Valery Fokin
Encyclopedia
Valery Fokin (born February 28, 1946 in Moscow
) is a Russia
n theatrical director and writer. He is the General and Artistic Director of The Meyerhold Centre in Moscow
and the Artistic Director of the Alexandrinksy Theatre in St. Petersburg. Fokin is decorated with four honorary Russian state awards.
where he worked for 15 years. During the 1970s and 1980s, Fokin made a name for himself in the Russian theatrical world by directing plays at this theatre and the Yermalova Theatre. In 1971, he directed Valentin and Valentina, a play written the same year by Mikhail Roshchin
. In 1973, he directed the plays An Incident with a Paginator and Twenty Minutes with an Angel at Sovremennik. Fokin also worked as a professor at the State Institute of Theatrical Art(GITIS) from 1975–1979 and at the Higher State Theatre School in Krakow
from 1993-1994.
In 1985, Fokin took over the Moscow Theatre. His 1985 play, Speak!, was the first play in Russia to forecast that the Soviet Union would diminish and that Russia would enter a new political period, marked by Mikhail Gorbachev
's perestroika
political and economic reforms, introduced in June 1987. In 1989, Fokin was at the centre of an actor's dispute at the Yermalova Theatre, fuelled by negative reviews of his Dostoevsky play, The Idiot. He left the theatre and Russia and put on performances in Poland and Switzerland in 1990.
Fokin is noted for his association with Vsevolod Meyerhold
. In 1988, he became the chairman of the Commission on Meyerhold's Creative Legacy and in 1991 founded the Meyerhold Centre in Moscow, which became a state institution in 1999.
In 1994, Fokin produced the play, A Hotel Room in the Town of N, based on Nikolai Gogol
's novel, Dead Souls
in Moscow. Then in 1995 he garnered critical acclaim for his theatrical production of Metamorphosis at the Satirikon Theatre. The play was based on Franz Kafka
's 1915 novel, which Fokin also made into a feature film in 2002, screening at festivals in Tokyo
, Moscow, Vyborg
, and Karlovy Vary
. In 1996, Fokin produced Three performances in the Manege in Moscow in March 1996 and Transformations in Saint-Petersburg from November–December 1996.
Fokin is also a writer and contributor to the weekly Moscow newspaper, Kultura
, which also employs a number of notable cultural figures and writers such as Fokin and Fazil Iskander
.
, Vampilov, Rozov and Albee
. He is noted for his use of dramatic metaphor and pathos in his productions. He often draws upon poignant real life historical events or references, reflecting a predominantly artistic view of the world and an often paradoxical truth. Fokin has directed plays in Poland
, Hungary
, Germany
, Finland
, Greece
, Switzerland
, Japan
, France
and the United States
.
by Presidential Decree No. 116. On February 28, 2006, Fokin was awarded the Decoration for Service to Saint Petersburg, by Decree No. 172 of the President of the Russian Federation. Also in 2006, he became an honorary member of the Presidium of the Presidential Council for Culture and the Arts of the Russian Federation. In 2008, he was awarded the Russian National Theatre Award and his production, The Marriage, earned the Golden Mask
award in “The Best Director’s Work” category.
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
) is a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n theatrical director and writer. He is the General and Artistic Director of The Meyerhold Centre in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
and the Artistic Director of the Alexandrinksy Theatre in St. Petersburg. Fokin is decorated with four honorary Russian state awards.
Biography
Fokin was born in Moscow in 1946. After graduating from the Shchukin Theatre School in 1968, where he staged his first performance, Fokin began directing at Moscow's Sovremennik TheatreSovremennik Theatre
Moscow Sovremennik Theatre is a theatre company in Moscow founded in 1956. "Sovremennik" means "Contemporary".-History:Sovremennik Theatre was founded by a group of young Soviet actors during Khrushchev Thaw...
where he worked for 15 years. During the 1970s and 1980s, Fokin made a name for himself in the Russian theatrical world by directing plays at this theatre and the Yermalova Theatre. In 1971, he directed Valentin and Valentina, a play written the same year by Mikhail Roshchin
Mikhail Roshchin
Mikhail Mikhailovich Roshchin was a Russian playwright, screenwriter and short story writer.-Biography:Born to Mikhail N. Gibelman and Claudia Tarasovna Efimov-Tyurkin , Roshchin spent his early childhood in Sevastopol...
. In 1973, he directed the plays An Incident with a Paginator and Twenty Minutes with an Angel at Sovremennik. Fokin also worked as a professor at the State Institute of Theatrical Art(GITIS) from 1975–1979 and at the Higher State Theatre School in Krakow
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
from 1993-1994.
