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Who is Evgeny Grishkovets?

Evgeniy Valerievich Grishkovets is a writer, playwright and screenwriter, director and theater and film actor. Born on February 17, 1967 in Kemerovo. Evgeny is not only a successful writer and director, as evidenced by the Golden Mask theater award he received and the inclusion of his novel Shirt in the long list of the prestigious Booker Prize, but also an honorary citizen of two Russian cities - Kaliningrad and Kemerovo.

Grishkovets - writer

The first book by Evgeny Grishkovets was published in 2004. Soon the novel “The Shirt” was named the debut of the year in Russia, and was also included in the list of nominees for the Booker Prize. His second book, “Asphalt,” also became very popular, which brought its author the prestigious “Silver Ingot” award. In addition, the bibliography of our today's hero also includes many short stories and stories, as well as a whole series of stories published on the Internet.

Concluding the story about the work of Evgeniy Grishkovets, one cannot fail to mention his cinematic works. In total, during his career, our today's hero played roles in nine films, as well as in several video adaptations of his performances. However, looking at how the actor’s work is developing, we can already say for sure that this is far from the limit.

Biography

Evgeny Grishkovets was born in Kemerovo and has since lived in St. Petersburg (then Leningrad), the Far East and Kaliningrad. The Grishkovtsov family came to the northern capital for only a few years, while the writer’s father studied at the Leningrad Financial and Economic Institute. Evgeniy spent most of his childhood and youth in the mining town of Kemerovo. After graduating from school, he entered the philological department of KemSU, from where, in his second year of study, he was drafted into the army.

Evgeny served in the Pacific Fleet in a small village on the shore of Sovetskaya Gavan and on the now famous Russky Island. From here, one might say, his creative career started, because army observations formed the basis of one of his most successful performances, “How I Ate the Dog.” During his service, Evgeniy participated in local amateur performances. Upon returning from the army, he continued his studies at the university, where he joined the student mime studio.

In 1990, at the Kuzbass Polytechnic University, Evgeny Grishkovets founded the small theater “Lozha”. Over the years of work in this project, the aspiring director stages about a dozen performances, in which he himself acts extremely rarely, manages to tour Russia, and also participates in various theater festivals.

Childhood and youth

The birthplace of the future writer and playwright is the Siberian industrial city of Kemerovo . Here, in the winter of 1967, the first-born Zhenya appeared in the young family of second-year students Valery and Sofia Grishkovets. The boy’s parents often moved from one rented apartment to another, but these moments did not seem negative to him. This is because mom and dad always lived together and took their son with them everywhere, be it to study or work. Despite his modest material income, Zhenya always considered his family the most prosperous.

The Grishkovites lived in Leningrad for several years because their father was studying at FINEK, but then returned to Kemerovo, where the boy first graduated from high school and then became a student at the Faculty of Philology at Kemerovo State University.

In the second year, the student was called up for military service, which took place in the ranks of the Pacific Fleet: on Russian Island and in the village of Zavety Ilyich (Sovetsko-Gavansky district). Subsequently, memories of the years of service became the basis for Grishkovets’s first one-man show, “How I Ate the Dog.”

After the army, Evgeniy graduated from the university and became a certified philologist.

There was a period in the young man’s life when he decided to emigrate to Germany and even asked for political asylum. But expectations from life abroad did not coincide with reality, and in 1990 Grishkovets returned home, where he soon founded the independent theater “Lozha”.

Professional activity

In 1998, Evgeny Grishkovets moved from Siberia to the European part of Russia, but for his life he chose calm Kaliningrad rather than noisy Moscow. In the capital, he presents his own one-man show “How I Ate the Dog.” The theater audience accepts the production well, and the popularity of Evgeniy Grishkovets begins to grow rapidly.

In addition to working on his own solo performances and large productions on the stages of famous Moscow theaters, Evgeniy writes scripts and acts in films, publishes novels, collections of plays and stories, writes poetry and participates in recording music albums, and also hosts his own television programs. But first things first!

Performances by Evgeny Grishkovets

Despite the fact that Evgeny Grishkovets is known to the general public primarily as a writer, theater directing is one of his main activities. As a rule, Grishkovets' productions are one-man performances, where he acts as a playwright, director and actor at once. They take place in the format of a kind of dialogue with the audience, where Evgeniy shares his own life observations and experiences from the stage. Grishkovets almost never plays in productions by other directors, except in films.

Evgeniy presented his debut one-man show “How I Ate a Dog” in Moscow in 1998. Two years later, he received the “Golden Mask” for it, and in two categories at once! In addition, for “propaganda of the Russian fleet” in this production, sailor Grishkovets was promoted to the rank of senior sergeant, 2nd article, which in the ground forces is equivalent to a junior sergeant.

