A Memorandum of Cooperation will be signed tomorrow in Belgrade between the Yugoslav Drama Theatre and the oldest and most important theatre in Russia – the Alexandrinsky Theatre. Sergey Yemelyanov, director of the Alexandrinsky Theatre, and his associates visited the Yugoslav Drama Theatre yesterday.
The Memorandum is the result of the efforts of these two theatres, cultural institutions that have given a unique contribution to the development of theatre in the world, to work together in various areas of cultural, educational, social and international activities, thus contributing to the preservation and improvement of theatre art by offering their audiences artistic masterpieces in their theatrical repertoire. Our goal is to work as partners towards establishing new forms of cooperation through joint projects, festival, artist exchange, guest performances, education events…
The cooperation between the YDT and the Alexandrinsky Theatre was scheduled to start in May 2020 with a guest performance of Marriage by N. Gogol, directed by Valery Fokin, a one-man performance of My Being an Actor by V. Lisetsky and a master-class given by Valery Fokin. These had to be cancelled due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Covid-19 was also the reason behind the cancellation of the festival organised by the Alexandrinsky Theatre every September where the Yugoslav Drama Theatre was invited to take part.
The Alexandrinsky Theatre is the oldest theatre in Russia, founded on 30th August, 1756. This theatre thus became the ancestor of all other theatres in Russia and the date of its foundation is celebrated /or: is considered the birthday of professional theatre in this country. The Russian State Drama Theatre, as it was initially called, was a symbol of the Russian state.
It was at the Alexandrinsky that the works by the greatest Russian authors were seen for the first time. Even today they know the exact seats where Dostoyevsky, Pushkin and Turgenev sat and the box from where Anton Pavlovich Chekhov saw the première of The Seagull.
In 2003, Valery Fokin, one of the most renowned artists in Russia, became the artistic director of the Alexandrinsky Theatre.
