Boris Mikhaylovich Sushkevich (, 7 February 1887 — 10 July 1946) was a

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

-born Russian, Soviet actor, theatre director and reader in drama, honoured with the titles Meritorious Artist of RSFSR (1933) and

People's Artist of RSFSR People's Artist of the USSR, also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to artists of the Soviet Union. The term is confusingly used to translate two Russian language titles: Народный арти� ...

(1944).К. Э�
Boris Sushkevich
Biography at the Theatre Encyclopedia // Сушкевич, Борис Михайлович. Театральная энциклопедия (под ред. П. А. Маркова). Советская энциклопедия. 1961—1965/том 4

Theatre

Moscow University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, and six branches. Al ...

alumnus, Sushkevich joined the

Moscow Art Theatre The Moscow Art Theatre (or MAT; , ''Moskovskiy Hudojestvenny Akademicheskiy Teatr'' (МHАТ) was a theatre company in Moscow. It was founded in by the seminal Russian theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski, together with the playwright ...

in 1912. A co-founder of the First Studio and one of its leaders, along with

Yevgeny Vakhtangov Yevgeny Bagrationovich Vakhtangov (also spelled Evgeny or Eugene; ; 13 February 1883 – 29 May 1922) was a Russian actor and theatre director who founded the Vakhtangov Theatre. He was a friend and mentor of Michael Chekhov.Martin BanhamThe ...

, working under Leopold Sulerzhitsky, after the latter's death in 1916, he became its director and held this post until in 1924 it was re-organized into MAT-2, with Mikhail Chekhov at the helm. In 1919 Sushkevich directed ''

The Robbers ''The Robbers'' (', ) is the first dramatic play by German playwright Friedrich Schiller. The play was published in 1781 and premiered on 13 January 1782 in Mannheim and was inspired by Leisewitz's earlier play '' Julius of Taranto''. It was wr ...

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...

at the just opened Great Drama Theater in

Petrograd Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

.Московский Художественный театр второй
Театральная энциклопедия (под ред. П. А. Маркова). Советская энциклопедия. 1961—1965. 2 том In 1933 he moved to

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

and became the director of the

Alexandrinsky Theatre The Alexandrinsky Theatre () or National Drama Theatre of Russia is a theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The Alexandrinsky Theatre was built for the Imperial troupe of Petersburg (Imperial troupe was founded in 1756). Since 1832, the theatre ...

, and in 1937 took up the directorship of the New Theatre (later Lensovet Theatre), where he remained the head of till his death in 1946. His artistic peak is considered to be the 1940 production of

Gerhart Hauptmann Gerhart Johann Robert Hauptmann (; 15 November 1862 – 6 June 1946) was a German dramatist and novelist. He is counted among the most important promoters of Naturalism (literature), literary naturalism, though he integrated other styles into h ...

's ''Before Sunrise'' in which he himself played the leading role.

Teaching

In 1933 Sushkevich became a professor and, from 1936, the director of the Leningrad Theatre Institute.The Lensovet Theatre history
История театра. Санкт-Петербургский театр им. Ленсовета

Film

Between 1914 and 1927 Sushkevich was cast in five Soviet films, including ''Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich Grozny'' (Malyuta Skuratov, 1915) with

Fyodor Shalyapin Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin ( rus, Фёдор Ива́нович Шаля́пин, Fyodor Ivanovich Shalyapin, ˈfʲɵdər ɨˈvanəvʲɪtɕ ʂɐˈlʲapʲɪn}; 12 April 1938) was a Russian opera singer. Possessing a deep and expressive bass voic ...

in the lead. He authored the book ''Seven Aspects of Working Upon the Part'' (Семь моментов работы над ролью, 1933).Борис Михайлович Сушкевич
at the Moscow Art Theatre site

Personal life

Actress, theatre director and writer Nadezhda Bromley was his wife.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sushkevich, Boris Male actors from the Russian Empire Theatre directors from Saint Petersburg Soviet drama teachers Soviet male actors Male actors from Saint Petersburg Moscow Art Theatre 1887 births 1946 deaths