The article is focused on Russian documentary theatre during the 2000s and those aspects which involve the laboratory as a model or way of living for these projects. The laboratory was the most convenient form for experimental research practices in the field of documentary theatre. Those who created documentary projects in Russia borrowed the technology from British colleagues, in particular, the Royal Court theatre. The first verbatim workshops were held by playwrights and directors from Royal Court who trained in this method before and achieved much success with it. From the start, British documentary theatre and verbatim theatre as a particular form of it faced hot social and political issues such as war, social inequality, violations of human rights, etc. But when documentary theatre came to Russia at the beginning of the 2000s, it was transformed and developed in a very unique way. Russian documentary projects dealt with marginal or closed communities, with political issues, but also they were focused on discovering hidden sides of ordinary life. These projects were based on so-called deep interviews and actors' technique of imitation of physical behavior. This process of creating performance was provided by the laboratory movement. How it was, and how this experience changed Russian theatre in general is one of the most important issues since the documentary trend still exists. The article is based on materials of documentary projects which were conducted in different Russian cities and theatres.