Komissarzhevskaya V.F., (1864-1910), actress

Categories / Art/Music, Theatre/Personalia
KOMISSARZHEVSKAYA Vera Fedorovna (1864, St. Petersburg - 1910), actress. The sister of F.F. Komissarzhevsky. Studied in Moscow under her father, opera singer and pedagogue F.P. Komissarzhevsky, in the opera classes of the Art and Literary Society, taking part in their opera and drama performances (1890-91). Played on professional stage from 1893. She performed for the first time in St. Petersburg in 1894 at a summer theatre in Ozerki. In 1896-1902, she worked at the Alexandrinsky Theatre; in 1904, she opened her own Drama Theatre (see the Komissarzhevskaya Theatre), which existed until 1909. In 1902-04 and after she closed her theatre, she toured around Russia, and in 1908 travelled to America. A short creative alliance with director V.E. Meyerhold (1906-07) was broken up by her initiative. Having started her stage career playing the character of an ingenue (Rosie in Butterflies' Battle, Klerchen in Sodom's End H. Sudermann), she redefined this niche. Among her well-known roles are Larisa in The Portionless Bride, Varya in The Girl Savage by A.N. Ostrovsky; Nina in The Seagull, Sonya in Uncle Vanya by A.P. Chekhov; and Nora in A Doll's House, and Hilde in The Master Builder by H. Ibsen. Komissarzhevskaya belonged to the generation of "neurasthenics", which emerged at the turn of 19-20th centuries. Her psychological manner of acting and her favoured theme of "youth" were connected to her keen identification with that time's catastrophism. The intimate, lyrical nature of Komissarzhevskaya's talent didn't undermine the passionate and protesting nature of her characters. The Leningrad Drama Theatre, located in the Passage building where Komissarzhevskaya used to perform, was named after her in 1959. (see Komissarzhevskaya Theatre; memorial plaque installed). She died in Tashkent of smallpox, was originally buried at Nikolskoe Cemetery, and in 1936 her remains and tombstone was moved to the Necropolis of Artists.

References: Кухта Е. А. Комиссаржевская // Русское актерское искусство ХХ века: Сб. науч. тр. СПб., 1992. Вып. 1. С. 13-61; Рыбакова Ю. П. В. Ф. Комиссаржевская: Летопись жизни и творчества. СПб., 1994.

A. A. Kirillov. Chekhov Anton Pavlovich
Ibsen Henrik
Komissarzhevskaya Vera Fedorovna
Komissarzhevsky Fedor Fedorovich
Komissarzhevsky Fedor Petrovich
Meyerhold Vsevolod Emilievich
Ostrovsky Alexander Nikolaevich
Sudermann Hermann
Рыбакова Ю. П. В. Ф. Комиссаржевская: Летопись жизни и творчества. СПб., 1994
Кухта Е. А. Комиссаржевская // Русское актерское искусство ХХ века: Сб. науч. тр. СПб., 1992 Alexandrinsky Theatre
Komissarzhevskaya Theatre
Komissarzhevskaya Theatre
Passage, department store
Nikolskoe Cemetery
Necropolis of Artists
1904
1910