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

Posner, Dassia N.

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

Nina Zarechnaia, shrouded in white, performs on an elevated outdoor stage while spectators sit on a bench looking on, their backs to the real audience beyond the imaginary fourth wall.

Photograph of Nina in The Seagull

From Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism

Nina Zarechnaia (Maria Roksanova) in act 1 of Chekhov’s The Seagull, directed by Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, Moscow Art Theatre (premiere: December 18, 1898; photograph from 1905 revival). Laurence Senelick Collection.

Portrait of Hoffmann, head and shoulders, full front, eyes gazing to one side.

E. T. A. Hoffmann, self-portrait

From Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism

E. T. A. Hoffmann, self-portrait. Frontispiece to E. T. A. Hoffmann, Fantasy Pieces in Callot’s Manner: Pages from the Diary of a Traveling Romantic, 2nd edition. Bamberg, 1819. Oak Grove Library Center, call number: 833.6 H71f. Courtesy of Northwestern University Library. Photo by the author.

Pencil drawing of Hoffmann, dancing, one knee lifted, smoking a long pipe.

Kapellmeister Kreisler in Insanity, drawing

From Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism

E. T. A. Hoffmann, Kapellmeister Kreisler in Insanity (Berlin, February 1822). Drawing for the first edition of The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr, volume 3. Staatsbibliothek Bamberg, Art.f.23ga. Photo: Gerald Raab.

Watercolor of Kapellmeister Johannes Kreisler in a brown dressing gown and red hat, smoking a long pipe, standing before a writing table, on which lies Hoffmann’s opera Undine.

Kapellmeister Johannes Kreisler in a Dressing Gown, watercolor

From Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism

E. T. A. Hoffmann, Kapellmeister Johannes Kreisler in a Dressing Gown, After a Life Drawing by Erasmus Spikher (Berlin, January/February 1815). Original watercolor. Staatsbibliothek Bamberg, I R 65. Photo: Gerald Raab.

Title page to Fantasy Pieces with an illustration, center, of a harp player and a sphinx.

Title page for Fantasy Pieces in Callot’s Manner

From Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism

Title page for E. T. A. Hoffmann, Fantasy Pieces in Callot’s Manner: Pages from the Diary of a Traveling Enthusiast. Bamberg: C. F. Kunz, 1814. Staatsbibliothek Bamberg, L.g.o.1135/1. Photo: Gerald Raab.

Etching foreground: two male figures in half masks, round spectacles, and hats adorned with long feathers face one another, talking, a jug on the ground between them. Etching background: two figures sword fight, one with jug in hand, while others look on.

Scapino and Captain Zerbino, etching

From Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism

Jacques Callot, Scapino and Captain Zerbino, plate 12 from Balli di Sfessania (c. 1621). Etching. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gray Collection of Engravings Fund, by exchange, S4.29.4. Photo: Imaging Department © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Etching foreground: a woman with her hands tucked into her long gown, right, stands facing a man in a half mask and round spectacles, left, his feather-adorned hat in one hand. Etching background: two figures dance to the music of a theorbo while others watch.

Captain Cerimonia and Lady Lavinia, etching

From Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism

Jacques Callot, Captain Cerimonia and Lady Lavinia, plate 3 from Balli di Sfessania (c. 1621). Etching. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gray Collection of Engravings Fund, by exchange, S4.27.2. Photo: Imaging Department © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Etching foreground: a woman, left, dances to the music of a theorbo, played by a man, right, in a half mask and feather-adorned hat. Etching background: two musicians entertain families and riders on horseback.

Riciulina and Metzetin, etching

From Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism

Jacques Callot, Riciulina and Metzetin, plate 8 from Balli di Sfessania (c. 1621). Etching. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gray Collection of Engravings Fund, by exchange, S4.28.6. Photo: Imaging Department © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Etching foreground: two male figures in half masks face each other, one holding a wooden sword and cape (left), the other playing a guitar (right). Etching background: a man bows to kiss a woman’s hand.

Franca Trippa and Fritellino, etching

From Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism, Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque, and Chapter 2: Tairov-Celionati: Mime-Drama and Kaleidoscopic Commedia

Jacques Callot, Franca Trippa and Fritellino, plate 23 from Balli di Sfessania (c. 1621). Etching. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gray Collection of Engravings Fund, by exchange, S4.29.7. Photo: Imaging Department © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Etching foreground: a woman, left, plays a tambourine, while a man, right, waves a wooden sword and cape. Etching background: two acrobats perform; a strolling guitarist plays; and several others watch.

Fracischina and Gian Farina, etching

From Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism

Jacques Callot, Fracischina and Gian Farina, plate 17 from Balli di Sfessania (c. 1621). Etching. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gray Collection of Engravings Fund, by exchange, S4.27.6. Photo: Imaging Department © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Etching foreground: two male figures wearing half masks, their hats adorned with long feathers, stand facing one another with crossed swords, one wooden, the other real. Etching background: small groups of people look on.

