexander Dovzhenko.
On the same day, our friendship with Sergei Bondarchuk ended, as you understand, not on my initiative. This is not holy art. Alas...
The film was shot in Kyiv, I arrived by plane, they put me in a luxury hotel and told me to rest until tomorrow. I was completely stunned by everything. Then they gave me a bowl haircut, and soon filming began.
The song cured
I met the war in Kyiv, on the set of this film. I remember early in the morning I heard noise, screams, shots. I opened the door to the balcony and saw a plane flying at low level with crosses on its side. A sleepy military man came out onto the adjacent balcony.
I ask: what is this? “Maneuvers of the Kyiv military district, close to a combat situation,” he answers. And literally after these words, bombs flew onto sleeping Kyiv...
I went to the Kiev military registration and enlistment office and asked to go to the front. “Where were you born?” they ask. He replied that he was in the village. He asked to join the cavalry, saying he had been acting in films for a month and was trained in horse riding.
The horse saved my life in 1942 on the Bryansk Front. Not far from the famous Bezhin Meadow, we came under mortar fire, and one of the mines exploded under the croup of my horse Cavalier, he, the poor fellow, died, and I was wounded, but alive.
There was also a shell shock, I couldn’t speak for a long time, I almost couldn’t hear anything. He was treated in one of the Moscow hospitals, but his hearing did not return. The doctors allowed me to take a walk, and somehow I made it to Red Square. Suddenly a song burst out: “Get up, huge country, get up for mortal combat...”
And a miracle! I heard it and it gave me goosebumps. That's how my hearing came back. Isn't this a miracle? For me, the most brilliant works of the Great Patriotic War remain the song “Holy War” and the poem by Alexander Tvardovsky “I was killed near Rzhev”...
Work for Lyubimov
I worked at the Stanislavsky Theater. The troupe included front-line artists. Pyotr Glebov, Arkady Kruglyak, Lev Elagin, the atmosphere was very creative. Vasily Ivanovich Kachalov could read poetry for hours.
In general, my generation is a generation with zero component of cynicism and commercialism. How do you think I got to the Taganka Theater? And then the Vaganova movement was very popular: people of art voluntarily went to the most difficult areas of work. I asked to work in “the worst theater in Moscow.” Then the Taganka Drama and Comedy Theater was simply torn apart by intrigue, squabbles and troubles. That's how I ended up in this theater in September 1963. At the first meeting, I honestly told the troupe that I didn’t consider myself a good artist, but I would try as a director. He promised to work conscientiously. And he kept his word.
Yuri Lyubimov? It was I who persuaded him to come to work at the Taganka Theater. I remember I really liked one of his performances. We met at a party, on neutral territory. Yuri Petrovich came with actress Lyudmila Tselikovskaya, she was his wife then. We started talking. Lyubimov was invited to Dubna and was promised housing there. I tell him that Dubna is almost 100 kilometers from Moscow, and from the roof of our theater the Kremlin is visible. In short, I persuaded him.
It was still necessary to convince the cultural and party authorities in Moscow. And that was decided. Together with Lyubimov, a new degree of creativity and new performances came to the theater. Theater Moscow started talking about Lyubimov’s performances. And not only Moscow...
Many of his productions had to be snatched from the clutches of the censors; they literally fought for every scene and line. Lyubimov immediately rushed into conflict, and I convinced and negotiated. This balance saved our common cause.
Lyubimov categorically did not want to hire Volodya Vysotsky: “Well, why do we need another alcoholic?”... And Vysotsky was recommended to me by his classmate, Taya Dodina. She said he was very talented.
Taya, - I tell her, - well, where can I take him? We have 50 people on staff, but actually 75!
She found words that touched me, and I invited Vysotsky to audition. He came and showed Chelkash, Gorky’s hero. It doesn't seem like much. Then Vysotsky takes a guitar and sings three songs. Lyubimov asks whose words these are. Volodya replied that it was his. That's how we parted...
