Maly Theatre

Maly Theatre, Moscow. This theatre (maly, small, as opposed to bolshoi, big) opened in 1824 with a company which had been in existence since 1806. It is the oldest theatre in the city and the only one to keep the traditional drop-curtain. With its unbroken history it has played an important part in the development of Russian drama, particularly in the 1840s, when Shchepkin was appearing in such plays as Gogol's The Government Inspector and Griboyedov's Woe from Wit, and Mochalov in translations of Shakespeare's tragedies made directly from the original and not, as hitherto, from the French. In 1854 the Maly first produced a play by Ostrovsky, and so began a brilliant partnership which lasted until 1885. The actor who first played many of the leading roles was Prov Sadovsky, whose descendants continued the connection with the theatre. Other great names connected with the Maly are Maria Yermolova and Alexander Lensky (1847–1908), an actor who joined the company in 1876 and eventually became its Director, being responsible for introducing the plays of Ibsen to Russian audiences. Having survived the Russian Revolution, the theatre took its place in the theatrical life of Soviet Russia with the production of Trenev's Lyubov Yarovaya in 1926. It has since included many new Soviet plays in its repertoire, but has not neglected the classics, one of its outstanding productions being Othello with the veteran actor Alexander Ostushev (1874–1953) in the title-role. Sudakov was Artistic Director, 1937–59, and was followed by Yevgenyi Simonov (see SIMONOV, REUBEN). For many years the theatre was known as the House of Ostrovsky, and the 150th anniversary of its opening was celebrated in 1974 with a revival of Ostrovsky's The Storm. Productions of the 1980s included King Lear and Pushkin's Little Tragedies. In 1990 the theatre reopened after reconstruction on the same site.