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ages are a combination of abstract geometric shapes and simple
yet evocative figures. The geometric shapes were produced by a
series of moveable blocks, which printed vertical, horizontal,
and diagonal lines of various thicknesses and densities. These
shapes functioned more or less as "stock scenery" and could
be manipulated by Craig and the Cranach Press printers to fit
the spatial parameters of the text and the margin notes as they
completed the layout of the book. (Newman 2005, 138-139)
These complex illustrations are essentially scenographic
images, with a figure or figures placed in a particular scenic
context. The abstract geometric shapes are the functional
equivalent of Craig's screens, with which he had conducted his
early experiments in space and movement in Florence beginning in 1907, and which composed the scenic elements of the
realized Moscow Hamlet of 1912. While some of the illustrations are reminiscent of the Moscow production, the majority
are new compositions. From the large-scale illustrations found
early in the play to the smaller and more intimate compositions
for later scenes, Craig's abstract scenery provides a hard-edged
counterpoint to the flowing forms of the figures.
The scale and proportion of the composite block illustrations are also quite noteworthy. The ability to fluidly change the
size of the stage picture had long been an artistic concern for
Craig. Now the relative freedom of the printed page enabled him
to manipulate scale and proportion at will. This is seen in Craig's
illustration of the mad Ophelia inside a window of the palace at
Elsinore (fig. 1). Here the artist contrasts the same linear scenic blocks employed in other illustrations with figures of a much
smaller scale. The result is a large and imposing space which
eloquently underscores the dramatic tension of the moment.
The composite block illustrations are further remarkable
in their clarity and precision. Woven together by the common
thread of the linear scenic elements, these images have a stylistic unity that is considerably more sophisticated than Craig's
illustrations for the individual figures and scenes. This unity reveals Craig at the height of his artistic powers. It is fitting that
these illustrations are among the last that Craig produced for
the Cranach Press Hamlet. All of his previous work as a designer, director, and theorist had been an essential prelude to
their creation. Craig had finally achieved his goal of replacing
distracting scenery with theatrical space that harmonizes with
the thoughts of the poet.
While it is possible to view Craig's beautiful and strange
images for the Cranach Press Hamlet as narrative illustration,
this approach underestimates their broader theatrical nature.
Rendered in white lines and black silhouette, the illustrations
can be seen as shadow puppets reminiscent of both the European popular theatre and the intricately designed wayang kulit
shadow puppets of the classical theatre of Indonesia.
In Black Figures, a book of Craig's graphic works published in 1989, the English scholar L.M. Newman, who wrote
the book's introduction and documentation, explores this important conceptual framework: "Although from an operational
point of view, Craig's figures are not strictly speaking either

puppets or marionettes, Craig sometimes described them as
such, and as objects they conform to the puppet aesthetic....
Impersonal, each figure avoids the realism of the actor and his
swaying passions. It plays one part, being an emphasis and essence of the character it is intended to reflect, and may often
portray not an individual, but a generalized and universal state
of emotion. Like the screens, the figure challenges the spectator to complete his being through his own imaginative power."
(Craig 1989, 20)
It is in the transformation from narrative illustrations
to silent and obedient marionettes that the greatest theatrical
value of Craig's imagery for the Cranach Press Hamlet can
be found. After many years of struggle, Craig had at long last
created his über-marionettes, which he considered to be the
most essential component of his radically innovative theatre
of the future. As the artist himself states in an essay dated June
15, 1945:
What is it, you think, that held me with my eyes so fixedly
on these ghostly creatures? I believe it was that, small as
they were, I saw them as the übermarionettes of which I had
been at such pains to write in 1907 and 1908...Yes, I do
believe they were notes, as it were, sketches, of the noble
übermarionettes everyone pooh-poohed and I so grievously
loved...No more my white starving figures of 1907 and 1908
but glossy skinned fellows and girls whom now and again I
take out from their box and stand them up to look at them.
Not much changed: if black's no different from white, not a
whit changed. I stand them up and think of the years and of
that lost continent, my Theatre. They are the signposts which
leading back through the phantom forest of trees, passing
back from Black to Grey to Blanc point us the way to the
worth-while Theatre-the Theatre of dreams-where we
hear a voice saying: our little life is rounded with a sleep.
(Craig 1989, 33-34)

EPiloguE
In 1926, Edward Gordon Craig received an unexpected invitation from the noted Danish actor Johannes Poulsen to design
a production of Henrik Ibsen's The Pretenders for the Royal
Theatre in Copenhagen. This commission was a welcome opportunity for Craig. He had not realized any of his stage designs
since the Moscow Hamlet in 1912. Craig traveled to Copenhagen to supervise the designs, which were received with great acclaim by the Danish audiences and critics. Craig was to publish
a monograph devoted to the designs (Craig 1930). The following tale of Craig's trip is paraphrased from that work.
One day, shortly after the opening of the production, Johannes Poulsen invited Craig to accompany him, his wife, and
some travelling companions on a day trip to visit the Castle of
Hamlet at Elsinore.
Craig was delighted take such a trip: he had long dreamed
of visiting the actual place that had been such an important part
of his artistic life and musings. Enroute to Elsinore, the party
stopped at an inn for a grand lunch, which had been previously
arranged by the warm and effusive Poulsen. The room where

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Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2014