Yanka Kupala National Academic Theatre
Belarus's oldest drama company, playing in the 1890 city theatre building near Alexander Square.
The building was put up in 1890 as the Minsk City Theatre, to a design by the architect Karol Kozlowski, on the site of a former menagerie beside the governor's garden. Its eclectic brick facade, with round-arched windows and a pedimented entrance, has been altered several times, most substantially during a reconstruction completed in 2013 that added rehearsal and workshop space underground while restoring the historic auditorium and its painted ceiling.
The resident company traces its origins to 1920, when the Belarusian State Theatre was founded here; it took the name of the poet Yanka Kupala in 1944 and is usually called the Kupalauski. It performs in Belarusian and is regarded as the country's leading dramatic stage. The repertoire mixes national classics such as Kupala's comedy Paulinka, staged continuously since 1944, with adaptations of Belarusian novels and productions of European drama on the main stage and in smaller studio spaces.
Highlights
- Eclectic 1890 theatre building by Karol Kozlowski
- Belarusian-language repertoire, the country's leading drama company
- Paulinka, in the repertoire without a break since 1944
- Main auditorium and studio stages restored in the 2013 reconstruction
