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The Director's Prism: E. T. A. Hoffmann and the Russian Theatrical Avant-Garde

Dassia N. Posner 2016
The Director's Prism investigates how and why three of Russia's most innovative directors— Vsevolod Meyerhold, Alexander Tairov, and Sergei Eisenstein—used the fantastical tales of German Romantic writer E. T. A. Hoffmann to reinvent the rules of theatrical practice. Because the rise of the director and the Russian cult of Hoffmann closely coincided, Posner argues, many characteristics we associate with avant-garde theater—subjective perspective, breaking through the fourth wall, activating the spectator as a co-creator—become uniquely legible in the context of this engagement. Posner examines the artistic poetics of Meyerhold's grotesque, Tairov's mime-drama, and Eisenstein's theatrical attraction through production analyses, based on extensive archival research, that challenge the notion of theater as a mirror to life, instead viewing the director as a prism through whom life is refracted. A resource for scholars and practitioners alike, this groundbreaking study provides a fresh, provocative perspective on experimental theater, intercultural borrowings, and the nature of the creative process.
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  • 978-0-8101-3356-3 (hardcover)
  • 978-0-8101-3355-6 (paper)
  • 978-0-8101-3357-0 (e-book)
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  • Performing Arts
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  • Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism2
  • Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque12
  • Chapter 2: Tairov-Celionati: Mime-Drama and Kaleidoscopic Commedia10
  • Chapter 3: Peregrinus Tyss Meets Pipifax: Eisenstein, the Grotesque, and the Attraction5
  • Epilogue: The Afterlife of a Death Jubilee1
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  • grotesque10
  • Kamerny Theatre9
  • Meyerhold Theatre9
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  • Meyerhold, Vsevolod7
  • Tairov, Alexander4
  • Temerin, Alexei4
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Nina Zarechnaia, shrouded in white, performs on an elevated outdoor stage while spectators sit on a bench looking on, their backs to the real audience beyond the imaginary fourth wall.

Photograph of Nina in The Seagull

From Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism

Nina Zarechnaia (Maria Roksanova) in act 1 of Chekhov’s The Seagull, directed by Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, Moscow Art Theatre (premiere: December 18, 1898; photograph from 1905 revival). Laurence Senelick Collection.

Photograph of Meyerhold, in profile, eyes gazing upward, in the white costume of Pierrot.

Photo of Meyerhold as Pierrot in Balaganchik

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque and Chapter 3: Peregrinus Tyss Meets Pipifax: Eisenstein, the Grotesque, and the Attraction

Vsevolod Meyerhold as Pierrot in Balaganchik, directed by Vsevolod Meyerhold, Vera Komissarzhevskaia Dramatic Theatre, Saint Petersburg (premiere: December 30, 1906). НВ 1567. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

Photograph of Tyltyl (Khaliutina, left) and Mytyl (Koonen, right), holding hands, shoeless, dressed in stockings and three-quarter-length white nightgowns.

Photo of Tyltyl and Mytyl in The Blue Bird

From Chapter 2: Tairov-Celionati: Mime-Drama and Kaleidoscopic Commedia

Tyltyl (Sofia Khaliutina) and Mytyl (Alisa Koonen) in The Blue Bird (Siniaia ptitsa), by Maurice Maeterlinck, directed by Konstantin Stanislavsky and Leopold Sulerzhitsky, Moscow Art Theatre (premiere: September 30, 1908). Photo: K. A. Fischer, Moscow. Laurence Senelick Collection.

Photograph of Perrybingle and Tackleton sitting before a cozy hearth, center, as Maliutka enters in apron and cap, left.

Photo of a scene from The Cricket on the Hearth

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

M. A. Durasova as Maliutka (Mary), G. M. Khmara as John Perrybingle, and Evgeny Vakhtangov as Tackleton in act 4, scene 3 of The Cricket on the Hearth, based on the novel by Charles Dickens, directed by Boris Sushkevich, Moscow Art Theatre First Studio (premiere: November 24, 1914). Laurence Senelick Collection.

Photograph of Samuil Vermel as Pierrot, his costume white with black pompoms, standing, head back, with a hand on a chair.

Photograph of Samuil Vermel as Pierrot

From Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism

Samuil Vermel as Pierrot in Pierrette’s Veil, by Arthur Schnitzler, music by Ernő Dohnányi, directed by Alexander Tairov (photo from the 1916 remount at the Moscow Kamerny Theatre). Photo: M. Sakharov & P. Orlov, 1917. Laurence Senelick Collection.