I convinced Lyubimov to take him for three months, and then we’ll see. Then we worked on “A Hero of Our Time,” for Lermontov’s anniversary. Vysotsky was given a tiny role as a staff captain with one line: “Nature is a fool, fate is a turkey, and life is a penny. What a fool you are, brother.” He did everything brilliantly. And he stayed in the theater.
The demon did not let go of Vysotsky
Volodya was an infinitely kind and reliable person, he always came to the rescue. How he helped me, the director, in endless construction projects and repairs is beyond words. One of his concerts opened dozens of doors... Lord, what we didn’t have with Vysotsky.
The next party congress. The theater receives delegations of communists from twenty-three countries of the world. Before the performance, my assistant comes running and says: “Vysotsky can’t stand on his feet”... God! I run to Vysotsky’s dressing room, but he doesn’t give a damn. “Nikolai Lukyanovich, forgive me”... Like a kid, I slapped him on the head: “Are you crazy?! The Politburo is in the hall!” In response - mooing.
I tell him: now we’re going on stage - your task is just to stand with your head down. I'll do the rest. I will say that, unfortunately, the performance cannot take place: the artist Vysotsky has lost his voice. Make apologetic gestures, just don't fall off the stage. And so they did. I promised to show the performance in three days (during this time, the artist Vysotsky’s voice promises to return). The audience stood up and deafened us with applause. Not a single one handed over his tickets! After that, I put him in the car and sent him to the doctors I knew, who pulled him out more than once. Three days later the hall was full, and Vysotsky played brilliantly.
There were often hysterics with other theater artists: why did Vysotsky get away with everything?! To be honest, sometimes I didn’t know what to answer. I remember on tour in Leningrad, when Vysotsky had another binge, the troupe almost unanimously voted for his dismissal from the theater.
He could come up to me and say: “Nikolai Lukyanovich, let me go for three days. We need to fly to Magadan, gold miners pay 10 thousand for a concert.” How could I not let him go? The Volga car cost less than he was paid for one performance! He returned, went to the second-hand store, bought Marina Vladi a pendant for 6 thousand, and was absolutely happy. I, too, was happy from the realization that I had something to do with his peasant joy. And this made many people angry.
On tour in Poland, Vysotsky says that he cannot come. We found out that he was with Marina in France, at the Cannes Film Festival. There's a riot in the troupe!
"Hamlet" has been announced, but there is no one to play it. What to do? We introduce Valery Zolotukhin to the role of Hamlet - he played brilliantly. And Vysotsky immediately came out to the next performance. This replacement had a very good effect on him... Volodya understood perfectly well that he was sick. But there are absolutely diabolical things that no medicine can help. He cried, struggled, but the demon did not let him go.
After another incident with Vysotsky, Yuri Lyubimov threw a huge scandal at me, shouting that I was allowing myself a lot, that he wanted to finally take power into his own hands. To which I replied: “Yuri Petrovich, I have the honor.” And left. Exactly a year ago they called me and offered to help me find a job. I answered that, as a disabled war veteran, I had a good pension. I also drive a car and can work as a taxi driver.
Finally they persuaded me to become the director of the Theater on Malaya Bronnaya. A very talented team gathered there: Alexey Petrenko, Oleg Dal, Elena Koreneva...
Vysotsky, of course, was loved. But passions were also boiling around - not just here on stage. Behind the scenes... Photo: RIA News
What Chekhov is wrong about
Why did I return to the Taganka Theater again? Lyubimov! Lyubimov... He persuaded me to meet at the church on Frunzenskaya Embankment. Both arrived in cars. They stopped opposite each other. I think I will absolutely not be the first to go out. I see Lyubimov coming out. I go out, we say hello, and he says how disorganized he was, how they told him about me...
I returned only because I had an idea to build a theater complex there, a kind of scenic Mecca, if you like... According to my plan, an international theater school should appear there, which would be led by Lyubimov and his students. But school didn’t work out. And it's not my fault.
Our passions at Taganka were serious and destructive. Why destructive? At the core and depth of all passions lay ambition...
