Strelskaia, Varvara

(married name, Stu-kolkina). Born Dec. 4 (16), 1838, in Moscow; died Jan. 11 (24), 1915, in Petrograd. Russian actress.

The daughter of actors, Strel’skaia studied at the St. Petersburg Theatrical School. In 1857 she began performing at the Aleksandrinskii Theater, where she worked for the rest of her life. At first she played young girls in comedies and musical vaudevilles, her best role of this period being that of Liza in Gri-boedov’s Woe From Wit. Strel’skaia reached the height of her career as a comedienne when she began playing character roles of middle-aged and elderly women. A remarkable interpreter of characters in plays of A. N. Ostrovskii, she was noted for her spontaneity, integrated characterizations, charm, strong comic appeal, and rich, colorful diction. Her best roles included Domna Pantelevna, Kukushkina, and Migacheva in Ostrovskii’s Talents and Admirers, A Profitable Post, and Not a Penny, and Suddenly an Altyn, Poshlepkina and Fekla Ivanovna in Gogol’s The Inspector-General and Marriage, and Prostakova in Fonvizin’s The Minor.