Pushkin Theatre

Pushkin Theatre

Main Stage

Tverskoy Boulevard, Building 23

Branch Theatre

Sytinskaya Pereulok 3/25

Metro Tverskaya or Pushkinskaya

The Pushkin Theatre was established in 1950 though the earliest information about the building dates back to the Empress Catherine the Great. In 1779 the building was sold by prince Vyazemskij to the church of St. John the Evangelist. In 1914, a foung director by the name of Alexander Tairov bought the house for his theater room. The building was adapted and in the same year opened as a theater by the name of the Chamber. At the Chamber a performance written by an ancirnt Indian author was performed. Church officials objected to the fact that in the immediate vicinity of the Church of St. John the Divine will be in the theater. With great difficulty, the matter was settled. In 1949, the Chamber Theatre was closed for "aestheticism and formalism." It reorganized, and in 1950 it was named the Moscow Drama Theatre. AS Pushkin.

By order of the artistic director of the Theater named after Pushkin, Basil Vanina , the building was rebuilt in the style of the era. The decorations were crimson velvet and gilt with a huge crystal chandelier and the arms of the Soviet Union over the stage. Though the hall and the stage began to look more traditional the theater’s facade has remained virtually unchanged. The residential part of the building, an apartment of the famous actress of the Chamber Theatre Alice Bonner was connected with the theater’s common corridor, but had a separate entrance, it was on the second floor of the building and overlook the more armor. After the death of Alice Bonner in 1974, this part of the building was attached to the theater and radically rebuilt. Now they are small rehearsal rooms and make-up studios. At the end of the 70s orchestra pit was closed and became part of the stage.

In 1984, after much restoration work, the suites of "Pushkin Hall" were opened to the audience. These are preserved to this day, "four rooms" mentioned by Tairov. The restorers have restored original ceiling moldings and marble walls, design and carving. In one of the halls patrons may see the history of Pushkin Theatre performances.

In 2005, in the auditorium of the main stage of the theater, the chairs were changed and updated along with the lobby of the first floor. In 2006, an exhibition was opened in the renovated lobby of the second floor, covering the period of the History of Theatre AS Pushkin from the foundation, from 1950 to 2000. A year later, in the renovated lobby of the third floor opened the continuation of the exposition dedicated to the history of theater from 2001 to the present.