Literary and Artistic Society Theatre

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LITERARY AND ARTISTIC SOCIETY THEATRE (65 Fontanka River Embankment), also known as St. Petersburg Maly or Suvorin Theatre, named after the president of the society, A.S. Suvorin, who is also the theatre's director and owner. The theatre was established in 1895 as the private theatre of the Literary and Artistic Circle, which changed its name to the Literary and Artistic Society in 1899. Upon opening, it gave a number of performances at the Kononovsky Hall (61 Moika River Embankment) and the Panaev Theatre (4 Admiralteyskaya Embankment; the theatre also worked here during the seasons of 1896/97 and 1901/02). That same year it settled at the St. Petersburg Imperial Maly, or Apraksin Theatre (65 Fontanka River Embankment). The theatre adopted the Suvorin's name in 1912, the year of his death, and was run by his heirs from 1914 as the A.S. Suvorin Theatre. Directors contributed significantly to the theatre by inviting well-known actors and staging recent hits and new plays. In various years the theatre company included such actors and actresses as P.N. Orlenev, P.A. Strepetova, L.B. Yavorskaya, E.N. Roshchina-Insarova, A.A. Paskhalova, I.I. Sudbinin, M.A. Mikhaylov, M.P. Domasheva, Z.V. Kholmskaya, V.P. Dalmatov (Luchich), K.V. Bravich, K.N. Yakovlev, B.S. Glagolin, V.A. Mironova, E.P. Korchagina-Alexandrovskaya, V.O. Toporkov, M.A. Chekhov, and E.A. Polevitskaya. The theatre's productions were directed by E.P. Karpov, P.P. Gnedich, N.N. Arbatov, N.A. Popov, and N.N. Evreinov. The theatre company also featured guest stars on tour, such as N.P. Rossov, T. Salvini, V.F. Komissarzhevskaya, and M.V. Dalsky. Performances stood out for their sumptuous and elaborate set design, which artists N.N. Sapunov and S.Y. Sudeykin contributed a number of sets to. The theatre was the first in Russia to stage Leo Tolstoy's Power of Darkness (1895); other significant performances included productions of A.K. Tolstoy's Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, Crime and Punishment after Dostoevsky's novel (both performances featured Orlenev in the leading parts), A.N. Ostrovsky's The Storm starring Roshchina-Insarova as Katerina, and the first complete stagings in St. Petersburg of Rasplyuev's Days of Fun (after The Death of Tarelkin by A.V. Sukhovo-Kobylin, 1900), Die Jungfrau von Orleans (The Maid of Orleans) (1895), and Maria Stuart (1900) by F. Schiller. The theatre also acquainted the Russian audience with plays by M. Maeterlinck and E. Rostand. It held annual contests for new plays, stimulating the development of contemporary Russian dramatic art. A considerable part of the repertoire was given to scenic, costume, and romantic plays, detective stories, farce, melodramas, views into high society life, and abstract and free-form drama opuses. Patriotic plays drawing on Russian history, which were also part of the theatre's programme, sometimes elicited well-earned accusations of cultural chauvinism. Classical works by W. Shakespeare, Lope de Vega, and Alexander Pushkin were mostly staged in the morning for young audiences. In 1917, A.A. Suvorina, the owner, gave up her position as director, and the theatre became an association (The Theatre of the Union of Drama Actors, 1917-18), returning to private administration some time later. In 1918, the theatre became a part of the Trade Union of Theatre Workers, and was closed down the same year. In 1903-05, during Lent, the theatre annually hosted performances of the Moscow Art Theatre; for many years, during Lent, private Italian operas were performed on the theatre's stage, while in spring and summer it accommodated a mix of drama companies. The theatre set up its own A.S. Suvorin Theatre School, and issued The Journal of the Theatre of the Literary and Artistic Society from 1906 to 1910 (called The Theatre of the Literary and Artistic Society until 1907). At present the theatre building houses the G.A. Tovstonogov Bolshoy Academic Drama Theatre.

References: Долгов Н. Н. Двадцатилетие театра им. А. С. Суворина. Пг., 1915; Петровская И. Ф., Сомина В. В. Театральный Петербург: Нач. XVIII в.- окт. 1917 г.: Обозрение-путеводитель. СПб., 1994.

A. A. Kirillov. Arbatov (real name Arkhipov) Nikolay Nikolaevich
Bravich Kazimir Viktorovich
Chekhov Mikhail Alexandrovich
Dalmatov Vasily Panteleimonovich
Dalsky (Neelov) Mamont Viktorovich
Domasheva Maria Petrovna
Dostoevsky Fedor Mikhailovich
Evreinov Nikolay Nikolaevich
Glagolin (real name Gusev) Boris Sergeevich
Gnedich Peter Petrovich
Karpov Evtikhy Pavlovich
Kholmskaya Zinaida Vasilievna
Komissarzhevskaya Vera Fedorovna
Korchagina-Alexandrovskaya Ekaterina Pavlovna
Lope de Vega Carpio (Lope Felix de)
Maeterlinck Maurice
Mikhaylov (Dmokhovsky N.F.) Mikhail Adolfovich
Mironova Valentina Alexeevna
Orlenev (real name Orlov) Pavel Nikolaevich
Ostrovsky Alexander Nikolaevich
Paskhalova Alevtina Mikhailovna
Polevitskaya Elena Alexandrovna
Popov Nikolay Alexandrovich
Pushkin Alexander Sergeevich
Roshchina-Insarova Ekaterina Nikolaevna
Rossov Nikolay Petrovich
Rostand Edmond
Salvini Tommaso
Sapunov Nikolay Nikolaevich
Schiller Friedrich
Shakespeare William
Strepetova Pelageya (Polina) Antipievna
Sudbinin Ivan Ivanovich
Sudeykin Sergey Yurievich
Sukhovo-Kobylin Alexander Vasilievich
Suvorin Alexey Sergeevich
Tolstoy Alexey Konstantinovich, Count
Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich, Count
Toporkov Vasily Osipovich
Tovstonogov Georgy Alexandrovich
Yakovlev Kondrat Nikolaevich
Yavorskaya (nee von Gubbenet) Lidia Borisovna
Admiralteyskaya Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 4
Fontanka River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 65
Moika River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 61
Долгов Н. Н. Двадцатилетие театра им. А. С. Суворина. Пг., 1915
Петровская И. Ф., Сомина В. В. Театральный Петербург: Нач. XVIII в. - окт. 1917 г.: Обозрение-путеводитель. СПб., 1994 Tovstonogov Bolshoy Drama Theatre
Literary and Artistic Society Theatre