Moscow academic theater Satire celebrates its 90th anniversary on October 1. Especially for the anniversary, a review play “Sad but Funny” was staged here, in which the main cast of the troupe was involved.

Today, the theater under the artistic direction of Alexander Shirvindt is a kind of Moscow mecca of humor and parody. Classics and plays by modern authors are staged here, jokes are sparkling, bold and to the point. The repertoire includes productions based on works by Ray Cooney, Astrid Lindgren, Moliere, Bernard Slade.

Actor, director and screenwriter Alexander Shirvindt spoke about how the Satire Theater lives today, why the conveyor belt of humor is dangerous, how funny performances are born and how the shortage of jokes is useful.

In the 1920s, satire was a bold and dangerous genre for the theater. Nowadays you can joke about anything and anyone. Under these conditions, are you able to make jokes that are also topical and attract the viewer?

Satire is a rather suspicious word. You are talking about the last century, when there were allusions, “figs in your pocket”, it was necessary to show something through hints. For example, the great theater performance "Profitable Place", staged by Zakharov, was a closed performance. Pluchek closed nine performances. It’s not that they weren’t allowed to stage it; finished performances were closed the day before. But the desire to do something always broke through this taboo.

Scarcity is the engine of emotions. I’ve been smoking a pipe all my life, and before there were only two types of tobacco: “Pipe of Peace” in St. Petersburg and “Golden Fleece” here. We mixed them. The late artist Efim Kopelyan sent me “Pipe of Peace”, I sent him “Golden Fleece”. And now in every gateway you can buy any tobacco. It's the same with satire. How can one now re-satize the polemics between Zhirinovsky and Chubais or Mikhalkov and Ksenia Sobchak? Therefore, our theater is named after satire, in memory of satire.

And what is it, the current satire?

I believe that in addition to satire, which implies anger, there is irony, parody, caricature, humor, which is so necessary for the population today. Because you can’t force negativity, catastrophe and apocalypse. There is only one life, there must be sighs, no matter how difficult it is. So the people and the viewer have the right to sigh - to smile, to irony, and if self-irony were born in this way, then there would be less bitterness in society.

20 days were allotted to prepare for the celebration of the anniversary of the Satire Theater. Why so few?

Because the theater is an institution where, in addition to anniversary reviews, it is also necessary to provide a repertoire. Since we need to release three or four premieres a month, there is no time for review. This year, on September 9, we managed to play the premiere of Lysistrata. From September 10 to October 1, we had to prepare an anniversary performance. Not because they were lazy, but because there was no time.

Alexander Shirvindt. Photo: website

Especially for the anniversary you are preparing the play “Sad but funny”. What will it be?

We are now doing an anniversary review of the theater for October 1st. This is a tradition; we never organize get-togethers, corporate parties or drinking parties for the team. That is, we drink, but after. We did the review “We are 50” for the theater with an orchestra, we did a wonderful touching piece with Andrei Mironov. With this production we traveled all over the world. Five years ago we staged the play “Triumph on Triumfalnaya”. And now we are doing the review “Sad, but funny” - three “buts”. Such a parody-smiling walk through a biography.

The play will present scenes from comedies from the Satire Theater's repertoire in a new way. Do you want to remember the past?

We decided to step through the repertoire a little, because we are cunning. Advertising is the engine of trade, we want to fragmentarily and a little ironically show small pieces from our repertoire and thereby once again introduce all our leading artists. The entire main troupe is involved in the performance: Vera Kuzminichna Vasilyeva, Igor Borisovich Vasiliev, Alena Yuryevna Yakovleva, Fedya Dobronravov, Lenochka Podkaminskaya.

Let's talk about the name of the play - “Sad but funny.” What outweighs – sadness or joy?

Outweighs the “but”.

Is it difficult for your theater to be funny today?

It’s very bad with humor, because no matter how you look at it, you can’t do anything without drama. All these attempts to dramatize the classics are secondary, no one writes anything, unfortunately, there are no Roshchins, Gorins and Rozovys. Young people are probably wonderful, but for some reason I don’t see them.

