Intrigue and Love
Kositskaya debut at Maly Theatre in 1847, to much acclaim. In her first season she played Parasha ("Parasha the Syberian" by Nikolai Polevoy), Luisa ("Intrigue and Love" by Friedrich Schiller), Ophelia ("Hamlet" by William Shakespeare), Mikaela ("Daughter of Karl the Brave", by Vladimir Zotov). Critics praised her performances in melodramas, admitting her vaudevillian abilities were limited. In the early 1850s she failed as Masha in Ivan Turgenev's "The Bachelor" (Schepkin's benefice) and people started talking openly of her decline.