Russia
The Russian State Theater "Satirikon" named after Arkady Raikin has a long and remarkable history connected with the name of its founder Arkady Raikin and continued by his successor Konstantin Raikin.
The history of the theater began in 1939. Since then, the creative destinies of two different groups have been enclosed in a long period of time: the Theater of Miniatures and the Satirikon Theater, which replaced it. At first glance, the different names of the theater reflect the change that took place in it, but there is a deep continuity.
The Leningrad Theater of Miniatures, which gained all-union fame as Arkady Raikin's theater, had its original, acutely modern repertoire, a permanent cast and an undisputed leader. The unique personality of Arkady Isaakovich Raikin and the brightness of the small "mobile" troupe of the Theatre of Miniatures determined their unique place in the world theatrical culture.
"Satirikon" collective began to be called since 1987 - a milestone in the life of the theater. This was preceded by the transfer in 1981 of Konstantin Arkadyevich Raikin, a successful artist of the Moscow "Sovremennik", to the Theater of Miniatures under the direction of his father. Soon the Theater of Miniatures moved from Leningrad to Moscow, a large group of young people joined his troupe. Next to Arkady Raikin "grew up" another leader - Konstantin Raikin.
As a permanent site in Moscow, the theater received the building of a movie theater. Its rebuilding and reconstruction took several years, and only in 1987 on the new Moscow theater stage was played the first performance of "Satirikon". And soon, in December 1987, Arkady Raikin passed away. Artistic leadership of the theater took his son.
Nevertheless, building his own, a new theater, selecting for him dramaturgical material, developing techniques for working with artists, Konstantin Raikin did not give up his theatrical "inheritance". The ability to improvisation, the aesthetics of the grotesque, readiness for tricks, transformation techniques and, most importantly, the passion for continuous theatrical work, the passion for continuous improvement of theatrical skills - these are the features of the modern "Satirikon".
The article uses materials published on the official website of the Satirikon Theater.
At the IV International Theatre Festival "Alexandrinsky" (October 8, 2009) was presented the play "King Lear" by Yuri Butusov.
