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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 Prism5
  • Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque4
  • Chapter 2: Tairov-Celionati: Mime-Drama and Kaleidoscopic Commedia8
  • Chapter 3: Peregrinus Tyss Meets Pipifax: Eisenstein, the Grotesque, and the Attraction8
  • Epilogue: The Afterlife of a Death Jubilee2
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  • Hoffmann
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  • Eisenstein, Sergei8
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  • Tairov, Alexander4
  • Yakulov, Georgy3
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Portrait of Hoffmann, head and shoulders, full front, eyes gazing to one side.

E. T. A. Hoffmann, self-portrait

From Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism

E. T. A. Hoffmann, self-portrait. Frontispiece to E. T. A. Hoffmann, Fantasy Pieces in Callot’s Manner: Pages from the Diary of a Traveling Romantic, 2nd edition. Bamberg, 1819. Oak Grove Library Center, call number: 833.6 H71f. Courtesy of Northwestern University Library. Photo by the author.

Pencil drawing of Hoffmann, dancing, one knee lifted, smoking a long pipe.

Kapellmeister Kreisler in Insanity, drawing

From Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism

E. T. A. Hoffmann, Kapellmeister Kreisler in Insanity (Berlin, February 1822). Drawing for the first edition of The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr, volume 3. Staatsbibliothek Bamberg, Art.f.23ga. Photo: Gerald Raab.

Watercolor of Kapellmeister Johannes Kreisler in a brown dressing gown and red hat, smoking a long pipe, standing before a writing table, on which lies Hoffmann’s opera Undine.

Kapellmeister Johannes Kreisler in a Dressing Gown, watercolor

From Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism

E. T. A. Hoffmann, Kapellmeister Johannes Kreisler in a Dressing Gown, After a Life Drawing by Erasmus Spikher (Berlin, January/February 1815). Original watercolor. Staatsbibliothek Bamberg, I R 65. Photo: Gerald Raab.

Title page to Fantasy Pieces with an illustration, center, of a harp player and a sphinx.

Title page for Fantasy Pieces in Callot’s Manner

From Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism

Title page for E. T. A. Hoffmann, Fantasy Pieces in Callot’s Manner: Pages from the Diary of a Traveling Enthusiast. Bamberg: C. F. Kunz, 1814. Staatsbibliothek Bamberg, L.g.o.1135/1. Photo: Gerald Raab.

This drawing consists of a single whimsical line that wanders, curves, and loops back on itself.

Parodic illustration of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy

From Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism

E. T. A. Hoffmann, parodic illustration (c. 1804, Plock) of the narrative structure of Laurence Sterne’s novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1759–1767). Staatsbibliothek Bamberg, L.g.o.391e/B19. Photo: Gerald Raab.

Typed playbill with House of Interludes logo that lists the actors and artists of The Reformed Eccentric, Columbine’s Veil and two other pieces that were part of the evening’s program: The Dutchwoman Liza and Black and White.

Playbill for Columbine’s Veil

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Playbill for the December 10, 1910 performance of Columbine’s Veil, based on the pantomime Pierrette’s Veil by Arthur Schnitzler, music by Ernő Dohnányi, adapted by Doctor Dapertutto (Vsevolod Meyerhold), directed by Vsevolod Meyerhold, House of Interludes, Saint Petersburg (premiere: October 12, 1910). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 998, op. 1, ed. khr. 2762: 1–1 verso.

This journal cover, painted in blue, beige, and orange, depicts a lavishly curtained stage on which a commedia dell’arte actor stands with three enormous oranges as three other actors peek out from the wings.

Cover design for the journal Love for Three Oranges

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Alexander Golovin, design for the front cover of Love for Three Oranges: The Journal of Doctor Dapertutto, no. 1–3 (1915). PN2007.L5 1915 no. 1/3. André Savine Collection, Rare Book Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, UNC-Chapel Hill.

This vivid design features several individually curtained balconies from which figures peer into the room below where Olimpia sits, center, playing a harp. A third level is populated by figures in masks positioned against a ceiling painted like the sky.

