Venue: Youth Theatre on the Fontanka
Town: Saint Petersburg, RU

The Saint Petersburg State Youth Theatre on the Fontanka (Russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный Молодёжный театр на Фонтанке) is a theatre on the banks of the River Fontanka in Saint Petersburg founded in 1980. It is one of the most popular theatres in Saint Petersburg. When in 1980 the theatre was founded by Vladimir Malishitsky, «Molodezhka» (as it is called among the fans) immediately became the place for meeting of progressive intellectuals and its performances turned to be reasons for debates on current issues. The repertoire of the theatre - the staging of the best modern authors - attracted the audience. A tone of performances made spectators feel exciting: it was confidential on the one hand and publicistic on the other. Then, in 1983 Efim Padve, a talented Leningrad director and favorite student of Georgy Tovstonogov, became a chief director of the Youth Theatre. The theatre kept its name, troupe and some performances, the theatre inner was changed: psychology, a life of human soul was interesting to Padve. In November 1989 Padve arranged for Semyon Spivak to become head of the Youth Theatre. The Youth Theatre's strategy is that of a well-developed professional theatre. Its aesthetic credo reflects the creative efforts of its director Semyon Spivak, who views the territory of art as the territory of morality. He sees theatre's task as to enable the viewer to find correct answers to the turbulent questions of existence. Theatre raises us above the weight of reality and «returns to man what is most true about him». "Once upon a time I thought the main thing for director is self-expression, but then I began to understand this mission in another way. It is hidden in evoking spectator's soul. For this reason there is a temple, but not many people visit it. But for a person is so important to feel he is not alone, that people are around, and everything has a supreme law. There are two ways of soul movement: religious and secular. We are engaged in the seco