The sketches presented were developed based on the play by Leonid Andreyev Black Masks. Leonid Andreev (1871–1919) - the founder of Russian expressionism, in whose prose everyday reality and symbolic, irrational images are intertwined. The play "Black Masks" continues a number of Andreev's most complex dramas and fully reflects the writer's worldview. Hiding the dark nature of man, the mask is the central image in the work. All-encompassing metaphysical evil and powerlessness in front of it, the world as a theater of the absurd are the main themes. Also, this play is largely about trying to look into oneself, here we find the gap between essence and existence characteristic of existentialism, which is constantly revealed by the hero in the mysterious atmosphere of the carnival.