Nina Velekhova

Nina Velekhova
Нина Александровна Велехова
Velekhova in Moscow, 1980
Born
Nina Aleksandrovna Kannenberg

(1918-12-10)10 December 1918
Died12 June 2007(2007-06-12) (aged 88)
Moscow, Russia
Alma materRussian Institute of Theatre Arts
OccupationsTheatre critic, writer

Nina Aleksandrovna Velekhova (Russian: Нина Александровна Велехова; née Kannenberg; 10 December 1918 – 12 June 2007) was a Soviet and Russian theatre critic and writer. She was known as an observer and analyst of Soviet and post-Soviet theatre from the 1950s through the 1990s.[1][2]

Early life and education

Velekhova was born in Moscow.[1] A biobibliographical reference book of Moscow writers records that she graduated from the State Institute of Theatre Arts in 1944.[3]

Career

Velekhova began publishing as a theatre critic in the mid-1940s and became associated with writing on Soviet theatre, drama and stage direction. The Russian Art Archive describes her as a theatre critic and writer who was an important analyst of theatrical processes in the Soviet Union and later in post-Soviet Russia.[1]

She wrote on Soviet theatre directors and drama, including works on Nikolay Okhlopkov, Boris Ravenskikh and Valentin Pluchek. HSE University's Centre for Digital Archival Research describes her as a well-known theatre critic and the author of books on Soviet theatre and drama, including Okhlopkov and the Theatre of the Streets, When the Curtain Opens and Silver Trumpets.[4]

Her 1970 book Okhlopkov and the Theatre of the Streets was published in Moscow by Iskusstvo in the Soviet series Life in Art.[5] In 1999, she published Valentin Pluchek and the Comedians' Halt at Triumfalnaya, 2, a book on Valentin Pluchek and the Moscow Satire Theatre.[6]

English-language work

Velekhova was also published in English. She wrote sections for the book Eastern European Theater After the Iron Curtain, edited by Kalina Stefanova and published by Harwood Academic Publishers in 2000. These sections included an interview with Yury Lyubimov and an essay on Russian theatre in the 1990s.[7]

Selected works

  • In Disputes about Style (1963).[3]
  • Okhlopkov and the Theatre of the Streets (1970).[5]
  • When the Curtain Opens (1975).[4]
  • Silver Trumpets: Soviet Drama Yesterday and Today (1983).[4]
  • Valentin Pluchek and the Comedians' Halt at Triumfalnaya, 2 (1999).[6]
  • "The State of Russian Theater in the 1990s", in Eastern European Theater After the Iron Curtain (2000).[7]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Велехова Нина Александровна" [Velekhova Nina Aleksandrovna]. Russian Art Archive Network (in Russian). Retrieved 17 June 2026.
  2. ↑ "Зубков Ю. Позиция критика" [Y. Zubkov. The Position of the Critic]. HSE University, Centre for Digital Archival Research (in Russian). Retrieved 17 June 2026.
  3. 1 2 Писатели Москвы: биобиблиографический справочник [Writers of Moscow: A Biobibliographical Reference Book] (PDF) (in Russian). Moscow: Московский рабочий. 1987. Retrieved 17 June 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 Velekhova, Nina (8 July 1986). "Не терпит суеты" [Does Not Tolerate Fuss]. HSE University, Centre for Digital Archival Research (in Russian). Retrieved 17 June 2026.
  5. 1 2 "Охлопков и театр улиц" [Okhlopkov and the Theatre of the Streets]. National Electronic Library (in Russian). Russian National Library. Retrieved 17 June 2026.
  6. 1 2 "Валентин Плучек и привал комедиантов на Триумфальной, 2" [Valentin Pluchek and the Comedians' Halt at Triumfalnaya, 2]. National Electronic Library (in Russian). Russian State Library. Retrieved 17 June 2026.
  7. 1 2 Stefanova, Kalina, ed. (2000). Eastern European Theater After the Iron Curtain (PDF). Harwood Academic Publishers. ISBN 978-90-5755-054-6. Retrieved 17 June 2026.