2026 № 1 (56)

UDC 792.2

LBC 85.333

DOI: 10.51678/2226-0072-2026-1-192-239 

For cit.: Gordeev P.N. The Decembrist on the Stage of the Maly Theatre in 1918: The Soviet Premiere of the Imperial Theater. Hudozhestvennaya kul’tura [Art & Culture Studies], 2026, no. 1, pp. 192–239. https://doi.org/10.51678/2226-0072-2026-1-192-239. (In Russian)

Gordeev Petr N. 

D.Sc. (in History), Senior Researcher, Department of Russian History (19th — 21st Centuries), A.I. Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University, 48 Moika River Emb., St. Petersburg, 191186, Russia

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2842-4297

ResearcherID: AAA-7298-2019

Scopus Author ID: 57190089160

petergordeev@mail.ru 

The Decembrist on the Stage of the Maly Theatre in 1918: The Soviet Premiere of the Imperial Theatre 

Abstract. The article is devoted to the production of Pyotr Gnedich’s play The Decembrist at the Maly Theatre, which was first performed to the audience on April 2, 1918. The performance appeared to be a landmark: it was the first major premiere of the Maly Theatre after its destruction by the Red Guards in early November 1917, which was awaited by numerous admirers of the Shchepkin House. In addition, the play touched upon revolution events and had not previously been put on stage. However, despite the brilliant cast and significant public interest, not all the hopes of the directors were fulfilled. 

Gnedich’s play, despite being reworked by the author specifically for the play, was not appreciated by critics as a literary work: the author was reproached both for the length of the storyline over time (it covered the period of over forty years) and for commonplace characters. The very image of the Decembrists in the spring of 1917 (when the play was included in the repertoire) looked different than a year later, when the figures of the ‘heroes of December 14’ were viewed as their predecessors by both the Bolsheviks and their opponents. At the same time, the actors’ performance received mostly positive reviews, and M.N. Yermolova’s part of Princess Plavutina-Plavuntsova was noted in all reviews in the press as an outstanding achievement of the great actress. 

The story of the ‘semi-success’ of The Decembrist based on archival sources (including the documents from the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, A.A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, and St. Petersburg State Theatre Library that are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time), as well as periodical materials. 

Keywords: Maly Theatre, Decembrists, revolution of 1917, P.P. Gnedich, A.I. Sumbatov-Yuzhin, M.N. Yermolova 

Sources: 

Gnedich P.P. Dekabrist: Pyat’ kartin iz semeinoi khroniki Plavutinykh-Plavuntsovykh [The Decembrist: Five Scenes from the Family Chronicle of the Plavutins-Plavuntsovs]. No publisher, no date. 154 p. Sankt-Peterburgskaya gosudarstvennaya teatral’naya biblioteka [St. Petersburg State Theater Library]. (In Russian)

Pis’ma Gnedicha Petra Petrovicha k A.I. Sumbatovu-Yuzhinu [Letters of Gnedich Pyotr Petrovich to A.I. Sumbatov-Yuzhin]. RGALI [Russian State Archive of Literature and Art], f. 878, inv. 1, fol. 882, ll. 1–109. (In Russian)

Pravdin Osip Andreevich. Pis’ma (9) k Petru Petrovichu Gnedichu [Pravdin Osip Andreevich. Letters (9) to Pyotr Petrovich Gnedich]. Otdel rukopisei i redkoi knigi Sankt-Peterburgskoi gosudarstvennoi teatral’noi biblioteki [Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books of the St. Petersburg State Theater Library], f. 1, inv. R 1, no. 873, ll. 1–18. (In Russian)

Yuzhin — Gnedichu: Pis’mo 22 dekabrya 1917 g. [Yuzhin — to Gnedich: Letter of December 22, 1917]. GTSTM [A.A. Bakhrushin State Central Theater Museum], f. 67, no. 110, ll. 1–1 back side. (In Russian)

Yuzhin — Gnedichu: Pis’mo 14 (1) fevralya 1918 g. [Yuzhin — to Gnedich: Letter of February 14 (1), 1918]. GTSTM [A.A. Bakhrushin State Central Theater Museum], f. 67, no. 111, ll. 1–2. (In Russian)

Yuzhin — Gnedichu: Pis’mo 29 (16) marta 1918 g. [Yuzhin — to Gnedich: Letter of March 29 (16), 1918]. GTSTM [A.A. Bakhrushin State Central Theater Museum], f. 67, no. 112, ll. 1–1 back side. (In Russian)

