This museum premise is divided into the stage and the auditorium in the same way at the theater space itself. A Shakespeare’s performance is going on the stage, as if reminding us of the words of the great dramatist that “the entire world is a theater.” In front of it there is the “Theater departure place” where the reality seen by Gogol turns into the subject of a theater action.  

W. Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” had been present in the repertoire of the Petersburg drama troupe practically permanently; at various times, new addressing to the play meant not only the change of esthetic coordinates but also evolution of ideological and often political preferences. For the first time, “Hamlet” appeared on the Russian stage in the reconstruction of the “father of the Russian stage” A. Sumarokov back in the 18^th century. Later on, the French version of the play had been performed. Translations by Viskovatov became a new stage of exploring W. Shakespeare. And in the 1830s, the great V. Karatygin starred in the performance produced by I. Sosnitsky on the base of a new translation by N. Polevoy. After Karatygin’s death in 1853, it was hard to find a replacement for him in this role. But later on, “Hamlet” did return to the Alexandrinsky Stage. One costume from the “Hamlet” performance remained as of the middle of the 19^th century; it is displayed in a museum show-case. Meticulous artistic development marked P. Gnedich’s production of the early 20^th century’ he also designed the costumes. A major part of this collection has survived and remains in the theater up until now; we can see the costumes in this hall.

In 1954, a prominent cinema director G. Kozintsev directed his “Hamlet” on the Alexandrinsky Stage. N. Altman was the artist of this performance. Sketches and costumes created for this performance are represented in the hall. B. Freindlikh was playing the major role. Later on, already in the 1990s, director R. Goryayev and artist M. Kitayev created two versions of “Hamlet;” the part of Hamlet was played by V. Smirnov and A. Bargman, and the role of Gertrude by N. Urgant.

The Alexandrinsky audience, which, according to A. Pushkin, was “educating dramatic talents,” has always been very much diversified. It represented various social layers of the Russian society sticking to different esthetic opinions. N. Gogol described this “Alexandrinsky Babylon” in his dramatic sketch; artist R. Zhukovsky depicted the “Alexandrinsky Theater Departure” on his well-known drawing.

Actors of the Alexandrinsky Theater were good at truthful and acute impersonation of the modern society on the stage. To do this, they had endless observations and sharp professionalism. This is why we can see costumes of K. Varlamov from “Krechinsky’s Marriage” by A. Sukhovo-Kobylin, of P. Samoilov from the “Woes of Wits” performance, a dress coat of L. Vivien in which the theater leader-to-be was also coming out in Griboyedov’s comedy… The coats of the theater doorkeepers of various periods are displayed in the side show case.

From the middle of the 19^th century, this and the adjacent rooms had been hosting the Theater-Literary Committee of the Imperial Theaters; prominent writers, dramatists, and theater figurers were meeting here considering the fate of new plays and translations. Their recommendations were letting new dramatic compositions out into the stage.