Alisa Koonen as Salomé, arms outstretched, wearing a thorny, beaded crown and a dress festooned with strings of beads, with rings on her fingers and a fan in her upper hand.

Photo of Alisa Koonen as Salomé in Salomé

From Chapter 2: Tairov-Celionati: Mime-Drama and Kaleidoscopic Commedia

Alisa Koonen as Salomé in Salomé, by Oscar Wilde, directed by Alexander Tairov, designed by Alexandra Exter, Moscow Kamerny Theatre (premiere: October 9, 1917). Photo: M. Sakharov and V. Orlov, 1917. Laurence Senelick Collection.

Photograph of Vertinsky in the costume of Black Pierrot in a black smock with white pompoms and cuffs. His black skullcap, eyebrows, and lips contrast sharply with his white-painted face.

Photo of Vertinsky in Black Pierrot costume

From Chapter 3: Peregrinus Tyss Meets Pipifax: Eisenstein, the Grotesque, and the Attraction

Alexander Vertinsky in Black Pierrot costume and white face. Photographer: A. Gornshtein, Saint Petersburg. Laurence Senelick Collection.

In this photograph from scene 7 of The Dawns, Meyerhold and Bebutov bridge the forestage and audience with a chorus of actors who form an unbroken human link between the two.

Photo of a scene from The Dawns

From Chapter 2: Tairov-Celionati: Mime-Drama and Kaleidoscopic Commedia

Scene from The Dawns, based on the play by Émile Verhaeren, directed by Vsevolod Meyerhold and Valery Bebutov, Theatre RSFSR 1, Moscow (premiere: November 7, 1920). НВМ 351/98. Copyright © Saint Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music.

Photograph of Giglio (Ferdinandov) and his Doppelgänger (Vigilev), center, wearing half masks with long, curved noses and dueling with swords while others in black half masks look on. Upstage, standing on one of the set’s several raised sections, stands a figure in black, Celionati (Shchirsky), seemingly conducting the duel as it progresses.

Photo of the duel scene, Princess Brambilla

From Chapter 2: Tairov-Celionati: Mime-Drama and Kaleidoscopic Commedia

Duel between Giglio and his Doppelgänger, Princess Brambilla: A Kamerny Theatre Capriccio, after Hoffmann, based on the novella by E. T. A. Hoffmann, directed by Alexander Tairov, Moscow Kamerny Theatre (premiere: May 4, 1920). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 2328, op. 1, ed. khr. 378: 2.

Photograph from the end of Princess Turandot. The actors hold the costume pieces they have just taken off while peeking out directly at the audience from the partially open curtain that the forestage servants pull back.

Photo of the finale of Princess Turandot (Nivinsky)

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque and Epilogue: The Afterlife of a Death Jubilee

Finale of Princess Turandot, by Carlo Gozzi, directed by Evgeny Vakhtangov, Moscow Art Theatre Third Studio (1922). Courtesy of Andrei Malaev-Babel.

In this photograph of the biomechanics exercise “The Horse,” also called “Three as a Horse,” one actor holds on to the shoulders of another while a third, one leg aloft, “rides” the horse formed by the lower two.

Photo of the biomechanics exercise "The Horse"

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque and Chapter 3: Peregrinus Tyss Meets Pipifax: Eisenstein, the Grotesque, and the Attraction

Photograph of Meyerhold’s students performing the biomechanics exercise “The Horse” (“The Ring”). State Higher Theatre Workshops (GVYTM), Moscow (1922). TWS FIN05844. Copyright © Theaterwissenschaftliche Sammlung, University of Cologne.

A row of actors, identically clad in prozodezhda (utilitarian uniform costumes), bowing in unison, traverse the forestage in front of Liubov Popova’s constructivist playground of a set.

Photo of a scene from Magnanimous Cuckold

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Scene from Magnanimous Cuckold, based on the play by Fernand Crommelynck, directed by Vsevolod Meyerhold, Meyerhold Theatre (GosTIM), Moscow (GVYTM premiere: April 25, 1922; photograph from 1928 GosTIM remount). КП 180170/29. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

Profile photograph of Alisa Koonen in the role of Phaedra, her eyes cast downward, wearing a flat, angular headdress.

Photo of Alisa Koonen as Phaedra

From Chapter 2: Tairov-Celionati: Mime-Drama and Kaleidoscopic Commedia

Alisa Koonen in the role of Phaedra in Racine’s Phaedra (Phaedre), directed by Alexander Tairov, designed by Alexander Vesnin, Moscow Kamerny Theatre (premiere: February 8, 1922). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 2768, op. 1, ed. khr. 26: 2.

