Alexander Kugel

Alexander Rafailovich Kugel (, born Avraam Rafailovich Kugel; 1864, — 5 October 1928) was a Russian and Soviet theatre critic and editor, founder of the False Mirror (Krivoye Zerkalo), a popular theatre of parodies.

Biography Alexander Kugel was born in Mazyr, in the Minsk Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Belarus), to rabbi Rafail Mikhaylovich Kugel and his wife Balbana Yakovlevna. Both his parents were respected figures: his father founded the first printing-house in the city; his mother launched the Russian school for Jewish children in Mozyr. Alexander had two brothers, Iona and Nathan, who later became journalists.

In 1886, after graduating from Saint Petersburg University, where he studied law, Kugel started to contribute feuilletons and theatre reviews for the newspapers Peterburgskaya Gazeta, Rus and Den, using the pseudonyms "Homo Novus", "N. Negorev" and "Kvidam". Among the publications that came out as supplements to the magazine were The People of Theatre Dictionary (Словарь сценических деятелей, 1898–1916, 16 issues, letters А—М), and compilations of plays, theatre memoirs and music scores.

A staunch 'starover' in all questions concerning the theatre, Kugel launched a personal crusade against 'symbolism, decadence and all manner of theatrical fable-telling', believing them to have "nothing to do with either art or [Russian] national tradition," according to the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary. "Stanislavski, always tetchy about bad reviews, initially treated the critic as a personal enemy, but soon learned to value Kugel's insightful analyses of his directorial schemes and ideas, and even admire this 'useful' opponent," according to the theatre historian Inna Solovyova.

Back in the early 1910s Kugel planned to release a series of books showcasing his theories and beliefs, but first came the First World War, then the 1917 Revolutions, and only one of the planned publications came out, in 1923, Endorsement of Theatre (Утверждение театра). He authored two books of memoirs, Literary Memoirs. 1882—1896) (1923) and Leaves off a Tree. Memoirs (1926, dealing with the 1896—1908 period). In 1927 his monograph on Vasily Kachalov was released. Two more books of his, Profiles of the Theatre and Russian Dramatists, came out posthumously.

Alexander Kugel died on 5 October 1928 in Leningrad. He is interred in Volkovo Cemetery.