Pétrouchka, it is understood, is roughly the Russian counterpart of our familiar Punch, though he would seem to have really but little in common with the riotous Falstaffian character of the English hero. In the ballet named after him, however, Pétrouchka represents not so much certain human traits as _himself_, the essential puppet. In its trivial way the theme thus presented is a big one. A ballet woven round the puppet stage would have been in any case attractive. To take us behind the scenes and show the mingled comedy and tragedy of the puppet world was a true dramatic inspiration. In the result “Pétrouchka” is an achievement perhaps finer than even its authors had intended. * * * * * Not only in their miming, but in their scenery also, the Russians have a subtle art of suggesting local atmosphere. There is a bleak, grey quality about the background to the scene with which “Pétrouchka” opens that conveys an instant sense of Russian cold--a dull frigidity which not all the gay and vivid hues of the parti-coloured crowd thronging the stage can thaw, which, indeed, the latter merely enhance, as they in turn are intensified by contrast against so perfect a foil. One has a sense of opaque, leaden skies, of snow impending. It is fair-time, the last few days of high revelry before the Lenten fast begins. Carnival is in full swing, and folk of every station are making merry amongst the booths and raree-shows that [Illustration] have been set up in the market-place. A spirit of careless jollity prevails, and as the mingled nature of the moving throng betrays, the licence of carnival time has broken down all barriers of ceremonious restraint. Coachmen, Cossacks, nurse girls and grisettes rub shoulders freely with ladies and their escorts, smart officers and sober burgesses. [Illustration] Itinerant vendors offer their wares among the promenaders, and an eager rogue sets up, for tempting of the revellers’ purses, the clumsy peep-show which he carries on his back. The coins begin to roll in as the gaping sightseers gather round, but his harvest is interrupted by the greater attractions of a dancing girl, who begins upon a strip of carpet laid with care upon the ground a posturing dance, to the accompaniment of strains from a hurdy-gurdy turned by her male companion. She likewise is not allowed to hold the field undisputed, for a rival--also attended by a portable organ--establishes herself hard by. The pair vie with each other in elegant poses and slow rhythmic movements, while the thin strains of the opposing hurdy-gurdies dolefully assail the ear.