For two more performances, “Planet” and “Simultaneously,” Evgeniy was awarded by the scientific community for “popularization of knowledge and development of the scientific worldview.” Later, from solo performances, Grishkovets moved on to playing as part of a troupe: “Po Po” and “Planet”. In some productions, Evgeniy acts only as a playwright and director, and does not appear on stage himself. For example, his play “Scales”, which is staged on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater. Chekhov.

Bibliography

The theatrical success of Evgeny Grishkovets was followed by recognition of his writing talent. In 2004, his first book, “The Shirt,” was published. This urban novel in Russia was called “Debut of the Year.” In addition, it was translated into English and was selected for the most prestigious literary prize in the world, the Booker. The second novel, “Asphalt,” published in 2008, also did not go unnoticed by the public and received well-deserved awards.

In addition to novels and short stories, Evgeny Grishkovets published collections of plays that became the basis for his theatrical productions: “Winter,” “Scales,” and “How I Ate the Dog.” Based on his entries in LiveJournal, which was extremely popular during the heyday of the service, several collections in the genre of memoirs were published: “A Year of Life,” “Summer-Summer and Other Seasons,” “151 Episodes of Life.”

The script for the film “Satisfaction”, which tells about two businessman friends, was also published. The director of the film drama was Anna Matison, with whom Evgeniy staged the play “Home” a year earlier. Well, a separate part of Evgeniy Grishkovets’s writing career was poetry, which later turned into popular musical works.

Literary activity

Evgeny Grishkovets wrote not only theatrical plays: his script for the film “Satisfaction” was published and quite popular.

Grishkovets' dramaturgy is more reminiscent of philosophical prose. It was in this genre that his first book, “The Shirt,” published in 2004, was written, as well as “The River” - to some extent, this is an autobiographical story, where Evgeny Grishkovets analyzes his own experience. A couple of years later, all the playwright’s plays were published in the collection “Winter”. Grishkovets' writing style is more similar to diaries or memoirs, which is why his blog on LiveJournal, and later his own, became quite popular.

The blogger’s experience came in handy for Evgeny in 2012, during an Arctic expedition, the result of which was another book, “Almost a Handwritten Life,” which was based on an expedition diary. Evgeniy did not part with his literary work even on television, where he hosted an author’s program: each episode featured at least one monologue performed by a playwright.

Grishkovets is still actively writing and publishing.

Films by Evgeny Grishkovets

Creative inspiration

The author's theater "Lozha" under the direction of Evgeniy Grishkovets existed for seven years and produced 10 performances. The troupe toured in Russia and abroad, and everywhere the performances were received very warmly by the audience. But over time, Evgeny became cramped within the existing project, he felt the need to move on and decided to start a new creative life in Moscow. There, in front of two dozen spectators, mostly acquaintances, he first performed the play “How I Ate the Dog.”

This event, according to Grishkovets, became fateful for his creative career. Later, the playwright showed the production in many Russian cities. At the same time, Evgeniy’s signature style of communication with the public was formed; no one had demonstrated anything like this before. For the first 10 minutes of each production, the actor asked not to turn off the lights in the hall in order to better see who came to see him.

Evgeny Grishkovets constructs his productions in the form of monologues, in each of which the viewer often recognizes himself and similar life situations that happened to him. After the success of the first work, awarded the Golden Mask award, Grishkovets’ equally successful performance “Simultaneously” appeared, after which the actor and playwright became a favorite of the public not only in Russia, but also abroad. Tickets for his performances were sold out long before the day of the show.

In addition to those mentioned, today Evgeniy has 7 original productions to his credit:

• "Planet" (2001).
• "Dreadnoughts" (2001).
• "Po-Po" (2005).
• «+1» (2009).
• "Farewell to paper."
• "Whisper of the Heart".
• "Preface" (2018).

In addition, he is the author of the plays “The Siege” and “Scales”, staged at the Moscow Art Theater. Chekhov.

Theater and creativity

In his hometown, he organized the Lozha Theater, which over the 7 years of its existence produced 10 performances that were popular with audiences both in Russia and abroad. By 1998, the idea of ​​the Loge Theater began to become obsolete, and there was less and less time to engage in it. Then he decided to leave Kemerovo. During this period, the play “How I Ate the Dog” arose, the audience of which was only 17 people, but Evgeny Grishkovets considers this moment a turning point in his destiny.

Performance by Evgeny Grishkovets “How I Ate the Dog”

Later, with this production, the playwright went on tour in many cities of Russia, from Vladivostok to Kaliningrad. At the same time, the main features of Grishkovets’s original theater crystallized, his interest in the public, which he expresses in a literal way - for the first 10 minutes of each performance he does not turn off the lights in the auditorium in order to take a closer look at the people who came to the performance.

