St Petersburg Lensoviet Academic Theatre

On Vladimirsky Prospekt, in the former house of Prince Golitsyn, works one of the city's oldest drama companies — the academic theatre bearing the name of the Lensoviet. Over nine decades of its existence the company has changed its name and address several times, survived evacuation and creative crises, but has remained a notable presence in the city's theatrical life throughout.

The company was formed in 1933 by a group of actors whose director was Isaac Kroll, a director trained in Meyerhold's school. On 19 November 1933 the company, then called the New Theatre, gave its first performance, 'Mad Money' after the play by Ostrovsky, in the building of a former Dutch church on Nevsky Prospekt. In 1936 a fire destroyed this venue, and the troupe was given another space on Troitskaya Street for several years. A year later, at the height of an ideological campaign against Meyerhold's legacy, Kroll was removed from leadership, and the theatre was taken over by the actor and teacher Boris Sushkevich, an adherent of Moscow Art Theatre traditions.

In the autumn of 1940 the company was sent on tour to the Far East, where it was caught by the outbreak of war: until 1945 the troupe performed in the Far East, Siberia and the Urals, and upon its return it was given a new building at 12 Vladimirsky Prospekt — a former mansion rebuilt by the architect Andrei Mikhailov, where the theatre still works today. In 1951 Nikolai Akimov was appointed chief director, and his satirical productions of 'The Shadow' and 'The Case' brought the troupe out of crisis; in 1953 the theatre was given the name of the Lensoviet.

After Akimov returned to the Theatre of Comedy, the company again found itself in crisis, until in 1960 it was taken over by the director Igor Vladimirov. He placed his bet on young actors, bringing into the troupe Alisa Freindlich, whose name became inseparable from the theatre's history for decades, as well as Mikhail Boyarsky, Alexei Petrenko and other future stars of the Soviet stage. Pyotr Fomenko's production of 'The New Mystery-Bouffe' (1969) became legendary, never reaching a premiere after being shown a few times to the review committee.

The perestroika years brought renewed crisis and a departure of actors — many performers left the company, including Boyarsky himself — but in 2000 Alisa Freindlich returned to the stage in the production 'Oscar and the Pink Lady'. From 1996 to 2006 the theatre was led by Vladislav Pazi, who refreshed the repertoire with contemporary productions. From 2011 to 2018 Yuri Butusov served first as chief director and then as artistic director, and since May 2019 the position has been held by the actress Larisa Luppian, a representative of the generation that came up under Vladimirov's troupe.

Today the Lensoviet Theatre remains an active repertory stage in the very heart of the city, combining classical works with contemporary productions. A near-century-long history of relocations, crises and creative triumphs has made it one of the symbols of the Leningrad-St Petersburg theatrical school, and the former mansion on Vladimirsky Prospekt a well-known address for several generations of theatregoers.