“Вы не должны […] негодовать на Веру”: Письма М.Н. Шульгиной С.С. Татищеву

In the period from autumn 1894 to spring 1896, while Vera Komissarzhevskaya was acting on the stage of the Vilna Theater (Nezlobin’s enterprise), her friendly relations with the high-ranking state dignitary, diplomat, and publicist Sergei Tatishchev began. Tatishchev offered to use his influence in theatrical circles to help Komissarzhevskaya sign a lucrative contract with the Alexandrinsky Imperial Theatre, where she aspired to act. Their correspondence, which lasted almost a year, reveals, on the one hand, Komissarzhevskaya’s determination to continue her theatrical career, and on the other, the complex personal history of her relationship with Tatishchev. Included in this article are letters to Tatishchev from Komissarzhevskaya’s mother Maria Shulgina, which give another point of view on the circumstances and fill in the gaps in the actress’s biography. Shulgina’s letters are published for the first time.