Les Kyrbas Ukrainian and Soviet actor and theater director Date of Birth: 25.02.1887 Country: Ukraine

1. Biography of Les Kurbas
2. The Dream Becomes Reality
3. The Birth of the "Kiydramte" Troupe
4. Theatre "Berezil"
5. Struggles and Arrest

Biography of Les Kurbas

Les Kurbas was a Ukrainian and Soviet actor and theatre director. He was born in the city of Sambir in the Lviv Oblast, into a family of Galician theatre actors, Stepan and Vanda Kurbas (stage name Yanovychi). Despite being a traveling Ukrainian actor, his father strived to provide Les with a decent education. Les Kurbas studied at Ternopil Gymnasium, as well as at the University of Vienna and Lviv University.

The Dream Becomes Reality

Since his university years, Kurbas had dreamt of working in the Naddniprianska Ukraine, where the strong democratic Sadovsky theatre existed in Kyiv. In 1916, his dream came true as he joined the theatre. Kurbas organized a studio for young actors, which eventually grew into the Young Theatre (the name "Young Theatre" appeared in the summer of 1917).

The Birth of the "Kiydramte" Troupe

In the summer of 1920, Les Kurbas assembled his best actors, and under the name "Kiydramte" (Kyiv Drama Theatre), the troupe began touring the cities of Kyiv region.

Theatre "Berezil"

Les Kurbas became the founder of both the political theatre (1922-1926) and the philosophical theatre (1926-1933) in Ukraine - the "Berezil" Theatre. He invited Vadym Meller to become the chief artist of the theatre, who became his like-minded friend. Kurbas and the "Berezil" theatre troupe also found their playwright - Mykola Kulish. The first play by Kulish staged at "Berezil" was "Commune in the Steppes" in Kyiv. Their creative collaboration continued even after the theatre moved to Kharkiv.

Struggles and Arrest

Despite an occasionally unfavorable atmosphere of misunderstanding and hostility for his artistic work, Les Kurbas never gave up. He fought until the end against the tendencies of simplifying art. However, he was eventually dismissed from his position as the director of "Berezil" and arrested. Initially, Kurbas was sent to work on the construction of the Belomorsko-Baltiyskiy Canal in Medvezhyegorsk, and later exiled to the Solovetsky Islands. On November 3, 1937, after a retrial, he was executed by firing squad. He was posthumously rehabilitated in 1957.