Maly Theatre
Moscow's oldest drama theatre, playing Russian classics on Teatralnaya Square since 1824.
The Maly traces its company to the theatre troupe of Moscow University, formed in 1756, and has played on Teatralnaya Square since 14 October 1824. Its home began as a merchant's house built in 1821 by Osip Bove for Vasily Vargin and adapted for the stage; Konstantin Ton rebuilt and enlarged it between 1838 and 1840. The building was restored between 2011 and 2016, when the structure was underpinned and the nineteenth-century interiors were returned.
The theatre is closely tied to Alexander Ostrovsky, almost all of whose plays were first staged here, and it is still called the House of Ostrovsky; Nikolai Andreyev's seated statue of the dramatist was set before the entrance in 1929. The repertoire keeps to Russian and European classics, with Gogol, Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Bulgakov and Shakespeare among the authors played. Besides the Historic Stage the company uses a second house on Bolshaya Ordynka, a chamber stage and a branch in Kogalym.
Highlights
- Historic Stage of 1824, rebuilt by Konstantin Ton in 1838-40
- Andreyev's 1929 statue of Alexander Ostrovsky at the entrance
- Repertoire built on Ostrovsky and the Russian classics
- Restored nineteenth-century auditorium and foyers
