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23-532: The Drama and Comedy Theater was founded in 1946. The head director was Aleksandr Plotnikov and the actors came from various Moscow theater schools and provincial theaters. By 1960s the theater's attendance was at its lowest and in January 1964 Plotnikov resigned. In his place came Yuri Lyubimov , then an actor at Vakhtangov theater who brought with him his own students from Shchukin Theater School . Under Lyubimov,

46-506: A Scottish company, and his mother, Anna Alexandrovna, was a half- Russian and half- Gypsy schoolteacher. They moved to Moscow in 1922, where both were arrested. Lyubimov studied at the Institute for Energy in Moscow. He was a member of Mikhail Chekhov 's Second Moscow Art Theater from 1934 to 1936. During the 1930s, he also met Vsevolod Meyerhold , the avant-garde director. Lyubimov worked in

69-650: A director who dominated Russian theatre for half a century, died at 97, after being admitted to the Botkin Clinic in Moscow with heart failure. In 2011 he was awarded a Special Prize by the Jury of the XIV Europe Theatre Prize , in Saint Petersburg . The prize organization stated: There is a Special Prize for figures displaying particular commitment in combining their own cultural and/or political experience at

92-514: A disagreement with the management of that company. In 1989, his Russian citizenship was restored. In June 2011, before a performance of Bertolt Brecht 's play The Good Person of Szechwan in Czech , the actors of Taganka refused to rehearse unless they were paid first. Lyubimov paid the money and left the theatre. "I've had enough of this disgrace, these humiliations, this lack of desire to work, this desire just for money", he said. Lyubimov retired from

115-414: Is probably best known for his daring theatrical adaptations of poetry and novels and his successful (and sometimes unsuccessful) run-ins with Soviet Premiers and Ministers of Culture over forbidden material." As an actor, he performed in 37 plays and 17 films, and several remain classics. Vladimir Vysotsky dedicated some of his famous songs (including "It's Not Evening Yet" ) to Yuri Lyubimov. Lyubimov,

138-565: Is shorter, with Lyubimov cutting out some parts of the opera. According to Vassily Sinaisky , the Bolshoi chief conductor, such a new structure of the opera was conceived to make it more dynamic and intense. Lyubimov staged over 100 dramas and operas. "People tried to stick me with the label of political theater. But that's wrong. I was engaged in an aesthetic, in the expansion of the palette — what shades could be added in working with space and style," he says. Leonardo Shapiro concludes that "Lyubimov

161-535: The Schukin Theatre Institute earned him the artistic directorship of the Taganka Theatre. With Meyerhold, Stanislavsky, Vakhtangov and Brecht as his spiritual guides, Lyubimov eschewed Soviet drama for the more imaginative worlds of poetry and narrative fiction, which he dramatized, and the classics, which he broke apart, reconstituted and presented from a pronounced critical perspective. Under Lyubimov,

184-761: The Song and Dance Ensemble of the NKVD, where he met and befriended Dmitri Shostakovich , Nikolai Erdman and many others. After service in the Red Army during World War II , Lyubimov joined the Vakhtangov Theatre (founded by Yevgeny Vakhtangov ). In 1953, he received the USSR State Prize . Lyubimov started teaching in 1963 and formed the Taganka Theatre the following year. His celebrated production of Bertold Brecht 's The Good Person of Setzuan with Anna Orochko 's class at

207-702: The United States he directed Crime and Punishment at Arena Stage and Lulu at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. In 1983 he directed Crime and Punishment in London, winning the Evening Standard Award for Best Director, in 1985 he directed St Matthew Passion at La Scala . His effort to re-stage his famous The Master and Margarita at the American Repertory Theater failed to materialize because of

230-630: The World War II generation. After Vysotsky's death in 1980, all of Lyubimov's productions were banned by the Communist authorities. In 1984, he was stripped of Soviet citizenship. Thereupon he worked abroad before returning to the Taganka Theatre in 1989. His staging of Eugene Onegin premiered in the Taganka on his 85th birthday to much critical acclaim. While in the West he maintained a busy directing career. In

253-469: The creation of a new form of dramatic material, which incorporates a historical and biographical context. Lyubimov's performances — including the well-known Antiworlds , Pugachev , Listen! , and Comrade, believe , as well as newer Before and After , Oberiuty , and Honey — were fed and filled with poetic energy. In another performance, Fallen and Living , Yuri Lyubimov and David Samoilov built on verses by Pavel Kogan, Semyon Gudzenko and other poets of

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276-517: The director was stripped of his Soviet citizenship while working on a stage production in England and thus forced to stay in exile in the West. When another outstanding stage director, Anatoly Efros , was appointed to run the theatre in Lyubimov's stead, he was boycotted and reviled by leading actors in the foulest terms. After Efros's death three years later, a staunch Communist supporter, Nikolay Gubenko ,