I have a positive attitude towards today's television humor. Galkin, Vanya Urgant, Galtsev - I remember them as children. All the guys from Comedy Club And " Ural dumplings"They are amazingly efficient. I am amazed at their imagination. But when there is a conveyor belt around the clock, the need to make people laugh, it gets boring. You always need to miss something a little, and with each round of humor the bar lowers. This is a huge danger.

Background

The Moscow Academic Theater of Satire was founded in 1924. At first, the performances were performed in the basement of a building located on Bolshoy Gnezdnikovsky Lane. In the 1930s, the theater moved to Sadovo-Triumfalnaya Street. Some time later, the theater settled on Mayakovsky Square.

Over the years, Tatiana Peltzer, Anatoly Papanov, Andrei Mironov, and Spartak Mishulin played in the performances of the Satire Theater. The artistic directors of the theater were Alexey Alekseev, Nikolai Gorchakov, Nikolai Petrov, Valentin Pluchek. Since 2000, the artistic director of the theater has been Alexander Shirvindt.

The creative role of the Moscow Academic Theater of Satire is inimitable and unique, thanks to the star cast and the talented theater director Valentin Nikolaevich Pluchek. The theater works in the genre of satire, which is one of the most difficult in art. In performances, humor is often intertwined with causticity and mockery. But the legendary theater director V.N. For many years, Pluchek masterfully stayed on this thin line separating one from the other. Performances staged in the theater always have topical and acute issues. After all, the fight against the remnants of the past, against personal and social vices is one of the main purposes of satire. And humor is a weapon with which you can achieve a lot.

If you are interested in the Satire Theater and would like to attend one of the performances, take the chance to order tickets through our website. The repertoire of this theater, of course, is not at all the same as in the usual one. After all, the name itself obliges the Satire Theater to keep its brand. Just look at the theater’s catchy and provocative posters, which were hung all over Moscow in the first years of the group’s work! “Aren’t you a hooligan, citizen?” “Calm down, I’m filming!” and eccentric names like them shocked the public and caused bewilderment among passers-by. Each performance is a sharp, topical satire and a bold challenge to society. For many years now, the main repertoire of the theater has been the classic of the genre - M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, A. P. Chekhov, I. S. Turgenev, J. B. Moliere and Bernard Shaw.

After the tremendous success of the play “Bath” based on Mayakovsky, the Satire Theater began a new creative takeoff associated with drama. Inspired successful production, the director began work on Mayakovsky’s other plays “Mystery-Bouffe” and “The Bedbug”.

But the theater is known not only for its excellent repertoire. Its main asset is its unique acting troupe, which includes different time included such talented and popular actors as A. Mironov, M. Derzhavin, A. Shirvind, T. Peltzer, A. Papanov, G. Menglet, V. Vasilyeva, N. Kornienko, A. Levinsky, A. Didenko, L. Gavrilova, E. Gradova, S. Mishulin, T. Itsykovich, N. Arkhilova, N. Zashchipina, Y. Avsharov, R. Tkachuk, V. Baykov. And today young, but already quite famous and promising artists play in the Satire Theater.

Artistic director - Shirvindt Alexander Anatolievich
Head of the literary and dramatic department - Karpova Nina Nikitichna
Production designer - Shikharev Valentin Nikolaevich
Head of the troupe - Chunikhina Bronislava Sergeevna
Head of artistic and production department - Lazarev Viktor Yakovlevich

Address of the Satire Theater: 125009 Moscow, Triumfalnaya Square, building 2

The Moscow Academic Theater of Satire celebrates its 90th anniversary on October 1. Especially for the anniversary, a review play “Sad but Funny” was staged here, in which the main cast of the troupe was involved.

Today, the theater under the artistic direction of Alexander Shirvindt is a kind of Moscow mecca of humor and parody. Classics and plays by modern authors are staged here, jokes are sparkling, bold and to the point. The repertoire includes productions based on works by Ray Cooney, Astrid Lindgren, Moliere, Bernard Slade.

