Komissarzhevskaya Theatre

Categories / Art/Music, Theatre/Theaters, Concert Organizations
KOMISSARZHEVSKAYA THEATRE (19 Italyanskaya Street). Established in 1942 as the City ("Besieged") Theatre, being legitimized as a drama theatre in 1943, named after V.F. Komissarzhevskaya in 1959, and granted academic status in 1994. The theatre was opened on the premises of the Comedy Theatre, operated at first in the Maly Opera Theatre, and since 1944 has been on its present premises at the Passage. The company included Leningrad theatre and radio actors who had remained in the besieged city. In 1943-44, the company was augmented by actors from the propaganda unit of the Red Army House and the abolished New Young People's Theatre. The first season’s program was comprised of heroic and patriotic plays by Soviet authors from those days: K.M. Simonov's Russian People and Wait for Me , A.E. Korneychuk's Front, and L.M. Leonov's Invasion. Later, Russian classics tended to be staged, including plays by A.N. Ostrovsky, I.A. Goncharov, and I.S. Turgenev. Despite isolated successful productions (like the romantic interpretation of Don Cesar de Bazan by A.F. d'Ennery and F.F. Dumanois presented by director V.P. Kozhich, which formed the basis of the picture play of the same name), during peaceful times the theatre found it difficult to establish an its artistic identity for quite a long time (for the first 20 yeas of its history there were about 40 directors). M.V. Sulimov, I. S. Olshvanger and others worked as the main directors of the theatre at various times. The peak of company's success came with R. S. Agamirzyan's direction (1966-91), who succeeded in developing a harmonious repertoire, presenting both modern versions of contemporary works (like, I.P. Drutse's Sancta Sanctorum, 1977; and M.F. Shatrov's Blue Horses on Red Grass, 1980) and expressive staging of the classics. The theatre cycle based on A.K. Tolstoy's trilogy (The Death of Ioann the Terrible and Tsar Fedor Ioannovich, 1972; Tsar Boris, 1978) was awarded the State Prize of the USSR (1984). Many of Agamirzyan's productions were created in collaboration with artist E.S. Kochergin, the former main artist of Komissarzhevskaya Theatre. Many outstanding actors worked and continue to work at the theatre, including V.I. Chestnokov, I.P. Dmitriev, S.A. Boyarsky, N.A. Boyarsky, I.B. Dmitriev, E.A. Akulicheva, V.I. Chistyakov, E.A. Popova, O.G. Okulevich, V.V. Osobik, T.M. Abrosimova, G.P. Korotkevich, I.I. Krasko, S.N. Landgraf, B.M. Sokolov, G.A. Korolchuk, V.V. Letenkov, and V.A. Degtyar. Komissarzhevskaya Theatre has abandoned the position of the main director and invites different stage managers for each production. Stagings by V.B. Pazi, Bulgarian director A. Morfova, and others have been the highlight of Petersburg's theatrical life. Currently the theatre's art director is V. A. Novikov, Honoured Worker of Arts of Russia.

References: Ленинградский драматический театр им. В. Ф. Комиссаржевской: Путь театра, спектакли, актеры. Л., 1962; Ленинградский государственный драматический театр им. В. Ф. Комиссаржевской, 1942-1967. Л., 1968.

A. A. Kirillov. Abrosimova Tamara Mikhailovna
Agamirzyan Ruben Sergeevich
Akulicheva Elizaveta A.
Boyarsky Nikolay Alexandrovich
Boyarsky Sergey Alexandrovich
Chestnokov Vladimir Ivanovich
Chistyakov Viktor I.
Degtyar Valery Alexandrovich
d'Ennery Adolphe Philippe
Dmitriev Igor Borisovich
Dmitriev Ivan Petrovich
Drutse Ion Panteleevich
Dumanois F. F.
Goncharov Ivan Alexandrovich
Kochergin Eduard Stepanovich
Komissarzhevskaya Vera Fedorovna
Korneychuk Alexander Evdokimovich
Korolchuk Georgy Alexeevich
Korotkevich Galina Petrovna
Kozhich Vladimir Platonovich
Krasko Ivan Ivanovich
Landgraf Stanislav Nikolaevich
Leonov Leonid Maximovich
Letenkov Vladimir Vasilievich
Morfov Alexander
Novikov Viktor Abramovich
Okulevich Oleg Georgievich
Olshvanger Ilya Saulovich
Osobik Vladimir Vasilievich
Ostrovsky Alexander Nikolaevich
Pazi Vladislav Borisovich
Popova Emilia Anatolievna
Shatrov Mikhail Filippovich
Simonov Konstantin Mikhailovich
Sokolov Boris Mikhailovich
Sulimov Mar Vladimirovich
Tolstoy Alexey Konstantinovich, Count
Turgenev Ivan Sergeevich
Italyanskaya Street/Saint Petersburg, city, house 19
Ленинградский драматический театр им. В. Ф. Комиссаржевской: Путь театра, спектакли, актеры. Л., 1962
Ленинградский годарственный драматический театр им. В. Ф. Комиссаржевской, 1942-1967. Л., 1968 Akimov Comedy Theatre
Mussorgsky Opera and Ballet Theatre
Passage, department store
Officers' House