Exhibition on Meyerhold’s classic play opens in Moscow

The exhibition dedicated to one of the most memorable plays in the 20th century in Russia has opened at the Moscow Bakhrushin museum. Named the ‘Masked ball’, it was one of the brightest stagings by Vsevolod Meyerhold. 

Meyerhold’s at times provocative experiments made him one of the most influential figures in modern theatre. The ‘Masked ball’ is the staging that tops his work, being a combination of his artistic finds and physiological skills. The premiere took place 90 years ago and it was the last staging before the revolution.
 
The current ‘Masked ball’ exhibition marks the anniversary.
 
During six years of rehearsals Aleksandr Golovin, the stage designer, made over 4000 sketches of costumes and accessories, including tail-coat buttons.
 
Not much is now left from ‘the last play of the Tsarist Russia’. All the displays of the current exhibition were saved by Aleksey Bakhrushin.
 
“He bought the records of the rehearsals in 1917, and then three years later he insisted that they were saved in the Museum. Bakhrushin did all this during the Soviet times and it cost him a lot to save all this,” said Boris Lyubimov, Museum Director.