Description of the attraction
The Buff Theater in St. Petersburg was opened in the fall of 1870 not far from the then famous Alexandrinsky Theater. "Buff" is a theater, the repertoire of which is based on dramatic and musical performances. Buff is a theatrical genre (translated from Latin for "fun, mischief") that combines comedy, music, song, dance and musical.
Initially, the St. Petersburg theater "Buff" existed as a circus, but, according to the idea of the architect N. Lvov, it was designed so that, if necessary, it could easily turn into a theater. After an unexpected fire, the theater building was rebuilt and given to the famous Moscow playwright and actor A. Fedorov. He received permission to stage performances, but with the proviso that all performances would be in a foreign language, which, on the one hand, played a positive role - the most famous actors of Italy and France could participate in the performances. But on the other hand, such a limitation was one of the determining factors in the formation of the style of the theater itself: in order to be understandable to the viewer, the action on the stage contained a lot of music, dances, acrobatic numbers and tricks. Accordingly, the repertoire of the theater was presented by reviews, extravaganzas, chanson, which were relevant at that time.
This probably became the determining reason for its popularity among the Petersburg public in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The popularity of the theater is evidenced by the poems dedicated to him by Nekrasov and Agnivtsev, as well as the mention of him in the novel "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy.
The stage of the Buff Theater was the first to host the famous operettas of such famous composers as Imre Kalman (the operettas “The Circus Princess” and “Silva”) and Jacques Offenbaach (“The Beautiful Helena”). The theater hosted the stars of the Parisian operetta: Anna Judik, Hortense Schneider, Louise Philippe. Thus, the audience could see on stage almost all the operettas that were popular in Paris. The most popular comedians Davydov and Monakhov, as well as Grigory Yaron, performed here. The theater hall had excellent acoustics, allowing the audience, even from the very last rows, to perfectly hear every word uttered by the actors.
The theater building suddenly burned down in 1872. The subsequent change of the succession of owners, unfortunately, did not have a very positive effect on the level of the theater's popularity. For some time the theater worked on the Fontanka as "Summer Buff", where mainly provincial theater groups staged their operettas.
After the 1917 revolution, it was closed due to excessive "frivolity".
The revival of the theater dates back to 1983. Then the famous artist and teacher Isaak Romanovich Shtokbant released a course for variety artists of the St. Petersburg State Academy of Theater Arts and organized a troupe with the intention of opening a cabaret theater. Since this idea of the name of the theater was not accepted by Soviet officials, the name Buff was proposed, which was approved. Following the pre-revolutionary traditions of the first theater, the troupe during all its seasons, with the exception of the winter one, often played on stage in the Izmailovsky Garden on the Fontanka.
Now (since 2010) the theater is located in a new, own building located at St. Petersburg, Zanevsky pr., 26, building 3 and is impressive in its design. The theater has several halls: the Great Hall, Cabaret-BUFF, Bouffiki, and the Mirror Living Room. The building is located where the Okhta cinema was once located. The transforming stage of the Great Hall is equipped with modern equipment, which makes it possible to embody even the most daring ideas of the directors into reality.
The troupe of today's theater are graduates of the Academy of different years. Among them there are many honored artists of the Russian Federation, laureates of pop art contests. The performances are designed for both an adult audience and children. In terms of the diversity of genres, no other theater in St. Petersburg can possibly be compared to the Buff Theater.
