And the people here are actors: the most anticipated premieres of the capital's theaters in 2026

In the second half of the 2025/26 season, Melpomene's servants are preparing new versions of Shakespeare, Pushkin and Chekhov, as well as a comedy by Aristophanes and a musical play based on the novel by Ilf and Petrov. In addition, the premiere performances of the beginning of the season continue. Among them are "The Cabal of Saints" and "Idiots" at the Moscow Art Theater, "Orchestra Rehearsal" at Mark Zakharov's Lenkom and "The Inspector General. Comedy in Verse" at the Provincial Theater. There are no tickets for many performances for months in advance. About the main premieres of the beginning of 2026 — in the material of Izvestia.

To be or not to be — so what's the question?

One of the key events of the season will be "Hamlet" at the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater starring Yura Borisov. The very fact of the actor's appearance in the image of the Danish prince is already setting a high bar for expectations. After the phenomenal audience success of Yuri Kvyatkovsky's "Cabal of Saints" starring Nikolai Tsiskaridze and Konstantin Khabensky, it is this announcement that best keeps the public interested in the Moscow Art Theater repertoire.

Last season, the Moscow theater scene offered several versions of Hamlet at once. In the production of Murat Abulkatinov on Taganka, Sergey Kirpichenok played a hero devoid of the ability to revenge and open violence. Hamlets also appeared at the Moscow Art Theater Studio School and at GITIS under the direction of Philip Gurevich and Tatiana Tarasova.

Sergey Kirpichenok in the production of "Hamlet" by Murat Abulkatinov on Taganka

Photo: tagankateatr.ru

Now the audience is waiting for Yuri Borisov. The director is Andrei Goncharov, who is characterized by an attentive attitude to the psychological nature of the hero and an interest in existential states. Goncharov is a director who regularly works with the Moscow Art Theater: his plays "The Womb", "Distant Rainbow" and the psychological drama "Autumn" have attracted the attention of the Moscow public and critics. However, there is no information yet about the premiere date or the course of rehearsals.

Stand up and children: The "Christmas Tree" in the Kremlin, "Pinocchio" and "Cinderella" on the ice

Where to go with the whole family during the New Year holidays

But at the end of January, Florian Zeller's "Son" will appear at the Ermolova Theater. In a few years, the French playwright's trilogy "Mother", "Father", "Son" has made a splash not only on Russian stages, but also in Hollywood: the Oscar-winning film "Father" starring Anthony Hopkins has become an international hit.

Director Georgy Surkov will tell the story of the disintegration of a family in which adults are powerless to face the child's internal crises, along with young film stars Konstantin Plotnikov, who played Mikhail Gorshenev in the TV series "The King and the Fool", and Leon Kemstach, who became famous for his role as a Coat in the film "The Word of a Kid. Blood on the asphalt."

Actor Leon Kemstach, who plays the role of Nicolas in the play "Son" at the Ermolova Theater

Photo: IZVESTIA/Evgeny Pavlov

At the same time, at the Pushkin Theater, director Oleg Dolin offers a stage version of Pushkin's The Captain's Daughter, in which Grinev and Pugachev's friendship becomes not an illustration of an era, but a drama of personal choice. This project is one of the most anticipated in the seasonal playbill, combining literary classics and a modern director's vision.

Chekhov's motives

Chekhov will be performed in several theaters in the 2026 season. At the end of February, the artistic director of the Studio of Theatrical Art, Sergei Zhenovach, is preparing for the release of the play Chekhov. Ivanov. Words. Words. Words", where the text becomes the subject of research in itself. The title refers to the famous remark of Polonius from Hamlet, which he utters in response to the prince's reasoning about man. And at the Mossovet Theater, Andrei Konchalovsky returns to The Seagull again: in March, the audience will see a new version of the production.

Actor Alexey Vertkov in the upcoming play "Chekhov. Ivanov. Words. Words. Words"

Photo: sti.ru

Soyzhin Zhambalova turns to memory as a living experience in the play "The Story of One Childhood" based on the memoirs of Elizaveta Vodovozova. This is a family play that goes far beyond the scope of children's theater. The world of a child who lived in pre-revolutionary Russia is recreated not as an idyll of a bygone era, but as a complex space of personality formation. Here, the general interest of the season in private history as a way of understanding large historical processes is particularly evident.

Apple of Zeal: Mark Rozovsky staged a play about Steve Jobs

The key episodes of the biography of the Apple creator sound to the rhythm of jazz and with a Broadway swing

The Vakhtangov Theater forms several semantic poles at once. Goethe's Faust, directed by Andrei Timoshenko, promises to be a philosophical statement about the price of knowledge and the limit of human ambition. The main role is played by People's Artist of Russia Evgeny Knyazev. In April, the theater's chief director Anatoly Shulev will present the play "Shine and Ashes" based on the play by Sergei Plotov on the main stage. And Oleg Dolin's upcoming "Romeo and Juliet" continues the director's interest in classics as a material for talking about freedom of feeling and resistance to social pressure.

While some theaters produce 10 premieres per season, Lenkom's artistic director Mark Zakharova has focused on two. After the "Orchestra Rehearsal" based on the film by Federico Fellini with the participation of the symphony orchestra and the entire troupe, he puts on a musical version of Ilf and Petrov's "Golden Calf". Musicality, genre flexibility and an attempt to rethink Soviet satire in an up-to-date way make this performance one of the most discussed premieres of the season.

Actors Dmitry Pevtsov and Alexandra Zakharova in a scene from the play "Orchestra Rehearsal" directed by Vladimir Pankov in Mark Zakharov's Lenkom

Photo: IZVESTIA/Arseniy Samoylenko

A special place in the playbill is occupied by the production of Aristophanes' "The Frog" at the Provincial Theater. Turning to ancient comedy, which is practically not represented on the Russian stage, is a rare and bold step. The young Greek director Vasilios Samourkas offers not an archaeological reconstruction, but a lively dialogue with a text in which the afterlife becomes a space of dispute about the fate of art and the responsibility of the artist. The participation of art critic Dmitry Trubochkin as a consultant underlines the seriousness of the approach to the material. The screenings on April 16 and 17, 2026, look like an intellectual event of the season, going beyond the usual repertoire thinking.