I won't see the famous Phaedra (1990)

Sergei Yursky reads excerpts from A. Ya.

Tairov's letters to A. G. Koonen (synchronously).

Panorama of a Moscow neighborhood near Tverskoy Boulevard in autumn (top).

A street lamp is lit, panorama of the Pushkin Theater building.

An actress in a red cloak on the stage. S. Yursky reads excerpts from Tairov's book of memoirs "Notes of a Director" about the Chamber Theater (synchronously).

Newsreel from 1913: A cavalcade of horse-drawn carriages leaves for Red Square from the gates of the Spasskaya Tower during the celebrations of the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov.

Demonstration of women's clothing models from the first decade of the twentieth century.

Photographs of the singer and artist Alexander Vertinsky.

Anastasia Vertinskaya in front of a mirror in Pierrot makeup, Alexander Vertinsky's singing is heard in the background.

Fragment of a feature film from the early 20th century.

Photograph of the founders of the Moscow Chamber Theatre - Tairov, Koonen, Uvarova and Arkadin. S. Yursky, sitting at a round table, reads aloud excerpts about the Moscow Chamber Theatre from Tairov's book of memoirs "Notes of a Director" (synchronously and off-screen).

Poster from 1914, dedicated to the opening of the Moscow Chamber Theatre.

Photographs of scenes from the first performance of the Shakuntala Theatre, theatre actors performing their roles in the performance. S. Yursky comes out from behind a multi-coloured curtain, quotes Tairov, opens the curtain, full-length photographs of theatre actors on stage.

Photographs of Tairov during preliminary work on performances and rehearsals.

Fragments of stage sets for performances, costume sketches created by artists Exter and Lentulov. S. Yursky, sitting at a table near the stage, reads excerpts from Tairov's book "Notes of a Director" (synchronously and off-screen).

Sketches of theatre costumes, a playbill for performances timed to coincide with the opening of the next season, a photograph of the theatre troupe headed by Tairov in the exposition of the theatre museum (panorama).

Photographs of Alisa Koonen in various roles.

Photographs of Koonen in an open album, framed photographs of theatre actors on the wall.

Fragments of an early 20th century feature film starring Alisa Koonen.

Photos of Koonen in the dressing room and in various roles (combined shooting).

A picturesque portrait of Alisa Koonen.

Anastasia Vertinskaya, sitting in a chair in front of a mirror in the dressing room, reads excerpts from A. Koonen's memoirs about the theater, meeting with Tairov (synchronously and off-screen).

Poster for the play "Adrienne Lecouvreur".

Photograph of Koonen as Adrienne Lecouvreur.

Photographs of scenes from the play.

Photograph of Alisa Koonen and her stage partner Nikolai Tsereteli in the play "Adrienne Lecouvreur".

Photographs of scenes from the play "Princess Brambilla".

Sketch for the costume of the main character of Racine's tragedy "Phaedra", staged at the theater in 1922. A. Vertinskaya in the dressing room in front of the mirror in the costume of Phaedra, putting on and taking off her headdress.

Photograph of Alisa Koonen as Phaedra, her voice is heard off-screen.

Photographs of scenes from the play "Phaedra".

Newsreel from 1918-1919: people at the station on the tracks, views of the station from a passing train.

Brass band musicians on a moving platform.

Scenes from mysteries staged in Petrograd in 1919-1920. S. Yursky reads excerpts from Tairov's book "Notes of a Director" about the importance of the stage for an actor and the essence of the theater (synchronously and behind the scenes), panorama of the stage.

Photographs of theater artists headed by Tairov in the 1920s.

Stage veteran Yu. O. Khmelnitsky recalls working at the Moscow Chamber Theater, about the dialogues of the characters in the plays (synchronously and behind the scenes).

Newsreel from the 1930s: the face of K. S. Stanislavsky in 1937-1938. S. Yursky reads an excerpt from Tairov's speech at Stanislavsky's anniversary in 1933 (synchronously).

Poster for the play "Girofle-Giroflya".

