Russia's northernmost theater

The team of incarcerated performers from all over Russia had been staging plays for their inmates. Once the war started, the first “troupe” was recruited from those who had escaped mobilization, like artists from the defunct Achinsk theater.

Professional theater in Norilsk was established on 6 November 1941, with the premiere of Tough Times, starring civilian artists.

In its early years, the Norilsk Polar Theater produced 15 premieres per season driving massive attendance by Norilsk residents to see plays by Gorky, Ostrovsky and foreign authors. Goldoni's Mistress of the Inn, the first complete performance staged by the theater, was particularly popular. A light-hearted lively comedy transported the audience from the snow-drowned city of Norilsk at the beginning of the deadliest war, to the sunny and warm Italy.

The Norilsk Metallurgical Plant launched a shuttle bus from the entry checkpoint to the theater and those who had theater tickets could ride it. The plant's management sent planes to Krasnoyarsk to buy tickets for actors.

After the war, the Norilsk Polar Theater troupe was joined by performers who later rose to stardom. In 1946-1947, Mikhail Semenovich Godenko, a dancer in the Musical Comedy troupe, later People's Artist of the USSR and founder of the unique Siberian Dance Ensemble, did time in the facility. He organized the theater into two troupes performing drama and musicals.

From 1946 to 1950, Innokenty Mikhailovich Smoktunovsky worked at the Norilsk Polar Theater, he moved to Norilsk from Krasnoyarsk upon the invitation of the theater's general manager and discovered his artistic talent at the Polar Theater. Before then, he took a short course in a drama school of the Krasnoyarsk Drama Theater named after A.S. Pushkin. During four years in Norilsk, he played more than 40 roles and returned to the mainland as an accomplished actor.

In 1949-1953, Georgy Stepanovich Zhzhyonov was exiled to the Norilsk work camp. Despite the tragic events, the second arrest and exile, Georgy Zhzhyonov thought of his time in Norilsk as very valuable. He recalled never playing as many roles as he had played in Norilsk. As soon as they were done with one production, they began working on the next one.

In 1961, the theater premiered Vladimir Mayakovsky's Bedbug (Klop in Russian) directed by Yefim Gelfand, Honored Artist of the USSR. The play was so successful that the theater has been given the poet's name since then.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the Norilsk Drama Theater became a center of attraction that drew even prominent artists. Salaries were much higher here than generally in the rest of the country, people received apartments as incentives and overall Norilsk was a wealthy city. The theater featured a diverse repertoire and talented directors. Attendance was always full.

From 1961, the troupe begins touring, first to Krasnoyarsk and then other cities of the USSR. In 1979, the theater presented seven plays in the Gorky Theater named after Lenin Komsomol in Moscow. Its tremendous success came as a surprise even for the actors. Tickets for all productions had been sold out. The spoiled Moscovites even started asking for an extra ticket straight from the Pushkin Square.

After the tour, cooperation with Mark Zakharov's Lenkom Theater continued. In the late 1980s, Aleksander Zykov was appointed director of the Mayakovsky Theater, and people began referring to the Norilsk theater as northern Lenkom. Zykov staged several iconic plays by Grigory Gorin and Yuly Kim. Kim's Ivan Chonkin Guarding an Airplane based on the novel by V. Voynovich was first performed in Norilsk. And Balakirev the Fool was the only play by Gorin first staged off the Moscow Lenkom. Alexander Zykov said that the playwright himself had given him script shortly before his death.

In 1998, the Norilsk theater went on tour to Switzerland to present the Luboff comedy by Murray Shizgal and brought home the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) prize.

In 1950, the Norilsk Polar Drama Theater named after V. Mayakovsky got a new building on Sevastopolskaya Street. By the 1980s, it was already too small and, in 1987, it was completely destroyed by fire. But a year earlier, the large-scale construction of a new building had begun. In a record short period of 45 months, this new building, based on modern architectural design developed by the Norilskproekt Institute, had been constructed on Leninsky Avenue.

Fires continued to devastate the city. In 2002, the newly renovated building caught fire again. The flames completely destroyed the auditorium, new lighting and sound equipment. The very next day, the theater's phone rang off the hook. Both heads of public institutions and plants, and ordinary people, asked the same question: “Where can we transfer money for restoration?”

All the performing groups of Norilsk participated in several marathon concerts to raise funds for the theater. The building and equipment were restored in 9 months, and the money raised by the people was used to buy a new luxurious chandelier for the auditorium.

Nornickel has supported the Polar Drama Theater almost since its inception and donated money to rebuild it. Today, Nornickel helps the city's main cultural institution in organizing tours, in particular, paying for expensive flights. At the end of June 2025, the theater plans to present four productions in Minusinsk and Krasnoyarsk, to form part of Company's 90th anniversary cultural program.

In addition, upon Nornickel's initiative, the city is running the Theater Seasons project. Renowned theater experts, directors and actors come to the Polar Drama Theater to share their knowledge and experience and perform their best productions.