Saint-Petersburg national minorities theatres in the Soviet prewar period (1917-1941)

Saint-Petersburg was the city where Jewish, Ukrainian, Estonian, Livonian, Polish, Chinese, Tatar theatres existed, including particular ones such as International, Ethnographic and of Northern folks. The book examines the commonalities in these theatres and retraces the history and activity of each, citing the casts and repertoire. The fate of theatre troupes mainly depended on the state policy and in the mid-1930s, theatre life of national minorities was interrupted.
A wide range of sources is used in the study and among them the important place is occupied by archival documents. The author and the Saint-Petersburg State Theatre Library releases unpublished archives: the majority of this material, including photographs, is introduced to scientific circulation for the first time. The book provides author and repertoire indexes.

Tamara M. Smirnova, Saint-Petersburg State Theatre Library
Theater Life in Multinational Petrograd – Leningrad, 1917-1941
Tchisty list, 2016

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