ABSTRACT
No company in the world today has ensemble dynamics comparable to those of the Maly Drama Theatre. Where others claim ensemble status because of the fact that they are repertory companies, none is as tightly knit, as exclusively focused on working intensively, continually and permanently together as the Maly. Nor does any have such a single-minded commitment to company objectives. The Maly is unique even in Russia where cohesive units based on the idea of the ‘theatre-home’ have been the established norm and where existing repertory companies and even workshop studio/laboratories like those of Fomenko and Vasilyev no longer constitute ensembles in the strongest sense of the term, that is, as a permanent group breathing as one. Given Russia’s precariousness and speed of change, the Maly’s tenure may be at risk in the future. However, as the twenty-first century opens, it is its own best advocate of survival.
