Description of the attraction
St. Petersburg State Academic Drama Theater named after V. F. Komissarzhevskaya is located on Italianskaya Street adjacent to Arts Square.
The building that the theater occupies has an interesting history. The idea of building a covered shopping gallery belongs to Jacob Essen-Stenbock-Fermor, Count and Collegiate Counselor. In 1848, according to the project of R. Zhelyazevich, Italianskaya Street was connected to Nevsky Prospekt by a three-tiered glass-covered gallery - Passage. It houses pastry shops, shops, a "mechanical and anatomical theater", a restaurant in the basement and a large auditorium. In the 1860s. it hosted literary and dramatic evenings and lectures. A. Ostrovsky, I. Turgenev, N. Nekrasov, Y. Polonsky, A. Pisemsky, history professors from the university spoke here. Amateur troupes played their performances here.
In 1901 the building of the Passage was rebuilt according to the project of S. Kozlov. Thanks to its new owners Baryatinsky, Passage again acquired the status of a cultural center. 1901 is considered the year of the opening of the theater.
The history of the theater is inextricably linked with the name of Vera Fedorovna Komissarzhevskaya. Leaving the imperial stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater, Komissarzhevskaya opened her Drama Theater, where she played heroines from the plays of M. Gorky, G. Ibsen, S. Naydenov, A. Chekhov, etc. Moscow Art Theater. The first seasons of the theater became for Komissarzhevskaya a time of unique integrity of aspirations and their embodiment in a large, loving audience.
In March 1905, students of the Conservatory performed the opera Kashchei the Immortal, banned by the censors, on the stage of the Passage. This project was helped by V. F. Komissarzhevskaya.
Then the Komissarzhevskaya theater moved to Officer Street. And in the theater hall of the Passage in the period from 1908 to 1912. the troupe of Simon Saburov from Moscow toured with the genre of light comedy, farce, reviews. Since 1913 the theater of S. F. Saburov established itself on the stage of the Passage as a permanent theater.
Since 1932, the theater acquired the status of a branch of the State Drama Theater, in which the students of L. S. Vivienne, tried themselves in directing N. Rashevskaya, N. Bromley, V. Kozhich, N. Simonov.
In 1936 the theater studio of Sergei Radlov moved to Passage. The season opened with Shakespeare's Othello. The theater's overarching task was to search for an “optimistic drama” - to a new life through death. The repertoire of the theater included "Dowry", "Romeo and Juliet", "Hamlet", "Little Tragedies", "How the Steel Was Tempered" by N. Ostrovsky.
During the war, acting crews went to the front. The theater worked in the city until January 1942, and then was evacuated. During the most difficult period of the siege, on October 18, 1942, a new theater called "City" was opened in Leningrad with the play "Russian People" based on the play by K. Simonov. His troupe included the artists of the Drama Theater named after Pushkin and the Radio Committee. The theater was headed by S. Morshchin. In 1944 the theater was named the Leningrad Drama Theater.
In spite of the fact that such famous directors as E. Gakkel, V. Kozhich, R. Sirota, B. Zon, I. Olschwanger, P. Weisbrem staged their performances in this theater, it did not have an integral artistic program. His successes were sporadic - from director to director, from performance to performance.
In this theater, young directors I. Vladimirov, A. Belinsky began their work and became actors Alisa Freindlich, Igor Dmitriev, good young authors A. Galich, E. Braginsky, D. Granin, L. Zorin, I. Dvoretsky were staged.
The name of the Komissarzhevskaya theater was given in 1959. The theater was headed by a theater teacher and famous director M. Sulimov.
From 1966 to 1991 he directed the theater of R. S. Agamirzyan, student of L. Vivien. His famous staging of the trilogy "Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich", "Death of Ivan the Terrible" and "Tsar Boris" by Tolstoy A. K. became a symbol for the Komissarzhevskaya theater, the same as "The Seagull" for the Moscow Art Theater. It was at this time that the theater found its creative face and defined its path in art.
In 1992, Viktor Novikov became the theater's artistic director. The theater is constantly open to new ideas, it is for this reason that young directors stage their performances here. The genre range of the theater is quite diverse. His playbill always includes dramas, lyrical comedies, and tragicomedies.
The troupe of the theater is constantly on tour in Russia and foreign countries. Theater them. Komissarzhevskaya is a member of the international creative association "New European Theater Action" (NETA).
