Skip to main content
Northwestern University Press
Fulcrum logo
  1. Home
  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.
Buy Book
ISBN(s)
  • 978-0-8101-3356-3 (hardcover)
  • 978-0-8101-3355-6 (paper)
  • 978-0-8101-3357-0 (e-book)
Subject
  • Performing Arts
Citable Link

  • Resources

  • Stats

Search and Filter Resources

Filter search results by

Section

  • Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque1
  • Chapter 2: Tairov-Celionati: Mime-Drama and Kaleidoscopic Commedia1
  • Epilogue: The Afterlife of a Death Jubilee
Filter search results by

Keyword

  • Gozzi3
  • MAT Third Studio3
  • commedia dell’arte3
  • fantasy3
  • forestage3
  • more Keywords »
Filter search results by

Creator

  • Vakhtangov, Evgeny2
  • Masletsov, S.1
  • Yutkevich, Sergei1
  • unknown1
Filter search results by

Format

  • image5
    Filter search results by

    Image Content

    • photograph2
    • drawing1
    • illustration1
    • model1
Filter search results by

Year

  • 19225
Filter search results by

Exclusivity

  • Exclusive to Fulcrum4

Search Constraints

Filtering by: Section Epilogue: The Afterlife of a Death Jubilee Remove constraint Section: Epilogue: The Afterlife of a Death Jubilee
Start Over
1 - 5 of 5
  • First Appearance
  • Section (Earliest First)
  • Section (Last First)
  • Format (A-Z)
  • Format (Z-A)
  • Year (Oldest First)
  • Year (Newest First)
Number of results to display per page
  • 10 per page
  • 20 per page
  • 50 per page
  • 100 per page
View results as:
List Gallery

Search Results

Photograph from the end of Princess Turandot. The actors hold the costume pieces they have just taken off while peeking out directly at the audience from the partially open curtain that the forestage servants pull back.

Photo of the finale of Princess Turandot (Nivinsky)

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque and Epilogue: The Afterlife of a Death Jubilee

Finale of Princess Turandot, by Carlo Gozzi, directed by Evgeny Vakhtangov, Moscow Art Theatre Third Studio (1922). Courtesy of Andrei Malaev-Babel.

In this photograph, the cast of Princess Turandot stands on the forestage in evening dress, the curtain closed behind them, looking directly at the audience. Four commedia characters, their faces painted to look like masks, peer between them.

Photo of opening parade, Princess Turandot (Nivinsky)

From Chapter 2: Tairov-Celionati: Mime-Drama and Kaleidoscopic Commedia and Epilogue: The Afterlife of a Death Jubilee

Opening parade for Princess Turandot, by Carlo Gozzi, directed by Evgeny Vakhtangov, Moscow Art Theatre Third Studio (1922). Photo courtesy of Andrei Malaev-Babel.

Ink drawing of Marie and Godfather Drosselmeier talking with the grandfather clock behind them in Sokolov’s puppet production of The Nutcracker.

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, drawing

From Epilogue: The Afterlife of a Death Jubilee

Scene from The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, directed by Vladimir Sokolov, First State Children’s Theatre (premiere: September 26, 1922). Drawing from the archive of Entertainment (Zrelishcha), no. 7 (October 10–16, 1922). Paper on paper, Indian ink, brush, 22.5 × 27 cm. КП 291444. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

Drawing of the forestage, side entrances, and closed curtain decorated with running deer for Derzhavin’s production of The Strange Adventure of E. T. A. Hoffmann.

Drawing of stage configuration for The Strange Adventure of E. T. A. Hoffmann

From Epilogue: The Afterlife of a Death Jubilee

Sergei Yutkevich, drawing of stage configuration for The Strange Adventure of E. T. A. Hoffmann, adapted and directed by Konstantin Derzhavin, New Drama Theatre (premiere: December 7, 1922). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 3070 op. 1 ed. khr. 413: 1.

Set model for Turandot in soft colors with a raked platform, stairs, and multiple playing levels. Additional mobile banners and curtains, manipulated by the forestage servants—the commedia characters—created a transformative and transforming stage environment.

Set model for Princess Turandot (Nivinsky)

From Epilogue: The Afterlife of a Death Jubilee

Set model (authorized reproduction, 1927) for Princess Turandot, by Carlo Gozzi, directed by Evgeny Vakhtangov, Moscow Art Theatre Third Studio (1922). 117 × 81 × 75.5 cm. TWS BM202. Copyright © Theaterwissenschaftliche Sammlung, University of Cologne, Germany.

21,180 views since September 28, 2016
Northwestern University Press logo

Northwestern University Press

Powered by Fulcrum logo

  • About
  • Blog
  • Feedback
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Accessibility
  • Preservation
  • Terms of Service
  • Log In

© Northwestern University Press 2020

x This site requires cookies to function correctly.