Lensovet Theatre, officially Saint Petersburg State Academic Lensoviet Theatre (in , literally St Petersburg Academic Theater of the Leningrad City Council), also known as Lensovet Academic Theatre and Lensoviet Theatre, is a theatre and

theatrical troupe Theatrical troupe ( French: ''troupe''), sometimes referred to as an acting company, is a group of theatrical performers working together. They may work in repertory other types of theatres, and may take performances on tour. They are not the sa ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, Russia.

History of the theatre company

The resident company was founded as the New Theatre in 1933, under V. E. Meyerhold student Isaac (Isaak) Kroll. As government repression arose against "Meyerholdism" in the mid-1930s, Kroll was dismissed and actor, director and teacher Boris Mikhailovich Sushkevich appointed. Sushkevich brought his disciples with him to the company. It was later renamed Leningrad Soviet Theatre. The troupe's first home was in a building acquired by the

Lensovet Leningrad City Soviet (in short Lensovet) () was the city legislature of Saint Petersburg (then called Leningrad) during the Soviet period. History The Leningrad Soviet traces its history back to the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' D ...

Nevsky Prospekt Nevsky Prospect ( rus, Не́вский проспе́кт, r=Nevsky Prospekt, p=ˈnʲɛfskʲɪj prɐˈspʲɛkt) is a main street ( high street) located in the federal city of St. Petersburg in Russia. Its name comes from the Alexander Nevs ...

, which formerly housed a Dutch church; however, this was destroyed by fire. In 1936 the city authorities gave the city council a new premises on Rubinshteina Street (which now houses a

children's theatre Children's theatre is a theatre for younger audiences. Children's Theatre or Children's Theater may also refer to: * Theatre for Early Years, blanket term for theatrical events designed for audiences of pre-school children * Youth Theatre Individ ...

, Through the Looking Glass). When Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, most of the theatre troupe (then New Theatre), was on tour in the

Soviet Far East The Russian Far East ( rus, Дальний Восток России, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in North Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent, and is coextensive with the Far Eastern Fe ...

; the others joined them there to escape the

siege of Leningrad The siege of Leningrad was a Siege, military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the city of Leningrad (present-day Saint Petersburg) in the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front of World War II from 1941 t ...

by the Germans. They returned in 1945, moving into their current location at 12 Vladimirski Prospekt. Sushkevich died a year later, after which there was a frequently changing succession of

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogu ...

s. Under

Nikolay Akimov Nikolay Pavlovich Akimov ( – 6 September 1968) was an experimental theatre director and scenic designer noted for his work with the Leningrad Comedy Theatre. His most notorious production was the cynical version of ''Hamlet'' (1932), with Ophe ...

, who served from around 1949 to 1955, new actors were brought in and the repertoire was updated. The first Soviet musical, '' Spring in Moscow'', by

Viktor Gusev Viktor Mikhaylovich Gusev (; 30 January 1909 – 23 January 1944) wrote lyrics to accompany several patriotic Soviet military tunes, including 'Polyushko Pole' and 'March of the Artillerymen'. He wrote the play '' Spring in Moscow'', which was th ...

, was staged. In 1953 the theatre was renamed. The name derives from Leningrad Council of People Deputies, or ''Lensovet'', which was succeeded by the

Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg The Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg () is the regional parliaments of Russia, regional parliament of Saint Petersburg, a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (federal cities of Russia, federal city) of Russia. It was established ...

in 1994. In 1960, Igor Petrovich Vladimirov, a student of

Georgy Tovstonogov Georgy Aleksandrovich Tovstonogov (, – 23 May 1989) was a Russian-Georgians, Georgian theatre director. He was the leader of the Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theater, Gorky Bolshoi Drama Theater which was renamed after him in 1992. Biography G ...

, took up the post as director, where he remained until his death in 1996. During his time there he opened a small stage. After his death, Vladislav Borisovich Pazi was appointed director. Under Pazi, the Russian musical ''Vladimirskaya Ploshchad'' as well as the Broadway hit ''

Cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

'' were staged. Young artists such as

Konstantin Khabensky Konstantin Yurievich Khabensky, People's Artist of Russia, PAR (; born 11 January 1972) is a Russian actor of stage and film, director and philanthropist. From 1997 he was part of the Saint Petersburg Lensoviet Theatre cast until 2000, after whi ...

Mikhail Porechenkov Mikhail Yevgenyevich Porechenkov (; born 2 March 1969) is a Russian film actor, producer, director. He became famous after his lead role as FSB Agent Alexey Nikolayev in the TV series ''National Security Agent'' (1999–2005). In 2008, Porechenko ...

Andrei Zibrov Andrei Yurievich Zibrov (; 5 July 1973, Leningrad, USSR) is a Russian actor. He has acted on stage on Lensovet Theatre. On the night of Friday, April 23 to Saturday, April 24, 2010, at the house No. 11 on Kamennoostrovsky Prospekt, Zibrov wa ...

