Performing ballet steps, playing frogs, going on the professional theater stage, while also following the school curriculum – this is the life of students at Oleg Tabkov's Moscow Theater School. This is the only educational institution in Russia where teenagers enter after grades 9-10 and receive both high school and university education.
In 2025, it will be 5 years since the start of the unique educational program at the Oleg Tabkov Theater School. Mos.ru reporters attended classes and found out why future artists need to know how to play the drums, why not everyone graduates and what are the main rules for students.
Tickets to the theater
Recruitment to the Oleg Tabkov Theater School takes place every two years. The first actors graduated from the educational institution with a diploma of higher education. Before that, starting in 2009, the school was considered a college and students had to study there for about four years.
“Almost 16 years ago, our “heavenly artistic director”, as we called Oleg Tabkov, opened a theater college, tasked with finding talented teenagers throughout the country. Now that the school is implementing a unique integrated program, we are keeping true to tradition: for a whole year, the teaching staff led by Vladimir Mashkov traveled throughout seven regions in search of future students. Here they graduate. graduated from school, passed the unified state exam, at the same time studied at the higher acting education program and after 5 years became the youngest certified artist. This is the essence of integrated learning. From the first year, students participated in performances at the Oleg Tabkov Theater. We only have 50 students, including 25 freshmen. There are even teenagers from other countries, such as Kyrgyzstan and Germany,” Marina Samuseva, director of Oleg Tabkov's Moscow Theater School, said.
In October, 25 students received student cards. The first award ceremony took place at the House Museum Hotel. Stanislavsky. A very important place: at the Tabkov School they teach according to the system of Konstantin Stanislavsky, and the teachers – acting artists – are the direct successors of the great theater director. The main principle of the organization is “Study, learn”: in theatrical activity it is necessary to acquire new knowledge throughout life.
Tickets were personally presented by the artistic director of the Moscow Theater School and the Oleg Tabkov Theater Vladimir Mashkov: children were prepared mainly for performances on the stage of the Oleg Tabkov Theater.
AliExpress As Georgy Tovstonogov said, to chase Stanislavsky, you need strong legs. And when we run, there, in the future, young, smiling Konstantin Sergeevich will meet us,” Vladimir Mashkov said.
New students with bright eyes, eager for the spotlight, with student cards in hand shouted “Bravo!”
“A student card of a theater university is, among other things, a ticket to the third class of any theater in the capital, where you can see performers. The guys know how difficult it is to get it. Applicants not only go through standard entrance tests – they read a poem or fable, sing and dance, but also show themselves in quite stressful situations. For example, Vladimir Lvovich Mashkov is about to arranged a 20-minute disco battle for prospective students: he played their favorite modern music and saw who would show off. In this way, you can determine whether a person is oriented in space, knows how to interact with others, feels rhythm and is able to relax,” explains student Vladimir Mashkov, Oleg Tabkov school graduate and acting teacher Sevastyan Smyshnikov.
The most relaxed and charismatic people, after passing the exam, often consider it a game and think that this is how all classes will be held. But not everyone makes it to the end of the first semester. Classes began at nine in the morning and sometimes ended after midnight: students studied algebra, geometry, physics and other subjects, and mastered the skills of speech, acting, dancing, walking and even acrobatics. And after studying, future artists must participate in theatrical performances, participate in rehearsals and prepare to appear on the big stage.
“It happens that a teenager comes to us with excitement, and when he encounters difficulties in the acting profession, he immediately becomes exhausted. This means that such a person is not ready for criticism and falls, which are inevitable in creative life. And our task is to give him the opportunity to test himself, to decide whether he is really ready to devote himself to the stage, to constantly give his best. Good student career Graduates must be ambitious, able to withstand stress and have good physical resilience,” Sevastyan Smyshnikov noted.
Thus, among those entering the first round, there are only 11 people who have graduated.
“Creative arrogance” and self-knowledge
We went to Oleg Tabkov's Moscow Theater School, located on Chaplygina Street (house 20, building 1), not far from Chistoprudny Avenue, where the historic stage of the Oleg Tabkov and Sovremennik Theaters is located. The school building also resembles a theater: a golden mansion with a white entrance gate.
