Published on: 2026-06-03
Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –
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On the quiet green street of Durov, two steps away from the noisy Sadovoe Ring, there has been a theatre with animal artists since 1912, where the main prohibition is coercion. Food, affection, and patience are the principles invented by the founder, circus artist, trainer, and scientist Vladimir Durov.
Durov’s method: strength in softness
Vladimir Durov was not so much a trainer as a scientist-zoo psychologist. He was the first in the world to propose a method based on encouragement rather than punishment: the animal receives food and affection for the desired action and repeats it voluntarily. Before Durov, the theatrical-circus world was far from always humane. Today, such an approach is the law of the “Grandpa Durov’s Corner.” In theater, this working principle is called the constitution.
Family dynasty: the fifth generation on stage
Since 2022, the theater has been headed by Natalya Durova — the younger one, who succeeded her father, People’s Artist of Russia Yuri Durov. “For the last five years, I have gotten used to combining the roles of manager, artist, and creator. My professional activity began at the age of four: from early childhood, I saw how to work with animals and can no longer imagine life without them. We spend 24 hours a day, seven days a week together. These are not even colleagues — these are members of my family. I am happy when on someone’s birthday or a new trick is achieved,” says the director and artistic director of the theater, Natalya Durova.
In “Grandpa Durov’s Corner” — a large team of trainers, each animal has its own mentor. The acts are prepared for a long time in order to create harmonious conditions for each artist. Here, distributed responsibility is valued so that no one gets tired,—And then the magic of the theater is born on the stage.
How animals become artists
There is no casting in the “Corner.” Animals are not caught in the forest and not bought from random people. “All our animals are the third generation, raised in the theater,” explains Natalia Durova. “They will no longer survive in the wild: they do not know how to heal themselves, how to escape dangers. We take the animals from the nursery and the zoo, very small — from three weeks to three months old. And we begin to train them: in the theater, only good things happen, each has a personal outfit, we feed them very tasty food, we develop an understanding that it is safe here, that you are loved. Adaptation to the stage, light, and music occurs with small steps.”
Why can a single random sound stop work for months
Repetitions in the “Corner” are done differently than in a regular theater. The main difficulty is not memorizing the text or movements, but creating a sense of security for the animal.
“When the act’s number is ready with the human performers, we start slowly introducing animals. They need to be accustomed to the stage lights, music, and the commotion behind the scenes. But imagine this: during rehearsal, someone accidentally drops a chair — a sharp clap sounds. You can explain to a person that it’s nothing, but to the animal — no. For it, this sound is a danger signal. And it can happen that, after this, the beast refuses to go on stage for a month, or even longer. Then everything starts over: every day you have to slightly convince it that it is safe here. Such situations are rare, but they do happen.”Animals really love the stage and become true artists, but they too can suffer from stage fright. Preparing one act takes several months. That is precisely why patience is so valued in the theater,” shares artist Dmitry Poklad.
The performance “Road — a century long”: the voice of the founder
Performance“Road — a century-long”— this is an opportunity to see Vladimir Durov’s world from the inside: how acts are born, where the boundary between theater and circus lies, and what working with animals really means.
The role of Vladimir Durov is performed by Dmitry Poklad. He is dressed in a ceremonial circus costume — kind, sensitive, majestic — and narrates the story from the perspective of the theater’s founder, gradually immersing the viewer into the wondrous world of the circus.
“This is a huge responsibility,” Dmitry says. “Vladimir Durov is a real person, an artist and a scientist. Nothing can be added from myself. There are archives, chronicles, but no sound recordings remain. Therefore, I rely on Durov’s main thesis — kindness and goodness. My task is to show him as a person who loved animals and children, a reformer who changed a lot in circus and theatrical arts. The performance does not retell the biography — it acquaints with the structure of the theater and its rules.”
Three scenes on one street
There are three stages on Durov Street — a few minutes’ walk from each other. The small stage “Kroshka” is a historic venue where Vladimir Durov began showing performances: a hall for 90 seats, preserving the atmosphere of the early 20th century. The new stage, which opened in 2021, includes an arena 13 meters in diameter, comfortable rooms for animals. This is the most technically equipped hall of the theater — it is here that the play “The Road — A Long One into the Century” is performed. There is also a large stage in the “Grandfather Durov’s Corner,” built for the 1980 Olympics. At that time, Moscow required a venue for performances by large animals: elephants, hippos.The hall-amphitheater with 328 seats is arranged so that the viewer can see everything up to the last movement.
What changes and what remains unchanged
In response to the question of how the theater has changed in over 100 years, Natalya Durova answers: “The decor changes: the lighting, sound, and appearance of the halls. But the main thing remains: Vladimir Durov was not a trainer, but a mentor. His credo is that animals should never be touched with a finger — always alive, and everything else is secondary.”
Dmitry Poklad, reflecting on how one gets into the profession and theatre, notes: “Many of our artists are hereditary animal trainers. And those whom you see on stage often started at a young age from positions as attendants: cleaning up after animals, following them around, growing up, becoming assistants, and then main trainers. Here, everything comes with extensive experience — either family background or many years of apprenticeship with masters. To absorb this spirit, time is needed.”
Natalya Durova clarifies: “Animals are members of my family, and kindness towards them is our law.” This is not a slogan, but a description of how life has been here for over 100 years. The performance “Road — a century long” shows how this principle works.
Tickets for all theater performances — in the service“Mosbilet”.Â
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