Nikolay Okhlopkov

Nikolay Pavlovich Okhlopkov (Russian: Никола́й Па́влович Охло́пков; 15 May 1900, Irkutsk – 8 January 1967, Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor and theatre director who patterned his work after Meyerhold.

[2] Okhlopkov was born in Irkutsk, Siberia, where he began his acting career in 1918.

From 1930, he directed the Realistic Theatre in Moscow, although his directing style was hardly realistic: he was the first to place spectators on the stage around the actors, in order to restore intimacy between the audience and the company.

In 1943 he established the Mayakovsky Theatre, which continues his traditions to this day.

He also directed a production of Hamlet at the Moscow Art Theatre in 1954, the first staging of this play after World War II.