Edward Gordon Craig was an English theatre director, artist, and theatre theorist. He was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, into the family of architect and stage designer Edward Godwin and the great actress Ellen Terry. After his parents’ separation, the famous actor Henry Irving became his main mentor in life. As a child, Craig appeared in children's plays, and at the age of 17, he joined the Lyceum Theatre company. However, he later realized that he would not be able to achieve the same greatness as Henry Irving and decided to give up his acting career. Instead, he took up wood engraving. His drawings and prints were published in magazines and released as separate editions, such as “The Book of Penny Toys”. In 1899, Gordon Craig was invited to collaborate with composer Martin Shaw on the staging of the opera “Dido and Aeneas” — this production marked the beginning of his directorial career. Together with Shaw, he staged such productions as “The Masque of Love”, “Acis and Galatea”, and others. Among his other notable works were “Much Ado About Nothing” and “Venice Preserved”. Through Isadora Duncan, with whom Craig had a romantic relationship, he was introduced to Konstantin Stanislavsky, and in 1908 was invited to the Moscow Art Theatre to work on a production of “Hamlet”. Craig served as both director and stage designer. However, he was not entirely satisfied with the result. There were significant artistic differences between his approach and the practice of the Moscow Art Theatre, and Craig felt that in the end, “Hamlet” turned out to be a good production, but not his own. Gordon Craig's theoretical essays "The Actor and the Über-marionette" and "The Artists of the Theatre of the Future" played an important role in theatre theory. In these works, Craig expressed his ideas about the roles of the actor and the director. For instance, he described the ideal actor for symbolist theatre as the Über-marionette — one who should convey symbols rather than express personal emotions. Furthermore, his theoretical writings explored the concept of stage space. His theories influenced many theatre practitioners and played a significant role in the development of theatre as an art form. The Bakhrushin Theatre Museum collection holds photographs of Gordon Craig, as well as his sketches, letters, and other archival materials, partly related to his stay in Moscow during the preparation of “Hamlet”.