Mikhail Chekhov Riga Russian Theatre
Founded in 1883, the oldest Russian-language drama theatre outside Russia, in a rebuilt Old Town house.
The company gave its first performance on 2 October 1883 and is the oldest Russian-language drama theatre outside Russia. It plays in a building on Kaļķu iela in the Old Town raised in 1880 to designs by the Riga city architect Reinhold Georg Schmaeling, originally the house of the Uļej society. The theatre worked through the first Latvian republic, closed during the Second World War and reopened afterwards, and in 2006 took the name of Michael Chekhov, the actor and teacher who lived in Riga from 1932 to 1934.
A reconstruction begun in 2008 to a design by the Graf X studio was completed in July 2010, leaving the historic interiors intact while adding modern stage technology; the theatre now works on three stages, the Big and Small auditoriums and a smaller studio space. The repertoire ranges from Russian and European classics to new writing and musical productions, performed in Russian with surtitles for many titles, and directors and designers are invited from across the Baltic states and further afield.
Highlights
- Oldest Russian-language drama theatre outside Russia, founded 1883
- 1880 society house by city architect Reinhold Georg Schmaeling
- Three stages after the 2008–2010 reconstruction
- Named in 2006 after Michael Chekhov, who taught in Riga