Taglia Cantoni and Fracasso, etching

From Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism, Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque, and Chapter 2: Tairov-Celionati: Mime-Drama and Kaleidoscopic Commedia

Jacques Callot, Taglia Cantoni and Fracasso, plate 24 from Balli di Sfessania (c. 1621). Etching. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gray Collection of Engravings Fund, by exchange, S4.28.2. Photo: Imaging Department © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Etching foreground: a man with a half mask and wooden sword extends his hat to a woman, who has placed her hand on his elbow. Etching background: a figure, center, waves a sword while another, left, wields a cape.

Pulliciniello and Lady Lucretia, etching

From Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism

Jacques Callot, Pulliciniello and Lady Lucretia, plate 9 from Balli di Sfessania (c. 1621). Etching. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gray Collection of Engravings Fund, by exchange, S4.29.1. Photo: Imaging Department © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Etching foreground: a woman, left, holds out her shoe, while a man, right, kneels to kiss it. Etching background: pairs of lovers and onlookers talk.

Lady Lucia and Trastullo, etching

From Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism

Jacques Callot, Lady Lucia and Trastullo, plate 21 from Balli di Sfessania (c. 1621). Etching. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gray Collection of Engravings Fund, by exchange, S4.28.7. Photo: Imaging Department © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

All the forces of hell explode from every corner of this etching, including bat-winged devils, a massive dragon, and creatures that are part machine, part animal, part gun, part skeleton. On the lower right, a tiny Saint Anthony is besieged by several man-beast devils and a dragon with snakes pouring from its mouth.

The Temptation of Saint Anthony (2nd version), etching

From Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism

Jacques Callot, The Temptation of Saint Anthony (second version, 1635). Etching. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of William Gray from the collection of Francis Calley Gray, by exchange, S3.51. Photo: Imaging Department © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

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.

This drawing consists of a single whimsical line that wanders, curves, and loops back on itself.

Parodic illustration of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy

From Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism

E. T. A. Hoffmann, parodic illustration (c. 1804, Plock) of the narrative structure of Laurence Sterne’s novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1759–1767). Staatsbibliothek Bamberg, L.g.o.391e/B19. Photo: Gerald Raab.

The cover of this souvenir program depicts a small marionette stage with Chauve-Souris (Bat cabaret) impresario Nikita Balieff merrily operating two marionettes while other characters peek at their compatriots from the tiny wings.

Chauve-Souris souvenir program cover

From Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism

Sergei Sudeikin, cover for Nikita Balieff’s Chauve-Souris (The Bat) souvenir program. American season produced by F. Ray Comstock & Morris Gest. 1922-1923. Harvard Theatre Collection Souvenir programs, *2008T-415. Houghton Library, Harvard University.

Etching foreground: silhouetted figures sit on an ornately carved frame and peer into the world it encloses. One gazes through a telescope, while another waves a fan, referring back from within the image to the real fans on which Callot’s etching appeared. Etching background: a massive mock battle on Italy’s Arno River, attended by hundreds of onlookers.

The Fan, etching and engraving

From Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism and Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Jacques Callot, The Fan (1619). Etching and engraving. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of William Gray from the collection of Francis Calley Gray, by exchange, S3.69.1. Photo: Imaging Department © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Two male figures in half masks face each other, one holding a wooden sword and cape, right, the other playing a guitar, left. It is a mirror image of Callot’s Franca Trippa and Fritellino, but with the background plane entirely removed.

Aquatint etching based on Franca Trippa and Fritellino

From Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism

Carl Friedrich Thiele, aquatint etching in sepia (Berlin, September 1820), after Jacques Callot’s Franca Trippa and Fritellino, from Balli di Sfessania (c. 1621). Staatsbibliothek Bamberg, Sel.235a. Photo: Gerald Raab.

Two identical male figures in distorted poses and half masks dance in the same position from opposite perspectives.

Two Pantaloni Turning Their Backs, etching

From Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism

Jacques Callot, Two Pantaloni Turning Their Backs (1617). Etching. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of William Gray from the collection of Francis Calley Gray, by exchange, S4.3.3. Photo: Imaging Department © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Photograph of Perrybingle and Tackleton sitting before a cozy hearth, center, as Maliutka enters in apron and cap, left.

Photo of a scene from The Cricket on the Hearth

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

M. A. Durasova as Maliutka (Mary), G. M. Khmara as John Perrybingle, and Evgeny Vakhtangov as Tackleton in act 4, scene 3 of The Cricket on the Hearth, based on the novel by Charles Dickens, directed by Boris Sushkevich, Moscow Art Theatre First Studio (premiere: November 24, 1914). Laurence Senelick Collection.

