On the history of the first season of E.I. Korolev's theatre in Tomsk (on the material of newspapers «Sibirskaya Gazeta» and «Sibirsky Vestnik»)

This article analyses the history of construction of the first stone theatre in Tomsk by the local merchant E.I. Korolev, and provides a detailed description of the first theatrical season 1885/86 of this theater. The story of construction and existence of the first stone theatre in Tomsk can be investigated from two local periodicals: «Sibirskaya Gazeta» (1881-1888) and «Sibirsky Vestnik of politics, literature and social life» (1885-1905). On the 20 of October 1905 theatre archive which was located directly in Korolev's theatre and contained all the historical documentation, burned in a fire along with the theatre building. Thus, the local newspapers turned out to be the main source of information about the past of the first theatre in Tomsk. Well-known Tomsk merchant Korolev started construction of the theatre in the spring of 1884, promising to finish the works for two years, but by the autumn of 1885 he completed the construction of a three-story building, which was immediately called «Royal Theatre» by the people. Construction of the theatre, a significant event for the whole city, was widely discussed in the local press. Tomsk newspapers informed their readers about the progress of the construction of the new theatre building in detail. Thus, on the 19 of September 1885 the first stone theatre in Siberia was consecrated and inaugurated, and on the 23 of February 23 1886 the first theatrical season of «Royal Theatre» came to the end. Altogether Tomsk theatrical company gave 64 performances. The repertoire of the first season of Korolev's theatre slightly differed from the repertoire of any other provincial theatre of those years. The presence of a large number of national and translated classic plays, popular melodramas and vaudevilles along with light operettas became a typical phenomenon in the following theatrical seasons. Of course, the choice of repertoire depended on the public tastes, but still purely economic purpose to attract the same viewers by the variety of new plays provided a great influence on the repertoire. Speaking of the Tomsk theatre as part of an all-Russian system of provincial theatres, one can conclude that its development was directly related to the evolution of the city itself. Korolev had foreseen that the number of local theater-lovers will increase dramatically with the opening of the first Siberian University in 1888, so shrewdly decided to build his own theatre three years earlier and did not made a mistake in his calculations.

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