Gordon Craig and The Theatre. A Record and An Interpretation. By Enid Rose. 8vo. 250 pp. Inscribed on the front free endpage by Craig himself "To S. Radlov the fine regisseur of 'Kind Lear' in 1935 Moscow. / with kindest regards/ Edward Craig" adding below "This is the ONLY book about my work in any language - + a few corrections have been made." The half title inscribed in another hand "Corrections and notes by D.W. (secretary)" and with significant alterations, subtractions and additions to the text in ink throughout in the same hand. Deckle edges, bound in simple unmarked gray paper binding with black cloth taped spine, seemingly a preliminary copy before official publication, the first hand correction being the addition in ink of the publication year 1931 to the title. One tear to lower page margin (p. 21), otherwise very fine.

A remarkable presentation copy from the English modernist theatre practitioner who worked as an actor, director and scenic designer, as well as developing an influential body of theoretical writings and who was also the editor and chief writer for the first international theatre magazine, The Mask.  The son of actress Dame Ellen Terry, Craig asserted that the director was "the true artist of the theatre."  He had a significant connection with Russia, particularly through his work with Konstantin Stanislavski and the Moscow Art Theatre on the 1911-12 production of Hamlet. He also designed and built elaborately symbolic sets, including a set composed of his patented movable screens for said Hamlet. 

Craig visited Russia in 1935, where he met with prominent figures like Meyerhold, Tairov, Nemirovich-Danchenko, and observed various theatre productions such as the one referenced in the present inscription to the Soviet stage director Sergei Radlov, an important figure in the Russian theatrical avant-garde both before and after the 1917 Revolution. Radlov is perhaps now best remembered for having given Prokofiev the idea of creating a ballet of Romeo and Juliet and had previously staged the first Russian production of Prokofiev’s opera Love for Three Oranges in 1926 in Leningrad. Noted for his adventurous productions of contemporary opera, Radlov directed the Russian premiere of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck at the Mariinsky Theatre, where he served as artistic director from 1931 to 1934. He also staged several plays of Shakespeare at his own dramatic theater in the early 1930s, including Romeo and Juliet in 1934 and Hamlet (1938), with incidental music by Prokofiev, and is credited with organizing the Leningrad Shakespeare Festival in 1939

The present inscription makes note of the 1935 production of King Lear by the State Jewish Theatre, Moscow, directed by Radlov. Gordon Craig, who saw the Yiddish actor  Solomon Mikhoels in the title role, wrote “I do not recall a performance that stirred me as profoundly, to the core, as Mikhoels’ performance of Lear” (“Tri razgovora s Gordonom Kregom,” Sovetskoe iskusstvo, 5 April 1935).

This insightful study of the life and work of the influential theatre designer offers both an overview of his achievements and a critical analysis of his innovations. Enid Rose considers Craig's designs in their historical context, exploring the ways in which he challenged conventional notions of theatrical performance and created new forms of expression.