Constructivist Stage

構成主義舞台美術 / 1922–1930s / Style / Stage Design

Revolutionary Russia's style that discarded painted backdrops for a bare working machine on stage. The turning structure Popova built for The Magnanimous Cuckold remade stage design as working construction.

Constructivist Stage — Popova, set for The Magnanimous Cuckold 1922 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — Popova, set for The Magnanimous Cuckold 1922 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Constructivist Stage — Constructivist stage set — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — Constructivist stage set — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Constructivist Stage — Lyubov Popova, model of a stage set (St Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music) — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 · © Vaija — Lyubov Popova, model of a stage set (St Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music) — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · © Vaija

At a glance

Visual cues

Bare structures
Turning wheels and ramps
No backdrop
Biomechanics of the actor's body

Best used for

Stage sets the actors climb and operate, where the structure itself performs
Trade booths and concert rigs that show their function instead of hiding it

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Dictionary entry

Type: Stencil the lettering straight onto the structure, fitted to each panel
Composition: Leave the back empty and split the height into three working levels
Material: Raw timber and steel with wheels and pulleys left exposed
Caution: A static decorative tower called constructivist becomes a prop the actors cannot use, and the premise that the structure works disappears.
Further study: Lyubov Popova / Meyerhold's biomechanics / Stepanova's stage work

Related entries

Constructivism (構成主義)Shared effects: Rebellion / Exhilaration.Compare Constructivist Stage and Constructivism
Bauhaus Stage (バウハウスの舞台)Same Stage Design lineage.Compare Constructivist Stage and Bauhaus Stage

Cite this entry

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Link: https://indexstyle.org/styles/constructivist-stage
Markdown: [Constructivist Stage — IndexStyle](https://indexstyle.org/styles/constructivist-stage)
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