Dal mondo alla rovescia di Savva Mamontov alle ipostasi di luce di Vera Komissarževskaja

Savva Mamontov identified the sacred and tragic essence of modern theater in the titanic struggle between the narrow-minded materialist conception, dominant in Russia in the nineteenth century, and the hidden spiritual energies of the Russian people. Searching for the "Truth in Beauty", he renovated the religious and choral origin of the theater. The children of his artistic circle recited biblical tragedies written by him. Among them there was also Konstantin Stanislavsky. And the adults instead recited farces and comedies! The theater returned to be an instrument of spiritual and social education and the whole community became involved in it as a rite. Into the groove of this experimentation also came Vera Komissarzhevskaya. She believed strongly in acting is as a service to the Russian people. It was like a mission for her, a call from God. The Russian people nicknamed her "Joan of Arc" and she led the people, as long as she lived, free of restrictions and compromise. In a gradual process of spiritual refiniment Vera Komissarzhevskaya came to transfigure herself, when she recited, up to embody itself in the concept of the tragic