Shapiro Adolf Yakovlevich - a director whose name thundered in all corners of the former USSR and Europe, thanks to bold theatrical productions that broke all stereotypes. This article is devoted to his work and biography.
Childhood
Adolf Yakovlevich Shapiro was born in 1939 in Kharkov. The general public does not know anything about the director’s childhood, but it was unlikely that during the war years any of the Soviet children had it happy and not overshadowed by difficulties and losses. Shapiro was particularly difficult because of the name Adolf, which caused unpleasant associations and even hatred among others.
Subsequently, the director repeatedly said that he was grateful to fate, which allowed him to be born in the same house at ul. Chernyshevsky, 15, where he lived then still very young, and subsequently the famous literary critic Lev Vladimirovich Lifshits.
In 1949, the scientist was sent to "camps" on charges of cosmopolitanism. Adolf Shapiro, whose family did everything to preserve the remnants of the old luxury from the descendants of the famous Riga timber merchant, could not come to their senses for a long time. Imagine his joy when, after rehabilitation, Lifshits undertook to “pull up” the neighbor's d-boy and instilled in him a love of literature. He advised him to enter the theater institute.
Study
In the late 1950s, A. Ya. Shapiro entered the Kharkov Theater Institute. There, he established himself as not the most disciplined student. In particular, he was repeatedly seen strolling in a full theatrical costume and make-up by V.I. Lenin in the square near the Mirror Stream before going to rehearsals of the famous play by Pogodin. In parallel with his studies, he decided to practice directing. To this end, Shapiro created his own theater studio, where he staged the performances "Gleb Kosmachev" by M. Shatrov and "See on Time" by L. Zorin.
First steps in Riga
In 1962, after graduating from the Kharkov Theater Institute, A. Ya. Shapiro moved to Riga. At that time, the aspiring director was unlikely to suspect that he would connect his fate with this city for the next 30 years.
In the capital of Latvia, Adolf Shapiro began to work in the Riga Youth Theater. With his arrival, this theater gained all-Union fame and was talked about not only in all corners of the USSR, but also in Yugoslavia, Italy, France, Germany, Canada and the United States.
In 1964, Adolf Yakovlevich headed the Youth Theater and staged the performances “20 Years Later” and “A Man Like Himself” based on the works of Mikhail Svetlov. These 2 productions determined his future career as a director, capable of creating serious theatrical productions for youthful and children's audiences, focused on their parents.
Further work in Riga Youth Theater
Among the important theatrical productions of Shapiro during his work in Latvia are Chukokkala (based on the work of K. I. Chukovsky), The Prince of Homburg (G. Kleist) and Tomorrow Was the War (B. L. Vasiliev).
In addition, the audience remembered the performances of the RTYUZ of the 1960-1980s based on the plays by A. Arbuzov (The City at Dawn and The Winner), as well as the magnificent performance of Per Gunt in Latvian according to G. Ibsen. In the original language, A. Shapiro introduced to the audience the “Golden Horse” of Rainis, “Snow Mountains” by Gunar Pryde, “Living Water” by Mary Zalite, etc.
Along with his work in the theater, Adolf Shapiro taught at the Latvian Conservatory. At this university, he graduated 3 acting courses and 1 directing.
The last most sensational work of Shapiro on the Riga stage was the play "Domocracy", created based on the works of I. Brodsky.
In Russia
In 1992, the famous and beloved composer Raymond Pauls, who at that time held the post of head of the Latvian Ministry of Culture, signed an order to reorganize the Young Spectator Theater. Thus, the Riga Youth Theater, considered one of the best in the territory of the former Soviet Union, ceased to exist, and Adolf Shapiro himself, who suddenly lost his beloved brainchild and the ability to create, decided to leave the country.
At the Vakhtangov Moscow Theater in 1994, he was entrusted with the production of "Cute Liar" by J. Kilti. She was positively received by the metropolitan audience. After another 4 years, his performance “Bumbarash”, staged at the Samara Youth Theater, was nominated for the prestigious Golden Mask award. Successful was his collaboration with the Theater. Mayakovsky. There, the director staged the play “At the Tokyo Hotel Bar” (Tennessee Williams).
Other jobs
In 2000, Adolf Shapiro pioneered the production of Maxim Gorky's play “At the Bottom” at the stage of O. Tabakov's Theater Studio. And in 2001, the Samara audience saw the premiere of the play “Mother Courage” based on the work of Bertold Brecht. In addition, in 2004, the production of Adolf Shapiro's “The Cherry Orchard” on the Moscow Art Theater’s stage with the incomparable Renata Litvinova as Ranevskaya was a great success.
In 2007, the director became the director of artistic projects of the Youth Theater A. A. Bryantsev and presented the audience with the play “Bradbury 451 degrees Fahrenheit”.
Adolf Shapiro: personal life
The director was married twice. From his first marriage, he has a daughter, Rosan, and in 2001, the current wife of the director gave birth to his son Arseny. The age difference between a brother and a sister who lives permanently in Canada is 38 years old.
The second marriage breathed new strength into the director, and he believes that he received a second chance to start life anew.
Now you know what interesting works Adolf Shapiro (director) presented to the viewer over more than half a century of his creative activity. Today, he continues to delight theatergoers with new productions that amaze with the novelty of reading the seemingly long-known literary material.
Although Adolf Shapiro never lacked offers from leading theaters in Russia, he himself believes that his only love is the Riga Youth Theater. However, the director is not going to return to the Latvian capital. Although he once attended the premiere in his favorite TUZ. It was a one-man show, during which the exile Mikhail Baryshnikov read verses from the rogue poet Brodsky, and Adolf Shapiro, who was once excommunicated from his beloved theater, watched all this from the audience.