Moscow

State Kamerny (Chamber) Theatre

1918-1949

The Kamerny (Chamber) Theatre was established in 1914. The first play performed at the theatre was "Shakuntala" by Kālidāsa. The founder Alexandr Tairov previously worked as a director at the Free Theatre, where he impressed the audience by practicing the art of pantomime. He preferred the major forms of drama - tragedy and comedy ("mystery" and "harlequinade", as he put it). His synthetic art involved music, dancing, pantomime, etc. Stage design was a significant part of these productions. The theatre collaborated with Natalia Goncharova, Serge Sudeikin, Aleksandra Ekster, Aristarkh Lentulov, and other prominent artists. Alisa Koonen, the leading actress of the Kamerny Theatre, starred as Shakuntala, Salomé, Adrienne Lecouvreur, Phaedra. Nikolay Tseretelli, Ivan Arkadin, Boris Ferdinandov, Ivan Aleksandrov, Nikolai Chaplygin participated in the theatre's productions. The repertoire included western modern and classical plays such as Adrienna Lekouvrer (1919), Phaedra (1922), The Hairy Ape (1926), The Optimistic Tragedy (1934), Madame Bovary (1940). In 1917, Alexey Bakhrushin acquired an Aleksandra Exter's artwork created for the Chamber Theatre. In 1920, he bought 8 sketches of costumes for the play Famira Citharode and 29 sketches of costumes for Salome. In 1923, Bakhrushin received 39 sketches of costumes for Romeo and Juliet. The collection was enlarged by sketches and models by Alexandr Vesnin, Anatoly Arapov, Serge Sudeikin, Nicholas Kalmakoff, the Stenberg brothers, and Georgy Yakulov. A large part of the collection of the theatrical sketches that was drawn by the artists of the Chamber Theatre was formed after the transfer of the Chamber Theatre Collection to the Theatre Museum in 1949. The collection has been growing for almost a hundred years: the first works were received in 1917, and a portrait of Alexandr Tairov by Natalia Goncharova was bought a few years ago.