Khmelnitsky performs an arietta from the play during a meeting of theater veterans; the actors recall their roles in the play (synchronously).

Photographs of scenes from the play "Girofle-Giroflya".

Photographs of A. Koonen in stage costume.

Theater veterans sit on chairs on the stage during a meeting.

Newsreel from 1926: view of the Moscow Chamber Theater building.

Poster for the play "The Shaggy Monkey".

The face of Tairov smoking a cigarette.

Faces of theater artists - the Stenberg brothers.

Panorama of the Moscow Chamber Theater building.

Fragments of the theater's play, staged by Tairov in the style of "revelatory urbanism", the faces of the actors in makeup.

Actors with shovels depict a steamship boiler room on stage.

Fragments of the performance.

Veterans of the theatre watch a newsreel in the auditorium.

Newsreel: V.E. Meyerhold's speech at the discussion of the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries in 1935. Pasternak's face. B.L. Meyerhold continues to speak.

Faces of the audience, the newsreel alternates with Sergei Yursky quoting Tairov and Meyerhold's dispute about the methods of the Chamber Theatre and Meyerhold's theatre.

Newsreel from 1926: poster for the play "Love Under the Elms".

Fragments and scenes from the play.

Veterans of the theatre watch the newsreel, recognise their colleagues from the stage. S. Yursky on stage among full-length photographs of A. Koonen quotes Tairov's statement about pantomime (synchronously).

Newsreel from 1926: scenes and numbers from eccentric plays staged by Tairov on the stage of the Moscow Chamber Theatre, Khmelnitsky recognizes himself on the screen.

Scenes from the play "Day and Night", the artists performing dances, the faces of the artists, numbers in the style of the corps de ballet.

The text of a devastating review published as an obituary in 1924, for the 10th anniversary of the theatre.

Head of the Department of Plastic Expression of the Actor of the Shchukin Higher Theatre School Droznin A.B. in the foyer speaks to students about Tairov's work and his methods of work in the 1920s (synchronously and behind the scenes), sketches of theatrical costumes.

Students of the Shchukin Higher Theatre School during a rehearsal under the guidance of the head of the department of plastic expressiveness, actor Droznin A.B. are working on restoring one of the performances of the Moscow Chamber Theatre.

Droznin and his students are trying to restore stage movements from a photograph.

Students are recreating dance figures and looking at old photographs.

A photograph of actors of the Moscow Chamber Theatre.

Ranevskaya F.G. recalls her joint work with Tairov at the Moscow Chamber Theatre, speaks of Tairov as a talented and great director (synchronously and behind the scenes), photographs of Ranevskaya.

Photographs of the theatre actors involved in the performance "Optimistic Tragedy", including M.I. Zharov.

Poster for the performance "Optimistic Tragedy".

Photographs of scenes from the play and A. Koonen as the commissar, Zharov’s story about his participation in the play as the sailor Alexei and his joint work with A. Koonen and a sound recording of the dialogue between the commissar and Alexei are heard in the background.

Newsreel from 1933: scenes from the play “Optimistic Tragedy”, A. A. Vertinskaya in the costume of Phaedra. A. Koonen as Cleopatra in the play “Egyptian Nights” in 1934, scenes from the play, the actors’ faces. A. Koonen in the scene of Cleopatra’s death.

Spectators at the entrance to the Moscow Chamber Theatre before the start of the play in 1934. Spectators entering the theatre. O. L. Knipper-Chekhova gives a welcoming speech in honour of Tairov during the theatre’s 20th anniversary in 1934 (synchronously).

Tairov’s face.

One of the event participants delivers a speech in honor of Tairov (synchronously).

Photos of Tairov.

Panorama of playbills of the Pushkin Theater.

Panorama of Tverskoy Boulevard in winter.

Playbills of the Moscow Chamber Theater during foreign tours (combined photography).

Photos of the theater's artists during foreign tours.

Texts of critical newspaper articles about the Moscow Chamber Theatre.

Poster for the play "Bogatyrs".

