Moscow Art Theatre

Russian theatre specializing in theatrical naturalism.

It was founded in 1898 by Konstantin Stanislavsky (as artistic director) and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko (administrative director) with the goal of replacing old-fashioned histrionic acting and heavy-handed staging with a simpler and truer style. It opened with Aleksey Tolstoy's Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich and won its first major success with Anton Chekhov's The Seagull. Along with other plays by Chekhov, the theatre mounted new works by writers such as Maksim Gorky and Maurice Maeterlinck. Its company received acclaim on European and U.S. tours in 1922 and influenced later theatrical development worldwide. Since 1939 it has been known as the Moscow Academic Art Theatre.

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▪ theatre, Moscow, Russia

in full   Moscow Art Academic Theatre , Russian  Moscovsky Akademichesky Khudozhestvenny Teatr , or  Moscovsky Khudozhestvenny Teatr 

      outstanding Russian theatre of theatrical naturalism founded in 1898 by two teachers of dramatic art, Konstantin Stanislavsky (Stanislavsky, Konstantin Sergeyevich) and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko (Nemirovich-Danchenko, Vladimir Ivanovich). Its purpose was to establish a theatre of new art forms, with a fresh approach to its function. Sharing similar theatrical experience and interests, the cofounders met and it was agreed that Stanislavsky was to have absolute control over stage direction while Nemirovich-Danchenko was assigned the literary and administrative duties. The original ensemble was made up of amateur actors from the Society of Art and Literature and from the dramatic classes of the Moscow Philharmonic Society, where Stanislavsky (Stanislavsky method) and Nemirovich-Danchenko had taught. Influenced by the German Meiningen Company, Stanislavsky began to develop a system of training for actors that would enable them to perform realistically in any sort of role and situation.

      After some 70 rehearsals, the Moscow Art Theatre opened with Aleksey Tolstoy's Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich in October 1898. For its fifth production it staged Anton Chekhov (Chekhov, Anton)'s The Seagull, a play that had failed in its first production. With its revival of The Seagull, the Art Theatre not only achieved its first major success but also began a long artistic association with one of Russia's most celebrated playwrights: in Chekhov's artistic realism, the Art Theatre discovered a writer suited to its aesthetic sensibilities. In The Seagull, as in all of Chekhov's plays, the Art Theatre emphasized the subtext, the underlying meaning of the playwright's thought. Artistically, the Art Theatre tried all that was new. Its repertoire included works of Maksim Gorky (Gorky, Maksim), L.N. Andreyev (Andreyev, Leonid Nikolayevich), Leo Tolstoy (Tolstoy, Leo), Maurice Maeterlinck (Maeterlinck, Maurice), and Gerhart Hauptmann (Hauptmann, Gerhart), among others, and it staged works of political and social significance as well as satires, fantasies, and comedies.

      After the Russian Revolution it received crucial support from V.I. Lenin (Lenin) and A.V. Lunacharsky, first commissar of education in the Soviet Union, and in 1922 the Art Theatre toured Europe and the United States, garnering critical acclaim wherever it performed. Returning to Moscow in 1924, the theatre continued to produce new Soviet plays and Russian classics. Two successful tours of London in the late 1950s and early '60s reestablished its preeminence in world theatre. The Art Theatre has exercised a tremendous influence on theatres all over the world: it fostered a number of experimental studios (e.g., Vakhtangov Theatre, Realistic Theatre, Habima Theatre, Musical Studio of Nemirovich-Danchenko), and, today, virtually all professional training in acting uses some aspects of Konstantin Stanislavsky's method.

      In 1987 the theatre split into two companies—the Moscow Art Academic Theatre of Gorky and the Moscow Art Theatre of Chekhov—because of professional differences.

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