299-707: The establishment of the USSR State Prize, the diplomas and badges of the recipients of Stalin Prize were changed to that of USSR State Prize. In 1944 and 1945, the last two years of the Second World War , the award ceremonies for the Stalin Prize were not held. Instead, in 1946 the ceremony was held twice: in January for the works created in 1943–1944 and in June for the works of 1945. USSR State Prize of 1st, 2nd and 3rd degrees

322-735: The highest level with the European ideals and those of peace and coexistence between peoples (...) The Jury of the 14th edition unanimously awarded this to the legendary Russian director Yuri Petrovich Lyubimov for his unquestionable artistic stature and the crucial role that he and the Taganka Theatre played in the delicate phase of perestroika marking the transition from the Soviet Union to contemporary Russia . USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (Russian: Государственная премия СССР , romanized:  Gosudarstvennaya premiya SSSR )

345-452: The libretto). Long a Soviet underground classic, Mikhail Bulgakov 's novel The Master and Margarita was finally brought to the Russian stage at the Taganka in 1977, in an adaptation by Lyubimov. According to B. Beumers, the major innovations Lyubimov brought to theatrical history are the creation of a new theatrical genre, the poetic theatre, in which all revolves around one metaphor, and

368-645: The money and left the theatre. "I've had enough of this disgrace, these humiliations, this lack of desire to work, this desire just for money", he said. Two leading actors of the theatre, Dmitry Mezhevich and Alla Smirdan, as well as some administrative assistants, followed Lyubimov. After Lyubimov's resignation the theater was headed first by Valery Zolotukhin (2011-2013), then by Vladimir Fleisher (2013-2015) and since March 2015, by Irina Apeksimova . Yuri Lyubimov Yuri Petrovich Lyubimov ( Russian : Ю́рий Петро́вич Люби́мов ; 30 September [ O.S. 17 September] 1917 – 5 October 2014)

391-609: The theatre rose to become the most popular in Moscow , with Vladimir Vysotsky and Alla Demidova as the leading actors. In 1971 Shakespeare 's Hamlet became one of Lyubimov's highly successful and much acclaimed productions. In 1976 he was awarded by the BITEF First Prize for Hamlet . In 1975 he directed the original production of Al gran sole carico d'amore by Luigi Nono at the Teatro alla Scala (Nono himself and Lyubimov wrote

414-546: The theatre shot to popularity in Moscow, with Vladimir Vysotsky , Zinaida Slavina and Alla Demidova as the leading actors. Other notable members of Lyubimov's troupe have been Valery Zolotukhin , Veniamin Smekhov , and Leonid Filatov . Nikolai Erdman (famous for his work with Vsevolod Meyerhold in the 1920s) was responsible for the theatre's repertoire. The theatre had been deep in trouble with Soviet authorities, who banned many of Lyubimov's productions, and eventually in 1984

437-465: The theatre the following week. Two leading actors of theatre, Dmitry Mezhevich and Alla Smirdan, as well as some administrative assistants, followed Lyubimov. His dramatization of Dostoevsky 's Demons premiered the next year. In June 2013 Lyubimov staged Alexander Borodin 's opera Prince Igor at the Bolshoi Theatre , which was warmly received by audiences and critics. The new Prince Igor

460-468: Was a Soviet and Russian stage actor and director associated with the internationally renowned Taganka Theatre , which he founded in 1964. He was one of the leading names in the Russian theatre world. Lyubimov was born in Yaroslavl in 1917. His grandfather was a kulak who fled to Moscow to escape arrest during the collectivisation . Lyubimov's father, Pyotr Zakharovich, was a merchant, who worked for

483-540: Was awarded annually to individuals in the fields of science, mathematics, literature, arts, and architecture to honor the most prominent achievements which either advanced the Soviet Union or the cause of socialism. Often the prize was awarded to specific works rather than to individuals. Each constituent Soviet republic (SSR) or (SFSR) and autonomous republic (ASSR) also had a State Prize (or Stalin Prize). The Stalin Prize

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506-528: Was nominated to lead the troupe. Lyubimov's return to the theatre in 1989 led to the troupe being split, with Gubenko and his party seceding from Lyubimov's company and forming their own "Community of Taganka Actors" ( Содружество актеров Таганки ). In June, 2011 before a performance of Bertolt Brecht 's play The Good Person of Szechwan in Czech Republic the actors of the theatre refused to rehearse unless they were paid first. The 93-year-old Lyubimov paid

529-582: Was the Soviet Union 's state honor. It was established on 9 September 1966. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the prize was followed up by the State Prize of the Russian Federation . The State Stalin Prize ( Государственная Сталинская премия , Gosudarstvennaya Stalinskaya premiya ), usually called the Stalin Prize , existed from 1941 to 1956. It essentially played the same role; therefore upon

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