Why did Alexander Kalyagin leave the theater? I assigned him to the role of Hamlet, and Lyubimov - to the rear! Not at all. He invited a French actor to play this role. And the theater lost Kalyagin. But Sasha built his own theater.
You know, I don’t agree with Chekhov: remember his famous saying that actors are sons of bitches? So, the most flawed people are artists. The hardest thing is to be an artist. An artist is such a profession that he is ready to sell anyone for applause. Condemn them? This is a terrible state of being an actor that few people understand. I think that Anton Pavlovich, although he was a genius, could not understand this.
Whose side was the truth on in Lyubimov’s conflict with the actors? Of course, on the side of the actors.
You see, Yuri Petrovich was given the Order of the Red Banner of Labor after he was deprived of USSR citizenship. They gave the laureate. Who bothered? How did you manage to tour abroad? To go to Bulgaria, the daughter of the then leader Lyudmila Zhivkova helped. Who was knocking on these doors? Dupak!
Lyubimov did not understand many things; he shunned them. Lyudmila Tselikovskaya told me: “Nikolai Lukyanovich, what are you explaining to him, he’s a fitter. When he doesn’t agree with me at home, I take off my shoe - and the shoe is his. Only then does he understand...”
I immensely appreciate Yuri Petrovich’s contribution to the theater business in Russia, but I will never be able to understand how he could drive artists out of the theater! The theater was created by actors, not Lyubimov. He didn't want to understand this.
When he died, on the day of farewell, I canceled my creative evening and went to say goodbye to Yuri Petrovich. He approached his last wife, began to say words of sympathy - and she defiantly stood up and walked away. I was simply dumbfounded... An acquaintance said: “What a fool you are, brother Mykola. Why did you come up? Did you hope to get through?”...
The main reason for my resignation from the post of theater director was Yuri Petrovich’s growing “grabbing” movements. It was difficult to leave, as if leaving my child. I gathered my front-line friends, drank a glass, and asked them for advice. They said: "Kolya, go away..."
From bandits to a mental hospital
After that, I began to work on the Taganka Cultural Center and supervised the construction. We built the Artist's House in the center of Moscow, according to the project there were 10 apartments, creative workshops, a good hall with acoustics.
Bandits began to come to me. They said openly: give up the construction site or we will finish you off. They put the gun on the table and looked into my eyes. I told them: “You brats, get out of here. I was wounded three times at the front - do you think you’ll scare me with your gun?” But the pressure was so crazy that I had to leave Moscow immediately. Zhenya said that he was called to filming. I told my deputy not to sign a single document without me. But... she was paid a decent amount - and she signed everything. I come back, and there is such a mess...
My friends rushed me to a closed psychiatric hospital under an assumed name. They hid for two weeks. During this time, my deputy, who signed the papers for the bandits, left for another world: that is, they helped her go there...
I'm a lyricist at heart
You can be friends with women without any “shur-mur”. I had two of these. Olga Vasilievna Lepeshinskaya and Natalya Yuryevna Durova.
I have known Olga Vasilyevna since 1936, she is not only a brilliant ballerina, but a brilliant friend. She could call: “Nikolai Lukyanovich, come over and read me something.” I stopped by, drank tea, read poetry, and Lepeshinskaya cried...
He was close friends with Natalya Yuryevna Durova. She was a saint, tigers and lions crawled like kittens at her feet. I always said that the most terrible beast is man.
And my first wife was Vera Vasilievna Chapaeva, the daughter of the legendary division commander. She didn’t remember her father, but his spirit hovered in our family constantly. It was not easy to live with this spirit, and I left with one suitcase to meet new love... Raisa Mikhailovna worked as a simple waitress in our theater. She and I had crazy love and complete understanding...
Now I am a widower, I live alone, I still drive a car. Today I covered 120 kilometers - and still need to go to two places. I live in complete autonomy, my daughter is in the next building, she often comes and checks on me, but I still do everything myself.
I understand that the needle of life’s compass is approaching the border of a “better world.”
My beloved people have gone to that world, my wonderful granddaughter Nastya has already left. I lost consciousness in church, and my girl passed away.
