Taganka Theatre

Taganka Theatre (Russian: Театр на Таганке) is a theater located in the Art Nouveau building on Taganka Square in Moscow.

The theatre was founded in 1964 by Yuri Lyubimov and continued the traditions of his alma mater, the Vakhtangov Theatre, while also exploring the possibilities of Bertolt Brecht's "epic theatre".

Under Lyubimov, the theatre rose to popularity in Moscow, with Vladimir Vysotsky and Alla Demidova as the leading actors. Other notable members of Lyubimov's troupe have been Valery Zolotukhin, Veniamin Smekhov, and Leonid Filatov. Nikolai Erdman (famous for his work with Vsevolod Meyerhold in the 1920s) was responsible for the theatre repertoire. The theatre had been deep in trouble with Soviet authorities, who banned many of Lyubimov's productions, until the director was stripped of his Soviet citizenship and exiled to the West in 1984.

When another outstanding stage director, Anatoly Efros, was appointed to run the theatre in Lyubimov's stead, he was boycotted and reviled by leading actors in the foulest terms. After Efros's death three years later, a staunch Communist supporter, Nikolay Gubenko, was nominated to lead the troupe. Lyubimov's return to the theatre in 1989 led to the troupe being split, with Gubenko and his party seceding from Lyubimov's company and forming their own "Community of Taganka Actors" (Содружество актеров Таганки).

In June, 2011 before a performance of Bertolt Brecht's play The Good Person of Szechwan in Czech, the actors of the theatre refused to rehearse unless they were paid first. The 93-year-old Lyubimov paid the money and left the theatre. "I've had enough of this disgrace, these humiliations, this lack of desire to work, this desire just for money", he said. Two leading actors of the theatre, Dmitry Mezhevich and Alla Smirdan, as well as some administrative assistants, followed Lyubimov.

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