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Professor Paul Fryer: Viktor Simov – Stanislavsky’s designer

Join the Stanislavsky Research Centre to explore the designer behind Stanislavsky's iconic productions.

Many of us are familiar with the numerous photographs that exist of Stanislavsky’s productions at the Moscow Art Theatre – but relatively few of us seem to have asked the question, “who designed these iconic productions?”

Viktor Simov became Konstantin Stanislavsky’s principal scenic designer at the MXAT from the company’s formation in 1898. His ground-breaking work with the company included the designs for the premieres of all of Anton Chekhov’s major stage plays, and he helped to establish a method and approach to theatre design which still influences the work of contemporary scenographers today.

This lecture by Visiting Professor Paul Fryer is based upon the translation and editing of an original Russian language text by the author, editor and literary critic Yuri Ivanovich Nekhoroshev which was originally published by Sovetski, Khudozhnikin 1984. Nekhoroshev’s book provides a fascinating and revealing insight into the staging and technical practices of one of the world’s most influential theatre companies, and Simov’s relationship with Stanislavsky, the MXAT and the artists who worked in the company’s scenic studio.

This first English-language edition was published by Routledge in December 2019.

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