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  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.
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  • 978-0-8101-3355-6 (paper)
  • 978-0-8101-3356-3 (hardcover)
  • 978-0-8101-3357-0 (e-book)
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  • Performing Arts
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  • Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism20
  • Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque49
  • Chapter 2: Tairov-Celionati: Mime-Drama and Kaleidoscopic Commedia36
  • Chapter 3: Peregrinus Tyss Meets Pipifax: Eisenstein, the Grotesque, and the Attraction45
  • Epilogue: The Afterlife of a Death Jubilee5
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  • commedia dell’arte54
  • grotesque53
  • plural perspective35
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  • Eisenstein, Sergei32
  • Meyerhold, Vsevolod18
  • Callot, Jacques12
  • Tairov, Alexander11
  • Temerin, Alexei9
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This photograph shows the Inspector General dumb show mannequins, made by V. M. Petrov, in the process of being created. The bodies are newspaper papier-maché over wire armatures, while the faces (with surprised expressions) are wax. The figures are permanently attached to the small platforms on which they later stood at the end of the production.

Photo of dumb show mannequin construction, Inspector General

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Making the mannequins for the dumb show, 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). Photo by Alexei Temerin. КП 180170/1056. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

Actors stand in a variety of positions, each the personification of shocked dismay, to pose for the creation of the dumb-show mannequins that replaced their live bodies at the end of Meyerhold’s Inspector General.

Photo of actors posing for the dumb show mannequins, Inspector General

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Posing for the mannequins for the dumb show, 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). Photo by Alexei Temerin. КП 294580/246. 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.

In this photograph from scene 7 of The Dawns, Meyerhold and Bebutov bridge the forestage and audience with a chorus of actors who form an unbroken human link between the two.

Photo of a scene from The Dawns

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

Scene from The Dawns, based on the play by Émile Verhaeren, directed by Vsevolod Meyerhold and Valery Bebutov, Theatre RSFSR 1, Moscow (premiere: November 7, 1920). НВМ 351/98. Copyright © Saint Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music.

Photograph of Alexander Tairov in a blazer and tie, looking gently to one side.

Photo of Alexander Tairov

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

Photo portrait of Alexander Iakovlevich Tairov (né Kornblit, 1885–1950). Laurence Senelick Collection.

Photograph of Tyltyl (Khaliutina, left) and Mytyl (Koonen, right), holding hands, shoeless, dressed in stockings and three-quarter-length white nightgowns.

Photo of Tyltyl and Mytyl in The Blue Bird

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

Tyltyl (Sofia Khaliutina) and Mytyl (Alisa Koonen) in The Blue Bird (Siniaia ptitsa), by Maurice Maeterlinck, directed by Konstantin Stanislavsky and Leopold Sulerzhitsky, Moscow Art Theatre (premiere: September 30, 1908). Photo: K. A. Fischer, Moscow. Laurence Senelick Collection.

Cover of the 1910 piano score for Pierrette’s Veil, with an illustration of the dead Pierrot draped on a chair in the foreground and the aghast Pierrette looking at him in the background, both of them in white.

Koonen’s piano score for Pierrette’s Veil

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

Title page to Alisa Koonen’s annotated copy of the piano score for Pierette’s Veil, by Arthur Schnitzler, music by Ernő Dohnányi (1910). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 2328, op. 1, ed. khr. 311: 28.

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.

Profile photograph of Alisa Koonen in the role of Phaedra, her eyes cast downward, wearing a flat, angular headdress.

Photo of Alisa Koonen as Phaedra

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

Alisa Koonen in the role of Phaedra in Racine’s Phaedra (Phaedre), directed by Alexander Tairov, designed by Alexander Vesnin, Moscow Kamerny Theatre (premiere: February 8, 1922). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 2768, op. 1, ed. khr. 26: 2.

Photograph of Alisa Koonen in the armor of Joan of Arc, her heavily gloved hands clasped in front of her, her eyes to one side.

Photo of Alisa Koonen as Joan in Saint Joan

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

Alisa Koonen in the role of Joan in Shaw’s Saint Joan, directed by Alexander Tairov, Moscow Kamerny Theatre (premiere: October 21, 1924). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 2768, op. 1, ed. khr. 29: 2.

Playbill for Pierrette’s Veil on a single, elongated sheet that lists the production artists and provides a synopsis of the pantomime.

Playbill for Pierrette’s Veil

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

Playbill for a June 29, 1918 performance in Smolensk of Pierrette’s Veil; pantomime libretto by Arthur Schnitzler, music by Ernő Dohnányi. Directed by Alexander Tairov at the Svobodny Theatre, Moscow (premiere: November 4, 1913). Playbill from Kamerny Theatre remount (premiere: October 6, 1916). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 2768, op. 1, ed. khr. 446: 7.

In this photograph, Pierrette (Koonen), her hair in braids, supports the dead Pierrot (Tseretelli), both lovers in all white.

Pierrette and Pierrot in Pierrette’s Veil

From Chapter 2: Tairov-Celionati: Mime-Drama and Kaleidoscopic Commedia and Chapter 3: Peregrinus Tyss Meets Pipifax: Eisenstein, the Grotesque, and the Attraction

Pierrette (Alisa Koonen) and Pierrot (Nikolai Tseretelli) in Pierrette’s Veil, by Arthur Schnitzler, music by Ernő Dohnányi, directed by Alexander Tairov, Moscow Kamerny Theatre (remount premiere: October 6, 1916). Photograph collection of A. B. Chizhov.

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.

Design by Alexandra Exter for the Kamerny Theatre stage curtain, adorned with animals, birds, diamond patterns, vines, and faces in red, black, blue, green, and yellow.

Curtain design for the Moscow Kamerny Theatre

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

Alexandra Exter, curtain design for the Moscow Kamerny Theatre (1914). Paper, pencil, gouache, whitewash, silver, bronze, 53 × 73.9 cm. КП 179315. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

Playbill design by Alexandra Exter for Thamyris the Cithara Player with a deep blue background and swirling red fabric streaming around a bare-chested woman and man. The words are written in a mix of Greek and Cyrillic letters.

Playbill design for Thamyris the Cithara Player

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

Playbill design for Thamyris the Cithara Player (Famira Kifared), by Innokenty Annensky, directed by Alexander Tairov, music by Henri Forterre, designed by Alexandra Exter, Moscow Kamerny Theatre (premiere: November 2, 1916). КП 93840. 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.

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