Ruslan and Ludmila
In the second quarter of the century native Russian plays gradually increased their share. Maly performances included works by Vasily Zhukovsky, Alexander Griboyedov ("Woe from Wit" 1831 featuring both Shchepkin and Pavel Mochalov). Alexander Pushkin ("Ruslan and Ludmila" 1825, "The Fountain of Bakhchisaray" 1827, "The Gypsies" 1832) and lesser known, now forgotten authors. In three decades, from the 1820s to the 1840s, the theatre shed the over-dramatization of vaudeville and romanticism and replaced it with "something approaching a realistic style [that] we would recognize today." The former Vargin House was expanded to its present size by Konstantin Thon between 1838 and 1840. The new stage allowed use of elaborate box sets that became standard practice at Maly, while Bolshoy conservatively relied on primitive wing-and-border cloth sets.