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Graduated from GITIS in 1973 (Department of Theatre Directing, Workshop of Andrey Popov and Maria Knebel). His artistic experience before entering GITIS included performing on stage of the Youth Theatre in Odessa in the age of fifteen and running Students ‘ Theatre of Leningrad University. Being the Artistic Director of the latter, Iosif Raykhelgauz staged his first theatre productions.
After graduation Raykhelgauz worked for major Moscow theatre companies: «Sovremennik», Stanislavsky Drama Theatre, Taganka, Pushkin Drama Theatre, Soviet Army Theatre, Hermitage Theatre.
As a theatre director staged over 70 productions in Moscow, other cities of Russia and abroad (Israel, USA, Turkey, Switzerland).
Producer and director of 10 TV films.
Professor, runs the workshop for actors and theatre directors in Russian Theatre Academy (GITIS).
Besides pedagogical activity in GITIS, lectures and gives master-classes in theatre directing and traditional performing technique of Russian psychological theatre.
In 1989 became one of the founders and Artistic Director of the Moscow Theatre «School of Modern Drama».
Iosif Raykhelgauz,
the founder and Artistic Director of «School of Modern Drama»
about the concept of «School»:
School of Modern Drama was initially planned as an artistic tandem with Anatoly Vassiliev’s «School of Dramatic Art». Actually we thought it would be «class» in both senses: «class» as «lesson» and «class» as «high-class, top-level» (this meaning of the word class is typical for Russian). But the School immediately passed all the bounds and started its development as a separate organism.
about contemporary theatre direction:
Theatre direction is a kind of creative activity, which fortunately or unfortunately, does not live a long life. In contrast to literary text or musical notation, artistic vision of a theatre director can not be regarded as certain character representation for interpretation. IT IS INTERPRETATION ITSELF. Hence, if it is live, it is contemporary. If it is not contemporary, it is dead.
about Stanislavsky system:
Stanislavsky system is a kind of «legal code» which provides an actor with professional techniques. This is something like Newton laws of motion for a physicist and main principles of versification for a poet. Anyone must master these things, otherwise it is hardly possible to make his or her own discovery – whether we speak of science, poetry or theatre.
about Russian psychological theatre:
Russian psychological theatre is the most powerful achievement of the world theatre. It is an alpinists’ camp in the mountains from where one may storm the tallest alp and then return…
about the «School» and its name:
«School of Modern Drama» might not be the best name for a theatre company from the commercial point of view, but it expresses the company’s aims, purposes and trends in development in the most precise and perfect way.
Why «School?» Because it is a community of people sharing views on profession, performing techniques, themes for productions, views on what we are doing together. It is not by chance that we stage only contemporary plays, and the actors here will hardly ever perform classical repertoire. It is very unlikely that they appear in a play by Shakespeare or Ostrovsky. Chekhov is an exclusion.
«School» – because my students, my disciples work here. Those whom I taught 25 years ago and the first-year students…
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