Lesya Ukrainka National Academic Theater of Russian Drama

Founded in 1926, the theater produces many important plays of Russian and Ukrainian dramatic art. Its repertoire consists of plays by famous playwrights such as Fyodor Dostoevsky, Mikhail Bulgakov and others. Many current movie actors have started their career in the theater.nThe theatre traces its roots to the Solovtsov theatric troupe that existed in Kiev since 1891 and also performed in the Bourgogne Theatre. Later the troupe was named as the Russian Drama Theatre. The building was originally designed in 1875 by Vladimir Nikolayev and sponsored by a French entrepreneur Augustin Bourgogne. At first it housed the Kiev city circus. In 1896 the theater put on its first cinema showing. The present company has been in the building since 1929, and named after Lesya Ukrainka in 1941.