Russian Comedy Theater in Saratov: address, repertoire, reviews

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The Russian Comedy Theater in Saratov is one of the youngest in Russia. For the first time, its doors opened to the audience in 1998, when most theaters, on the contrary, were closed, having lost material support from the budget and losing spectators.

For nine years the team worked independently, and in 2007 it became a branch of the Academic Theater named after I. A. Slonov. Having changed its status, the Saratov Theater has not changed the principles of work and continues to delight the audience with frequent premieres. The troupe engages in productions not of classical dramaturgy, which is customary for the province, but of “sharp” plays, although there are also works by recognized classics of the comedy genre on its stage.

Where is it?

The theater of Russian comedy in Saratov is located at the address: Leninsky district, the building of the famous House of Culture "Techsteklo". You can get to it from any part of the city by buses or trolleybuses passing through the stop of the same name with DK or following along Builders Avenue.

How to get to the play?

Tickets to the Saratov theater must be bought in advance. There are always a lot of spectators in his hall. Regardless of the name of the performance, the best seats are consistently occupied. This is connected not only with the repertoire and work of the artists, but also with the way the sale of tickets is organized.

They can be purchased both at the box office of the theater on the street. Lomonosov, 20, open from 10:00 to 19:00, and in city shopping centers, galleries and distributors.

For what age?

The Russian Comedy Theater in Saratov offers performances for family viewing, for teenagers and youth (limited to "12+"), there are also plays for adults only.

Recently sold-out performances intended for children's and family viewing, that is, devoid of age restrictions, performances "Little Red Riding Hood and Aliens", "All Mice Love Cheese" and the vaudeville "Trouble from a Tender Heart" have been sold out.

The drama "Fans" and the lyrical good comedy "Fate in a suitcase" are consistently in demand among young people.

Among the popular productions for adults only, the audience notes the performance based on the play by the Englishman Ray Cooney "Too Married Taxi Driver". The production is full of British humor, it unobtrusively tells about the life of a hired London taxi driver, who lives in two families at the same time. This is a comedy of situations, diluted with dialogues full of sparkling British humor, successfully adapted for the Russian audience.

Of course, this performance offers comedians from the street. Lomonosov, 20 are not limited, every season the theater hosts several premieres, and the announcement always contains "tested" productions for all ages and loved by the public.

When does it start?

The theater has morning and evening performances. Shows start at 11:00 in the morning and at 18:00 in the evenings. Of course, the performances in the mornings are aimed at children and are intended for family visits.

On weekends and holidays, in addition to evening and morning performances, there are also daytime performances. These performances start at 14:00.

What are they showing?

The Theater of Russian Comedy in Saratov chooses the repertoire in full accordance with its own name. The announcements contain only funny performances for all ages, based both on the favorite classical works of Zoshchenko, Shakespeare, Molière, Chekhov, Ostrovsky, and on modern drama.

All theater performances are distinguished by the quality of the scenery, bright costumes, musical and lighting design of the action taking place on the stage.

The repertoire is updated every season, which is why many of the performances loved by the audience go “in the archive” or are staged only a few times a year. Such a policy of the theater management, on the one hand, causes dissatisfaction with conservative theatergoers, and on the other hand, it attracts a new audience to the hall.

The works of Saratov comedians were repeatedly nominated within the framework of one of the oldest festivals of theatrical art "Golden Harlequin", and more than once were noted by both the jury and the audience.

WhatWhat distinguishes the Saratov team from many other provincial troupes is that the comedians treat both adults and young spectators equally responsibly. On the posters of the Theater of Russian Comedy in Saratov, you can constantly see announcements of performances for children and teenagers. Moreover, the troupe approaches the selection of these plays no less responsibly than the choice of productions for evening performances.

In the morning and afternoon there are often performances based on plays by contemporary authors: Urban, Fedotov, Ilyukhov, Novakov, Olshansky and others.

What to do with the kids?

For young viewers and family viewings, the Theater of Russian Comedy in Saratov offers no less performances than for evening hours. When choosing a performance, you need to focus on age restrictions. Under the mark "0+", as a rule, funny fairy tales are meant that will not be interesting to a teenager, and at a performance marked "12+" it will be boring for kids.

