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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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In this scene design sketch, towers flank an ornately carved proscenium arch, the opening of which is bridged by a gymnast's bar that provided a practical playing space in the air above the stage. In the upstage distance are the rooftops of the city of Nuremberg. As is typical of Eisenstein's sketches, the edges of the drawing are populated by faces and figures in varying states of completion.

Design sketch for Master Martin

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

Sergei Eisenstein, design sketch for Master Martin the Cooper and His Men, based on the tale by E. T. A. Hoffmann. Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 1923, op. 1, ed. khr. 796: 6 verso.

Rough notes for the first entrance of Pierrot’s friends in Columbine’s Wedding Veil. All the action for the scenes in Pierrot’s garret was to take place on the crossbars of an enormous vertical window. The first drawing in Eisenstein’s notes shows Pierrot’s four friends splitting into two pairs to enter from both below and above. The second drawing has all four of them instead enter from a trapdoor and cross over the top of the window frame.

Notes for Columbine’s Wedding Veil

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

Sergei Eisenstein, preliminary notes for Columbine’s Wedding Veil (May 1, 1922), the pantomime that became Columbine's Garter. Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 1923, op. 1, ed. khr. 815: 2.

Eccentric Heartbreak House scene design in red, black, yellow, and white, created from string and cutout paper. The center of the design is dominated by a large arched structure with an actor walking along its crossbeam.

Eccentric scene design for Heartbreak House

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

Sergei Eisenstein, Eccentric scene design for Shaw’s Heartbreak House, State Higher Theatre Workshops (GVYTM), (June 19, 1922). Paper, applique, ink, 34.7 × 48.5 cm. КП 62005. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

Costume sketch for Ma, a constructivist character in Columbine’s Garter who is half human, half restaurant. One of her thighs is marked roast (rôti) and the other soup (potage), while her left breast has three taps for dispensing drinks.

Costume sketch for Ma in Columbine’s Garter

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

Sergei Eisenstein, costume sketch for Ma in Columbine’s Garter, by Sergei Eisenstein and Sergei Yutkevich (1922). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 1923, op. 1, ed. khr. 817: 2.

Costume sketch for Pa, a constructivist character in Columbine’s Garter who is half human, half toilet. His body is assembled from human and mechanical parts. His top hat is capped with a toilet lid crammed with various newspapers. A toilet tank marked PA juts upward from his body. At the center of his body is the word "Pipifax"––Eisenstein and Yutkevich's joint alter ego.

Costume sketch for Pa in Columbine’s Garter

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

Sergei Eisenstein, costume sketch for Pa in Columbine’s Garter, by Sergei Eisenstein and Sergei Yutkevich (dated 1922, 1934). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 1923, op. 1, ed. khr. 817: 6.

Rough sketches for a female character in a bowler hat, most likely Columbine.

Costume sketch for Columbine in Columbine’s Garter

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

Sergei Eisenstein, costume sketch for Columbine in Columbine’s Garter, by Sergei Eisenstein and Sergei Yutkevich (1922). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 1923, op. 1, ed. khr. 817: 15.

Rough pencil sketch of Columbine, in a half mask, above, strangling Pierrot, in a skullcap, below. On the drawing appear the words “venez,” “vous,” and “êtes,” three of the words in the phrase “Venez sans céremonies et telle que vous êtes!” (Come without ceremony just as you are!), which Pierrot says to Columbine just before she comes to his garret to kill him.

Sketch of Columbine strangling Pierrot, Columbine’s Garter

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

Sketch of Columbine strangling Pierrot, Columbine’s Garter, by Sergei Eisenstein and Sergei Yutkevich (1922). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 1923, op. 1, ed. khr. 817: 17 verso.

Libretto page from Columbine’s Garter of scenes 4, 5, 6, and most of 7, focusing on “circus” attractions, ending just before Harlequin breaks the musicians’ instruments.

Libretto page from act 2 of Columbine’s Garter

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

Sergei Eisenstein and Sergei Yutkevich, page from act 2 of the pantomime libretto for Columbine’s Garter (1922). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 1923, op. 1, ed. khr. 816: 15.

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