ABSTRACT
At Kem the fragility of the invisible thread was felt especially keenly. The theatre found itself in extremely unfavourable circumstances, much worse than on the Solovki, where it had excellent premises, a diversified choice of artistic personalities, and its own special audience, well-known though each time different. Kem, a dreary township of Old Believer coastal dwellers, with wooden sidewalks and sturdy grey houses, was a place of exile even before the revolution. In 1930 The New Solovki carried information on various stage productions as the theatrical wave subsided slowly, unexpectedly halting at some remote backwoods camp or work-site and restoring the severed ties. On the whole, this peculiar hybrid theatre tended towards social masques. USLON's Central Theatre at Kem was to cultivate the tastes of a new audience, the clerks and officers of the board's expanding administrative offices and the town's free population.
