What is theater in the Soviet state? This is a theater forced to live according to the rules common to this state. A theater squeezed into the grip of a censorship machine, all the bolts and levers of which are arranged to interfere with its work as much as possible. Why were performances banned? Not because they found something seditious in them... were just afraid. They were afraid of art - original, unexpected, out of bounds, such as in the Taganka Theater. Reading censorship documents, you are amazed at how the theater managed to live and release new performances. Only one thing helped. But it was she who was worth a lot. It was the support of the audience. The protocols of discussions of performances by officials and the unique Art Council of the theater (the listing of the names of its members alone is amazing), letters "upstairs," articles by theater experts, notes by spectators and other documents, a significant part of which are published for the first time, tell about the bright fate of Taganka.