The book follows on from Barkhin's Architecture of the Theatre Volume 1, which offers an overview of theatre construction from ancient Greece, through the Renaissance to pre-revolution and Soviet Russia. Volume 2 describes in detail the designs for Soviet theatres that were prepared for competitions all over the country, some of which were implemented but many of which are little known. Projects by the Vesnin brothers, Barkhin himself (with his son Mikhail), Moisei Ginzburg, and other architects, are shown through the eyes of the architect-author, himself immersed in the task of re-designing and building theatres in the aftermath of the war.

The second volume on architecture in the latest of Fontanka/Ginzburg Design re-publications of seminal works on Soviet architecture in English. Barkhin's Architecture of the Theatre is a fascinating survey of the theatre from a Soviet perspective