Abstract. The article discusses current issues related to the interpretation of history as an image of the past and the latest historical concepts that influenced the formation of the modern «theater of memory» (concepts of «victims of history», «public history»). A substantial understanding of the «image of the past» is impossible without attention to the problem of identity. In this article, by historical and cultural identity, the author understands cultural and historical uniqueness, «persons with an uncommon expression» that manifest (or do not manifest) themselves in the Russian theatrical culture of the 21st century. In the space of theatrical culture, of course, the answer to the question «who are we?» is given, what are the features of our character and thinking, how are they manifested in a particular historical period? At the same time, the «understanding of oneself» in the context of the period under study had its own peculiarities: historical and cultural identity in the modern theater presented itself through an apophatic device - denial of the Soviet past.

Key words: theater of memory, historical and cultural identity, cultural context, modern theater