Pavel Stepanovich Mochalov (1800–1848) was thought to be the greatest tragedian of
Russian
Romanticism, much admired by
Alexander Herzen,
Mikhail Lermontov and other contemporaries.
During his prolonged career at the
Malyi Theatre
Maly Theatre (, literally ''Small Theatre'' as opposed to nearby Bolshoi, or ''Grand'', opera theatre) is a theatre in Moscow, Russia, principally associated with the production of plays. Established in 1806Londre, Margot p. 307 and operating o ...
of Moscow, Mochalov gave inspired although uneven performances in melodrama and
neoclassical tragedy, as well as
Shakespearean works.
[Banham, Martin (Ed.) (2000). "Mochalov, Pavel (Stepanovich)", in ]
The Cambridge Guide to Theatre
'. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. First published 1995; reprinted with corrections. . p. 755. He excelled in plays by
Friedrich Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friends ...
, in the title role of
Don Carlos, as both Karl Moor and Franz Moor in ''
The Robbers'', and as Mortimer in ''
Maria Stuart''; and in title roles in Shakespeare's plays as
Hamlet,
Othello
''Othello'' (full title: ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'') is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, probably in 1603, set in the contemporary Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) fought for the control of the Island of Cypru ...
,
King Lear, and
Richard III
Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battl ...
.
His acting had a
Byronic flavour and relied heavily upon inspiration.
Sometimes styled the "Russian
Kean",
Mochalov was frequently compared with his
St Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
rival,
Vasily Karatygin, whose acting was more poised and calculated.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mochalov
Russian male actors
1800 births
1848 deaths
19th-century male actors from the Russian Empire