Novosibirsk Krasny Fakel Theater
Novosibirsk Krasny Fakel Theater
one of Siberia’s major drama theaters. Organized in 1920 in Odessa as a young people’s theater, it was directed by V. K. Tatishchev from 1920 to 1924. It toured widely throughout the country and in 1932 became permanently based in Novosibirsk.
During the 1930’s and 1940’s the principal repertoire of the Novosibirsk Krasnyi Fakel Theater consisted of Soviet plays: Trenev’s Liubov’ Iarovaia (1932); Pogodin’s My Friend (1933), After the Ball (1935), and The Aristocrats (1935);and Korneichuk’s Platon Krechet (1935). The theater also staged Gorky’s Egor Bulychov and Others (1933), The Lower Depths (1936), and Enemies (1939) and A. N. Ostrovskii’s The Thunderstorm (1934) and Wolves and Sheep (1937).
During the Great Patriotic War (1941–45) the theater moved to Prokop’evsk. In the 1950’s and 1960’s plays from the classic theater repertoire were staged, including Rainis’ Blow, Wind! (1951), Chekhov’s The Seagull (1952), and Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1958). Plays were also staged by Soviet dramatists: Shtein’s The Personal Case (1955) and The Ocean, Salynskii’s The Lady Drummer (1959), and Look Around, Baluev, a play adapted from a work by Kozhevnikov (1962). On a number of occasions the theater presented shows dedicated to V. I. Lenin, including Pogodin’s Kremlin Chimes (1940, 1956, and 1959) and Third Pathétique (1959). The theater, which works continually with local playwrights, has presented the premiere performances of plays by V. V. Lavrent’ev, including The Kriazhevs (1953), They Continue the Journey (Ivan Budantsev; 1956), and For the Sake of One’s Fellow Creatures (1961), as well as works by other dramatists.
V. P. Redlikh was the artistic director of the Novosibirsk Krasnyi Fakel Theater from 1943 to 1960. In 1973 the members of the troupe included People’s Artist of the RSFSR A. Ia. Pokidchenko and Honored Artist of the RSFSR G. M. Iashunskii. V. V. Kuz’min, People’s Artist of the RSFSR, became principal director in 1971.
The theater was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in 1971.