The photo was taken by an unknown author in Leningrad in 1974. In the photo, Vasily Shukshin (far left) stands next to the company of the Bolshoi Drama Theatre (from left to right): Vladislav Strzhelchik, Vsevolod Kuznetsov, Georgy Tovstonogov and Efim Kopelian.
Once, talking to a journalist from Literaturnaya Gazeta, Shukshin admitted that he used to treat the theatre as a disappearing art, but then he changed his mind. ‘I thought that the theatre was less flexible and more cumbersome than the cinema, it seemed some kind of clumsy art, but it proved to have stepped forward and is already probing into things that the cinema has not mastered yet, ” Shukshin noted.
Shukshin turned his hand to theatrical activities in 1974, the last year of his life. He showed his first play, Energetic People, to Director Georgy Tovstonogov at the Bolshoi Drama Theatre and read it to the entire company. As Tovstonogov recalled, Shukshin came to the theatre rehearsal room at the appointed hour, went up on stage, sat down at a table and told everyone that he was having a pretty bad stage fright. He coped with his emotions, however, and read the play in his own unique style. According to testimonies, everyone in the hall “laughed themselves to tears”. Not only was the text itself filled with humour, but also the remarks that Shukshin added as he read. This is why Tovstonogov came up with an idea to complement the play with a voiceover read by the author.
The premiere took place on the Bolshoi Drama Theatre’s stage on 22 June 1974. The play’s main characters were thieves, charlatans and opportunists who made a very good life for themselves in the socialist era and called themselves “energetic people”. At first, critics did not accept the play, but the audience liked the performance. Actor Yevgeny Lebedev played one of the main roles, that of Aristarkh Petrovich. In total, he performed this character over 400 times. Energetic People was a long-lived performance at the Bolshoi Drama Theatre, running for 15 years.
Once, talking to a journalist from Literaturnaya Gazeta, Shukshin admitted that he used to treat the theatre as a disappearing art, but then he changed his mind. ‘I thought that the theatre was less flexible and more cumbersome than the cinema, it seemed some kind of clumsy art, but it proved to have stepped forward and is already probing into things that the cinema has not mastered yet, ” Shukshin noted.
Shukshin turned his hand to theatrical activities in 1974, the last year of his life. He showed his first play, Energetic People, to Director Georgy Tovstonogov at the Bolshoi Drama Theatre and read it to the entire company. As Tovstonogov recalled, Shukshin came to the theatre rehearsal room at the appointed hour, went up on stage, sat down at a table and told everyone that he was having a pretty bad stage fright. He coped with his emotions, however, and read the play in his own unique style. According to testimonies, everyone in the hall “laughed themselves to tears”. Not only was the text itself filled with humour, but also the remarks that Shukshin added as he read. This is why Tovstonogov came up with an idea to complement the play with a voiceover read by the author.
The premiere took place on the Bolshoi Drama Theatre’s stage on 22 June 1974. The play’s main characters were thieves, charlatans and opportunists who made a very good life for themselves in the socialist era and called themselves “energetic people”. At first, critics did not accept the play, but the audience liked the performance. Actor Yevgeny Lebedev played one of the main roles, that of Aristarkh Petrovich. In total, he performed this character over 400 times. Energetic People was a long-lived performance at the Bolshoi Drama Theatre, running for 15 years.
