Iosif Raikhelgauz is a Soviet and Russian director, playwright, writer, teacher. In 1989 he founded the School of Modern Play theater in Moscow and to this day holds the post of artistic director in it. During his creative career, he has staged more than 70 performances in Russia and abroad, shot more than 10 television films. Since 1976 he has been teaching at GITIS.
Biography and studies
Joseph Leonidovich Raikhelgauz was born on June 12, 1947 in Odessa. In an interview with a well-known magazine, the director said that he was named after his grandfather. During the war years, his mother Faina Iosifovna worked as a nurse in a hospital in Orenburg, and his father Leonid Mironovich fought in the tank forces and reached Berlin. Joseph Reichelgauz also has a sister, Olga.
In peacetime, the director's mother worked as a secretary-typist, his father was engaged in cargo transportation. At the school where Iosif Leonidovich studied, teaching was conducted in the Ukrainian language. After graduating from eight classes, he decided to continue his studies at the school for working youth, since the exact sciences were difficult for him. He began his career with the profession of an electric and gas welder at a motor depot, where his father arranged for young Joseph.
However, the future director continued to be attracted by creative activity. He did not miss the opportunity to participate in the crowd scene at the Odessa Film Studio. And after graduation, I decided to enter the Kharkov Theater Institute, specializing in "director of Ukrainian drama." Joseph Raikhelgauz successfully passed the entrance tests, the teachers noticed his talent. However, the Ministry of Culture of the Ukrainian SSR canceled the exam results due to the national question. Indeed, among the enrolled were three Russians, three Jews and only one Ukrainian.
Returning to his native Odessa, Iosif Raikhelgauz went to work as an actor in the Odessa Youth Theater. A year later, he went to conquer Moscow, thanks to mutual acquaintances, the writer Julius Daniel sheltered him. But he was soon arrested for creative activities that defamed the Soviet system.
Then Joseph Raikhelgauz again changed his place of residence, moving to Leningrad. In 1966 he entered the LGITMiK at the directing department, but due to disagreements with the teacher - Boris Vulfovich Zon was again expelled. He got a job as a stage worker at the famous Bolshoi Drama Theater of Tovstonogov and at the same time studied at the Leningrad State University at the Faculty of Journalism. At Leningrad State University, Joseph Raikhelgauz began to stage performances in the student theater.
Creative activity
In 1968, he again went to Moscow to enter GITIS on the course of Anatoly Efros, but as a result he studied with Andrei Alekseevich Popov. In 1972, Raichelgauz staged his graduation performance "My Poor Marat" at the Odessa Academic Theater.
In his fourth year, Iosif Leonidovich did an internship at the Theater of the Soviet Army, where he started staging the play “And He Didn't Say a Single Word” based on the novel by G. Belle. Galina Volchek noticed him and offered to become a full-time director of the Sovremennik Theater.
The first project at the new location was a production based on K. Simonov's story "Twenty Days Without War". Reichelgauz invited Valentin Gaft to play the main role. For the performance "Weather for Tomorrow" in 1973 he was awarded the Moscow Theater Spring Prize.
In 1977, following his teacher, Popov went to the post of production director at the Stanislavsky Theater. He staged the play "Self-Portrait", which was not to the liking of the authorities. As a result, Reichelgauz was fired from the theater, he lost his Moscow residence permit and could not get a job anywhere. Health problems began, the director suffered a heart attack.
He was saved by an invitation to work at the Khabarovsk Drama Theater. In the early 80s, Iosif Raikhelgauz began staging performances in different cities of the Soviet Union - Odessa, Vladimir, Minsk, Omsk, Lipetsk.
In 1983-1985 he worked at the Taganka Theater, but his play "Scenes at the Fountain" was never released due to the departure of Yuri Lyubimov. Then Reichelgauz returned to Sovremennik again.
On March 27, 1989 he presented to the public the play "A man came to a woman." The main roles were played by Albert Filozov and Lyubov Polishchuk. This premiere marked the opening of the School of Contemporary Play theater, where Joseph Reichelgauz took over as artistic director. Over the thirty-year history of the theater, he has staged about 30 performances on its stage, here are some of them:
- "And what are you in a tailcoat?" by A. P. Chekhov (1992);
- "An old man was leaving an old woman" by S. Zlotnikov (1994);
- "Notes of a Russian Traveler" E. Grishkovets (1999);
- Boris Akunin. Seagull "(2001);
- "Russian jam" by L. Ulitskaya (2007);
- "The Bear" by D. Bykov (2011);
- The Last Aztec by V. Shenderovich (2014);
- "Watchmaker" I. Zubkov (2015).
Joseph Reichelgauz also staged performances in the USA, Israel, Turkey.
Based on many of his performances, the director made television films: "Echelon", "Painting", "1945", "A Man Came to a Woman", "From Lopatin's Notes", "Two Plots for Men". In 1997 he released the Theatrical Bench series.
He began teaching in 1974 at GITIS, since 2003 he has been heading the director's workshop there. Since 2000, Reichelgauz has been giving lectures on the history and theory of directing at the Russian State University for the Humanities. In 1994, at the University of Rochester (USA), he taught the course "Chekhov's Dramaturgy".
Personal life
Joseph Raikhelgauz is married to the actress of the Sovremennik Theater Marina Khazova. The future wife was his student. The director admits that he really appreciated her when he was hospitalized after the scandalous dismissal from the Stanislavsky Theater. Unlike many, Marina did not turn away from him and supported him in every possible way. Reichelgauz dedicated the book “I don’t believe” to his wife.
The couple have two adult daughters - Maria and Alexandra. The eldest, Maria, works as a set designer. For her first independent work she received the Golden Mask award. The second daughter, Alexandra, graduated from the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University, performs administrative functions at the School of Dramatic Art.
The eldest daughter gave the director a granddaughter Sonya. In an interview with a journalist, Raikhelgauz admitted that he would like to spend more time with her, but even in his eighties he still disappears in the theater.
Titles and awards:
- Honored Artist of the Russian Federation (1993);
- People's Artist of the Russian Federation (1999);
- Commendation from the Mayor of Moscow (1999, 2004);
- Order of Friendship (2007);
- Order of Honor (2014).
