ABSTRACT
Only a few could stand it, the ones who made up the backbone of the theatre which acquired the name of the Theatre of the 1st Department, or of the cultural and educational sector. Benches seating about 250 people were set up in the elongated auditorium, and a curtain bearing the emblem of a white seagull was hung up. Later on this inspired someone to write that the seagull of the Moscow Art Theatre had been displayed on the Solovki, allegedly a sign of the artistic bond linking the two theatres. The audience would patiently wait, at times for an hour, for 'someone to appear and give the signal to begin. Shiriayev went on to reproduce not only the birth pangs of the theatre, but even its first poster. Some discrepancy sets in when we look at dates only now coming to light: Shiriayev arrived on the Solovki on 17 November, while Armanov's two-year term started on 16 November 1923.