Actress A.N. Inberg at a meeting of theatre veterans speaks about the reasons for the persecution and destruction of the Moscow Chamber Theatre (synchronously and off-screen), Yu.O. Khmelnitsky among the veterans.

Photographs of scenes from the play "Bogatyrs" in 1936. Photograph of I.V. Stalin, S.M. Budyonny, V.M. Molotov sitting in a theatre box.

The text of the resolution of the Committee for Arts under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR "On the play" Bogatyrs "by Demyan Bedny, published in the newspaper.

Inberg and Khmelnitsky talk about the subsequent disgrace of D. Bedny, about meetings in the theater, about the pressure on the theater staff (synchronously and off-screen).

Silhouettes of figures on the theater stage (panorama), the text of the article "Theater Alien to the People" is heard off-screen.

View of the stage with the prompter's box, Stalin's face in the prompter's box (combined shooting).

Newsreel from the 1930s: the demolition of one of the old buildings in Moscow.

May Day parades and parades of athletes on Red Square in 1935-1937. Stalin I.V. and Kaganovich L.M. on the rostrum of the mausoleum., prison photographs of Meyerhold V.E., Mandelstam O.E. Photograph by A. Koonen in one from the roles.

Sergei Yursky reads excerpts from Tairov's memoirs "Notes of a Director" about the audience's perception of the theater (synchronously).

Poster for the play "Madame Bovary", staged at the Moscow Chamber Theater in 1940. Photographs of the scenes from the play.

A book, a candlestick on a desk.

Windows of a house on Tverskoy Boulevard with broken frames and boarded up with plywood.

Sketch for a play based on A.P. Chekhov's play "The Seagull", staged in 1944. Dressing room interior, Anastasia Vertinskaya reads Nina Zarechnaya's monologue from the play "The Seagull" (synchronously and off-screen).

Photographs of A. Koonen as Nina Zarechnaya, off-screen monologue performed by A. Vertinskaya.

Sergei Yursky reads aloud the text of Tairov's speech at the debate in the House of Printing (synchronously).

Preparing the scenery for the next performance, workers are moving elements of the scenery. A. N. Inberg talks about the dismissal of all the actors of the Moscow Chamber Theatre who found themselves in a dire situation (synchronously and off-screen).

Mannequins in a theater box.

Yu. O. Khmelnitsky talks about a meeting of the Committee on Arts Affairs dedicated to the liquidation of the Moscow Chamber Theatre.

A sheet of paper in a typewriter.

A writing set on the table.

The typewritten text of the order of the Committee on Arts Affairs dated May 27, 1949, on Tairov's release from work in the theater against the background of the interior of the office (combined shooting).

Theater veterans examine the exposition of the theater museum, Khmelnitsky and Inberg examine one of the exhibits, recall the roles they played.

Khmelnitsky performs an excerpt from his role.

Photograph of Khmelnitsky as Macheath in the 1930 play "The Beggar's Opera".

Photographs of scenes from the play "The Beggar's Opera".

Yursky reads excerpts from Tairov's letters to Flyagin, Voroshilov, Suslov about the possible prospects of the theater and his future activities (synchronously and off-screen), photograph of A. Koonen on the wall, book on the table (panorama). A. Vertinskaya reads aloud an excerpt from Tairov's letter to Koonen and an excerpt from Koonen's memoirs (synchronously), panorama of the mirror.

Photograph of Koonen in a scene from the play "Adrienne Lecouvler", which ended the activities of the Moscow Chamber Theater on May 29, 1949, flowers under the photograph.

The scenery grating comes down, hiding full-length photographs of Koonen, pressing down the flowers lying on the stage.

A worker smashes the sign of the Moscow Chamber Theater with a sledgehammer.

Photograph of Koonen as Phaedra, with Yursky reciting Mandelstam's poems in the background.

View of Tverskoy Boulevard in winter, panorama of treetops.

Photograph of Koonen and Tairov against the backdrop of Vertinskaya dressed as Phaedra (combined photography).

Antique bas-relief.

View of the Pushkin Theatre building in the evening, panorama of the building and part of Tverskoy Boulevard.