, and many others were recruited, and performances began to participate in festivals and to win awards. Pazi died in 2006 and was succeeded by Harold Strelkov, and Yuri Butusov took his place in 2011. He was succeeded by

Larisa Luppian Larisa Reginaldovna Luppian (; born 26 January 1953) is a Russian stage and film actress. She was awarded People's Artist of Russia in 1999. She has served as the artistic director of the Lensovet Theatre in St Petersburg since 2019. Biography L ...

in 2019.

History of the building

The

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

building is located at 12 Vladimirski Prospekt, the historic neoclassical mansion built in 1920 (1828?) for the family of a rich businessman called Korsakov. The heir, Sofya Alekseevna Korsakova, married Prince V. Golitsyn. After the prince got into debt, the house had to be sold, and turned into a

gambling house ''Gambling House'' is a 1951 American film noir crime film directed by Ted Tetzlaff and starring Victor Mature, Terry Moore and William Bendix. Plot A gangster, Joe Farrow, kills a man after a game of craps. He then offers gambler Marc Fury $5 ...

. After the

Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

, the building was sold to the Culture Commissariat, headed by A. V. Lunacharsky. After some time it was turned into a "revolutionary theatre", which staged amateur performances, before being refitted with a large stage and a more formal theatre created. The building was nationalised and maintained by the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

government, some renovations and reconstructions of the interiors and facade were done from the 1930s through to the 1980s. In 1953, it was named the Lensoviet Academic Theatre (or Leningrad Soviet), and became one of

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

's most famous theatres. The renovated building is owned by the City of

Performances

The first performance by the company was of the play ''

Mad Money ''Mad Money'' is an American finance television program hosted by Jim Cramer that began airing on CNBC on March 14, 2005. Its main focus is investment and speculation, particularly in public company stocks. ''Mad Money'' replaced '' Bullseye' ...

'', by A. N. Ostrovsky. The troupe was headed by V.E. Meyerhold Isaac Kroll.

Directors

* Isaak Kroll (1933–1937) *

Boris Sushkevich Boris Mikhaylovich Sushkevich (, 7 February 1887 — 10 July 1946) was a St. Petersburg-born Russian, Soviet actor, theatre director and reader in drama, honoured with the titles Meritorious Artist of RSFSR (1933) and People's Artist of RSFSR ( ...

(1937–1946)The Lensovet Theatre history
История театра. Санкт-Петербургский театр им. Ленсовета *

(1949–1955) *

Igor Vladimirov Igor Petrovich Vladimirov (; 1 January 1919, Dnipro, Yekaterinoslav – 20 March 1999, Saint Petersburg) was a Soviet film and theater actor, theater and film director, and teacher. People's Artist of the USSR (1978). From 1960 until his death in ...

(1960–1996)Русский драматический театр: Энциклопедия / Под общ. ред. М. И. Андреева, Н. Э. Звенигородской, А. В. Мартыновой и др. — М.: Большая Российская энциклопедия, 2001. — 568 с.: ил. * Vladislav Pazi (1996–2006) * Yuri Butusov (1996–2017) *

(2019– current)

Actors

Alisa Freindlich Alisa Brunovna Freindlich (born 8 December 1934) is a Russian actress. Since 1983, Freindlich has been a leading actress of the Bolshoi Drama Theater in Saint Petersburg, Russia. She was awarded the title of the People's Artist of the USSR in ...

(1961–1982) *

Georgiy Zhzhonov Georgiy Stepanovich Zhzhonov (, ; 22 March 1915 – 8 December 2005), was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor and writer. He is known for playing the spy Mikhail Tulyev in the "Resident" quartet of films, '' Beware of the Car'' (1966), '' ...

(1958–1968) * Alexei Petrenko (1958–1971) *

(1960–1996) *

Mikhail Boyarsky Mikhail Sergeyevich Boyarsky (; born 26 December 1949) is a Russian actor and singer. He is best known for playing swashbucklers in historical adventure films; the role of d'Artagnan in the 1978 Soviet adaptation of Alexander Dumas' ''Thre ...

(1972–?) *

Petr Shelokhonov Petr Illarionovich Shelokhonov, (, , , ; in English also spelled 'Peter' or 'Pyotr' or 'Petr'; 15 August 1929 – 15 September 1999) was a Russian actor, director, filmmaker and socialite, designated Honorable Actor of Russia (1979). A strong ...

(1982–1992) * Yelena Solovey (1985–1991) *

(1997–2000) *

(1995–1997) *

Anna Kovalchuk Anna Leonidovna Kovalchuk (; born 15 June 1977) is a Russian actress known for her roles in film, television, and theater. She gained widespread recognition for her performances in popular Russian television series and the critically acclaimed ...

(1998–?) *

(1997–?) *

(1975– ) * Semion Strugachev (1988–?)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lensovet, theatre Theatres in Saint Petersburg Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Saint Petersburg Theatre companies in Russia 1933 establishments in Russia Lensovet