Rozov, Viktor

Born Aug. 8 (21), 1913, in Yaroslavl. Soviet Russian playwright.

Rozov was originally an actor, first in Kostroma and then in Moscow. He graduated from the school affiliated with the Theater of the Revolution and the M. Gorky Institute of Literature in 1952. He served in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45.

In 1949 the Central Children’s Theater staged Rozov’s first play, Her Friends. In 1953 the theater staged Pages of Life (also Your Path). These plays revealed the characteristic qualities of the author’s work: exact and sympathetic descriptions of everyday life, emotionality, humor, a taste for life’s simple truths, and a desire to define a historical type of young hero. Over a period of many years, Rozov has created many characters. His heroes are always approximately the same age and from the same social circles, although they live at different times, which enables the author to reflect changing problems and moral types.

Rozov’s collaboration with the Central Children’s Theater was especially successful. His plays for the theater, Good Luck! (1954), In Search of Joy (1957), Unequal Battle (1960), and Before Supper (1962), were staged by A. V. Efros. Rozov was also successful in his work with the Sovremennik Theater, which opened in 1957 with The Eternally Alive, a play based on a theme of civic duty. In 1967 the Sovremennik Theater staged The Traditional Reunion, in which the author brings together maturing and aging graduates of different ages.

Rozov has always been concerned with the world of youth and has consistently developed the themes of an individual’s duty to himself and dedication to his vocation. Plays based on these themes include The Wedding Day (staged 1964), The Clown (staged 1966), From Evening to Midday (staged 1970), and Situation (staged 1973). Filled with civic spirit, Rozov’s plays are devoid of oratory, which befits the intimate quality of his comedies and dramas. His plays are often staged both within and outside the USSR. His plays that have been made into films include Good Luck! (1956), In Search of Joy (the film Noisy Day, 1961), and Eternally Alive (film The Cranes Are Flying, 1957). Rozov has dramatized Goncharov’s novel A Common Story (staged by the Sovremennik Theater, 1966; State Prize of the USSR, 1967). Rozov has been awarded three orders.