ABSTRACT
The regisseurs of the Soviet Union move round like English head masters. Sergey Radlov is a Leningrad man, who began his theatre career in 1911 as a young poet, engaged to write rhymed prologues to Spanish Renaissance comedies at the Antique Theatre, St. Petersburg, run by Yevreinov and others. Shakespeare, he says, was a realist but not a naturalist. Except for some splendid costumes, his stage was technically poor. A similar conflict, though seen from the other side, he found in King Lear —a production with which he had much trouble from scenic-artist and actors as well as from the translator, to such an extent that he nearly withdrew it at rehearsal. The company of the latter theatre cannot have given him the perfect material for his wants. His own company did not always do so, though in Vera Maretskaya, his leading lady, he has an actress quite in sympathy and at home with his ideas.