This photograph shows Koonen, grinning toothily and holding an enormous fan, in the costume of one of the twins she played in Giroflé-Girofla. A cloud of tulle envelops her head, and she wears an exaggerated ribbon-bedecked headpiece that is jauntily askew.

Photo of Alisa Koonen as one of the twins in Giroflé-Girofla

From Chapter 2: Tairov-Celionati: Mime-Drama and Kaleidoscopic Commedia

Alisa Koonen as one of the twins in Giroflé-Girofla, by Charles Lecocq, directed by Alexander Tairov, Moscow Kamerny Theatre (premiere: October 3, 1922). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 2768, op. 1, ed. khr. 27: 1.

Photograph of Goluvtin crossing over the audience's heads on an inclined tightrope wearing a tuxedo, with bare feet, holding a parasol. Also visible is some of the detail on the walls and ceiling of this ornate room in the mansion that before the Revolution had belonged to the wealthy Morozov family.

Photo of tightrope act in Wiseman

From Chapter 3: Peregrinus Tyss Meets Pipifax: Eisenstein, the Grotesque, and the Attraction

Tightrope act in Sergei Tretiakov’s Enough Stupidity in Every Wiseman, based on the play by Alexander Ostrovsky, directed by Sergei Eisenstein, Proletkult First Workers’ Theatre (premiere: April–May 1923). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 1923 op. 1 ed. khr. 805: 14.

Two strolling players, one a comedian (left), the other a tragedian (right), slowly descend an elevated catwalk that curves around the stage and ends in the orchestra pit.

Photo of Schastlivtsev and Neschastlivtsev in The Forest

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Schastlivtsev (Igor Ilinsky) and Neschastlivtsev (Mikhail Mukhin) on the long, curved bridge in The Forest, directed by Vsevolod Meyerhold, Meyerhold Theatre (GosTIM) (premiere: January 19, 1924). КП 180170/32. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

Photograph of Alisa Koonen in the armor of Joan of Arc, her heavily gloved hands clasped in front of her, her eyes to one side.

Photo of Alisa Koonen as Joan in Saint Joan

From Chapter 2: Tairov-Celionati: Mime-Drama and Kaleidoscopic Commedia

Alisa Koonen in the role of Joan in Shaw’s Saint Joan, directed by Alexander Tairov, Moscow Kamerny Theatre (premiere: October 21, 1924). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 2768, op. 1, ed. khr. 29: 2.

In this photograph, Khlestakov (Garin) sits bundled up on a Russian tiled stove in his untidy room at the local inn, nursing an ostensible toothache, while Dobchinsky (Mologin, left) and the Mayor (Starkovsky, above) enter down the curved staircase.

Photo of episode 4, “After Penza,” Inspector General

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Episode 4, “After Penza,” Inspector General, based on the play by Nikolai Gogol, adapted by Vsevolod Meyerhold and Mikhail Korenev, directed by Vsevolod Meyerhold, Meyerhold Theatre (GosTIM), Moscow (premiere: December 9, 1926). Photo by Alexei Temerin. Laurence Senelick Collection.

This photograph shows Khlestakov (Garin) in square glasses, a black coat and top hat, and a plaid scarf, with a bagel dangling on a string from his coat lapel.

Photo of Khlestakov in Inspector General

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Erast Garin as Khlestakov in Inspector General, based on the play by Nikolai Gogol, adapted by Vsevolod Meyerhold and Mikhail Korenev, directed by Vsevolod Meyerhold, Meyerhold Theatre (GosTIM), Moscow (premiere: December 9, 1926). TWS FPN 5122. Copyright © Theaterwissenschaftliche Sammlung, University of Cologne.

Anna Andreevna’s (Raikh) bedroom overflows with officers who serenade her, strumming imaginary strings. One pops out of the top of her cupboard, brandishing an enormous bouquet.

Photo of episode 3, “The Unicorn,” Inspector General

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Episode 3, “The Unicorn,” Inspector General, based on the play by Nikolai Gogol, adapted by Vsevolod Meyerhold and Mikhail Korenev, directed by Vsevolod Meyerhold, Meyerhold Theatre (GosTIM), Moscow (premiere: December 9, 1926). Photo by Alexei Temerin. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Dana (1902-1968) Collection, THE B MS Thr 402, Box 34, Folder 6. Harvard Theatre Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University.

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