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

Posner, Dassia N.

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.

ISBN(s)

978-0-8101-3355-6 (paper)
978-0-8101-3356-3 (hardcover)
978-0-8101-3357-0 (e-book)

Subject

Performing Arts

Citable Link

Costume design for Nina in an elaborate ball gown with an orange shawl and black embroidered train. She wears a simple bracelet over one of her elbow-length gloves.

Nina at the ball in Masquerade, costume design

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Alexander Golovin, costume design for Nina at the ball in Lermontov’s Masquerade, directed by Vsevolod Meyerhold, Alexandrinsky Theatre (premiere: February 25, 1917). КП 8320. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

In the design for this wedding-ball setting, the deep red curtains, borders, and entrances from Pierrot’s room remain, but the space now is flooded with color from the costumes of the guests, decked out primarily in warm oranges and reds. Musicians play on a cramped stage, center, conducted by the Kapellmeister/Pianist in blue, his baton aloft.

Scene design for the wedding ball, Columbine’s Veil

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque and Chapter 3: Peregrinus Tyss Meets Pipifax: Eisenstein, the Grotesque, and the Attraction

Nikolai Sapunov, scene design for act 2 wedding ball, 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). КП 176534. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

The Schnellpolka in Pierrette’s Veil

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque and Chapter 2: Tairov-Celionati: Mime-Drama and Kaleidoscopic Commedia

Act 2 (wedding ball) Schnellpolka, played on instruments Harlequin has “broken” in his rage, from the pantomime Pierrette’s Veil by Arthur Schnitzler, music by Ernő Dohnányi (1910). Recording copyright © Jia-Yee Tang

Pencil drawing of a columned ballroom crowded with wedding guests dancing on broad stairs and the floor below. Upstage a balustrade encloses a tiny platform upon which the wedding musicians are uncomfortably crammed.

Mise-en-scène design for the Pierrette’s Veil wedding ball

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

Anatoly Arapov, mise-en-scène design for act 2 of Pierrette’s Veil, by Arthur Schnitzler, music by Ernő Dohnányi, directed by Alexander Tairov, Svobodny Theatre, Moscow (premiere: November 4, 1913). КП 190294/78. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

Pierrette (Koonen), dressed in wedding white, stands on the ballroom steps (center), her arms raised in alarm as she sees Pierrot’s ghost, a diaphanous puppet manipulated by a visible actor, upstage. Curious wedding guests watch her from both sides of the stage.

Photo of the Pierrette’s Veil wedding ball

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

Finale of act 2 wedding ball scene in Pierrette’s Veil, by Arthur Schnitzler, music by Ernő Dohnányi, directed by Alexander Tairov, Svobodny Theatre (premiere: November 4, 1913). Photograph from Kamerny Theatre remount (premiere: October 6, 1916). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 2328, op. 1, ed. khr. 342: 10.

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

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Nina at the ball in Masquerade, costume design

Scene design for the wedding ball, Columbine’s Veil

The Schnellpolka in Pierrette’s Veil

Mise-en-scène design for the Pierrette’s Veil wedding ball

Photo of the Pierrette’s Veil wedding ball