Konstantin Bogomolov renamed Roman Viktyuk's theater to "Melnikov Stage"

The Roman Viktyuk Theatre, headed by director Konstantin Bogomolov, changed its name to the Melnikov Theatre - Stage in early June, the theatre’s Telegram channel reported .

The new name, as reported by the theatre’s management, was chosen “in honour of its creator, the great Russian constructivist architect Konstantin Melnikov.”

The theatre, as stated in the statement, "will employ directors who profess different styles and aesthetics." "This will be a theatre based on the traditions of Russian dramatic art in all its diversity of manifestations - from psychological to form-creative. This will be a theatre open to modernity and sensitive to the life of our society, because a theatre that loses its connection with modernity dies," the new management writes.

At the same time, as the report states, a number of performances will be removed from the repertoire: “some forever, others in order to return after some time, having gone through a stage of rehearsals aimed at preserving their high artistic quality.”

The theater management also explained what will happen to the works of Roman Viktyuk and his students. "We will protect those of them that do not lose their aesthetic energy; we will keep a section on the site about Viktyuk's work, about his performances; we will support the memory of the director by organizing anniversary events and lectures," the statement says.

• Roman Viktyuk died in November 2020. After his death, Denis Azarov served as the artistic director of the theater until 2022, and on June 7, 2024, Konstantin Bogomolov was appointed to this post, retaining a similar position at the Theater on Malaya Bronnaya. After his appointment, Bogomolov told TASS that there would be no merger of the theaters, and told Izvestia that he was “not considering” renaming Roman Viktyuk’s theater.