-Dmitry Anatolevich, why are you not Efros?

When I was born, my grandfather, my father's father, told my mother to have me registered under her surname. He had gone through so much in his time, and wanted it to end with me. And so I wear my mother's name, for me it is also a good one. My father was easygoing about these superficial things. Though recently I was unexpectedly pricked.*** In our theatre there is a woman who cooks in the buffet. Her last name is Efros. It turns out she is married to a very distant relative of my father's. Yesterday, she asked to be written into the visitor's list for a performance. I write into the list of invitees: Efros – one. And suddenly I feel a lump in my throat. It has been 20 years since somebody has written that.

(“Vechernyaya Moskva”, November 9, 2006.)

...was born on 10 october 1954 года.

He began working as a set-designer at Malaya Bronnaya Theatre (Moscow) in 1976. He designed a lot of performances produced by Anatoly Efros, such as: “Othello”, W. Shakespeare, “A Month in the Country”, I. Turgenev, “Don Juan. A Sequel”, E.Radzinsky, “Summer and Smoke”, T Williams, “The Recollection”, A. Arbuzov, “Napoleon the First”, F.Bruckner, “Theatre Director”.

In Moscow Art Theatre by A.Tchekhov he designed the performances: “Tartuffe”, J-B Moliere, “Living Corpse”, L.Tolstoy, “Attempt to fly”, I. Raditchkov etc. At Taganka Theatre he worked at the performances: “War Doesn’t Have a Woman’s Fase”, S.Alexievitch, “One and a Half Square Meters” by the novel of B.Mozhaev and “Misanthrope”, J-B Moliere. He also worked as a set-designer in other theatres of Moscow, such as: Central Youth Theatre, Theatre by  K.S.Stanislavsky, Theatre by N.V.Gogol, Theatre by M.N.Ermolova, Mossovet Theatre, Theatre by V.Mayakovsky etc.

Krymov worked at the theatres of Saint-Petersburg, Riga, Tallinn, Nizhniy Novgorod, Vyatka, Volgograd and other cities of the country and also abroad (Bulgaria, Japan).

Dmitry Krymov designed more than 90 performances. He worked with such directors as:  A. Efros, V.Portnov, V.Sarkisov, M.Kiselov, E.Arie, A.Shapiro, M.Rozovsky, S.Artsibashev etc.

In the beginning of 1990^th Dmitry Krymov left off his theatre activity and began painting. He took part in many exhibitions and had one man shows in Russia and abroad. The most significant one man shows were in: State Russian Museum in Saint-Petersburg, State Exhibition Hall Manege in Moscow, Musee Historique De la Citadelle Vauban, Belle-Ile-en-Mer, France. 

Krymov’s works are in State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow), State Russian Museum and State Theatre Museum (Saint-Petersburg), Museum of Victoria and Albert in London, Museum of Vatican and Collection of World Basnk in Washington.

In next 5 years «Laboratory of Dmitry Krymov» has created 7 performances: «Donky Hot» (based on the novel «Don Quixote» by Cervantes), «Three sisters» (based on  Shakespeare’s «King Lear»), The Auction (Krymov’s play based on Chekhov's plays), The «Demon: The View from Above», inspired by Mikhail Lermontov's poem, «Cow» (based on  the novel of the same name by A. Platonov), OPUS 7 (in 2 parts: «Genealogy», Shostakovich»), «The dearth of giraffe» (joint work of Laboratory’s company). Some performances got very eminent theatre prizes as “Golden Mask”, premium of K.S.Stanislavsky, “Hit of the season” (Union of theatre workers of Russian Federation), “Crystal Thurandot”: two times Dmitry Krymov was appreciated as the best director of the year. In 2009 he was named as “Person of a Year” for his performance “Opus 7” by the Federation of the Jewish community in Russia.      

Performances of Laboratory of Dmitry Krymov are often invited to Russian and international festivals to Estonia, Finland, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Poland and the USA.

Dmitry Krymov with his students won Grand-Prix of Prague Quadrennial (the world famous exhibition of set-design and theatre architecture) – “Golden Trigue” for the presentation of Russian pavilion devoted to A.Tchekhov and D.Borovsky (2007).

This section is in the process of development.

Wife - Inna Krimova. Son - Misha.

Since 2002 Dmitry Krymov teaches at the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts (RATI-GITIS).

In 2008, Dmitry Krymov, together with director Yevgeny Kamenkovich, began a new experimental course on the directing faculty of RATI-GITIS, where set designers, directors and actors study together. For the first time in the history of theater education, students have opportunity to master their professions in such a unique collaboration.

- Having received the "Mask", you've irrefutably entered the ranks of theater newsmakers.

- (scared) What does this mean?

(Korablev, Dmitry / PhotoXPress.ru)

– Do you read what critics write about you?

- Yes.

(Korablev, Dmitry / PhotoXPress.ru)

  - How do you begin rehearsing, do you have something like a script?

- We have no finished script. We begin forcing the Oder, and wind up swimming the Yenisei.

(Korablev, Dmitry / PhotoXPress.ru)

– By what means do you live?

- Prostitution, drug trafficking, arms trafficking sometimes.

(Gazeta.ru, silly little show, 09/26/2007)

– Which qualitly should an actor have to be accepted into your laboratory?

- Good character.

(A private correspondent, November 13, 2008)

– Have you yourself ever lived in communal housing?

- Up until the fourth grade.

- And did your students have any notion of this?

- No! They weren't even pioneers. I once told them: "Give honor!", it turned out that they do not know how to do this. They do not know how to march, how to stand in line straight as a ruler.

(Gazeta.ru, silly little show, 09/26/2007)

– And what is your relationship with postmodernism?

- Well what is it? When everything is piled in a heap, and mixed together? .. If so, then good.

(Novaya Gazeta № 18 dated March 13, 2000)

- Among the teachers of your laboratory there are a few great names, amidst those "kidnapped by the gods" - Efros, Borovski (which is understandable) and also Velasquez, Chagall and Picasso. Why did you chose these artists specifically from the great multitude?

- Velasquez - such depth and such boldness in color! In America I was at an exhibition of his entire body of work: there was a lot of nonsense, but some paintings were genius. From close up - splotches, just lumps of paint. But if you step back two meters - the beauty of illusions, amazing mastery, dramatism. And what faces, eyes, poses! He is a piercing classic, and knocks modern man off his feet no worse than those who use all-permissiveness

Picasso, in contrast, breaks everything - hands, feet, fingers, ears. But from a different angle he comes to the same result - the classical, humanistic, beautiful, soulful.

And Chagall - is such tenderness, such, in the best sense of the word, Jewish hopeless, which pushes one off the ground and leaves one hovering in the air. This feeling emits not only from his floating people, but also from those sitting quite firmly on the ground. And in everything – the transparency of papyrus paper. And one so wants to console them. It has the effect of ... being knocked out by a boxing glove. After all, tenderness can also stun.