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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 3: Peregrinus Tyss Meets Pipifax: Eisenstein, the Grotesque, and the Attraction13
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In this production photograph from Tarelkin’s Death, Brandakhlystova’s children ride on a broad, short seesaw.

Photo of a scene from Tarelkin's Death

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

Brandakhlystova’s children, played by Vladimir Liutse (left) and E. Bengis (right), in Tarelkin’s Death, based on the play by Sukhovo-Kobylin, directed by Vsevolod Meyerhold, designed by Varvara Stepanova, State Higher Theatre Workshops (GVYTM) (premiere: November 24, 1922). Negative reproduction, 11.7 × 8.7 cm. ГИК 9302/39, ОН 16024. Copyright © Saint Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music.

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.

Constructivist drawing of Kumeiko, dressed as a clown (lower right), and Knorre (center) peforming the balancing act for which the duo became famous.

Balance, drawing

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

Sergei Yutkevich, Balance. Drawing of Fedor Knorre (in the air) and Evgeny Kumeiko (below) (1923). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art f. 3070 op. 1 ed. khr. 412: 1.

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.

Rough pencil sketch of vertical staging ideas for Wiseman, including a lyra (aerial hoop) and tightrope, both of which appeared in the final production. As was the case in many of Eisenstein theatrical sketches, various words –– in this case "Moscow Proletkult," "attraction," "training" ­­–– appear within the drawing itself.

Mise-en-scène sketch for Wiseman

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

Sergei Eisenstein, mise-en-scène sketch for 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. 801: 8 verso.

In this photograph, several characters cluster around Glumov, in clown white, who is holding a character in checked trousers (Mamaev) upside down by his feet. A sign in front of him reads "ARA" (American Relief Administration), while behind him is a structure with two ladders and a bar: an inner proscenium.

Photo of parodic action in Wiseman

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

Parodic action (satirizing Hoover's American Relief Administration) within and downstage of the inner proscenium in 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: 16.

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.

Film clip of Glumov chasing the thief of his diary up the outside of the former Morozov family mansion, which housed Proletkult after the Revolution.

Film clip from “Glumov’s Diary”

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

Film clip from 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). НВ 4808/5. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

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