Actor, director and screenwriter Alexander Shirvindt spoke about how the Satire Theater lives today, why the conveyor belt of humor is dangerous, how funny performances are born and how the shortage of jokes is useful.

In the 1920s, satire was a bold and dangerous genre for the theater. Nowadays you can joke about anything and anyone. Under these conditions, are you able to make jokes that are also topical and attract the viewer?

Satire is a rather suspicious word. You are talking about the last century, when there were allusions, “figs in your pocket”, it was necessary to show something through hints. For example, the great theater performance "Profitable Place", staged by Zakharov, was a closed performance. Pluchek closed nine performances. It’s not that they weren’t allowed to stage it; finished performances were closed the day before. But the desire to do something always broke through this taboo.

Scarcity is the engine of emotions. I’ve been smoking a pipe all my life, and before there were only two types of tobacco: “Pipe of Peace” in St. Petersburg and “Golden Fleece” here. We mixed them. The late artist Efim Kopelyan sent me “Pipe of Peace”, I sent him “Golden Fleece”. And now in every gateway you can buy any tobacco. It's the same with satire. How can one now re-satize the polemics between Zhirinovsky and Chubais or Mikhalkov and Ksenia Sobchak? Therefore, our theater is named after satire, in memory of satire.

And what is it, the current satire?

I believe that in addition to satire, which implies anger, there is irony, parody, caricature, humor, which is so necessary for the population today. Because you can’t force negativity, catastrophe and apocalypse. There is only one life, there must be sighs, no matter how difficult it is. So the people and the viewer have the right to sigh - to smile, to irony, and if self-irony were born in this way, then there would be less bitterness in society.

20 days were allotted to prepare for the celebration of the anniversary of the Satire Theater. Why so few?

Because the theater is an institution where, in addition to anniversary reviews, it is also necessary to provide a repertoire. Since we need to release three or four premieres a month, there is no time for review. This year, on September 9, we managed to play the premiere of Lysistrata. From September 10 to October 1, we had to prepare an anniversary performance. Not because they were lazy, but because there was no time.

Alexander Shirvindt. Photo: website

Especially for the anniversary you are preparing the play “Sad but funny”. What will it be?

We are now doing an anniversary review of the theater for October 1st. This is a tradition; we never organize get-togethers, corporate parties or drinking parties for the team. That is, we drink, but after. We did the review “We are 50” for the theater with an orchestra, we did a wonderful touching piece with Andrei Mironov. With this production we traveled all over the world. Five years ago we staged the play “Triumph on Triumfalnaya”. And now we are doing the review “Sad, but funny” - three “buts”. Such a parody-smiling walk through a biography.

The play will present scenes from comedies from the Satire Theater's repertoire in a new way. Do you want to remember the past?

We decided to step through the repertoire a little, because we are cunning. Advertising is the engine of trade, we want to fragmentarily and a little ironically show small pieces from our repertoire and thereby once again introduce all our leading artists. The entire main troupe is involved in the performance: Vera Kuzminichna Vasilyeva, Igor Borisovich Vasiliev, Alena Yuryevna Yakovleva, Fedya Dobronravov, Lenochka Podkaminskaya.

Let's talk about the name of the play - “Sad but funny.” What outweighs – sadness or joy?

Outweighs the “but”.

Is it difficult for your theater to be funny today?

It’s very bad with humor, because no matter how you look at it, you can’t do anything without drama. All these attempts to dramatize the classics are secondary, no one writes anything, unfortunately, there are no Roshchins, Gorins and Rozovys. Young people are probably wonderful, but for some reason I don’t see them.

I have a positive attitude towards today's television humor. Galkin, Vanya Urgant, Galtsev - I remember them as children. All the guys from the Comedy Club and Ural Dumplings are amazing and efficient. I'm amazed at their imagination. But when there is a conveyor belt around the clock, the need to make people laugh, it gets boring. You always need to miss something a little, and with every turn of humor the bar lowers. This is a huge danger.