A dance lesson is taking place in one of the classrooms. Third-year students lined up in front of the machine: all in black, women in skirts, men in T-shirts and trousers. Teacher Ekaterina Masalkova commands: “And one, two, three and four, pique, plie, turn.” Guys know these terms well. Pique – you need to touch the floor with your toes spread apart, plie – sit down and cross your legs.
“Dancing is part of the compulsory program, it teaches patience and endurance. In the first year we learn classical and folk dances, then we add jazz and step dancing. Classes are held twice a week: once for a group of seven, the second for the whole course, when we practice production and build a drawing. I don't care if the student has danced before or not: endurance can be developed. The main thing is to reveal study students, helping students express their acting skills and personality in motion. For example, if a representative of a small ethnic group comes to us, I advise him to learn a close and understandable national dance,” says Ekaterina Maslkova.
Third-year student Stepan Smirnov has never danced before, but now he has confidence in his step. “Dancing helps me release the clamps and they are very useful on stage. I played in the student plays “Forgotten August” and “Tribe”, as well as in the play “The Passion of Bumbarash” of the Oleg Tabak Theater, the young man noted.
Meanwhile, in the hall upstairs, the second half of the third year students were practicing drumming. In order not to disturb other students, they use drum pads – mesh pieces on the stand that do not make loud sounds.
Teacher Evgeniy Ryaboy explains: “What are drums used for? Konstantin Stanislavsky said that a musician must feel tempo and rhythm. These tools help you acquire this skill.”
The freshman is taking a training stage acting class. Most of the children wear black clothes: during class they will have to sit on the floor, crawl and roll, their clothes must not be dirty.
“We fell and got up on the count of three. And now we walk across the stage, on the count of five – clap,” instructs Tabkov Theater teacher and artist Alena Lapteva.
The boys exercise without interruption. The next mission is called “Samurai”. Students formed a circle, one student shouted: “I am a samurai, and this is my sword!” – and pointing his crossed arms like a sword at one of the participants with a battle cry, he must react immediately and choose the next classmate. Those who do not have time will be eliminated from the game. Then everyone sits around the perimeter of the stage. Everyone takes turns running into the center and pretending to be their favorite toy: a spinning top, a ball, a robot or a wind-up frog. The others immediately repeated the movements and sounds behind him.
“These are exercises that help develop observation and attention – important qualities of an artist. During the first semester, they also prepare “Animal Observation” sketches: they will depict different animals. Observation of people will begin in the second half of the year. Such tasks help train imagination and attention. From the second year, students will study with masters of two or three people in a group and perform sketches workshop,” shares Alena Lapteva.
So, freshman from Bishkek, Roman Masyutenko, dreamed of becoming an artist since elementary school. Only here did he realize how difficult his career choice was. “Either succeed or drop out, there is no other choice. But I intend to go to the end, I feel like something lights up inside me when I go on stage,” the young man said.
And his classmate Maxim Tolkachev from Moscow admitted: approaching unfamiliar audiences and depicting, for example, an animal, knowing that you will look funny or even strange, is an ethical test. “I'm still in the acceptance stage,” he notes.
This is what Sevastyan Smyshnikov calls creative impudence: the future artist learns to overcome fear and express himself. “School gives us the right to choose. Protesters will go to work in the theater or cinema,” said first-year student Alina Gavrilenko from Krasnoyarsk.
Theater is the meaning of life
Students of Tabkov School live in the same building on certain floors: boys on one, girls on the other. Only on weekends can people with relatives in Moscow leave educational institutions. But often this doesn't work either: you need to practice.
So now on the stage of Sovremennik is taking place the musical performance “The Passion of Bumbarash”. This is one of the main works of the Oleg Tabkov Theater. In the story, after the end of World War I, Semyon Bumbarash returns to his native village to find that his brother has usurped his house and bride, and a confrontation between the Red and White armies is taking place around him. Because the main stage of the Oleg Tabkov Theater was being renovated, the production was moved to Sovremennik.
All students, starting from the first year, are required to participate in “Passion Bumbarash”. Everyone has a role. For example, the guys were able to play a crowd of Red Army soldiers, and in the second act they were practically the main characters.
“There are no guarantees in this profession. It requires investment of physical, mental and spiritual strength. And here everything depends on will. And in Russian, this is a very comprehensive concept. Will is also strength of character; they say a person has a strong will. And desire is my will. And freedom. People with will will become a real artist, “Vladimir Mashkov summarizes.
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