An unmissable landmark in the centre of the Old Arbat street, this theatre runs a repertory of Russian theatre which aims to look forward to tomorrow with a good dose of tradition. The theatre was established in 1921 by theatre director Yevgeny Vakhtangov, a pupil of the well-known Konstantin Stanislavsky. The theatre runs a varied programme of plays, from classical tragedy to vaudeville, with a troupe of well-known Russian actors. A typical programme includes imaginative productions of such traditional works such as The Queen of Spades (Pikovaya Dama,) and Anna Karenina, with a particular focus on re-interpreting the psychological motivations of the characters.