Photo of Vsevolod Meyerhold

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

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

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.

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.

Photo of Meyerhold as Pierrot in Balaganchik

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

Vsevolod Meyerhold as Pierrot in Balaganchik, directed by Vsevolod Meyerhold, Vera Komissarzhevskaia Dramatic Theatre, Saint Petersburg (premiere: December 30, 1906). НВ 1567. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

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.

Pierrot’s sparsely furnished room is framed by a red curtain and borders. The space within contains two entrances, symmetrically positioned left and right, a writing desk, center, and the melancholy Pierrot in white on a chair, right.

Scene design for Pierrot’s room, Columbine’s Veil

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Nikolai Sapunov, scene design for acts 1 and 3, Pierrot’s room, 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). ГИК 17156, ОР 23223. Copyright © Saint Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music.

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.

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.

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 of the biomechanics exercise “The Horse,” also called “Three as a Horse,” one actor holds on to the shoulders of another while a third, one leg aloft, “rides” the horse formed by the lower two.

Photo of the biomechanics exercise "The Horse"

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

Photograph of Meyerhold’s students performing the biomechanics exercise “The Horse” (“The Ring”). State Higher Theatre Workshops (GVYTM), Moscow (1922). TWS FIN05844. Copyright © Theaterwissenschaftliche Sammlung, University of Cologne.

A row of actors, identically clad in prozodezhda (utilitarian uniform costumes), bowing in unison, traverse the forestage in front of Liubov Popova’s constructivist playground of a set.

Photo of a scene from Magnanimous Cuckold

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Scene from Magnanimous Cuckold, based on the play by Fernand Crommelynck, directed by Vsevolod Meyerhold, Meyerhold Theatre (GosTIM), Moscow (GVYTM premiere: April 25, 1922; photograph from 1928 GosTIM remount). КП 180170/29. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

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.

Two strolling players, one a comedian (left), the other a tragedian (right), slowly descend an elevated catwalk that curves around the stage and ends in the orchestra pit.

Photo of Schastlivtsev and Neschastlivtsev in The Forest

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Schastlivtsev (Igor Ilinsky) and Neschastlivtsev (Mikhail Mukhin) on the long, curved bridge in The Forest, directed by Vsevolod Meyerhold, Meyerhold Theatre (GosTIM) (premiere: January 19, 1924). КП 180170/32. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

Drawing of two male figures facing one another with crossed swords, one wooden, the other real. The figure on the left is nude aside from the cape he holds in his left hand.

Duel, drawing

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Four competing choruses argue on the forestage in front of a vivid pink curtain that is framed by a bright green proscenium arch with towers on both sides. These towers, decorated in Harlequin-style motley, contain balconies from which fools peer down onto the action below.

Curtain design for the opera Love for Three Oranges

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Boris Israelevich Anisfeld, Russian (1879–1973), design for Prokofiev’s opera Love for Three Oranges, Auditorium Theatre, Chicago (world premiere: December 30, 1921). Pink Curtain #2, from Love for Three Oranges, n.d. Gouache and watercolor, with pen and black ink, gold metallic paint, and charcoal, over graphite, selectively varnished, on off-white laid paper, 565 × 780 mm. Friends of American Art Collection, 1922.84, The Art Institute of Chicago.

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.

Harlequin stands in the foreground, slapstick in hand, in diamond-patterned motley, while two other figures dance in the background.

Costume design for “Harlequin, Dealer of Slapstick Blows”

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Alexander Rykov, costume design for “Harlequin, Dealer of Slapstick Blows,” Borodinskaia Street Studio (premiere: February 12, 1915). Paper on cardboard, gouache, 29.9 × 23 cm. КП 180169/1536. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

Costume design of the ornate gold and blue gown to be worn by Princess Turandot.

Costume design for Turandot, Princess Turandot (Sapunov)

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

Nikolai Sapunov, costume design for Princess Turandot in Princess Turandot, by Carlo Gozzi, adapted by Friedrich Schiller, directed by Fedor Komissarzhevsky, Nezlobin Theatre, Moscow (premiere: October 23, 1912). КП 189959. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

This vivid design features several individually curtained balconies from which figures peer into the room below where Olimpia sits, center, playing a harp. A third level is populated by figures in masks positioned against a ceiling painted like the sky.

Scene design for the Olimpia act of Tales of Hoffmann (Sudeikin)

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Sergei Sudeikin, scene design for the Olimpia act of Tales of Hoffmann, by Jacques Offenbach, directed by Fedor Komissarzhevsky, Zimin Opera Theatre, Moscow (1915, production unrealized). КП 60434. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

This costume design, with its background of blues, pinks, and whites, reveals the set’s vivid, colliding, deliberately skewed planes. In the foreground stands an actor in gray with an enormous bowtie, his eyes replaced by dark blue smudges that stand out against his unnaturally white, painted skin. In the production, the actors wore dark blue paint around their eyes.

