Alexander Tairov

Alexander Yakovlevich Tairov (Russian: Александр Яковлевич Таиров, Ukrainian: Олександр Якович Таїров; 6 July 1885 – 5 September 1950) was one of the leading innovators of theatrical art, and one of the most enduring theatre directors in Russia, and through the Soviet era.

Aleksandr Tairov was born Aleksandr Yakovlevich Korenblit on July 6, 1885, in Romny, Ukraine, Russian Empire. His father, Yakov Korenblit, was the headmaster of a primary school in Berdichev. At the age of 10, young Tairov moved to Kiev and settled with his aunt, a retired actress. She introduced him to theatre. He took part in amateur performances and assumed the name Tairov as a pseudonym.

In 1904 he enrolled in the Law School at Kiev University. That same year Tairov married his cousin, Olga. In 1905 Tairov opposed the pogroms of Jews in Kiev. He was arrested by the Tsar's police and imprisoned. His second arrest led him to a decision to move from Kiev to St. Petersburg.

In 1906 Tairov was invited by the famous Russian actress Vera Komissarzhevskaya and joined her theatre as an actor under directorship of Vsevolod Meyerhold. At the same time Tairov also continued his studies at the Law school of St. Petersburg University. There he started his lifelong friendship with Anatoli Lunacharsky. He collaborated with Vsevolod Meyerhold on a joint production of a play by Paul Claudel. Both directors were creating new experimental models for theatre in Russia. Tairov felt that the work of Meyerhold's actors was dictated by the production concept and that the actors were mere puppets. Soon Tairov left to join Pavel Gaideburov's company where he was asked to direct.

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