Modernism to Realism on the Soviet Stage

This is the first book to deal with the work of three important Soivet theatre directors - Alexander Tairov, Evgeni Vakhtangov and Nikolai OkHlopkov - who, although familiar names in the West, are not often the subjects of full-length studies. The present one therefore sets out to introduce their work to theatre specialists and non-specialists alike, analysing individual productions and placing them within the context of their time. The active working life of the three directors spans, in varying stages, the period of revolution and civil war with its accompanying radical artistic innovations; the conservative phase of socialist realism in the 1930s and 1940s; and the more flexible and creative artistic years of the late 1950s and 1960s. The book contains a number of photographs of the original productions as well as a chronology of theatrical and historical events. Worrall's study will be of interest to students and scholars of Russian studies and theatre history.