It often happens that I wake up at night and conduct internal dialogues with my departed ones.
No, I'm not crazy. I just have a lyrical soul. Although life is pure prose.
Help "RG"
Nikolai Dupak, born in 1921. Disabled person of the Great Patriotic War, group II. He was the director of the Taganka Theater for 25 years.
He starred in 30 films, including “Love with Privileges”, “Bumbarash”, “The One and Only”. Honored Artist of Russia and Ukraine.
The Moscow Taganka Theater may lose a significant part of its repertoire. Founder and former artistic director Yuri Lyubimov intends to ban the performance of his original performances. And this is not the only conflict. Some Taganka actors believe that only the return of Lyubimov can save the theater. But the other part of the troupe categorically disagrees with this prospect.
The experiment without Yuri Lyubimov failed. This is how the five leading actors of the Taganka Theater began the press conference. They organized this meeting with journalists to say: in their opinion, the former permanent artistic director should return to his native theater.
“After many months of melancholy, lies, distortion of facts, I would like to say: without Beloved, this theater cannot develop,” said actor Timur Badalbeyli.
This is not the first time that Yuri Lyubimov’s personality has given rise to a press conference. Today there are those who expressed completely opposite opinions back. Then the actors fought for the artistic director to leave the theater.
“What outraged Yuri Petrovich and his wife was that somehow these ‘disgusting creatures’, ‘pathetic bugs’ and ‘cattle’ suddenly started talking, and what’s more, they made claims,” actor Felix Antipov said then.
Today, actor Felix Antipov says that he ardently regrets what he said: “It turned out that the hat didn’t suit Senka. For a year and a half, the theater was looking for something of its own, but these paths turned out to be dead ends. I’m not very happy with the performances that we have after Yuri Petrovich.”
The actors are critical of the new theater management. However, they emphasized several times that they were not expressing the opinion of the troupe, but their own. And they refused to say to whom the criticism was addressed by name. They just clarified that this does not apply to the former director of the theater Valery Zolotukhin.
“Unfortunately, a certain group of self-proclaimed managers broke through to the management of the theater. The slogans under which they came confused us: so that the spirit of Yuri Petrovich does not exist, we will build our theater, so our theater began to deteriorate,” said actor Timur Badalbeyli.
There was a split in the theater troupe. While some actors want to bring back Yuri Lyubimov, others have collected signatures against the return of the former artistic director. They assure that the theater has recently begun to flourish.
“Most of the staff don’t want to work anymore, I have letters here,” says the head of the troupe, Honored Artist Ivan Ryzhikov. “Over the past two years, the theater has produced 6 premieres, we have enough strength and opportunity to support the repertoire and life of the theater.”
Yuri Lyubimov himself announced a few days ago that he was forced to ban the showing of his original performances at Taganka due to the deterioration of their quality. And the theater’s playbill for March alone includes several legendary performances by the director, which he staged decades ago: “The Good Man from Szechwan,” “The Master and Margarita,” “Tartuffe.” Then Vysotsky, Demidova, Smekhov, Zolotukhin played in them.
The founder of Taganka, Yuri Petrovich Lyubimov, decided to leave the theater in July 2011 after a conflict with the troupe. Valery Zolotukhin became the new director and artistic director, but recently due to health conditions he was forced to submit his resignation. Vladimir Fleisher became the director, but the issue of appointing an artistic director of the Taganka Theater has not yet been considered.
“If you want to build your own theater, then it should be called differently. It should no longer be the Taganka Theater. And if we remain the Taganka Theater with a living creator and this creator cannot even enter this theater - this is blasphemy,” - said actor Dmitry Vysotsky.
At the end of the press conference, the organizers contacted Yuri Lyubimov himself to find out his opinion on a possible return.
“This issue will be resolved on the 29th. And apparently, the Moscow minister will take this into account, I hope. This is your official statement,” he said.
A meeting between Yuri Lyubimov and the head of the Moscow Department of Culture, Sergei Kapkov, may put an end to this issue.
