Hardly any of the modern theatergoers had heard the name of Konstantin Bogomolov. He became famous for scandalous topical productions and an ultramodern reading of the classics. This is the case when they go not to the performance, but to the director: than this time he will try to shock the audience. Over the 14 years of his theatrical career, Bogomolov has staged more than 30 performances: Karamazov, Fathers and Sons, The Seagull, Gargantua and Patagruel, Lear, Iphigenia in Aulida and many others. In addition, Konstantin Bogomolov is the director of films and plays “Wolves and Sheep”, “An Ideal Husband. Comedy". As you can see, most of his productions are based on classical works - from Chekhov to Euripides, but the sight on the stage will be very different from the calm classics.
Biography of Konstantin Bogomolov
The director was born in Moscow in July 1975 in a family of film critics. Few people know that Bogomolov tried himself on a poetic path. He studied in the literary studio "Cypress Casket", founded by the famous Soviet writer Olga Tatarinova. His poems were even published: in the journal We, the collections of the Seventeenth Echo and Babylon.
After graduating from high school in 1992, it was decided to continue his literary education at the philological faculty of Moscow State University. Then, instead of graduate school, the young man enters GITIS and successfully graduates in 2003. After that, Bogomolov, the director, became known to the general public. The play “Much Ado About Nothing” brought him the first award: he became the laureate of the prestigious theater prize “The Seagull”. Next were the awards of the Living Theater, Oleg Tabakov and Oleg Yankovsky. With the "Golden Mask" Bogomolov was less fortunate. The director has been nominated since 2010 with the performances “Elder Son”, “Wonderland-80”, “Lear”, “The Year I Was Not Born”, “Ideal Husband. Comedy ”, but so far only received the“ Criticism Prize ”.
For a long time Bogomolov worked as an assistant director at the Moscow Art Theater. He staged 9 performances for the Oleg Tabakov Theater. The director collaborated with the Pushkin Theater, the Theater of Nations, the Mayakovsky Theater. He also worked abroad: in Poland and Latvia. For 2016, Bogomolov is the director of the Lenkom Theater (since 2014).
“Iphigenia in Aulida” (2005)
In the foyer of the Theater Center "On Strastnoy" Konstantin Bogomolov staged one of his first performances. The director gave a new sound to the work of Euripides. The classic tragedy turned out to be something like a chamber psychological drama in the surroundings of gangster films. Criticism was skeptical of this idea. It's not even that the chewing gum and glossy magazines in the hands of the actors are inappropriate for the ancient Greek tragedy, but the fact that their use was not justified. This time Bogomolov did not discover any new meanings, but simply brought the characters to show off in fashionable costumes - “poor, but clean”.
“Much Ado About Nothing” (2007)
The comedy of Shakespeare was set by Bogomolov at the Malaya Bronnaya Theater. After the first directorial work, criticism labeled him an intelligent boy from a decent family, but with this performance he managed to shake up the classical theater. In Italy, during the Second World War, he placed his troupe of Mantis. The director built the whole performance in contrasts: funny and gloomy, lyrical and sinister, poetry and prose. However, Bogomolov could not completely get rid of the status of a budding director, promising here: he was too carried away by insignificant decorative details and expressive means.
Wonderland 80 (2010)
Dovlatov's autobiographical prose Bogomolov added piquancy to Carroll's absurdity. Not every director dares to cross these writers in one performance. Soviet life gains a surreal flavor when the White Rabbit enters the scene in the form of a KGB officer. The slightly insane characters living "in the opposite direction" can neither break out nor change the era of stagnation, and are doomed to eternal descent. Not only Carroll and Dovlatov, but also two cultures - the modern and the recently departed - are confronted by Bogomolov in his play. The director acted here as a more mature master, for which he was nominated for the Golden Mask in 2011. With "Wonderland - 80" the glory of the Bogomolov – brawler began.
Karamazovs (2013)
“Karamazovs” is one of the most sensational performances that Bogomolov staged. The director turned the classic work upside down, not only moving the heroes to modern realities, but also bringing to the forefront a detective line instead of philosophical and religious searches. If the previous works of Bogomolov were non-linear and fragmented in the best traditions of postmodernism, here the original plot and dialogues were little affected by the director's improvements. Despite this, the Karamazovs are not the kind of performance that schoolchildren should lead to show the classics in the illustrations.
The Seagull (2014)
In this performance, the action also unfolds strictly according to the Chekhov text with small directorial remarks. The scenery is minimalistic. One of the main finds is a large screen in the middle of the stage, which places accents. On it, the viewer sees either the enthusiastic look of Nina Zarechnaya, then Masha’s anxious face, or the tense gesture that sets the tone. The transformation of Zarechnaya’s image is impressive: if in the first act she appears as a blooming girl full of life, then in the second one a dried-up old woman enters the stage, from which life drank all her strength. Like previous performances, “The Seagull” came as a surprise: precisely because the performance was not shocking, but the audience was shocked by Bogomolov. The director subordinated everything to a simple and strict Chekhov narration.
The Prince (2016)
The production of Dostoevsky's The Idiot is one of Bogomolov’s latest directorial works. Again the performance is accompanied by a scandal, again the audience rises, not waiting for the end of the action, and leave the hall. Such is Bogomolov’s creative method - shocking. The character Tymyshkin appears on the stage, who is represented by the director himself: a compilation of Myshkin and Stavrogin. And again, a postmodern collage awaits the viewer here: Bogomolov quotes not only “Idiot”, but also “Karamazovs”, and “Demons”, and Nabokov, and Mann. Bogomolov explores the classic work and invites the viewer to solve this rebus and find his meanings in it.
It is clear even without a detailed analysis of the performances that Konstantin Bogomolov is not a director for everyone. But those who are fed up with the classical productions of the Maly Theater have long been likely to like its provocative attacks. You can love it or criticize, but you definitely will not be bored. The performances of director Bogomolov are a surprise every time. Pleasant or not - it all depends on the point of view. Be that as it may, without Bogomolov, who does not at all justify his name, it is already difficult to imagine a modern Russian theater.