Yuzhin — Gnedichu: Pis’mo 27 noyabrya 1918 g. [Yuzhin — to Gnedich: Letter of November 27, 1918]. GTSTM [A.A. Bakhrushin State Central Theater Museum], f. 67, no. 114, ll. 1–1 back side. (In Russian)

References:

Gippius Z.N. Stikhotvoreniya [Poems], intr. article, comp., text’s prep., and notes A.V. Lavrov. St. Petersburg, Gumanitarnoe agentstvo “Akademicheskii proehkt” Publ., 1999. 591 p. (In Russian)

Gnedich P.P. Dekabrist: Pyat’ kartin iz semeinoi khroniki Plavutinykh-Plavuntsovykh [The Decembrist: Five Scenes from the Family Chronicle of the Plavutins-Plavuntsovs]. St. Petersburg, Izdanie T-va A.F. Marks Publ., 1909. 92 p. (In Russian)

Gordeev P.N. Gosudarstvennye teatry Rossii v 1917 godu [State Theaters of Russia in 1917]. St. Petersburg, Izdatel’stvo RGPU im. A.I. Gertsena Publ., 2020. 856 p. (In Russian)

Gordeev P.N. “Khochetsya idti k vam i svoimi rukami ochistit’ dorogoi teatr ot skverny, zanesennoi stikhiinym bezumiem”: razgrom Malogo teatra v nachale noyabrya 1917 g. [“I Would Like to Come to You and Clean the Dear Theater with My Own Hands from the Filth Brought by Spontaneous Madness”: The Defeat of the Maly Theater in Early November 1917]. Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta, Ser. 8: Istoriya, 2022, no. 3, pp. 53–72. (In Russian)

Gordeev P.N. “U nas polnaya nerazberikha”: Malyi teatr v fevrale — mae 1918 goda [“We Have a Complete Mess”: The Maly Theater in February — May 1918]. Teatr. Zhivopis’. Kino. Muzyka, 2024, no. 4, pp. 51–79. https://doi.org/10.35852/2588-0144-2024-4-51-79. (In Russian)

Zhatkin D.N., Serdechnaya V.V. P.P. Gnedich kak perevodchik i postanovshchik dramaturgii Shekspira v Rossii 1880–1910-kh gg. [P.P. Gnedich as a Translator and Director of Shakespeare’s Dramaturgy in Russia in the 1880s — 1910s]. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Filologiya, 2025, no. 93, pp. 206–224. (In Russian)

Mamchur E.V. Klassitsistskaya komediya na Aleksandrinskoi stsene nachala 1900-kh godov [Classical Comedy on the Alexandrinsky Stage of the Early 1900s]. Vestnik Akademii Russkogo baleta im. A.Ya. Vaganovoi, 2020, no. 4, pp. 152–163. (In Russian)

My [Kugulsky S.L.]. U rampy [At the Ramp]. Novosti sezona, 1918, April 4–6, p. 7. (In Russian)

My [Kugulsky S.L.]. U rampy [At the Ramp]. Novosti sezona, 1918, April 18–20, p. 5. (In Russian)

Programmy i libretto moskovskikh teatrov [Programs and Librettos of Moscow Theaters]. Teatr, 1918, April 2–3, pp. 7–16. (In Russian)

Sobolev Yu. “Dekabrist” P. Gnedicha [The Decembrist by P. Gnedich]. Rampa i zhizn’, 1918, no. 14, pp. 5–6. (In Russian)

Teatral’nyi den’ [Theater Day]. Teatr, 1918, January 23–24, p. 4. (In Russian)

Khronika [Chronicle]. Novosti sezona, 1918, February 21–23, pp. 4–5. (In Russian)

Khronika [Chronicle]. Novosti sezona, 1918, February 26–27, pp. 4–5. (In Russian)

Chuzhoy. Moskovskie otkliki. P’esa o dekabristakh [Moscow Responses. The Play about the Decembrists]. Nash vek, 1918, April 3, p. 2. (In Russian)

Shalimova N.A. Malyi teatr v ehpokhu rezhissury: paradoksy stanovleniya i razvitiya [Maly Theater in the Era of Directing: Paradoxes of Formation and Development]. Teatr. Zhivopis’. Kino. Muzyka, 2024, no. 4, pp. 119–127. https://doi.org/10.35852/2588-0144-2024-4-119-127. (In Russian)

Ermans V. “Dekabrist”. (Malyi teatr) [The Decembrist. (Maly Theater)]. Novosti sezona, 1918, April 4–6, pp. 3–4. (In Russian)

Received 03.10.2025

Revised 09.12.2025 

Accepted 19.01.2026