In 1985, Fokin took over the Moscow Theatre. His 1985 play, Speak!, was the first play in Russia to forecast that the Soviet Union would diminish and that Russia would enter a new political period, marked by Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
's perestroika
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
political and economic reforms, introduced in June 1987. In 1989, Fokin was at the centre of an actor's dispute at the Yermalova Theatre, fuelled by negative reviews of his Dostoevsky play, The Idiot. He left the theatre and Russia and put on performances in Poland and Switzerland in 1990.
Fokin is noted for his association with Vsevolod Meyerhold
Vsevolod Meyerhold
Vsevolod Emilevich Meyerhold was a great Russian and Soviet theatre director, actor and theatrical producer. His provocative experiments dealing with physical being and symbolism in an unconventional theatre setting made him one of the seminal forces in modern international theatre.-Early...
. In 1988, he became the chairman of the Commission on Meyerhold's Creative Legacy and in 1991 founded the Meyerhold Centre in Moscow, which became a state institution in 1999.
In 1994, Fokin produced the play, A Hotel Room in the Town of N, based on Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was a Ukrainian-born Russian dramatist and novelist.Considered by his contemporaries one of the preeminent figures of the natural school of Russian literary realism, later critics have found in Gogol's work a fundamentally romantic sensibility, with strains of Surrealism...
's novel, Dead Souls
Dead Souls
Dead Souls is a novel by Nikolai Gogol, first published in 1842, and widely regarded as an exemplar of 19th-century Russian literature. Gogol himself saw it as an "epic poem in prose", and within the book as a "novel in verse". Despite supposedly completing the trilogy's second part, Gogol...
in Moscow. Then in 1995 he garnered critical acclaim for his theatrical production of Metamorphosis at the Satirikon Theatre. The play was based on Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
's 1915 novel, which Fokin also made into a feature film in 2002, screening at festivals in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, Moscow, Vyborg
Vyborg
Vyborg is a town in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, situated on the Karelian Isthmus near the head of the Bay of Vyborg, to the northwest of St. Petersburg and south from Russia's border with Finland, where the Saimaa Canal enters the Gulf of Finland...
, and Karlovy Vary
Karlovy Vary
Karlovy Vary is a spa city situated in western Bohemia, Czech Republic, on the confluence of the rivers Ohře and Teplá, approximately west of Prague . It is named after King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, who founded the city in 1370...
. In 1996, Fokin produced Three performances in the Manege in Moscow in March 1996 and Transformations in Saint-Petersburg from November–December 1996.
Fokin is also a writer and contributor to the weekly Moscow newspaper, Kultura
Kultura (newspaper)
Kultura , known as Sovetskaya Kultura during the Soviet times, is a Russian newspaper, based in Moscow. The newspaper was previously published twice weekly but is currently a weekly newspaper...
, which also employs a number of notable cultural figures and writers such as Fokin and Fazil Iskander
Fazil Iskander
Fazil Abdulovich Iskander is arguably the most famous Abkhaz writer, renowned in the former Soviet Union for his vivid descriptions of Caucasian life, mostly written in Russian...
.
Style
Fokin has directed plays by the likes of NabokovVladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a multilingual Russian novelist and short story writer. Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian, then rose to international prominence as a master English prose stylist...
, Vampilov, Rozov and Albee
Edward Albee
Edward Franklin Albee III is an American playwright who is best known for The Zoo Story , The Sandbox , Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , and a rewrite of the screenplay for the unsuccessful musical version of Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's . His works are considered well-crafted, often...
. He is noted for his use of dramatic metaphor and pathos in his productions. He often draws upon poignant real life historical events or references, reflecting a predominantly artistic view of the world and an often paradoxical truth. Fokin has directed plays in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Awards
Fokin is a laureate and recipient of four Russian State awards. On January 29, 1996 he was decorated with the People's Artist of RussiaPeople's Artist of Russia
People's Artist of Russia, also sometimes translated as National Artist of Russia, is an honorary title granted to citizens of Russia.It succeeded both the all-Soviet union award People's Artist of the USSR , and more directly the local republic award, People's Artist of the RSFSR , after the...
by Presidential Decree No. 116. On February 28, 2006, Fokin was awarded the Decoration for Service to Saint Petersburg, by Decree No. 172 of the President of the Russian Federation. Also in 2006, he became an honorary member of the Presidium of the Presidential Council for Culture and the Arts of the Russian Federation. In 2008, he was awarded the Russian National Theatre Award and his production, The Marriage, earned the Golden Mask
Golden Mask
The Golden Mask is a Russian theatre festival and the National Theatre Award established in 1994 by the Theatre Union of Russia. The award is given to productions in all genres of theatre art: drama, opera, ballet, operetta and musical, and puppet theatre. It presents the most significant...
award in “The Best Director’s Work” category.