Durov Animal Theater

History of the Theater

The Durov Animal Theater was founded towards the end of last century by Vladimir Durov, a man whom Muscovites have known as Dedushka (Grandpa) Durov for generations, and is still performing today. Durov loathed cruelty to animals and shunned traditional circus training methods, choosing to enhance his animals' natural behavior on stage and coax them to perform by handing out rewards rather than punishments. Entirely eccentric and decidedly surreal at times, the theatre's performances always involved a bewildering array of mostly domestic animals and drew in crowds and crowds of delighted school children.

Vladimir Durov was actually related to the famous Nadezhda Durov, who became Russia's first ever female officer in the army and later started Russia's most famous dynasty of animal tamers. Nadezhda was born into the Russian nobility towards the end of the 17th century and was determined from an early age not to suffer the stultifying and restrictive fate of her fellow females. In 1806 she left home on the back of her favorite mount, Alkide, and dressed as a man she joined the army under the name of Alexander Sokolov. She served in the Mariupol and Lithuanian cavalry regiments, fought bravely and was even responsible for saving an officer's life. For this brave act she was awarded a St.George Cross by none other than the Emperor Alexander I himself, and was promoted to the rank of officer. She later became a hero of the 1812 war with Napoleon and will forever be known as Russia's first female officer.

Besides her wartime feats and a certain amount of success generated by her battle memoirs, which appeared in Pushkin's Sovremennik literary journal, Nadezhda Durova started the country's greatest family of animal tamers with her great-grandsons Vladimir and Anatoly. This dynasty is kept alive today by Natalya Durov, who now runs the Durov Animal Theater.

Performances

The theater today offers a fantastic and bewildering array of performances including goats, horses, bears, wild boars, pigeons, camels, cats, dogs and mice! It's a great afternoon or day out for the kids and is guaranteed to put a smile on their faces. Performances are spaced at regular intervals throughout the day from Wednesday to Sunday. The theater is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.