In just 4 years, Evgeny Grishkovets turned from a visiting director into a public favorite. For the first performance, the playwright was awarded the Golden Mask award. His next work, entitled “Simultaneously,” repeats the success of his debut production and fully reveals the creative style of Grishkovets the playwright.

Performance by Evgeny Grishkovets “Simultaneously”

The plays of Evgeny Grishkovets inherit the best traditions of Russian literature, they trace the intonations of Anton Chekhov, Vasily Shukshin, subtle irony and monologues of Sergei Dovlatov.

As the literary critic Jan Shekman aptly noted, the prose of Evgeny Grishkovets is the best medicine for a person who is tired of the race of life, during which he does not have time to stop and look at himself in the mirror. But, coming into contact with the reflection of his own life in Grishkovets’s literary heroes, the viewer understands that even minor episodes, if you look at them with humor and observation, acquire a new, deep meaning.

Performance by Evgeny Grishkovets “Farewell to Paper”

In 2014, the play “Farewell to Paper” was released, in which Grishkovets reflects on how electronic media are replacing paper ones. Emptiness, according to the author of the play, accompanies technological progress and leads each individual person to oblivion. A year later, Grishkovets presents the play “Whisper of the Heart,” where in a low voice, even in a whisper, the author talks about life on behalf of the “heart.” In many productions, the author uses his favorite form of communication with the public - a monologue.

Today Evgeny Grishkovets is the author of several novels. His first book, Shirt, was published in Moscow in 2004. In this work, the already familiar world of Grishkovets is revealed to the reader, filled with reflections on the essence of things, conversations, witty life situations and optimism, which invariably helps the main character find a way out of any difficult circumstances.

Performance by Evgeny Grishkovets “Whisper of the Heart”

The work "Rivers" was published a year later. In 2006, all of Grishkovets’ plays that existed at that time were published as a separate book. In addition, Evgeniy wrote and published the script for the film “Satisfaction.”

By 2008, the novel “Asphalt” was ready for release. The opinions of readers and reviewers about this book were divided, but in general the literary work was received warmly. The plot is built around the everyday life of the hero Misha, who learns about the suicide of his old friend Yulia. In the same year, the play “Dreadnoughts” appeared, based on which Grishkovets created a one-man show.

Performance by Evgeny Grishkovets “Dreadnoughts”

Another facet of Evgeny Grishkovets’s creativity was revealed in 2002. The playwright recorded the album together with the group “Bigudi”, which performs electronic music. Evgeniy himself admitted that he cannot sing, but loves to listen to others sing.

In his desire to join this art, he developed the concept of weaving into the musical texture the voice of a non-singing person who reads the text, where the semantic load is significantly higher than the generally accepted lyrics of popular songs. In fact, these are short essays read to music and organized in verse form. One of these works was the track “The Mood Has Improved.”

Performance by Evgeny Grishkovets “The mood has improved”

In 2008, together with Renars Kaupers from the group Brainstorm, Grishkovets recorded his version of the Alliance song “At Dawn”. And in 2013, together with the Georgian group “Mgzavrebi”, he recorded the album “Wait to Live Wait.”

Since 2008, the writer has been maintaining his own blog, which is called “Simultaneously. Diary of Evgeny Grishkovets. Here the writer posts short notes, stories and photos from everyday life. The author also has a personal profile on LiveJournal, and the writer’s fan page is posted on Facebook.

“At Dawn” - Grishkovets and “Curlers”

In total, Grishkovets has already starred in 10 films and several video adaptations of his own performances. Evgeniy Valerievich does not like to remember his participation in the most famous film to the general public, “Azazel” based on the novel by Boris Akunin. According to him, filming the series was fun, but the film turned out bad.

In 2003, he played Seva in “The Walk” by Alexei Uchitel. In 2005, Grishkovets played the writer Galakhov in the TV series “In the First Circle,” based on the novel of the same name by Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

Evgeny Grishkovets in the film “Azazel”

In 2016, Grishkovets starred in the documentary film “Wake Me Up.” Two years later, the psychological serial thriller “Particle of the Universe” was aired on Channel One, where the playwright played Father John. The plot of the TV movie was built around the story of the launch of a spaceship, on board of which a real drama took place. The main roles were played by Victoria Isakova, Alexey Makarov and Sergey Puskepalis.

