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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.

ISBN(s)

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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Cubist design for Salomé’s dance of the seven veils, all angles and curves, with Salomé’s arms stretched upward, one leg lifted, an orange veil streaming behind her against the backdrop of a red staircase.

Costume design for Salomé’s dance of the seven veils

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

Alexandra Exter, costume design for Salomé’s dance of the seven veils, in Salomé, by Oscar Wilde, directed by Alexander Tairov, Moscow Kamerny Theatre (premiere: October 9, 1917). КП 62579. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

Alisa Koonen as Salomé, arms outstretched, wearing a thorny, beaded crown and a dress festooned with strings of beads, with rings on her fingers and a fan in her upper hand.

Photo of Alisa Koonen as Salomé in Salomé

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

Alisa Koonen as Salomé in Salomé, by Oscar Wilde, directed by Alexander Tairov, designed by Alexandra Exter, Moscow Kamerny Theatre (premiere: October 9, 1917). Photo: M. Sakharov and V. Orlov, 1917. Laurence Senelick Collection.

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.

Two characters talk downstage at a distance from one another on a set constructed around simple circles and curves. Upstage of them sailors stand in rows that emphasize the sweeping spiral of the stage.

Photo of a scene from An Optimistic Tragedy

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

Scene from Vishnevsky’s An Optimistic Tragedy, directed by Alexander Tairov, Moscow Kamerny Theatre (premiere: December 18, 1933). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 2030, op. 1, ed. khr. 337: 21.

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.

This photograph shows Koonen, grinning toothily and holding an enormous fan, in the costume of one of the twins she played in Giroflé-Girofla. A cloud of tulle envelops her head, and she wears an exaggerated ribbon-bedecked headpiece that is jauntily askew.

Photo of Alisa Koonen as one of the twins in Giroflé-Girofla

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

Alisa Koonen as one of the twins in Giroflé-Girofla, by Charles Lecocq, directed by Alexander Tairov, Moscow Kamerny Theatre (premiere: October 3, 1922). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 2768, op. 1, ed. khr. 27: 1.

Set model of the streamlined, angular simultaneous setting for The Hairy Ape. It depicts three levels of action: an upper deck, cabins, and the stokehole deep in the bowels of an ocean liner.

Set model for The Hairy Ape

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

Set model (authorized reproduction, 1927) for The Hairy Ape, by Eugene O’Neill, directed by Alexander Tairov and L. L. Lukianov, designed by the Stenberg brothers, Moscow Kamerny Theatre (premiere: January 24, 1926). 87.5 × 66 × 71.5 cm. TWS BM89. Copyright © Theaterwissenschaftliche Sammlung, University of Cologne, Germany.

This photograph shows The Hairy Ape’s stokehole workers, bare-chested with white-painted faces. The rhythm of their coal shoveling is arrested by the unexpected appearance of Mildred, who cries out in alarm at their animal-like conditions.

Photo of the stokehole scene, The Hairy Ape

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

Stokehole scene, The Hairy Ape, by Eugene O’Neill, directed by Alexander Tairov and L. L. Lukianov, Moscow Kamerny Theatre (premiere: January 24, 1926). Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Dana (1902–1968) Collection, THE B MS Thr 402, Box 38, Folder 13. Harvard Theatre Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University.

This photograph shows the mannequin-like Fifth-Avenue fox-trotters in The Hairy Ape. The women are made up to look like dolls, while the men wear half masks with distorted mouths on the lower portions of their faces. Yank (left) gazes at them in anger and alarm.

Photo of the Fifth Avenue scene, The Hairy Ape

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

Fifth Avenue scene, The Hairy Ape, by Eugene O’Neill, directed by Alexander Tairov and L. L. Lukianov, Moscow Kamerny Theatre (premiere: January 24, 1926). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 2030, op. 1, ed. khr. 329: 27.

This short film shows the outside of the Kamerny Theatre, Tairov and the Stenberg Brothers (smoking), and several scene excerpts from The Hairy Ape, including the Fifth-Avenue fox-trotters, Yank's attempt to break the bars that enclose him, and the stokehole pantomime for which the production was so famous.

Filmed scenes from The Hairy Ape

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

Filmed scenes from The Hairy Ape, by Eugene O’Neill, directed by Alexander Tairov and L. L. Lukianov, Moscow Kamerny Theatre (premiere: January 24, 1926). НВ 3826/2. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

In this costume design for Crimson Island, the monotony of the bespectacled male figure’s dull, tan uniform is broken only by a black tie striped red at the top.

Male costume design for Crimson Island

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

Vadim Ryndin, male costume design, probably for Savva Lukich, the censor. Crimson Island, by Mikhail Bulgakov, directed by Alexander Tairov, Moscow Kamerny Theatre (premiere: December 11, 1928). КП 238272/354. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

Cover page for the production text of Crimson Island with the censor’s cuts and stamp in red at the bottom. This script is burned around the edges, as are many of the items in the Kamerny Theatre collection that were rescued from a fire at the Bakhrushin Museum in the early 1950s, where the Kamerny’s papers were stored in the years immediately following the theater’s forced closure.

Typescript of Crimson Island with censor’s cuts

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

Mikhail Bulgakov, Crimson Island. Typescript of the play with handwritten censor’s cuts and stamp approving the play for performance at the Moscow Kamerny Theatre. Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 2030, op. 1, ed. khr. 247, Moscow.

Two-page order that lists the many charges against the Kamerny Theatre and gives details for how the theater is to be reorganized, including appointing V. V. Vanin to replace Tairov as Artistic Director, firing a quantity of the theater’s creative staff, and developing a repertoire aggressively centered on new Soviet and classic plays.

Committee for Artistic Affairs Order 408

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

Committee for Artistic Affairs of the USSR Council of Ministries, Order 408 (May 27, 1949). F. 529, ed. khr. 195, НВ2519/19:1–2. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

Poster for the Kamerny Theatre’s 1923 German tour

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

Poster for the Kamerny’s 1923 tour in Germany, advertising performances for the week of April 7–23. КП 14598. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

In this production photograph from Tarelkin’s Death, Brandakhlystova’s children ride on a broad, short seesaw.

Photo of a scene from Tarelkin's Death

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

Brandakhlystova’s children, played by Vladimir Liutse (left) and E. Bengis (right), in Tarelkin’s Death, based on the play by Sukhovo-Kobylin, directed by Vsevolod Meyerhold, designed by Varvara Stepanova, State Higher Theatre Workshops (GVYTM) (premiere: November 24, 1922). Negative reproduction, 11.7 × 8.7 cm. ГИК 9302/39, ОН 16024. Copyright © Saint Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music.