Title: À côté de Stanislavskij et de Meyerhold: Les protagonistes « de l’ombre » Pour une autre histoire du théâtre russe
Edited by: Donatella Gavrilovich and Pascale Melani
Year: 2022
Pages: 221
Editor: UniversItalia
ISSN: 2421-2679

Editorial

En novembre 2020, devait se tenir à Bordeaux (France) un colloque international intitulé À côté de Stanislavskij et de Meyerhold : les protagonistes « de l’ombre ». Pour une autre histoire du théâtre russe, coorganisé par l’université Bordeaux Montaigne et l’Université de Rome « Tor Vergata », en partenariat avec la Bibliothèque Nationale des Arts et l’Institut National d’Étude de l’Art (SIAS) à Moscou.  En raison de la pandémie de Covid-19, le colloque a été annulé. C’est ainsi qu’est née l’idée de consacrer à ce même sujet le numéro spécial VIII/2022 de la revue Arti dello Spettacolo/Performing Arts, qui présente pour cette raison son éditorial, son introduction et les résumés traduits en français, au lieu de la langue anglaise habituelle.

Ce numéro rassemble des témoignages sur une culture théâtrale qui s’est développée dans l’Empire russe, puis en Union soviétique, entre la fin du xixe siècle et la seconde moitié du xxe siècle, culture encore largement inconnue et jusqu’à présent éclipsée par le théâtre de mise en scène russo-soviétique, plus célèbre. Il contient des contributions sur le théâtre tatar, géorgien, juif, mais aussi sur des expériences telles que le théâtre des petites formes, celui des miniatures, de la FÈKS. Il explore l’inspiration théosophique et le symbolisme maçonnique dans l’art dramatique de Vera Komissarževskaja, les processus transculturels et créatifs de l’héritage de Vsevolod Mejerxol’d dans le théâtre brésilien ou ceux résultant de la collaboration entre acteurs russo-allemands à Berlin. L’attention se porte également sur les maîtres de la mise en scène demeurés « dans l’ombre », car l’importance de leur rôle est restée méconnue. Il analyse l’activité du Russe Mixail Lentovskij, du Sibérien Savva Mamontov, des Ukrainiens Aleksandr Sanin, Grigorij Kozincev, Leonid Trauberg et Nikolaj Foregger, de l’Azerbaïdjanais Aleksej Gripič, du Biélorusse Iosif Lapickij, des Géorgiens Konstantin Mardžanov, Georgij Tovstogonov, du Juif lettonien Solomon Mixoèls, etc.

Chacun d’entre eux a un lieu de naissance, une religion, des coutumes et des habitudes différentes, mais ils sont tous les protagonistes de la même histoire multiculturelle du théâtre dramatique et musical russo-soviétique.

La culture russe s’est diffusée dans le monde entier grâce au travail d’écrivains tels que Turgenev, Tolstoj, Dostoevskij, Nabokov ; de philologues tels que Roman Jakobson, Vladimir Propp, Osip Brik, Boris Ėjxenbaum, Jurij Tynjanov ; de musiciens et chanteurs d’opéra tels que Čajkovskij, Rimskij-Korsakov, Stravinsky, Prokof’ev, Fëdor Šaljapin ; de danseurs tels que Vaclav Nižinskij, Anna Pavlova, Tamara Karsavina, Mixail Fokin, Rudol’f Nureev, etc.; de metteurs en scène et acteurs tels que Stanislavkij, Mejerhol’d, Èjzenštejn, Mixail Čexov, Andrej Tarkovskij ; de peintres tels que Marc Chagall, Vasilij Kandinskij, Aleksandr Rodčenko, Aleksandra Èkster, Natalija Gončarova, Mixail Larionov.

Ces personnalités font partie de la culture universelle. Leur travail a fusionné avec celui des artistes occidentaux, créant des ponts de compréhension, des accords, des collaborations, des projets communs. Le produit de ce travail interculturel spirituel, intellectuel et artistique doit être préservé et diffusé parce qu’il constitue un bien de l’humanité, une richesse à protéger et partager.

