«The Humanist of Bitter Time»

The exhibition «The Humanist of Bitter Time» is devoted to the 125th anniversary of the prominent drama actor, drama teacher and director Mikhail Aleksandrovich Chekhov /1891 – 1955/.

Actors-philosophers, actors-creators, actors-seekers occupy a special place in the theatre art: for them a theatre stage becomes a kind of laboratory for the study of the deep layers of the human microcosm, the ways of its reflection in the artistic image. Such people were M.S. Shchepkin and K.S. Stanislavsky. So was Mikhail Chekhov.

Critics wrote about the amazing ability of Chekhov to suddenly «switch» a spectator from comic to tragic, from laughter to tears, from joy to «sharp feeling of biting sadness». He was called the most brilliant student of Stanislavsky.

In the article «Chekhov» the famous Czech writer Karel Čapek defined the feature of the actor’s play in this way: «The mystery of the amazing performance is consisted in a few words: «physical» and «mental». For Chekhov «inside» doesn’t exist. Everything happens nakedly, nothing is hidden, everything is expressed impulsively and abruptly… I have never seen a performance so chastely transmitting the inner life of the soul, so alien to everything external».

The exhibition at the M.S. Shchepkin House Museum introduces visitors to the creative career of the actor, teacher and director, talks about the outstanding events of his professional life. It presents unique photos and videos, where Chekhov appears as magnificently created by him theatre and cinema characters.

The personal belongings of Mikhail Chekhov represent a particular interest – photos from the family archive, a self-portrait in character of Ableukhov from «Petersburg» by Andrei Bely, a notebook, a membership card of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

For 21 years of work in Russia Chekhov has established himself as a unique talented actor. The most strict theatre critics admired his acting, and the writers of plays, the characters of which he embodied on stage, thanked him for excellent work: «In character of the senator you reach the utmost height for me. The character of the senator that I’ve seen in the novel is contained within your character as the only part of it, the only incarnation of it. The new meanings that make the character infinitely deeper appear in it» – Andrei Bely wrote to Chekhov about the role of Ableukhov after the first night of «Petersburg».

From 1928 Chekhov has been on tour with great success all over the world. In 1935 in Dartington Hall he opens a drama school that aims to «create a new type of hero, a new type of plays, a new type of audience, a new type of drama author, director, actor, who will be responsible for everything that happens in the hearts of spectators». In 1938 the school was transformed to the Chekhov Theatre and moved to the United States, where it was open until 1941.

Until his death in 1955, Chekhov taught, lived in the USA and acted in Hollywood. The stars of world cinema are among his students: Yul Brynner, Gregory Peck, Clint Eastwood, Anthony Quinn, Lloyd Bridges, Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe…

The exhibition is open until September 25, 2016.