The Thunderstorm

Henrietta Yanovskaya was born in Leningrad. In 1967 she graduated from the Leningrad State Theatre Institute (G. Tovstonogov's class). Her first production was A Warsaw Melody by Zorin, staged in Leningrad. She spent two years working in Krasnoyarsk, and then returned to Leningrad. In 1987 Yanovskaya became Artistic Director of the Moscow Young Spectators' Theatre. Several of her productions have represented Russian theatrical art at international drama festivals.

The theatre, one of the oldest in Moscow, opened in 1918, as the first in the long line of theatres of the same 'indifferent' name to open in different parts of the country. Its uneventful history continued until 1987, when Henrietta Yanovskaya's production of Bulgakov's The Dog's Heart destroyed the theatre's tame and faded image overnight. The play was a kind of manifesto proclaimed by the theatre at the beginning of the perestroika, and it was followed in the next year with two other notable new productions, Good Bye, America (produced by Henrietta Yanovskaya) and Dostoyevsky's Memoirs from the Underground (produced by Kama Ginkas). In 1991 Ginkas turned to Dostoyevsky again, staging a play based on his novel Crime and Punishment, with Markus Grott in the leading role. This production won Kama

Ginkas the title of the best stage director of the season and a prize of Moscow theatre critics. A remarkable production of the last season was Ivanov and others directed by Henrietta Yanovskaya.

The latest premiere of the theatre was Alexander Ostrovsky's The Thunderstorm, directed and produced by Henrietta Yanovskaya. For this production Yanovskaya was awarded with this season's 'Crystal Turandot’. Era Ziganshina received the Stanislavsky Award for her rendition of Kabanova, and Julia Svezhakova, as Katerina, won a 'Crystal Turandot' (for the best debut of the season).

The Thunderstorm has been nominated for the State Prize of Russia, and for the top national theatre award, the 'Golden Mask'.