Bolshoi Puppet Theatre (Saint Petersburg)

Founded 85 years ago in St-Petersburg, BTK is now directed by Ruslan Kudashov and is one of the most renowned puppet theatres in Russia. Their rich repertoire includes a variety of shows for children and adults, and covers many genres: classical and experimental, puppetry and live action, physical and musical theatre.
BTK counters the stereotypes that seem to stick to puppetry by creating a living, modern visual theatre language based on inevitable and timeless moral laws and by advocating for the artist’s subjectivity and for everyone’s uniqueness.

Ruslan Kudashov graduated from Saint-Petersburg Theatre Academy in 2001 and immediately formed his own theatrical group “Potudan”. It was named after the first perfomance, based on the story “River Potudan”, written by Andrey Platonov. The second play of the group was “Nevsky Prospect” by Nikolay Gogol. It won the most prestigious Russian award “The Golden Mask”.

For the last ten years Ruslan Kudashov has staged more tnan 40 performances in different countries and theatres. Among them there are puppet plays, pantomimes, plastic and dramatic works. Ruslan Kudashov has the reputation of a philosophically – minded director who speaks a metaforic language.