Mikhail Platonov graduated from the Directing Department of the Leningrad State Theater of Music and Cinematography in 1978.
At present, Mikhail Platonov is y rightly acknowledged as one of the best theater production artists in St. Petersburg. He came to the Alexandrinsky Theater in 1978, right after graduation from the Staging Department of the Leningrad State Institute of Music and Cinematography (Professor V. Bazanov’s class). Since that time, he has been engaged in producing theater models and stage shields, layouts and drawings for performances on the Alexandrinsky Stage for more than a quarter of a century. In his master shop, located under the very roof of the Alexandrinsky Theater, appeared models of numerous performances that had later become theater legends. It would be enough to remember such performances as “Until the Heart Beats” (Director I. Gorbachev, Artist D. Lider, 1977), “Untilovsk” by L. Leonov (Director N. Sheiko, Artist M. Kitayev, 1981), and “Per Gyunt” by H. Ibsen (Director V. Erenberg, Artist A. Freiberg, 1979), etc.
A specialist of highest qualification, he is irreplaceable for a whole range of various artists – from the recent graduates of the directing department to acknowledged masters of the St. Petersburg scenography. He cooperated with M. Kitayev, D. Leader, A. Freiberg, A. Orlov, E. Kochergin, E. Kapelyush, M. Azizyan, A. Dubrovin, O. Zemtsova, A. Borovsky, and many others. As a staging artist he decorated many performances, including: “Love, Jazz, and Devil” (Director S. Milyayeva, 1992), “Pictures of Moscow Life” after A. Ostrovsky (Director Vladimir Golub, 1993), “Sorry” by A. Galin (Director Vladimir Golub, 1996), “Turning Over the Dreams” (after poetry and prose of the “Silver Century,” Director V. Khorkin, 2001), etc. Later on, he became a pedagogue himself: since 1982, Mikhail Platonov has been teaching at the staging department of the Leningrad State Theater of Music and Cinematography, conveying the best traditions of Petersburg school of scenography to his students. In 2007, he took part in the Prague Quadriennale 2007, an International Exhibition of Scenography and Theatre Architecture, dedicated to writings of A. Chekhov. Russian artists presented their works united by a joint topic “Our Chekhov. Twenty Years After.” This work of Russian artists was honored with the Grand Prix of the exhibit: it was awarded with the Golden Triga with an inscription “To Russia for the Best Presentation of the Topic.” Mikhail Platonov was among other theater artists honored with this high award: together with Mart Kitayev he presented a model of the decoration for “The Three Sisters” performance (Youth Theater in the Fontanka, 2005).
