The Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theatre, known to everyone as the BDT, is a theatre people travel to St Petersburg for: a stage on the Fontanka where Georgy Tovstonogov made his legendary productions, plus the wooden Kamennoostrovsky Theatre of 1827, the only one of its kind left in Russia. Tickets for good nights go fast, and the most popular show, "Kholopy" ("The Serfs"), has no open online sale at all. So it matters more to understand how buying works than to memorise the programme.
Below: how sales open, where to buy without resellers, what to choose for a first visit and how to reach both stages. We checked the BDT website, its visitor rules, the November programme and Yandex Afisha prices on 19 October 2026.
🎭 The Fontanka building: the Suvorin Theatre with a 1902 ceiling
The house at 65 Fontanka Embankment was built by architect Ludwig Fontana in 1876–1877 on land owned by the Apraksin counts. In 1879 it opened as the Imperial Maly Theatre; Eleonora Duse and Sarah Bernhardt played here, and from 1895 the theatre was run by the publisher Alexei Suvorin, so people called it the Suvorin Theatre. The Bolshoi Drama Theatre has worked here since 1920.
The BDT façade on the Fontanka: medallions with busts and a coat of arms with putti above the central windows — Photo: Florstein, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
After the 2011–2014 reconstruction the Main Stage auditorium seats 750 and the Small Stage 70. Look up: the painted ceiling by Angelo Gugiari (1902) with cupids in a blue sky and a crystal chandelier with 209 lights. In the left part of the dress-circle foyer, Tovstonogov's study survives with his furniture, photographs and books. The company itself opened on 15 February 1919 with Schiller's "Don Carlos"; the poet Alexander Blok chaired its board, and it has carried Tovstonogov's name since 1992.
🎟 How to buy a ticket: website, box office and waiting list
The theatre has one official website, bdt.spb.ru, and warns about fraudulent copies: don't buy on .com domains or at addresses like bdt-kassa, bdt-spb or bdramtheatre. Online you pay by MIR, Visa or Mastercard, but cards issued abroad do not work in Russia, so foreign visitors will need a Russian card or the box office. The e-ticket arrives by email and can be shown on your phone at the door.
- Sales open in blocks. The theatre usually announces them a day ahead in the news section and its social channels. December and the first half of January went on sale on 8 October at 14:00; November at the Kamennoostrovsky Theatre on 2 October at 14:00.
- The box office at 65 Fontanka is open daily 10:00–20:00, with a break 15:00–16:00 and short technical breaks 12:00–12:15 and 17:00–17:15. The Kamennoostrovsky box office is open 11:00–19:00. The theatre's own box offices sell at face value.
- Some performances have named tickets: your passport is checked at the entrance and one order covers no more than two people.
- "Kholopy" by Andrei Moguchy (13, 14 and 15 November) is sold only at the box office through a waiting list. You can join the list for a sold-out show via a form on the website.
The site doesn't publish price lists in advance; prices appear when you pick a seat. As a guide, on Yandex Afisha on 19 October: "Three Fat Men. Episode 2" on 7 November from 1,000 roubles; "The Governor" and "The Storm" in December from 1,200 and from 300 roubles.
🌟 What to see first: November 2026
For a first visit, choose an Andrei Moguchy production on the Main Stage: you get today's BDT and the historic auditorium in one evening.
- "The Storm" ("Groza") by Ostrovsky (18 November): 2 hours 15 minutes with an interval. A school-syllabus classic in which Kuligin's monologues sound like fairground patter.
- "The Governor" after Leonid Andreyev (17 November): 1 hour 45 minutes, no interval, a chamber tragedy on a big stage.
- "Three Fat Men" ("Tri tolstyaka") after Yuri Olesha: two episodes, 4–5 and 7–8 November; the first runs 2 hours without an interval and uses bright flashes and loud sound.
- "A Mother's Heart" ("Materinskoe serdtse") after Vasily Shukshin's stories (20–22 November): a large parable about the Russian road.
- If the building interests you more than the play, take "Journey Backstage at the BDT" on 1 and 21 November at 13:00: a group of 16, ages 16+.
On the 70-seat Small Stage: "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" after Oliver Sacks (1 and 11 November) and Anatoly Praudin's "The Lady with the Dog" (12 November).
