1854–1934
Mariia Zankovetska
Actress, star of Ukrainian theater
She first played Natalka in Natalka Poltavka with an amateur group, and in 1882 she made her professional debut in the very same role. For 40 years Mariia Zankovetska was a star of Ukrainian theater, creating more than 30 roles.
Key accomplishments
- Made her debut on 27 October 1882 in Yelysavethrad as Natalka in Ivan Kotliarevskyi’s Natalka Poltavka, in Marko Kropyvnytskyi’s troupe
- More than 30 roles in the Ukrainian repertoire, including Halia in Nazar Stodolia and Kharytyna in The Hired Girl
- In 1907, with Mykola Sadovskyi, founded the first permanent Ukrainian theater in Kyiv
- In 1918 she headed her own troupe in Nizhyn
- People’s Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1923)
One role, a first time twice
Mariia Adasovska was born in 1854 in the village of Zanky in the Chernihiv region, into a noble family, and she had a fine mezzo-soprano voice. As early as 1874–1875 she acted with an amateur group in Nizhyn, and that is where she first played Natalka in Ivan Kotliarevskyi’s Natalka Poltavka. In 1875 she married an officer (until 1888 her surname was Khlystova), lived with him in the fortresses of Bender and Sveaborg near Helsinki, and took singing lessons there.
On 27 October 1882 in Yelysavethrad (now Kropyvnytskyi) she made her professional debut with Marko Kropyvnytskyi’s troupe. The role was the same, Natalka. The name was new, a stage name: Zankovetska.
Forty years on stage
From then on she played in the best Ukrainian troupes, those of Kropyvnytskyi, Mykhailo Starytskyi, Mykola Sadovskyi, Panas Saksahanskyi and Ivan Karpenko-Karyi. She created more than 30 roles, among them Halia in Taras Shevchenko’s Nazar Stodolia and Kharytyna in Karpenko-Karyi’s The Hired Girl. She toured with the troupes to Saint Petersburg, Moscow and other cities of the empire, and her contemporaries ranked her alongside Sarah Bernhardt and Eleonora Duse.
In 1907, together with Sadovskyi, she founded the first permanent Ukrainian theater in Kyiv, and in 1918 she led her own troupe in Nizhyn. She last appeared on stage in December 1922, at a celebration of her 40 years in the theater. In 1923 she was named People’s Artist of the Ukrainian SSR. She died in Kyiv in 1934.
Where her name lives on
The National Academic Ukrainian Drama Theatre in Lviv bears her name. A prize in her name has existed since 1993, and memorial museums dedicated to her are open in Kyiv and in her native Zanky.
