Chelsea boss Roman Abramovich funds Iron Curtain-raiser for West End

Roman Abramovich has paid for the first West End performances by a Russian theatre company in more than 20 years.

A nine-day season of three plays by Sovremennik starts tomorrow at the Noel Coward Theatre. Chelsea FC's Russian owner, 44, offered to fund the run after a chance meeting with artistic director Galina Volchek.

The run will include Chekhov's Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard, and Into The Whirlwind, based on the true story of a journalist held in the Gulag for 17 years. The plays will be in Russian with English surtitles. The group, whose name means "contemporary", has put a 6ft sculpture of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in the theatre's foyer. It was founded in 1956 as Russia began to free itself from Stalinism.

Ms Volchek said today: "Roman supports many artistic projects." Mr Abramovich's partner Dasha Zhukova, 29, is known for her involvement in the arts.