ABSTRACT

Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy’s play The Power of Darkness seemed to diverge from the themes explored in The Seagull, Uncle Vanya and Three Sisters. The production became a lyrical poem to those whom social conditions had condemned to the lowest level of society, but who nevertheless asserted their active rights to life and freedom. Unlike The Philistines, the scenery for this production was almost completely free of superfluity. The directors of the Moscow Art theater sought to emphasize the social issues and to strengthen them through the stage setting and scenery. The theater no longer staged work simply reflecting Russian realism but addressed issues concerning the nature of life itself. This was revealed most strongly in Maxim Gorky’s second play The Lower Depths. Konstantin Sergeievich Stanislavsky commented: “So much work was done on the sets and the costumes, that one can say with absolute certainty, that the stage has never seen such an authentic village”.