The five-story Tyumen Drama Theatre with three halls (the great hall for 777 seats, the small for 207 and the hall "On the Fifth" for 100 spectators) is considered to be the largest in area drama theatre in Russia. The foundation year of the theatre is 1858. It was then that the first charity performances in Tyumen were performed by an amateur troupe consisting of merchants, their wives and daughters.
The Tyumen theatre owes its development to the merchant Andrey Tekutyev who from 1890 to 1916 maintained the troupe. After the revolution the theatre moved to the building of the former salt storehouse which belonged to Tekutyev. The new building in the classical style was built by the decree of the government of the Tyumen region for less than two years period on the Respubliki Street and was opened in 2008. The repertoire of the theatre is dominated by the Russian classics. The small hall is given to comedies and melodramas, and contemporary experimental plays are staged in the hall «On the Fifth».