The Moscow Theatre of the Young Spectator

Abstract

The Moscow Theatre of the Young Spectator, the Mtiuz, did not have an equally “famous period” as the Central Children’s Theatre had in the 1950s and early 1960s.¹ However, following the general trend, the 1960s was also for the Mtiuz a heyday period under the artistic direction of Pavel Khomskii (Levitskaia, pers. intv.). As was the custom under the Soviet regime, the Mtiuz was usually favorably reviewed, and was, because of the forced field trips, apparently popular among the audiences. However, when Perestroika started it soon became known that the Mtiuz had many more (internal) problems than, for example, the Central Children’s Theatre. In a sense, the Mtiuz is the epitome of the difficulties experienced by the tiuzes and brought to the fore by Glasnost. Whereas the Central Children’s Theatre chose to adjust its course where necessary and desirable under the altered material circumstances—for better or for worse—the Mtiuz altered its course completely, causing a major controversy in the troupe itself and in the tiuz world in general. Where the Central Children’s Theatre’s main change was an eventual change in names, the Mtiuz early on changed the majority of its artistic and pedagogical staff and crew.