Hovhannes Tumanyan Puppet Theatre
Armenia's national puppet theatre on Sayat-Nova Avenue, with an adjoining museum of theatre puppets.
The theatre was founded on 1 June 1935 by the director Sofya Bejanyan with the designer Gevorg Arakelyan and the actors Pavlos Boroyan and Araksya Arabyan, and it took the name of the poet Hovhannes Tumanyan, whose tales supply much of its repertoire. After decades in temporary premises the company moved in 1975 to its present building on Sayat-Nova Avenue in central Yerevan, where it holds national status.
Around fifty productions are kept in the active repertoire, and the company gives more than five hundred performances a year to an audience of roughly a hundred thousand. The work ranges from rod, glove and shadow puppetry for children to evening pieces for adults, among them stagings drawn from Armenian literature and history. Beside the theatre is the Pavlos Boroyan Museum of Theatre Puppets, the only collection of its kind in Armenia, which keeps figures and designs from past productions.
Highlights
- National puppet company founded in 1935 and named after Hovhannes Tumanyan
- Around fifty productions in the repertoire at any time
- Rod, glove and shadow puppetry, for children and for adults
- Pavlos Boroyan Museum of Theatre Puppets next to the theatre
