Moscow Chekhov Art Theatre
On Kamergersky Lane, a theatre born of a 1987 split still stages the classics that made Stanislavsky famous, under a roof shaped by Fyodor Schechtel.
At a glance
The Moscow Chekhov Art Theatre is a working drama house, not a museum. It emerged in 1987 when the old Moscow Art Theatre was divided in two by ministerial order. One branch stayed on Tverskoy Boulevard under Tatiana Doronina. The other, led by Oleg Yefremov, took the Kamergersky Lane building and, from 1989, the name of Anton Chekhov. It is protected as a Russian cultural heritage site.
History
Order No. 383, signed by Soviet culture minister Vasily Zakharov, split the company in 1987. Yefremov opened the new era with “Pearl Zinaida.” He led the theatre until his death on May 24, 2000. In 1996 President Boris Yeltsin placed the building on the national heritage list. Oleg Tabakov succeeded Yefremov and widened the repertoire, mixing Chekhov and Shakespeare with contemporary Russian playwrights. In 2004 the theatre dropped “academic” from its title and reclaimed its historic name. Konstantin Khabensky, once an actor in Tabakov’s troupe, became artistic director in October 2021.
What you see
The building on Kamergersky Lane is associated with architect Fyodor Schechtel, whose work gave Moscow some of its most distinctive Art Nouveau interiors. A major renovation in 2006–2007, launched under Tabakov, modernised the Main Stage and auditorium. Stage machinery, sound and lighting were rebuilt from the floor up. The result is a house that looks historic but performs like one of the best-equipped stages anywhere. A separate New Stage, opened in 2001 at house 3-A, hosts more experimental work alongside the Main and Small Stages.
Cultural significance
This is the theatre that keeps the Stanislavsky lineage alive in daily repertory, not just in textbooks. Directors such as Kirill Serebrennikov, Konstantin Bogomolov and Dmitry Krymov have staged work here. Productions regularly win the Golden Mask and other major Russian theatre prizes. In 2010, for Chekhov’s 150th anniversary, the theatre issued a commemorative medal to cultural figures worldwide. An online archive, launched in 2012 for Stanislavsky’s anniversary, now makes decades of Moscow Art Theatre recordings and publications publicly available.
Key facts
- Founded: 1987, after the split of the Moscow Art Theatre
- Location: Kamergersky Lane, Moscow, Russia
- Architect associated with the building: Fyodor Schechtel
- Named after Chekhov: since 1989
- Heritage status: listed cultural heritage site (1996)
- Current artistic director: Konstantin Khabensky (since 2021)
Practical information & getting there
The theatre sits in central Moscow, a short walk from Teatralnaya and Okhotny Ryad metro stations. Performances run in repertory across the Main, Small and New Stages, so it helps to check the schedule before travelling. Tickets and programme details are published on the official site. Expect a working theatre’s rhythm: evening curtains, sold-out classics, and queues for the cloakroom in winter.
Sources & resources
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