Background

The Moscow Academic Theater of Satire was founded in 1924. At first, the performances were performed in the basement of a building located on Bolshoy Gnezdnikovsky Lane. In the 1930s, the theater moved to Sadovo-Triumfalnaya Street. Some time later, the theater settled on Mayakovsky Square.

Over the years, Tatiana Peltzer, Anatoly Papanov, Andrei Mironov, and Spartak Mishulin played in the performances of the Satire Theater. The artistic directors of the theater were Alexey Alekseev, Nikolai Gorchakov, Nikolai Petrov, Valentin Pluchek. Since 2000, the artistic director of the theater has been Alexander Shirvindt.

Satires opened in 1924. His repertoire includes comedies, as the name suggests. For the last 16 years, the post of artistic director of the theater has been held by Alexander Anatolyevich Shirvindt.

History of the theater

The Moscow Academic Theater of Satire, a photo of the building of which is presented in this article, opened its doors, as mentioned above, in 1924. Its first premises were the basement of a house in Bolshoi Gnezdnikovsky Lane, where the “Bat” cabaret previously lived.

The very first director of the theater was David Gutman. The troupe was immediately accepted by the audience. The repertoire included plays, parodies and satirical reviews, as they say on the topic of the day. This could not be seen in other theaters. The reviews consisted of interludes, dances, couplets.

The year 1987 became tragic for the theater. Two passed away legendary artist: Andrei Mironov and In connection with this, thirteen productions in which they played leading roles were removed from the theater’s repertoire. But this did not at all affect the love of the public. IN difficult years perestroika, the theater reduced ticket prices to enable people to continue attending performances during the country’s crisis period.

Alexander Anatolyevich Shirvindt (artistic director of the theater) strives to preserve the traditions laid down by V. Pluchek.

Repertoire

The Moscow Academic Theater of Satire has the following productions in its repertoire:

• "Molière";
• "Proceeds from inheritance";
• "Ornifle";
• "Talents and fans";
• "Dog in the manger";
• "Women's Cry";
• "Tears invisible to the world";
• "Wedding in Malinovka";
• "Too Married Taxi Driver";
• "Nightmare on Lursin Street";
• "Mad Money";
• "Night of Mistakes";
• "Fools";
• "The Taming of the Shrew";
• "The Old Man and the Sea";
• "Suitcase";
• "Unforgettable acquaintances";
• "Kid and Carlson" and others.

Troupe

The Moscow Academic Theater of Satire has gathered wonderful artists into its troupe. Many of them are known to a wide audience for their roles in films and TV series.

• S. Beskakotov;
• Yu. Vorobyov;
• A. Shirvindt;
• F. Dobronravov;
• K. Karasik;
• Z. Matrosova;
• Yu. Nifontov;
• R. Vyushkin;
• M. Derzhavin;
• E. Podkaminskaya;
• A. Chernyavsky;
• A. Buglak;
• L. Ermakova;
• O. Kassin;
• I. Lagutin;
• S. Ryabova;
• S. Belyaev;
• A. Voevodin;
• V. Rukhmanov;
• S. Lopatin;
• N. Feklisova;
• Yu. Vasiliev;
• V. Guryev;
• T. Titova and many others.

Artistic director

The artistic director of the theater for 16 years has been actor and director Alexander Shirvindt. The folk was born on July 19th. He graduated from Higher Education and was immediately accepted as an actor into the LENKOM troupe. After 12 years, he moved to drama on Malaya Bronnaya. Alexander Anatolyevich came to the Moscow Academic Theater of Satire in 1970, first as an actor. He received the position of artistic director in 2000. A. Shirvindt is famous for his roles not only in the theater, but also in cinema. He starred in such films as “Come Tomorrow”, “Circus Princess”, “The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath”, “Station for Two”, “Sky Swallows”, “The Most Charming and Attractive”, “Motley Twilight”, "Russian Ragtime" and many others.