Comedian's Shelter Theatre

The history of the Comedian’s Shelter began on February 19, 1987, when a theater studio with new principles of stage art was founded in the basement of the house No. 16 on Malaya Morskaya Street. With the support of Georgy Tovstonogov, director Yuri Tomoshevsky created the so-called "one-actor theater" and conceived to make the basis of the repertoire of single performances with the participation of talented St. Petersburg artists. Soon after its founding, the theater, called the Comedian’s Shelter, began to enjoy great popularity: the St. Petersburg audience gladly came to the performances dedicated to the works of Igor Severyanin, Nikolai Gumilev, Vladimir Mayakovsky and other outstanding authors. Later, the repertoire of the theater went beyond single performances: musical evenings and performances with the participation of several actors began to be arranged in the theater. The stage of the theater was very close to the auditorium, which created an atmosphere of chamberliness and trust between the audience and artists. In the productions of the Comedian’s Shelter, such famous actors as Mikhail Kozakov, Sergey Drayden, Olga Novikova and many others took part. Over time, it became obvious that a small cellar on Malaya Sea Street was clearly not enough for the theater, which became more popular, attracting more and more audiences and actors from different theaters of the city. Over the years of work on the Maly Sea in the Comedian’s Shelter, more than 60 premieres took place, including the “Brilliant St. Petersburg”, the performance-improvisation “The Silent Stage”, “The Old Woman” based on the work of D. Harms, “Love is not joked” based on the play by A. de Musset and other productions. The new home of the Comedian’s Shelter was the former Saturn cinema, located at 27 Garden Street. The cinema was reconstructed and turned into a theater hall. New authors, actors and directors joined the collaboration with the Comedian’s Shelter, and in 1999 the theater, which turned 13 years old, declared itself the first Russian “state enterprise”. The policy of the theater is that for each performance a separate team is recruited, consisting of actors, directors, artists and other stage workers. This approach not only meets the conditions of the modern economy, but also guarantees the diversity of the repertoire, allows young artists and directors to express themselves. On the stage of "The Comedian's Shelter" go as "stars" of the Russian stage and honored artists (Olga Antonov, Zinaida Sharko, Larisa Malevannaya, Vladimir Tatosov), and young actors, graduates or even students of theater schools. The productions of "The Comedian's Shelter" were repeatedly awarded at various Russian and foreign theater competitions. The theater, whose repertoire includes such performances as Tennessee Williams’ Glass Menagerie, Eugene Ionesco’s Chairs, Leonard Gersh’s These Free Butterflies, Gogol’s Marriage and other productions, successfully tours many European countries.