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

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Photograph of Samuil Vermel as Pierrot, his costume white with black pompoms, standing, head back, with a hand on a chair.

Photograph of Samuil Vermel as Pierrot

From Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism

Samuil Vermel as Pierrot in Pierrette’s Veil, by Arthur Schnitzler, music by Ernő Dohnányi, directed by Alexander Tairov (photo from the 1916 remount at the Moscow Kamerny Theatre). Photo: M. Sakharov & P. Orlov, 1917. Laurence Senelick Collection.

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.

A drawing of Meyerhold with an enormous nose and four arms, each reaching out to a different tiny theater building. From left to right: the Alexandrinsky, a film-studio, a studio theater, and the Marinsky.

Caricature of Vsevolod Meyerhold

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Tom, “Here today, there tomorrow.” Caricature of Vsevolod Meyerhold (1916). КП 180169/1618. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

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.

An illustration of a theater-within-a-theater adorned with bells and larger-than-life candles. Feet can be glimpsed under the stage curtain that two visible figures, left and right, are preparing to raise.

Illustration for Balaganchik

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, illustration for Blok’s Balaganchik: Lyrical Scenes by Alexander Blok, published in the journal Torches (Fakely) 1 (1906): 197. Photo by the author.

Typed playbill for Balaganchik.

Playbill for Balaganchik

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Playbill for January 2, 1907 performance of Blok’s Balaganchik, directed by Vsevolod Meyerhold, Vera Komissarzhevskaia Dramatic Theatre, Saint Petersburg (premiere: December 30, 1906). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 998, op. 1, ed. khr. 2743:3 verso- 4.

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.

Costume design for the Dance Master in polka-dotted knee breeches and an orange tailcoat, the vividness of which is matched only by the blazing red of his hair.

Costume design for the Dance Master, Columbine’s Veil

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Nikolai Sapunov, costume design for Gigolo, the Dance Master, Columbine’s Veil, based on the pantomime Pierrette’s Veil by Arthur Schnitzler, music by Ernő Dohnányi, adapted by Doctor Dapertutto (Meyerhold), directed by Vsevolod Meyerhold, House of Interludes, Saint Petersburg (premiere: October 12, 1910). Paper, graphite pencil, watercolor, 30.8 × 22.2 cm. ГИК 5199/291, ОР 10883. Copyright © Saint Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music.

Costume design for the Kapellmeister/Pianist in a long blue tailcoat and gold-ochre breeches. Balding with a deeply lined face, his remaining hair, the same blue as his tailcoat, stands entirely on end.

Costume design for the Kapellmeister/Pianist, Columbine’s Veil

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Nikolai Sapunov, costume design for the Kapellmeister/Pianist in 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). Paper, graphite pencil, watercolor, 32.2 × 22.7 cm. ГИК 5199/290, ОР 10882. Copyright © Saint Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music.

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 image shows two drawings, one of a stage with multiple curtained entrances and side balconies (left), the other diagramming how actors were to move across the forestage in relation to one another (right). They are annotated with notes in Meyerhold’s hand that indicate that both illustrations were to appear together on the page following Soloviev’s article.

Illustrations for “Experiments with Staging the Night Scene”

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Proof sheet illustrations by Alexander Rykov for Vladimir Soloviev’s article “Experiments with Staging the Night Scene” (with handwritten notes by Meyerhold) for the journal Love for Three Oranges: The Journal of Doctor Dapertutto (Liubov’ k trem apel’sinam: Zhurnal Doktora Dapertutto) (May 16, 1915). ГИК 17118/2, f. 44, ed. khr. 3. Copyright © Saint Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music.

Premiere poster with the production title in eye-catching block letters.

Premiere poster for Inspector General

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Poster for the December 9, 1926 premiere 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. Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 998, op. 1, ed. khr. 2801: 6.

Caricature of Meyerhold in his post-revolutionary military cap straddling and strangling Gogol, whose top hat has fallen off in the fray.

Caricature of Meyerhold throttling Gogol

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Caricature of Meyerhold throttling Gogol, in Life and Art (Zhizn’ i iskusstvo) (October 5, 1926). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 963, op. 1, ed. khr. 514: 9.

This playbill from the final dress rehearsal lists the individuals who contributed to the production, including the actors in each episode.

General rehearsal playbill for Inspector General

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Playbill for the December 8, 1926 general (invited dress) rehearsal 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). Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Dana (1902–1968) Collection, THE B MS Thr 402, Box 34, Folder 6. Harvard Theatre Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University.

A typed list of the episodes in Inspector General with the run time for each written in by hand.

Chronometrage report for Inspector General

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Chronometrage report (n.d.) for 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). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 963, op. 1, ed. khr. 513: 6.

A ground plan of the stage, including a diagram of the tracks along which the two mobile platform stages entered and exited.

Ground plan for mobile stages, Inspector General

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Ground plan for mobile stages, 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). КП 180169/348. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

Poster for a scheduled evening of debates about Inspector General with a list of names of participants.

Poster for “Debates about Inspector General”

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Poster for “Debates about Inspector General,” State Meyerhold Theatre (GosTIM), Moscow (January 3, 1927). КП 90790. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

Typescript of Meyerhold’s lecture notes, with each point numbered separately in a list, for the January 3, 1927 evening of debates about Inspector General.

Meyerhold’s debate points for “Debates about Inspector General”

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Meyerhold’s debate points for “Debates about Inspector General”, State Meyerhold Theatre (GosTIM), Moscow (January 3, 1927). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 963, op. 1, ed. khr. 504: 14 verso–15.

This “Record of Audience Responses,” dated December 11, 1924, tracked audience responses for episodes 20-23 of The Forest.

Audience response chart for The Forest

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Audience response chart for The Forest, based on the play by Alexander Ostrovsky, directed by Vsevolod Meyerhold, Meyerhold Theatre (GosTIM) (premiere: January 19, 1924). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 963, op. 1, ed. khr. 362: 2.

$This design for the opening of Mystery-Bouffe depicts a half globe topped by the North Pole. International survivors of the “waterless flood” of Revolution slowly make their way onto it. Moscow and Kharkov are marked on the globe, a reference to a different waterless flood, a theatrical one: this was one of many productions of the play that opened in the immediate wake of Meyerhold’s. Behind the globe, shards of bold color pierce the sky, at once recalling the Northern Lights and light refracted through a rainbow prism.$

Scene design for act 1 of Mystery-Bouffe

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Alexander Khvostenko-Khvostov, scene design for the “waterless flood” in act 1 of Mayakovsky’s Mystery-Bouffe. This production, directed by Grigory Avlov at the Kharkov Heroic Theatre (1921), was one of over a dozen that followed in the immediate wake of Meyerhold and Bebutov’s May 1921 staging at Theatre RSFSR 1. Cardboard, pencil, gouache, collage, 58 × 78.2 cm. КП 310777. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.