Moscow Art Theatre

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Interior of the "Old" MAT in Kamergersky Lane, originally Lianozov Theatre, as rebuilt in 1900-1903 by Fyodor Schechtel with contribution by Anna Golubkina and Ivan Fomin.

MKHAT (Moscow Art Theatre), Kamergersky Lane, exterior by Fyodor Schechtel

The Moscow Art Theatre (Russian: Московский Художественный Академический Театр, МАТ) is a theatre company in Moscow that the seminal Russian theatre practitioner Constantin Stanislavski, together with the playwright and director Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, founded in 1897. It was conceived as a venue for naturalistic theatre, in contrast to the melodramas that were Russia's dominant form of theatre at the time. The theatre quickly became famous when it staged Anton Chekhov's four major works, beginning with its production of The Seagull in 1898. This production was so successful that the theatre adopted the seagull as its emblem. The theatre also staged the dramatic work of Maxim Gorky, although in 1904, following a disagreement with Nemirovich, he terminated his relationship with the organisation.^[1] The theatre continued to thrive after the October Revolution of 1917 and was one of the foremost state-supported theatres of the Soviet Union, with an extensive repertoire of leading Russian and Western playwrights. Mikhail Bulgakov wrote several plays for the MAT and satirised the organisation mercilessly in his novel Black Snow. Isaac Babel's Sunset was also performed there during the 1920s. A significant number of Moscow Art Theatre's actors were awarded the prestigious title of People's Artist of the USSR. Many actors became nationally known and admired thanks to their film roles. In 1987, the theatre split into two troupes: the Chekhov Moscow Art Theatre (artistic director Oleg Yefremov) and the Gorky Moscow Art Theatre (artistic director Tatiana Doronina). Oleg Tabakov has been the Chekhov Moscow Art Theatre's artistic director since 2000. The theatre is presently located just off Tverskaya Street, within walking distance of Red Square.

1 See also
2 References
3 Sources
4 External links

References

^ Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko had insulted Gorky with his critical assessment of Gorky's new play Summerfolk, which Nemirovich described as shapeless and formless raw material that lacked a plot. Nemirovich's behaviour prompted Savva Morozov to resign from the MAT's board and to withdraw his financial support (though he maintained his initial investment in the theatre of almost 15,000 rubles). Gorky returned to Nizhny Novgorod to establish a theatre of his own, for which both Stanislavski and Morozov were to provide financial support. Stanislavski saw in Gorky's new venture an opportunity to develop the network of provincial theatres that he hoped would reform the art of the stage in Russia, of which he had dreamed since the 1890s. He sent some pupils from the Art Theatre School—as well as Ioasaf Tikhomirov, who ran the school—to work there. By the autumn, however, after the censor had banned every play that the theatre proposed to stage, the project was abandoned. Despite Stanislavski's attempts to persuade him otherwise, in December 1904 Gorky refused permission for the MAT to produce his Enemies and declined "any kind of connection with the Art Theatre." See Benedetti (1999, 149-150).

Sources

Banham, Martin, ed. 1998. The Cambridge Guide to Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521434378.
Benedetti, Jean. 1999. Stanislavski: His Life and Art. Revised edition. Original edition published in 1988. London: Methuen. ISBN 0413525201.
Braun, Edward. 1982. "Stanislavsky and Chekhov". The Director and the Stage: From Naturalism to Grotowski. London: Methuen. 59-76. ISBN 0413463001.
Bulgakov, Mikhail. 1996. Black Snow: Theatrical Novel. Trans. Michael Glenny. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1967. London: Collins-Harvill, 1986, 1991, 1996.
Magarshack, David. 1950. Stanislavsky: A Life. London and Boston: Faber, 1986. ISBN 0571137911.
Stanislavski, Constantin. 1938. An Actor’s Work: A Student’s Diary. Trans. and ed. Jean Benedetti. London: Routledge, 2008. ISBN 9780415422239.
Whyman, Rose. 2008. The Stanislavsky System of Acting: Legacy and Influence in Modern Performance. Cambridge: Cambrdige UP. ISBN 9780521886963.
Worrall, Nick. 1996. The Moscow Art Theatre. Theatre Production Studies ser. London and NY: Routledge. ISBN 0415055989.