The Principal Director
Graduated Russian Institute of Theatre Arts (GITIS) in 1997, course of A. Borodin. Director, set designer, founder and artistic director of ‘A.P.T.O’ theatre, Moscow; September, 2016 – present – Alexandrinsky Theatre’s Principal Director.
Lectured at Master programme for theatre directors at Meyerhold Theatre Centre, Moscow Art Theater School, Boris Shchukin Theatre Institute. His participation in artistic research programmes at Meyerhold Theatre Centre was aimed at exploration and practical familiarization with major traditions of theatre staging. As a result, a number of performances appeared in a row, with those based on works by Samuel Beckett, Carlo Gozzi, Tadeusz Rozewicz and Antonin Artaud among them.
Several Alexandrinsky Theatre’s performances were directed (‘The Old Lady Sits Waiting’ - 2014, Alexandrinsky Theatre’s New Stage, based on a play by Tadeusz Rozewicz; ‘The Raven’ - 2015, Alexandrinsky Theatre’s Main Stage, based on a play by Carlo Gozzi) and designed (Valery Fokin’s ‘Today. 2016-…’ – 2016, Alexandrinsky Theatre’s New Stage, based on a story by Kirill Fokin) by Nikolay Roshchin. He is both director and stage designer of ‘The Bathhouse’ (2017, Alexandrinsky Theatre’s New Stage, based on a play by Vladimir Mayakovsky), ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’ (2018, Alexandrinsky Theatre’s Main Stage, based on Edmond Rostand’s play). He is a stage designer of ‘Stalin. The Genesis’ (2019, Alexandrinsky Theatre’s Main Stage, director Valery Fokin)
Nikolay Roshchin is in a constant artistic search for new ways of theatrical expression in nonverbal performances. With ‘ShipofFools’ creative team, which he founded at GITIS during his study, Roshchin won ‘Moscow Debut’ award for their very first performance. Step by step, he shaped his creative method since then, with pantomime, clown art and commedia dell'arte in its foundation. Roshchin’s ‘The Stag King’ (Russian Academic Youth Theatre, 2001), based on Carlo Gozzi’s play, won him the Smoktunovsky ‘Director’s Brilliance’ award and Moscow Theatre Critics Association award ‘for exploration and endeavour’. For example, his ‘Don Juan’ with Japanese cast, based on works by Alexander Pushkin and Aleksei Tolstoi (Tadashi Suzuki Performing Arts Center, 2002) was honoured in ‘Best Director’ category at International Theatre Festival in Toga, 2002.
In July, 2016 ‘The Trojan Women’, based on a tragedy by Euripides and staged in co-direction with Alexandrinsky Theatre’s Artistic Director Valery Fokin was shown at The Pausilypon Archeological Site amphitheatre in Naples within Napoli Teatro Festival (Naples Theatre Festival).
In 2017 Nikolay Roshchin was awarded ‘The Golden Mask’ National Theatre Award as ‘Best Director’ for ‘The Raven’.