Gordon Craig and Hamlet at the MAT

At the time of Vakhtangov’s arrival at the Moscow Art Theatre, the company entered the final phases of its collaboration with the English director, stage designer, and theoretician Edward Gordon Craig. Craig was invited to the MAT in 1909 to direct and design a production of Hamlet. ¹ In reality, Hamlet at the MAT was a child of three directors—Gordon Craig, Stanislavsky, and Sulerzhitsky. Gordon Craig introduced the overall concept of the show, facilitated through costumes and sets. Stanislavsky and Sulerzhitsky worked with the actors, in constant dialogue with Craig’s ideas.