Moscow Art Theater

This picture is the exterior of the Moscow Art Theater. It shows that the MAT has a modest exterior, belying its importance to Russian theater.

The interior of the Moscow Art Theater – just as modest as the exterior. It is strongly contrasted with the grandness of the Bolshoi and Maly, which were Imperial theaters.

The exterior of the Moscow Art Theater may look modest, but the story of the start of Moscow Art Theater (MAT) shows that this theater is the epitome of the theme of expression as it started the movement for “independent theatre.” Although there already was a realistic school of writing, conventions in theater were the same ones of the 18^th century. Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko in 1989 decided to start the Moscow Art Theatre to reform Russian theatre as an art available to the general public. They decided to build their own theater as opposed to reforming the Maly Theatre, which was under government control and would have limited their artistic expression. This theater was where Chekhov’s career took off as when his comic-pathetic plays were performed in St. Petersberg, it was a failure because the actors did not understand their roles. However, MAT different than other independent theaters began as a professional organization. This theatre was a venue for which naturalistic theatre developed (as opposed to the current dominant form of melodramas)[1].

[1] Brockett, Oscar and Hildy, Frank. History of the Theatre. 1993. pg. 436.