WHY IT SUCCEEDS

Taranaki Daily News, 29 January 1931, Page 7

WHY IT SUCCEEDS

MOSCOW ART THEATRE.

A REMARKABLE LIBRARY.

'The world-wide fame of the Moscow Art Theatre has been enhanced by the spring productions of Tolstoy’s “Resurrection, and “Othello.” Meyerhold and Tairov are being acclaimed all over Europe. Yet, despite the established reputation of the contemporary Russian theatre, one of the most important factors in its recent development remains practically unknown outside Russia, says the Manchester Guardian. The Moscow State Theatrical Library claims to be unique. It recently celebrated its eighth anniversary as an independent academic institution subsidised by the State. Its functions are manifold, but it is primarily intended to serve the theatres themselves (producers, actors, scenic artists, etc.), theatrical sections of workers’ clubs, and students of the theatre. In addition to a remarkable collection of books on every conceivable aspect of the theatre it has a research department and a service station. The research department concerns itself with the larger problems of stage decoration, production, theatrical and cultural history, and theatrical bibliography. It includes a large foreign section. Even the actual library is not limited to books. It also supplies costume plates, architectural plans, pictures of interiors, furniture, and appointments of any given period. These are of immense service in the production of historical and costume plays. For the historian of the theatre there is a portrait gallery of famous actors and the programmes and notices of outstanding productions. All this wealth of material is catalogued for immediate reference. In less than ten minutes you can know all there is to be known about any given play, costume, or actor, from the nebulous origins of the drama to the latest developments of theatrical engineering. The service station consists of a reading room,' furnished with literary as well as theatrical periodicals, a lending library, and an exhibition department. Two of the most interesting of recent exhibitions were the “Othello” exhibition and an exhibition of theatrical architecture. There is no doubt that much of the success of the decor and costumes, as well as the individual make-up and gesture of the actors, in the Art Theatre “Othello” was directly dependent on the library’s exhibition. The Russian actor thinks nothing of ransacking a. library to find justification for a single gesture. But no one who has seen the finished production would accuse him of taking his art too seriously. The architectural exhibition was designed to help the construction of a colossal national theatre in the Palace of Art which is shortly to be erected in Moscow. The service section also organises displays in the foyers of the leading theatres in connection with their productions. At a recent production of Moliere’s “Le Bourgeois Gehtilhomme,” the foyer was given over to illustrations of his work both ill relation to its epoch and to its subsequent history.

The fctaff of the library, headed by Vladimir Filippov, the artist Pashkov, and the talented manager of the Little Theatre, Nicholas (Popov, consists of professors and artists with practical experience of the theatre. All of the twenty consultants are specialists in their own departments. There can be no doubt that the present fertility and vigour-of the Russian theatre owe as much to its cultural tradition as to individual genius. The aim of the State Theatrical Library is to extend and perpetuate tide tradition.