Red Torch

Brief Information

The Red Torch settled in a building that became theatrical even before the theater itself: in 1914, the Commercial Club housed the first professional stage venue in Novo-Nikolayevsk. That is why this place is interesting not only for its playbill, but for the way a business club building gradually became home to a major stage.

The theater itself was founded in Odesa in 1920 and moved to Novosibirsk in 1932. By that time, the former club had already served as a venue for meetings, charity evenings, a hospital and military kitchen, the House of the Revolution, and the Workers' Palace with an opera and ballet troupe. These changes matter because they explain the building's mixed nature: it began as a place for gatherings and celebrations, and became a theater while preserving its historic exterior.

What to Notice First

It makes sense to look at the building as a converted club, rather than as a theater built from scratch. The original program of the Commercial Club included an assembly hall, a professional concert hall, a club salon, drawing rooms, a winter garden, and a gaming room. This set of spaces explains why the building proved convenient for the city's cultural life even before the Red Torch appeared here: the stage was part of a broader space for meetings.

The second important theme is the combination of preservation and alteration. After 1932, the building underwent four reconstructions: extensions were added, rooms were expanded, and the stage was modernized. At the same time, the historic exterior was preserved. So, in the theater's appearance, it is worth comparing the old shell with traces of adaptation to new purposes: the former club did not disappear beneath the theatrical function, but became its foundation.