Andrei Moguchy - a famous figure in Russian culture, director. Since 2013, he has been directing the Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theater (BDT). The creative asset of the director includes about forty performances. He has theatrical and state awards, including the Golden Mask and the medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland.
Biography of A. Mighty
Andrei Moguchy, whose biography began on the date of November 23, 1961, was born in Leningrad.
After school, he entered the Leningrad Institute of Aircraft Instrumentation and Radar Systems, which he graduated in 1984. However, the fate of the engineer-designer of aviation devices was not to the liking of the young man, and he enters the Krupskaya Leningrad Institute of Culture at the department of directing and acting.
In 1989, after graduating from the Institute of Culture, Mighty founds an independent group, the Formal Theater, whose work was talked about after the appearance of her first performances. In 2004, the talented director collaborated with the Alexandrinsky Theater, where he staged such productions as "Gardeners", "Petersburg", "Izotov", "Ivana". Since the spring of 2013, the Mighty headed the Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theater.
“Formal Theater” of the Mighty in the 90s
By its nature, “Formal Theater” was positioned by the director as an independent theater group. As a result, Andrei Moguchy received the status of the main theater avant-garde artist in the northern capital.
The extraordinary understanding of the text, the game with the available space, always bold and unexpected for the viewer, was distinguished by the team. The radicalism in the text played a cruel joke with the Formal Theater: the group was not recognized in Russia and had no roof over its head, performances were staged in the open. The ability to choose and optimally use the space surrounding the scene aroused the delight and amazement of the audience (most often - Western Europe).
In the 90s, the performances of Two Sisters, Petersburg, and the Bald Singer took place on the stages of the Formal Theater, and the performance of Orlando Furioso, staged by Ludovico Ariosto, was seen throughout Europe. Andrei Moguchy, whose photo became a recognizable Western audience, became a personality that could no longer be overlooked. The most significant work was the School for Fools, staged by Mighty together with German and Polish representatives of theatrical art in 1998 in Potsdam.
The work of Andrei Mighty in the 2000s
In the 2000s, Andrei Moguchy, a director whom all of Europe had already known by that time, found recognition in Russia: the Formal Theater received premises, its performances became fashionable at home. In 2001, at the Baltic House Theater, the Mighty, along with Evgeny Grishkovets, staged A Play That Doesn’t. In 2003, as part of the Mariinsky Theater project, the avant-garde master put Mussorgsky on the Cathedral Square of the Kremlin. The same performance was shown in 2008 at the Warsaw Theater.
During these years, the Mighty’s performances were staged at the Alexandrinsky Theater : Petersburg, Ivana (the performance was staged based on the works of N. V. Gogol), Izotov, and Happiness.
At the Comedian’s Shelter Theater, this period was marked by productions of “Pro Turandot” and “Not Hamlet”. With the arrival of the Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theater, Andrei Moguchy staged “Alice” based on Carroll’s fairy tale “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, “What to Do” based on the novel by N. Chernyshevsky and “Drunken” based on the play by Vyrypayev.
Mighty about the theater
According to Andrei Anatolyevich, the theater involves the participation of many professions in its work, and all of them should be aimed at one thing - the creation of the play. This means that all theater workers are one team, and all professions are interpenetrating. Mighty believes that modern theater lacks effective managers. The current manager should not only deal with the distribution of tickets, but also promote the performances, as well as work with the audience. The director sees similar problems in the professionalism of sound engineers, lighting artists, assistants. Affects the quality of training of these specialists.
According to Andrey Moguchy, the Russian theater has lagged behind modern trends in art, and this must be eliminated, catching up with other countries, since the fashion trends in Russia today ended in Europe in the 1990s. But you should not recklessly follow European art.
If we talk about the BDT, then here the avant-garde artistic director believes that fashion should again be returned to Tovstonogov, in his name. For this, today the theater team is aimed at studying the work of the BDT from 1956 and later, since during this period Tovstonogov put on the best performances. According to Moguchy, Tovstonogov’s methods are still relevant today, and they should be followed, in particular, in setting the classics as a modern work.
About the performances of the Mighty
The repertoire of the Andrei Moguchy Theater has always been built not only on the coincidence of a high-quality modern production with the theater strategy, but also on attracting a spectator, that is, combining quality and quantity. An example of such a production was the play “Drunk”, which became the main theatrical event of last year.
The title of the play should not be taken literally - this is just a metaphor. All the action takes place during the night, and during this time the viewer begins to understand that every person always has a chance to change his life for the better. Until recently, the performances were not classical in their pure form, and this year the Mighty intends to move on to the classic Thunderstorm, Dead Souls.
If we talk about "Happiness", then Andrey Moguchy, whose family has three sons and a daughter, believes that only children are able to find answers to the questions posed by the play. And it is precisely to children that Happiness is addressed. Therefore, according to Andrey Moguchy, parents who came to the play themselves and brought their children with them are the driving theater force. This factor must be taken into account by the avant-garde master. It should be noted that almost all of his performances contain elements of postmodernism: performances, installations, etc.
Social Activities A. A. Moguchy
Andrei Moguchy, almost immediately after receiving a diploma of graduation from the Institute of Culture, takes part in the theater festivals “The Baltic House”, “Balskandal-94”, “Theater Sensations”, etc.
He is seen at international theater festivals held in Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Denmark, Estonia. This man has been awarded the Golden Sofit Theater Prize of St. Petersburg four times for his performances: School for Fools, Pro Turandot, Izotov, and Alisa. Three times receives the national theater prize of the All-Russian Theater Festival "Golden Mask". As he develops, he begins to give master classes.
A bit about personal
The childhood of the Mighty passed in Cuba and in Mongolia. This was facilitated by the profession of parents (father is a microbiologist, mother is a lawyer). His father worked at the UN during the Soviet Union. Mother after the birth of Andrei left her profession and later devoted her life to children.
The roots of the mighty family tree go to Poland, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, but parents were born in St. Petersburg.
The director is married, has four children. According to Andrei Moguchy, the family, its values are the main priority in his life. For him, this is the most important thing, and nothing can compare with the family.
Finally
Andrei Anatolyevich Mighty is undoubtedly a bright personality in theatrical art. He is characterized by a craving for experimental theater, where there is the opportunity to “play” with the form of the performance, add expression and sound it with irrational music. His work contains different genres: it contains drama, comedy, and circus. All together attracts and pleases the modern viewer.