Va-banque

Mark Zakharov was born in 1933. In 1955 he graduated fr om the acting department at GITIS (pupil of A. Lobanov). After graduation he went to act at the Perm Regional Drama Theatre, then at the Gogol Theatre, Moscow and the Moscow Miniature Theatre. He made his debut as director at the Student Theatre of Perm University. In the early 1960s he directed Brecht’s The Career of Arturo Ui’ and E. Shvarts’s The Dragon' at the Student Theatre of Moscow State University. In 1965 he was invited by V. Pluchek to the Satire Theatre, wh ere he directed Ostrovsky's 'A Profitable Place’, A. Arkanov's and G. Gorin’s The Banquet', Pogodin’s Tempo - 1929’, Brecht’s 'Mother Courage and her Children'. His production of Fadeev's 'Rout' at the Mayakovsky Theatre turned into a major theatre event (1970). Since 1973 he has been chief artistic director of the Lenkom Theatre. He directed here over 25 productions, among them: Gorin's Till', based on Charles de Coster: Boris Vasiliev’s They were not Listed': Chekhov’s 'Ivanov': M. Shatrov's 'Revolutionary Etude': A. Arbuzov's 'Cruel Games': 'Perchance' by A. Voznesensky and A. Rybnikov: V. Vishnevsky’s The Optimistic Tragedy’: L. Petrushevskaya's Three Girls in Blue'. M. Shatrov’s Dictatorship of Conscience’: Ostrovsky's The Wise Man’: Gorin's 'Prayer for the Dead’, based on Sholom-Aleichem: Beaumarchais's 'A Crazy Day or Figaro's Marriage'; Chekhov's The Seagull': Gorin's 'Royal Games’; The Barbarian and the Heretic', based on Dostoevsky: N. Sadur’s version of Gogol, entitled 'Mystification'; Gorin’s 'Balakirev's Joke': The Executioner's Lament’, based on Friedrich D?rrenmatt and Jean Anouilh; and 'Va-banque', based on Ostrovsky. Since 1975 he has successfully worked on television, and has made seven television films and film-performances. He is professor at the directors’ faculty at RATI.