The soft scenery workshop at the "Legacy. Theatre. The Greats" exposition: from painted fabric backdrops to three-dimensional projections

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This workshop smells of glue and paint. It is where the magic is created that transforms the stage into a boundless sea, a dense forest or a scorching desert. The thematic section "Soft Scenery Workshop" at the "Legacy. Theatre. The Greats" exposition at the National Centre RUSSIA explores how a painted canvas can transport audiences anywhere in the universe and introduces them to the legacy of outstanding theatre artists.

Soft scenery became a "leading character" in productions at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Konstantin Korovin, Leon Bakst, Mikhail Vrubel, Natalia Goncharova, Nicholas Roerich and other renowned artists transformed stage design, turning backdrops into enormous painted canvases. In 1908, Sergei Diaghilev brought the "Russian Seasons" to Paris and amazed European audiences with sets created by artists from the "World of Art" group: just painted canvas, velvet and light — with no heavy rigid structures.

Today, the soft scenery workshop works with dozens of types of fabric, from airy chiffon to heavy theatrical canvas. Cutters and tailors cut and sew enormous panels, wings and curtains, while scenic artists treat and paint the fabrics and create appliqués. Backdrops for productions at the country's leading musical theatres, such as the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, can cover an area of up to 400 square metres, requiring hundreds of metres of fabric.

One of the key professions in the workshop is that of the fabric painter. These versatile specialists understand the properties of theatrical lighting and different materials and are skilled in appliqué, embroidery and printing techniques. Using paint and fabric, they can transform the stage into a medieval castle, a spacecraft or a forest clearing. 

Among the exhibits is a work by Vadim Ryndin, Academician of the USSR Academy of Arts and People's Artist of the USSR, created for the ballet production "Doctor Aybolit" at the K.S. Stanislavsky and Vl.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre. The scenery depicts a three-masted sailing ship carrying Aybolit to Africa. A curtain created from a sketch by Albina Tsybikova, Honoured Artist of the Russian Federation, adorned the main stage of the Ulger Buryat Republican Puppet Theatre for more than two decades. The image of two heavenly khatai maidens playing musical instruments and symbolising the connection between worlds was created using appliqué with silk, velvet, beads and braid.

The workshop features an installation demonstrating the process of creating soft scenery using Valery Levental's sketch "Wedding Procession" for the production "Choreographic Miniatures", staged in Leningrad in the 1970s. A canvas divided into squares, paint tins and artists' brushes are laid out on the floor. Visitors can see how a large-scale painting takes shape: first, the drawing is marked out in charcoal or chalk, then each square is filled with colour. Huge stage backdrops measuring 10 by 15 metres or more are painted exclusively on the floor. Artists walk across the canvas in socks or slippers, while brushes are attached to two-metre bamboo poles so they can see the perspective of the image from their full height. A single canvas can require up to 50 litres of paint, so artists use buckets instead of palettes. To assess the work in progress, the backdrop is raised using special winches.

During the Soviet era, shortages of imported materials led craftsmen to develop their own formula for treating the canvas — a mixture of PVA glue, chalk and... aviation kerosene. The smell in the workshop was distinctive, but the resulting scenery could last for decades.

Scenery created using projection technologies can also be considered "soft". Three-dimensional images blur the boundary between the stage and the auditorium, immersing the audience more deeply in the world of theatrical illusion. Multi-screen projections can create the effect of characters being present in several places at once.

The"Legacy. Theatre. The Greats" exposition at the National Centre RUSSIA is a major project marking the 150th anniversary of the Theatre Union of Russia, implemented with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Presidential Foundation for Cultural Initiatives.

Visitors can see the unique exhibits and discover the world behind the scenes until 25 September. Admission to the exposition is free. Advance registration on the russia.ru website is required to join a guided tour.