Lyudmila Erarskaya


Lyudmila Erarskaya, was a Russian actress who performed from the pre-revolutionary period until her death in Moscow. She was an associate and friend of some of the most noted intellectuals of her era and was most known for her relationship with and inspiration of poems by Sophia Parnok.

Biography

Lyudmila Vladimirovna Erarskaya was a Russian actress who worked in the Moscow theater created by N. K. Nezlobina, in pre-Revolutionary Russia. She was the lover-muse of poet Sophia Parnok from 1916 to 1926, and the inspiration for Parnok's adaptation of the libretto, Almast. During the war years, she and Parnok lived in the Crimea in the town of Sudak and Erarskaya staged productions to entertain the intellectual community who were living there, such as Adelaida Gertsyk, Eugenia Gertsyk, Alexander Spendiarov, and Maximilian Voloshin. She also joined the Federal Art Workers Union, becoming its secretary, while simultaneously heading the theater section for the Ministry of Education in Sudak. She staged benefits for the Sudak High School and performed plays written by the community for the soldiers fighting in the area. Returning to Moscow in 1921, she suffered a serious bout of tuberculosis in 1923 and in January 1925, suffered a mental breakdown and was hospitalized for a year. By the time of her release, she had developed a friendship with Parnok's friend, Olga Tsuberbiller which would last throughout her life. From the 1930s until her death, Erarskaya performed at the Moscow Puppet Theater. She was the sister of the opera singer, Vera Erarskaya.

Performances