The Theatre of Nations was established in 1987 under the name of Theatre of Friendship of Nations and in 1991 was renamed the State Theatre of Nations.
Its intensive production activities include developing and producing a variety of theatre projects, organising international and national festivals, presenting the best Russian and international productions, representing many different genres and styles. The theatre also stages its own productions, with the ultimate goal of becoming the centre for nurturing a new generation of theatre practitioners.
The State Theatre of Nations' historical building had been occupied since 1885 by Russia's largest private theatre, the Russian Drama Theatre, better known as the Korsch Theatre, which was disbanded in 1932. Later, it was used as a subsidiary stage for the famous Russian Moscow Art Theatre (MXAT). And finally, following its restoration, it is now the State Theatre of Nations.
At a press conference devoted to the re-opening of the theatre, its artistic director, renowned Russian actor and recipient of the Russian State Prize, Evgeny Mironov, said, "We decided to try to push ourselves to the maximum, to do the task of restoring the theatre exactly as we wanted it to be. Making a new theatre was the ideal, and that is what has been achieved."
DOKA Center was directly involved in creating this 'ideal theatre', and represented a 'first' for the company in terms of the large and varied amount of work involved. DOKA Center was involved in every aspect of supplying the theatre's technical systems, from designing the scenic technology to supplying the stage lighting equipment, as well as installation and commissioning.
ADB Lighting equipment supplied for this project includes six Eurodim Twin Tech hybrid dimming system cabinets, providing 128 channels of production lighting, complete with an ADB dimmer diagnostic system.
The fixture line-up consists of 26 C101 plano-convex 10° - 65° spotlights, 32 C201 5° - 65° plano-convex spotlights, 14 C203 8° - 58° prism-convex spotlights, 12 F101 13° - 59° fresnel spotlights, 14 F201 12° - 61° fresnel spotlights and 14 C103 7° - 61° prism convex spotlights.
Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, said at a pre-opening meeting with the theatre team, "Major work has been done in less than three years. What I have just seen is impressive and I am not exaggerating. A beautiful building reflecting the spirit of old Moscow has been restored. Now it is equipped with modern technologies. It is an excellent ground for arts enthusiasts and theatre lovers, in particular."
(Jim Evans)
