Directorial portrait of Leonid Heifetz. Traditions and innovations in Heifetz’s stage directions at the Maly Theatre (1971-1985)

The research focuses on Leonid Kheifets's directorial endeavors at the Maly Theater. The subject matter of this study is the performances he staged at the Maly Theater. The author examines in detail aspects of the topic, including the specifics of his directorial style, his repertoire policy, his onstage relationship with dramaturgy, his creative interactions with actors, his work with the designer, and more. Particular attention is paid to the reasons why the oldest theater, which for so long resisted the very concept of "directing," welcomed one of the most innovative directors of his time. This close collaboration and mutual influence between two creatively diverse individuals brought the Maly Theater to the point where it was able to accommodate directors of various styles and schools. In researching this topic, the author applied several methods. To analyze the director's style, a formal analytical method was employed. Biographical and semiotic methods were also employed. In the 1970s, the Maly Theatre was truly experiencing a triumphant period of creating a directorial theatre within its famous walls. Not many trusted this new milestone in the history of one of the main theatres of our country – the traditions of stagecraft were too monumental and unshakable for the actors to so openly surrender their leading positions (after all, the Maly Theatre is mainly an Actor’s theatre) and give up their performing talent to the creative will of the director. Leonid Heifetz’s life at the Maly Theatre is a happy example of the mutual enrichment of two subjects of the creation of a performance, an example of a successful and talented combination of the great traditions of the academic theatre with the innovative director's searches for that time. The author's special contribution to the study of this topic is the systematization and detailed analysis of such sign systems of Leonid Kheifets' stage productions at the Maly Theater as the acting ensemble, scenography, music, the choice of dramatic material, the work with the designer, etc. Having sterilized the sign systems of these performances, the author comes to the conclusion that Leonid Kheifets, on the stage of the Maly Theater, effectively and successfully combined his directorial, in many ways innovative, quests with the traditions of one of the oldest theaters in Russia.