Scene design for the Olimpia act of Tales of Hoffmann (Sudeikin)

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Sergei Sudeikin, scene design for the Olimpia act of Tales of Hoffmann, by Jacques Offenbach, directed by Fedor Komissarzhevsky, Zimin Opera Theatre, Moscow (1915, production unrealized). КП 60434. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

This costume design, with its background of blues, pinks, and whites, reveals the set’s vivid, colliding, deliberately skewed planes. In the foreground stands an actor in gray with an enormous bowtie, his eyes replaced by dark blue smudges that stand out against his unnaturally white, painted skin. In the production, the actors wore dark blue paint around their eyes.

Costume design for Tales of Hoffmann (Lentulov)

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Astriarkh Lentulov, costume design for Tales of Hoffmann, by Jacques Offenbach, directed by Fedor Komissarzhevsky, KhPSRO (Artistic-Instructive Union of Workers’ Organizations) Theatre-Studio, Moscow (1919). КП 289402. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

Playbill that lists the production artists for the final invited dress rehearsal of Princess Brambilla, printed on pink paper.

Playbill for Princess Brambilla general rehearsal

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

Playbill for the May 3, 1920 general (invited dress) rehearsal of Princess Brambilla: A Kamerny Theatre Capriccio, after Hoffmann, based on the novella by E. T. A. Hoffmann, directed by Alexander Tairov, music by Henri Forterre, designed by Georgy Yakulov, Moscow Kamerny Theatre (premiere: May 4, 1920). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 2328, op. 1, ed. khr. 376: 1–2.

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.

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.

This set model, brimming with all the colors of the sunset painted onto its fragmented angles and whimsical curves, gives a keen sense of the three-dimensional, fantastical world in which Tairov’s actors played.

Set model for Princess Brambilla

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

Set model (authorized reproduction, 1927) for Princess Brambilla: A Kamerny Theatre Capriccio, after Hoffmann, based on the novella by E. T. A. Hoffmann, directed by Alexander Tairov, designed by Georgy Yakulov, Moscow Kamerny Theatre (premiere: May 4, 1920). 89 × 67.5 × 69.5 cm. TWS BM86. Copyright © Theaterwissenschaftliche Sammlung, University of Cologne, Germany.

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.

In this production photograph, carnival revelers in black half masks dance with wild abandon, the curves of their bodies consonant with the curves of the whimsical set.

Photo of a carnival scene, Princess Brambilla

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

Carnival scene, 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: 5.

Harlequin lies on a table painted with a skull and crossbones. Two of his rivals hack him to pieces with an enormous knife as others look on. The actor playing Harlequin, Alexander Rumnev, had by now been replaced with a dummy that could be cut apart painlessly.

Photo from the main pantomime, Princess Brambilla

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

Main pantomime, 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: 10.

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.

In this costume design, Olimpia, the beautiful automaton in Tales of Hoffmann, is assembled from unnatural cubist shapes that together create a vague impression that she is on the verge of breaking, despite the cheerful look on her doll-like face.

Costume design for Olimpia in Tales of Hoffmann (Eisenstein)

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

Sergei Eisenstein, Costume design for Olimpia in Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann (1921). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 1923, op. 1, ed. khr. 735: 14.

In this scene design for Tales of Hoffmann, the black-and-white checkerboard floor and successive side wings (yellow wall sections with furniture and windows painted on them) together create an impression of sharply forced perspective.

Scene design for act 2 wings, Tales of Hoffmann (Eisenstein)

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

Sergei Eisenstein, scene design for act 2 of Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann (March 12, 1920). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 1923, op. 1, ed. khr. 735: 4.

In this scene design for Tales of Hoffmann, the black-and-white checkerboard floor remains, but the "wings," actually periaktoi––three-sided, reconfigurable scenic elements––are placed in new configurations that allow actors to interact with, hide behind, and even climb on them.

Scene design for act 2 periaktoi, Tales of Hoffmann (Eisenstein)

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

Sergei Eisenstein, periaktoi for act 2 of Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann (1920). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 1923, op. 1, ed. khr. 735: 5.

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