The youngest theater-goers will love the production of "Visiting the Snowstorm" based on the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. The performance is distinguished by bright costumes, funny make-up and is not overloaded with characters acting on the stage, which is especially important for kids.

There are only 6 heroes in the play: a couple of buffoons, a good and a bad girl, Mrs. Metelitsa herself. In addition to them, a large toy cat is involved on the stage, successfully appearing at those moments when young viewers begin to be distracted from the ongoing action.

Children 6-8 years old will be interested in the play "All Mice Love Cheese", staged based onfairy tales by the Hungarian writer and director Gyula Urban, author of the much-loved story "The Blue Puppy".

The content and course of the performance resemble a sitcom, it looks very easy, there are many jokes in the dialogues and funny situations in which the gray mouse and his girlfriend, the white mouse, find themselves. They are united by sympathy for each other, difficulties with mutual understanding in families and a love of cheese.

In the same breath, the kids follow the events in the play "About a cat and about love." The play is based on the adventures of the well-known Puss in Boots. All children's productions are distinguished by the sincere play of the artists and evoke a response from the youngest viewers, so when you are going to the theater, you don't have to worry about the name of the play.

What to watch with a teenager?

The transitional age is the period when many parents cease to understand their own children. There are many reasons for the loss of mutual understanding, but one of them is the lack of joint leisure, because being in the same apartment is not one, and going to the store does not give the child a reason to share his thoughts, and adults to find out what their child is thinking.

The best detente of any crisis, whether brewing or already happened, is laughter. And visiting the theater is an occasion for communication and “building bridges”, because, unlike cinema, the performance gives the audience vivid emotions that evoke a real response.

Teenagers will be interested in productions such as "Fate in a suitcase" and others with a mark of "12+".

The mentioned performance is both funny and sad. This is a comedypositions, events in which unfold around something filled with a large travel bag. There is something to laugh at, and something to think about, and, of course, something to discuss after watching.

For adults

Now it is quite fashionable to visit not bars or restaurants during dates, but to go to the theater. But, unfortunately, boring, “moth-eaten” productions filled with unemotional, empty “antics” of actors indifferent to their work can completely ruin a romantic evening.

There are no such productions at the Saratov Russian Comedy Theater, partly because the team lives on the money that comes from ticket sales. In addition, there are many recent students in the troupe, graduates of a local institute who have not yet had time to be disappointed in their chosen profession and infect their older colleagues and, of course, the audience with their own enthusiasm.

Planning to spend a good evening, you can safely purchase tickets for any production marked "16+" and "18+". All such performances are distinguished not only by the abundance of humor, but also by the presence of content and complex scenography.

In order to find out what to see anyway, just read the summary of the performance you are interested in on the Internet.

Viewers who do not like romance will be interested in comedies with elements of mystery, such as "Playing Detective". The performance is based on the well-known work by Robert Thomas "The Trap for a Single Man".

Although this play is staged by manytheater groups, you can go to the performance without hesitation. The approach to the material is non-trivial, so the content of the work is revealed from a rather unexpected side. The premiere of the story about a man whose wife was changed took place in Saratov in 2014, and since then the performance has been one of the favorites in the theater's repertoire.

What are they saying?

Reviews about the Russian Comedy Theater in Saratov are left on local forums and portals that sell tickets for various events.

They write different things: both bad and good. For example, if you look not only at the content of the text, but also at the time at which the review was left, a curious fact becomes obvious - the statements of the audience, published two hours after the curtain, are full of positive, they note the work of the artists and their own reaction. As a rule, the description of the received emotions is expressed by the phrase “laughed to tears.”

Negative reviews were left at a time when a person obviously could not visit the theater simply due to the lack of performances. As for the responses of the audience who watched the productions with children, they are filled with wishes, gratitude and the intention to come back more than once.

There are reviews and not related to what is happening on stage. For example, among the opinions expressed on the forums of Saratov, there are complaints that the theater is located in a recreation center, because of which there is no feeling of "going to the temple of art." Complaints that it is located far from the center, so it is inconvenient to walk to it from a bus stop, there is no way to park a car.

Although such reviews andcan hardly be called related to the repertoire or characterizing the work of the troupe, they are useful in that they indicate inconveniences that can spoil the impression of the performance if the person is not ready for them.