News & Events in Belarus

MINSK, 29 March (BelTA) – Almost three years after its curtain dropped last, the Yanka Kupala National Academic Theater will reopen with a new adaptation of Pavlinka on 29 March, BelTA learnt from head of the department for foreign affairs of the theater Diana Dorozhok.

In spring 2013 the cult play, the same as the theater itself, will get a new lease of life. The performance will see new young faces in its cast: Yekaterina Oleinikova (Pavlinka), Pavel Kharlanchuk-Yuzhakov (Adolf Bykovsky) and Mikhail Zui (Yakim Soroka). New scenery and costumes have been designed especially for the premiere. Despite its new image, the play will keep its original style, however.

The theater will have to stage some of its plays at other venues for some time. Apart from its visiting card Pavlinka, the theater will perform An Evening with a Butthead and Pinskaya Shlyakhta. “These are the performances that have been adapted for the stage. The number of plays on the main stage will be increased every month,” she added.

The Kupala Theater was closed for renovation in 2010. The theatre’s three-year overhaul that involved nearly 1,000 constructors included the replacement of all support frameworks, floors as well as back and side additions, shoring of foundation and walls. Reconstruction returned the building its original historical luster, now with all modern equipment fitted in.

The theater was built in 1890 under the project of Polish architect Karol Kozlowski. He also designed the theater house in Lublin, the Warsaw conservatory and others. In 1949 the theater received a revamp under Georgy Zaborsky’s project. In 1958 the theater’s front faзade was reconstructed following the idea of architect Abram Dukhan.