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

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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ISBN(s)
  • 978-0-8101-3355-6 (paper)
  • 978-0-8101-3356-3 (hardcover)
  • 978-0-8101-3357-0 (e-book)
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  • Performing Arts
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  • Chapter 2: Tairov-Celionati: Mime-Drama and Kaleidoscopic Commedia3
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  • Brambilla3
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  • Yakulov, Georgy
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This scene design explodes with riotous color, fragmented angles, painted columns, and curlicues. A staircase spills down the center of the stage, while platforms on the sides and in the rear provide multiple playing levels for the actors.

Scene design for Princess Brambilla

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

Georgy Yakulov, scene design for 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). КП 238272/606. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

Design that suggests the costume for one of Nikolai Bykov’s characters in Princess Brambilla rather than exhaustively depicting it. The costume contains splashes of red, white, yellow ochre, and black with green gloves, a feathered hat, and a hint of a mask.

Design for Nikolai Bykov’s costume, Princess Brambilla

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

Georgy Yakulov, design for actor Nikolai Bykov’s costume, 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). КП 238272/594. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

This costume design for one of Alexander Rumnev's characters gives a clear sense of his lithe, supple figure while also showing how the production’s costumes captured the plasticity and color palette of the set.

Costume design for Alexander Rumnev, Princess Brambilla

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

Georgy Yakulov, costume design for Alexander Rumnev, 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). КП 238272/578. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

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