Costume design for Tales of Hoffmann (Lentulov)

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Astriarkh Lentulov, costume design for Tales of Hoffmann, by Jacques Offenbach, directed by Fedor Komissarzhevsky, KhPSRO (Artistic-Instructive Union of Workers’ Organizations) Theatre-Studio, Moscow (1919). КП 289402. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

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.

Set model (reconstruction) in mahogany and green baize with the mannequins from the dumb show positioned in a semi-circle, center, on tiny platforms. Upstage at floor level is one of the mobile stages, preset with the furniture from episode 7, “Behind a Bottle of Tolstobriushka.” High in the flies is the set for episode 4, “After Penza,” with its distinctive curved staircase.

Set model for Inspector General

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

A. E. Shevtsova, set model (reconstruction, 2004) 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). Meyerhold Apartment Museum, НВ 4900. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow. Photo by the author.

This rare rehearsal photo of episode 1 shows the actors’ long, crisscrossing pipes and their tight semi-circular grouping around the table. The Mayor (Starkovsky, right) stands clutching his heart while Doctor Hubner (Temerin) tends to him.

Rehearsal photo for episode 1 of Inspector General

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Rehearsal for episode 1 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). Photo by Alexei Temerin. КП 180170/1046. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

In this photograph, Khlestakov (Garin) sits bundled up on a Russian tiled stove in his untidy room at the local inn, nursing an ostensible toothache, while Dobchinsky (Mologin, left) and the Mayor (Starkovsky, above) enter down the curved staircase.

Photo of episode 4, “After Penza,” Inspector General

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Episode 4, “After Penza,” 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. Laurence Senelick Collection.

This photograph shows Khlestakov (Garin) in square glasses, a black coat and top hat, and a plaid scarf, with a bagel dangling on a string from his coat lapel.

Photo of Khlestakov in Inspector General

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Erast Garin as Khlestakov in 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). TWS FPN 5122. Copyright © Theaterwissenschaftliche Sammlung, University of Cologne.

Anna Andreevna’s (Raikh) bedroom overflows with officers who serenade her, strumming imaginary strings. One pops out of the top of her cupboard, brandishing an enormous bouquet.

Photo of episode 3, “The Unicorn,” Inspector General

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Episode 3, “The Unicorn,” 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. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Dana (1902-1968) Collection, THE B MS Thr 402, Box 34, Folder 6. Harvard Theatre Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University.

Khlestakov (Garin) and Anna Andreevna (Raikh) sit on an oversized sofa. In this photograph, he holds her pinkie on a teaspoon to kiss it.

Photo of Khlestakov and Anna Andreevna, episode 7, Inspector General

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Khlestakov (Erast Garin) and Anna Andreevna (Zinaida Raikh) in episode 7, “Behind a Bottle of Tolstobriushka,” in 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 316956/27. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

In this photograph, the officer-in-transit (Kelberer) sprawls on the stage (left) and Khlestakov (Garin) lies collapsed in a chair (right), both in a drunken stupor, while the Major’s wife (Raikh) guides the town officials out on tiptoe.

Photo of end of episode 7, Inspector General

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

End of episode 7, “Behind a Bottle of Tolstobriushka,” 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. Laurence Senelick Collection.

In this famous photograph, Khlestakov (Garin), the officer-in-transit (Kelberer), and Osip (Fadeev) sit center on a bare stage while white-gloved hands with white packages (the bribes) emerge from the many doors that surround them.

Photo of episode 9, “Bribes,” Inspector General

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

Episode 9, “Bribes,” 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 180170/910. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

These wax and papier-maché doubles of the production’s characters stand in an arc on tiny platforms that were pushed through the set’s many double doors while the stage was obscured with a curtain.

Photo of dumb show, Inspector General

From Chapter 1: Meyerhold-Dapertutto: Framing the Grotesque

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 180170/921. Copyright © A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

Poster for the Kamerny Theatre’s 1923 German tour

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

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.

Constructivist portrait of Eisenstein, his hair on end, one arm extended into the air above him.

Portrait of Sergei Eisenstein

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

Sergei Yutkevich, portrait of Sergei Eisenstein (1926). Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 3070, op. 1, ed. khr. 433: 1.

Handwritten note in pencil on a scrap of paper from Zinaida Raikh to Sergei Eisenstein.

Note from Zinaida Raikh to Sergei Eisenstein

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

Zinaida Raikh, note to Sergei Eisenstein, [November 1922]. Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, f. 1923, op. 1 ed. khr. 2062:1–1 verso.