The building of the Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theater was built in 1898 on Nikolaevskaya Square, which appeared on the site of a filled-in pond located in the estate of Kyiv professor Friedrich Mehring. The theater building was erected by architects Eduard Bradtman (house of the “weeping widow”, Kiev Conservatory, house of Baron Hesselbein) and G. Shleifer (according to his designs or with his help, such objects were built in Kiev as choral synagogue, Shleifer’s mansion) for the theater “Association of Dramatic Artists” by Nikolai Solovtsov, who later became the basis of the troupe of another Kiev theater – named after. Lesya Ukrainka. The theater hall is decorated in Rococo style.
In 1919, the Solovtsov Theater was nationalized and transformed into the Second Theater of the Ukrainian SSR named after Lenin. In 1926, the theater building became a permanent stage for the Ivan Franko theater group. On September 30, 1926, the new season opened in the renamed theater with the production of “Viy” based on the work of N.V. Gogol in the adaptation of Ostap Vishny.
The beginning of the history of the Ivan Franko theater troupe is considered to be January 28, 1920, when the play “Sin” was staged in Vinnitsa by the outstanding Ukrainian theater figure Gnat Yura. In 1923, after three years of traveling work, the theater was invited to the then capital of the Ukrainian SSR – Kharkov. Among the best performances of the theater of those years are: “The Forest Song” based on the work of the same name by Lesya Ukrainka, “The Inspector General” by Gogol, “Saint Joan” by B. Shaw.
This is interesting!
1. When purchasing land in Kyiv, the famous doctor Friedrich Mehring found himself the owner of a vast estate in the very center of the city. It occupied a space of over 10.5 hectares between the streets Khreshchatyk, Institutskaya, Bankova and Lutheranskaya. There were apartment buildings near Khreshchatyk, but the main part of the estate was a patriarchal estate with a pond, a bathhouse, a garden, a vegetable garden… The “Meringov Garden” was well known to the people of Kiev; A public skating rink was set up on the pond during cold winters.
2. Very close to the theater there are famous buildings house with chimeras and Liberman’s mansion.
In the summer of 1926, by decision of the government, the Franco Theater was transferred to Kyiv, while the Berezil Theater moved from Kyiv to Kharkov. In the 30s of the 20th century, the acting core of the theater consisted of such outstanding masters as Ambrose Buchma, Natalia Uzhviy, Yuri Shumsky, Anna Borisoglebskaya, Dmitry Milyutenko, Viktor Dobrovolsky, Polina Nyatko, Ekaterina Osmyalovskaya, Evgeniy Ponomarenko, Nikolai Yakovchenko, Nikolai Bratersky, Valentin Dukler. Among the productions are masterpieces of domestic and world classics – “The Marriage of Figaro”, “The Adventures of the Good Soldier Schweik”, “Vanity” by Karpenko-Kary, “Don Carlos” by Schiller, “Boris Godunov” by Pushkin.
In 1940, the theater received the title of academic. During the Great Patriotic War, the team worked in evacuation – in Semipalatinsk and Tashkent. During the war, the theater building was destroyed and restored in 1946. From the end of 2001 until his death in July 2012, the theater was headed by People’s Artist of the USSR Bogdan Stupka.
Where is the Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theater located?
Ivan Franko Square, 3
(044) 279-59-21