Eugene Vakhtangov, Director (1883-1922)

Vakhtangov created a style he called fantastic realism out of a synthesis of Stanislavsky's emphasis on concentration and exploration of character and subject and Meyerhold's stylized movement and scenic elements. They look a lot like the stuff the expressionists came up with. His productions always looked unified and finished, if not coherent, because he insisted his actors be able to justify everything they did on stage.

In 1920 Stanislavky put him in charge of the Third Studio of the Moscow Art Theatre where he strove to establish a center for "theatrical realism" as "the tendency in the theatre arts that aspired creatively to establish a special and theatrical life on the stage, a life that would strike the audience as a new reality. This Theatrical life could be called life precisely because it would be presented with the conviction of real life."

He staged the groundbreaking production of The Dybbuk for then fledgeling Habima in Moscow.

His crowning achievement was his production of Carlo Gozzi's Turandot at the Third Studio which was named for him in 1926. Too ill to see the first performance, he heard of its great success and died three months later. It is the model for "theatrical" productions which follow. The actors wore modern evening clothes to which they added in the course of the action pieces of colored cloth. They used set pieces which they arranged in full view of the audience. It has been described as a combination of elegance, commedia dell'arte and charades. It is still in the repertory of the Vakhtangov Theatre.

His influence was passed on by many actors and directors who he had worked with in his brief career including Zavadsky, Simonov, Zakhava, Shchukin, and many others. There is a trend in Russian named for Vakhtangov.