Pushkin Dramatic theatre

About Pushkin Dramatic theatre

House number 23 adorns Tverskaya Boulevard for a very long time. The earliest information about this building dates back to Empress Catherine the Great. In 1779, Privy Councilor Prince I.A. Vyazemsky sold a courtyard with a house in the parish of the Church of St. John the Evangelist, foreman A.S. Dmitrieva-Mamonova for 3300 gold rubles. In the description, the mansion was called "stone old chambers." Its length along the facade was much shorter than now. At various times, the house was rebuilt and expanded at the request of the owners: Major General I.F. Dmitriev-Mamonov, then Colonel P.A. Kologrivova, later representatives of the ancient Vyrubov family. In the middle of the XIX century, the facade was redone in a trendy eclectic style. The noble glory of the mansion by this time managed to fade.

At the beginning of the XX century, the house was bought by a real state adviser to Portnov. He rented the first floor to the cyclists club (as they called cyclists then) and the music and drama club, and the second to the private gymnasium. In 1911, the Parshins brothers bought the house, which, according to some sources, began to rent it out as apartments, and according to others, they placed accounting courses and a military presence in it.

"The building itself is just made for the theater!" In 1914, the young director Alexander Tairov was looking for a room for his theater. Here is how actress Alice Koonen recalled this : “... My attention here was attracted earlier by a mansion with a beautiful ebony door. The house seemed deserted and mysterious. In the evenings there was no light in the windows. Tairov looked around the mansion and agreed that “there is something” in it . ” And here are the words of the director himself: “The four rooms that go on the enfilade are not suitable to make a theater ... It’s a sin to break them. But it is possible to attach a small auditorium and a stage to them. The building itself is simply made for the theater! ”. In May 1914, construction work began on the project of architect N. Morozov: Parshins gave Tairov consent to the necessary alterations. On December 12 of the same year, the theater, called the Chamber, opened with a performance based on the drama of the ancient Indian author Kalidasa “Sakuntala”. However, unexpected obstacles arose. Church authorities objected to the fact that a theater would be located in close proximity to the Church of St. John the Evangelist. With great difficulty, the matter was settled.

In 1933, the Church of St. John the Evangelist was closed, the domes and the drum were destroyed. In the premises of the temple were workshops and a dormitory of the Chamber Theater, later workshops of the Theater. A.S. Pushkin. In the 1970s, the Pushkin Theater began restoration work: the domes and the drum were restored, the foundation and walls were strengthened. In 1992, the church was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1995, the building was freed from carpentry workshops. In 2006, the wall of the Theater was demolished, which was adjacent to the Church of St. John the Evangelist. Now the territory of the Temple has been restored within the pre-revolutionary borders.

As for the building of the Theater itself, in the 30s the question of its reconstruction was again raised. The original project was proposed by the artist and architect Georgy Goltz. It was planned that the building will connect the old premises of the Chamber Theater with the new. In the annex there will be an auditorium with 900 seats, spectator and stage rooms, and the old part will be transformed into a school-studio. They will be united by a common lobby museum. Tairov saw the Goltz project, but the question of perestroika was postponed, and then completely came to naught. Nevertheless, in the 30s the theater was slightly changed. The facade was rebuilt, which, according to the project of architects K. Melnikov and the Stenberg brothers, was given a simple and modest look.

In 1949, the Chamber Theater was closed for "aesthetics and formalism." It was reorganized, and since 1950 it became known as the Moscow Drama Theater. A.S. Pushkin.

In the taste of the era By order of the artistic director of the Pushkin Theater Vasily Vanin, the theater building, which had long been in need of repair, was rebuilt in the taste of the era. Crimson velvet and gilding, a huge crystal chandelier and the coat of arms of the USSR above the stage appeared in the decoration. The hall and stage began to look more traditional. However, the facade of the Theater remained virtually unchanged. The residential part of the building - the apartment of the famous actress of the Chamber Theater Alisa Georgievna Koonen, was connected to the theater by a common corridor, but had a separate entrance, was on the second floor of the building and overlooked Bolshaya Bronnaya. After the death of Alisa Georgievna in 1974, this part of the building was annexed to the theater and radically rebuilt. The Small Rehearsal Hall and the make-up artists are located here. At the end of the 70s, the orchestra pit of the theater was closed, which became part of the stage.

In 1984, after extensive restoration work carried out by the Union of Restoration under the leadership of V. Antonov, the Pushkin Halls suite was opened to the audience . These are the same “four halls” that have survived to this day, which Tairov mentioned and who probably still “remember” their old masters - the Kologrivovs and Vyrubovs! Restorers restored the original ceiling moldings, marble walls, pattern and carvings. In one of the halls are performances of the Pushkin Theater.

In 2005, in the auditorium of the Main Stage of the Theater, chairs were changed and the lobby of the first floor was updated. In 2006, an exhibition covering the period of the history of the A.S. Theater was opened in the updated foyer of the second floor Pushkin from the day of foundation, from 1950 to 2000. A year later, the continuation of the exposition dedicated to the history of the Theater from 2001 to the present has opened in the renovated foyer of the third floor.

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