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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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  • Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque9
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Photograph of Meyerhold taken in front of a mirror so that both his face and profile can be seen simultaneously.

Photo of Vsevolod Meyerhold

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Photo portrait of Vsevolod Meyerhold by Alexei Temerin (1929). КП 180170/477. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

This rare rehearsal photo of episode 1 shows the actors’ long, crisscrossing pipes and their tight semi-circular grouping around the table. The Mayor (Starkovsky, right) stands clutching his heart while Doctor Hubner (Temerin) tends to him.

Rehearsal photo for episode 1 of Inspector General

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Rehearsal for episode 1 of 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. КП 180170/1046. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

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.

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.

In this photograph, the officer-in-transit (Kelberer) sprawls on the stage (left) and Khlestakov (Garin) lies collapsed in a chair (right), both in a drunken stupor, while the Major’s wife (Raikh) guides the town officials out on tiptoe.

Photo of end of episode 7, Inspector General

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

End of episode 7, “Behind a Bottle of Tolstobriushka,” 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.

In this famous photograph, Khlestakov (Garin), the officer-in-transit (Kelberer), and Osip (Fadeev) sit center on a bare stage while white-gloved hands with white packages (the bribes) emerge from the many doors that surround them.

Photo of episode 9, “Bribes,” Inspector General

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Episode 9, “Bribes,” 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. КП 180170/910. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

These wax and papier-maché doubles of the production’s characters stand in an arc on tiny platforms that were pushed through the set’s many double doors while the stage was obscured with a curtain.

Photo of dumb show, Inspector General

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Dumb show, 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. КП 180170/921. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

This photograph shows the Inspector General dumb show mannequins, made by V. M. Petrov, in the process of being created. The bodies are newspaper papier-maché over wire armatures, while the faces (with surprised expressions) are wax. The figures are permanently attached to the small platforms on which they later stood at the end of the production.

Photo of dumb show mannequin construction, Inspector General

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Making the mannequins for the dumb show, 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. КП 180170/1056. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

Actors stand in a variety of positions, each the personification of shocked dismay, to pose for the creation of the dumb-show mannequins that replaced their live bodies at the end of Meyerhold’s Inspector General.

Photo of actors posing for the dumb show mannequins, Inspector General

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Posing for the mannequins for the dumb show, 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. КП 294580/246. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

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