Dreisig, Ivan Khristianovich

Dreisig, Ivan Khristianovich 

Born 1791 in Germany; died Dec. 12 (24), 1888, in Kharkov. Ukrainian actor.

Dreisig began his stage career in 1814 and subsequently worked in the companies of I. F. Shtein, K. M. Zelinskii, and D. D. Zhurakhovskii. He possessed great charm, was a master of the art of characterization, and affirmed the importance of popular and realistic traditions in the theater. Some of his best roles were those in the works of Ukrainian playwrights, including Shel’menko the Orderly (in the play of the same name by Kvitka-Osnov’ianenko) and Chuprun and the Delegate (The Soldier Magician and Natalka the Girl From Poltava by Kotliarevskii). In Tbilisi in 1845 he staged Kotliarevskii’s Natalka the Girl From Poltava, as well as plays by Kvitka-Osnov’ianenko. Dreisig brought Russian plays to Ukrainian theaters, playing the roles of the Mayor and Podkolesin (Gogol’s The Inspector-General and The Marriage). He performed in plays staged by the National Theater at the Polytechnic Exhibition in Moscow. In the last years of his life he worked in theaters in Kremenchug, Kishinev, and Rostov-on-Don.