“There is a Total Mess”: The Maly Theatre in February — May, 1918
Abstract
Several months — from February to May, 1918 — mark a special episode in the history of
the famous Maly Theatre. The previous period in its existence finished in the second half of
January, 1918 with the cessation of “sabotage” and accepting the legitimacy of the new
government. The “Shchepkin House” had to find its place in the emerging Soviet state. The
management of the theatre had to establish contractual relations with the Bolshevik authorities
and, as much as possible, defend theatre’s “autonomy”, proclaimed under the Provisional
Government. From February to May, the leaders of the troupe, led by A.I. Sumbatov-Yuzhin,
were engaged in the discussion of the “Temporary Statute”, a kind of a constitution of the
Maly Theatre. After a number of adjustments it was approved by the People’s Commissars
of Education (A.V. Lunacharsky) and the Republic’s Property (P.P. Malinovsky). Though the
actors’ negotiations with the state’s authorities were not the only (undoubtedly important)
occasion of this period. In the end of winter and spring of 1918 the theatre first tried to work
in the structure of the Soviet state. Unprecedented financial problems, lack of locations, internal struggle inside the troupe and its starting break-up — that was the background, where
the actorshad rehearsals and were preparing for the premiere (the play “The Decembrist”).
The first period of the “Soviet” history of the Maly Theatre is considered in this article based
on the materials from several Moscow and St. Petersburg archives, as well as periodicals.
Keywords
Maly Theatre, Bolsheviks, A. I. Sumbatov-Yuzhin, O.A. Pravdin, E.K. Malinovskaya,
A.V. Lunacharsky.
For citation
Gordeev P.N. “We Have a Total Mess”: The Maly Theatre in February — May, 1918 // Theatre. Fine Arts. Cinema. Music. 2024, no. 4, pp. 51–79.
DOI: 10.35852/2588-0144-2024-4-51-79
EDN CSIIVK
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Received: 12.10.2024
Revised: 12.11.2024
Accepted: 15.11.2024