Victor Komissarzhevsky is a well-known producer and dramatic critic. He was a pupil of Nikolai Khmelyov, a prominent personality of the Soviet stage, and has produced several highly successful plays at the Yermolova Theatre, which Khmelyov founded. These included a dramatization of Pavlenko’s Happiness, dealing with the return of Soviet people from the war to civilian life, Andrei Globa’s poetic drama Pushkin, depicting the famous Russian poet’s tragic life, Nazim Hikmet’s Crank, and others. He imparted very interesting touches to plays by Maxim Gorky and Ivan Turgenev. His interpretation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is noteworthy, all the more so because of the excellent acting of the great Kachalov. One of the latest of Komissarzhevsky’s productions is Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan at the Moscow Maly Theatre. The author of this book is also known as a cinema director.

Apart from Komissarzhevsky’s work at the theatre, he became prominent as a stage critic and theorist. In Talks Given by a Producer, he explores the problems of the scenic image and action; Khmelyov at the Producer’s Desk is a comprehensive study of his methods that was well received by art critics. Komissarzhevsky’s work is not purely academic; he also deals with stage problems of the day in the columns of magazines and newspapers.

Note: Some content is lost at margins.

Translated from the Russian by Vic Schneierson and W. Perelman

You can get the book here and here

Contents

A Little History 7

At the Bolshoi 51

Ostrovsky House 83

Two Nights at the art Theatre 111

Moscow at Seven-thirty 141