The Features of Yurii Mazhuha's acting and Teaching Activities

The purpose of the article is to study the features of the acting and teaching activities of Yurii Mazhuha. Research methodology. To achieve the goal, the following methods are used: the analytical method is used to work with historiographic sources; the historical and biographical method is applied to understand the main stages of the artist’s activity; the art studies method is used to determine the artistic component of the actor’s work. Scientific novelty. The article is the first attempt to comprehensively assess the creative heritage of the outstanding Ukrainian actor Yurii Mazhuha, in particular his acting and teaching activities. The collected and analysed primary journalistic materials are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. Conclusions. Yurii Mazhuha’s creative career is directly connected with the history of the Lesya Ukrainka National Academic Drama Theatre. As a school of psychological realism follower, the actor was distinguished by collective and ensemble interaction with partners on stage. He had the skills of stage tragicomedy. Having considerable experience in performing diverse roles, including in the classical repertoire, the artist in his work gravitated to creating images of contemporaries – a person with a genuinely heroic soul. The stage appeal of the actor was combined with a perfect, comprehensive psychological analysis and development of the performed roles; high professional skills, a wide range of means of acting expression combined with refined character and lyricism contributed to the creation of vivid stage and film images that went down in the history of Ukrainian theatre of the modern era. Thanks to his iconic roles embodied in cinema and theatre, he gained considerable popularity among the audience. His pedagogical activity is entirely related to the professional training of theatre and film actors at the Kyiv National I. K. Karpenko-Kary Theatre, Cinema and Television University. During the years of teaching practice, he trained a generation of actors who work in many theatres in Ukraine and abroad. Theatrical pedagogical practice enabled the actor to realise both stage directing and production ideas, as well as organisational and managerial ones – the formation of his own theatre team-laboratory; at the same time, Yurii Mazhuha systematically had daily acting training. In his teaching career, he was a follower of the theatre school “living through”, he taught students the principles of acting reincarnation and active stage action.