Writing activity

According to the literary critic Jan Shekman, the prose of Evgeny Grishkovets is the best medicine for a person who is tired of the endless race of life , which does not give the opportunity to stop and just look at himself from the outside. But watching the mirror reflection of his life in the person of Eugene’s literary heroes, the viewer realizes the importance of even the most insignificant episodes, which are shown with humor and in detail.

Today you can find 18 books by Evgeniy Grishkovets on sale. The release of the first of them, “Shirts,” dates back to 2004. In this publication, the reader gets acquainted with the world of Grishkovets, which consists of reflections on the essence of things, conversations, witty life situations and optimism with which the main character finds a way out of any difficult life situation.

In 2005, the story “Rivers” was published, and a year later the collection of plays “Winter” was published.

In 2006, the first collection of stories, “Planck,” was published, and in 2007, the second, entitled “Traces on Me.” It included nine stories (“Chief”, “Mikhalych”, “Dean Dankov”, etc.), which reflect various events from the writer’s childhood and youth.

The year 2008 was marked for the writer with the release of the novel “Asphalt,” which was greeted warmly by readers, despite polar reviews of the book. From the summary you can find out that the main storyline is built around the everyday life of the main character named Misha, who learns that his old friend Julia committed suicide.

In 2010, Grishkovets published the book “Satisfaction,” which is essentially a script for the film of the same name.

Life

Year of Life

The basis for the creation of this novel was the Internet diary of Evgeniy Grishkovets.

This text is practically a document. 12 months of life.

Ordinary human life, with problems, experiences, joys and troubles, films, music, trips. All that, as a rule, happens in everyday life.

Continuation of Life

The publication “Continuation of Life” was also written on the basis of the Internet blog of Evgeniy Grishkovets.

New year of his life. Simple human life, into which the abnormalities and oddities of the life of a creative person are intertwined.

An opportunity to rewind a little and linger for a moment. Compare impressions of what you experienced or observed. Rejoice at the coincidence or argue. Consider. Feel...

Episode 151 of Life

“151 Episodes of Life Life” is a novel that was published on the basis of Evgeniy Grishkovets’s blog on the Internet, like 2 previous books: “The Year of Life Life” and “Continuation of Life Life”.

As you study this diary, you will be amazed at the density of the past year.

The book will allow you to finish watching, thinking through, conjecturing events that took place so fleetingly in real time, for which there was no strength or opportunity, amazingly adding hours and days already lived to those experienced.

From Life to Life

We present to your attention the 4th edition, which was based on the online diary of Evgeniy Grishkovets.

Half of the publication is taken from the pages of a blog in a live magazine, and the other half is from a diary on the author’s website.

The book also presents the story of “Sore throat,” an essay about vodka and an essay about champagne.

Personal life

Family means a lot to Evgeny Valerievich, although he does not like to talk about this part of his biography.

His mother Sofya Nikolaevna has the title of associate professor, and his father Valery Borisovich has a candidate of economic sciences degree. Evgeniy also has a younger brother, Alexey, with whom the age difference is more than 20 years.

Evgeniy met his wife Elena while studying at the Faculty of Philology of KSU. During the existence of the Lodge Theater, she was responsible for the musical component of the productions. Elena also sang for some time in the group “Curler”. The woman devotes most of her time to home and raising three children:

• eldest daughter Natalya, born in 1995;
• son Alexander, born in 2004;
• youngest daughter Maria, born in 2010.

In 1998, the family from Kemerovo moved to Kaliningrad, where they live today.

In 2020, Evgeniy Grishkovets turned 50 years old. Over the years, he has excelled in writing, directing, music and acting. His works have been awarded nine times with various prestigious awards. But Evgeniy Valerievich is not going to stop there. He is in constant creative motion and is probably already hatching a new idea for a good novel or discussing filming another film.

I discovered Evgeniy’s work after the performances “How I Ate the Dog” and “Simultaneously” and since then I have been a constant fan of his work. Grishkovets's performances and books captivate with their kind and slightly ironic style of storytelling; they always leave behind mixed but bright feelings, there is no anger or aggression. This is very rare in the modern world. Of the recent works, I liked the series “An Ordinary Woman”, Evgeniy Valerievich and Anna Mikhalkova played wonderfully, and Boris Khlebnikov’s script turned out great!

Olga

In 2008, I was lucky enough to attend the play “+1”, when Evgeniy Valerievich came on tour to Donetsk. I can say that this is one of the most vivid memories of my life. I saw all the video versions of his performances, but when I came into contact with the work of this talented man, I experienced completely different sensations: I laughed, cried and recognized myself in the hero on stage.

Tatiana

After watching the film “Satisfaction” my impressions were twofold. Yes, Evgeniy and his partner on the set played well, but the script itself is a little boring, lacking humor and dynamics of development.

Andrey