Kalinin Dramatic Theater

Kalinin Dramatic Theater 

a theater in the city of Kalinin.

E. K. Leshkovskaia, K. A. Varlamov, A. I. Iuzhin, and the Adel’geim brothers were among the performers who made appearances with touring companies in Tver’ (now Kalinin) before the October Socialist Revolution. The First Tver’ Theater of the RSFSR presented a performance of The Great Communard on Mar. 27, 1921, on the stage of the former Public Assembly Hall. Among the plays staged in the theater were The Chancellor and the Locksmith by Lunacharskii (1922), Liubov’ Iarovaia by Tre-nev (1927), and Terror by Afinogenov (1930). Contemporary Soviet plays occupy the chief place in the theater’s repertoire, although the theater has also presented the plays of Shakespeare, Lope de Vega, and A. N. Ostrovskii.

After the theater was rebuilt in 1934, it opened with a performance of Vishnevskii’s Optimistic Tragedy. The performance of Pogodin’s Man With a Gun in 1939 was a major event. Later the theater staged Pogodin’s The Kremlin Chimes (1942) and Third Pathétique (1960), also devoted to Lenin.

During the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45 the Kalinin Theater presented Russian People by Simonov, The Front by Kornei-chuk, The Invasion by Leonov, and Officer of the Fleet by Kron. The building was destroyed during the fascist occupation and a new building was constructed in 1951.

The Kalinin Theater works with local authors, among them Vetlugin, whose plays Vasilisa (1943) and The Passing Years (1956) it has staged. In the latter a dramatic portrait of M. I. Kalinin was created for the first time. Plays in the theater’s repertoire during the 1950’s and 1960’s included The Days of the First Storm by Shcheglov, Measure for Measure by Shakespeare, The Story of a Real Man, based on Polevoi’s novel (all in 1955), Goodbye, Anna, based on the novel On the Home Front by Polevoi (1960), Colleagues, based on the novella by Aksenov (1961), and The Ward by Aleshin (1963).

The theater has seen performances over the years by L. V. Orlova, P. A. Konstantinov, O. M. Kholina, I. P. Lobanov, N. V. Goncharova, L. B. Borisova, E. M. Savel’ev, F. A. Dro-esi, and V. V. Soshal’skaia. The head director of the theater between 1942 and 1967 (with interruptions) was Honored Art Worker G. A. Georgievskii. Honored Artists of the RSFSR A. F. Godlevskii, A. M. Vol’skaia, and V. S. Rostovtsev were among the theater’s troupe in 1971. The head director of the theater since 1968 has been Honored Artist of the RSFSR A. A.Vokach.

A. V. STEPANOVA