ABSTRACT
The voice of British modernist theatre which echoed most loudly through the twentieth century was that of Edward Gordon Craig. In 1900, in association with the composer Martin Shaw and the Purcell Society, he directed Dido and Aeneas at the Hampstead Conservatoire. The hall to some extent necessitated the unorthodox abstract setting, but Craig embraced this enthusiastically. Martin Shaw adopted a ‘shocking’ colour scheme of reds, greens and purples, modifying this to black and white for the witches’ scene. The effect was an original integration of performer and setting which would become a hallmark of Craig’s theatre. In Moscow, Stanislavsky, seeking to move beyond detailed naturalism, was also excited by the screens and invited Craig to direct Hamlet at the Art Theatre using them. Craig accepted, but the production took four years to mount, during much of which time Craig was absent from Moscow, leaving Stanislavsky to interpret his ideas.