Le théâtre en Russie a toujours été un espace de résistance contre la dictature et contre toute forme de coercition d’État.  À tous les âges, des voix se sont élevées contre l’oppression par le pouvoir des minorités, des différents groupes ethniques ; contre la violence, contre les pogroms et la pauvreté du peuple. Nous pensons, par exemple, aux actions courageuses de Vera Komissarževskaja, Jurij Ljubimov, Solomon Mixoèls, Kirill Serebrennikov…

Surtout, des artistes ont œuvré à créer des ponts culturels entre l’Orient et l’Occident : Djagilev avec les Ballets Russes, Komissarževskaja avec l’Internationale du théâtre, Kandinskij avec l’Internationale des Arts et jusqu’à nos jours avec les FORUMS internationaux de Saint-Pétersbourg, rencontres dédiées à la littérature, aux arts, au cirque et au divertissement mondiaux dont le dernier, avant la pandémie de Covid-19, s’intitulait Cultural Bridges in Theatre World.

ASPA est une revue interdisciplinaire multilingue. La mission d’ASPA est de créer des ponts de culture et de solidarité entre les différents peuples à travers le langage international des arts. Notre slogan « L’Union internationale de l’art embrassera le monde entier » a été traduit en dix langues différentes ; il reproduit une phrase de Kandinskij, écrite en 1920, qui inspire tous les membres et contributeurs de la revue ASPA.

Aujourd’hui plus que jamais, nous croyons au partage des expériences, des connaissances et à la collaboration égale et solidaire que l’art dans toutes ses expressions formelles et spirituelles contribue à créer. Et aujourd’hui plus que jamais, chaque mot de la phrase de Kandinskij acquiert une valeur et un sens profond donnant de l’espoir et du courage :

 

Il est indéniable que nous sommes au seuil d’une époque où l’adjectif lointain concernera à la fois l’Occident et l’Orient, où, poursuivant leur développement, l’Occident et l’Orient se rejoindront et où l’union internationale des forces artistiques s’étendra au monde entier et atteindra le sommet de l’union entre tous les hommes.

Index

Nel novembre 2020 si sarebbe dovuto tenere a Bordeaux (Francia) il Convegno Internazionale di studi À côté de Stanislavskij et de Meyerhold: les protagonistes «de l’ombre». Pour une autre histoire du théâtre russe, organizzato dall’Università di Bordeaux Montaigne, dall’Università di Roma “Tor Vergata” in collaborazione con la Biblioteca Nazionale delle Arti e con l’Istituto Nazionale di Studi sulle Arti (SIAS) di Mosca. A causa della pandemia da Covid-19 il convegno è stato annullato. Così è nata l’idea di dedicare a questo stesso argomento lo Special Issue VIII/2022 della rivista «Arti dello Spettacolo/Performing Arts», che per tale motivo presenta l’Editoriale, l’Introduzione e gli Abstracts tradotti in lingua francese, al posto dell’abituale lingua inglese. 

Il presente numero raccoglie le testimonianze di un’eredità culturale teatrale, sviluppatasi in Russia nell’Impero russo, poi in Unione sovietica, tra la fine dell’Ottocento e la seconda metà del Novecento, ancora in gran parte sconosciuta e finora messa in ombra dal più noto teatro di regia russo-sovietico. Si tratta di contributi sul teatro tataro, georgiano, ebraico, ma anche su sperimentazioni come il teatro delle piccole forme, quello delle miniature, del FEKS. Si esplorano le contaminazioni teosofiche e la simbologia massonica nell’arte recitativa di Vera Komissarževskaja, i processi transculturali e creativi dell’eredità di Vsevolod Mejerchol’d nel teatro brasiliano o quelli derivanti dalla collaborazione tra attori russo-tedeschi a Berlino. L’attenzione si focalizza anche su maestri della regia “in ombra”, perché tuttora se ne tace l’importanza del ruolo svolto. Si analizza l’attività del russo Michail Lentovskij, del siberiano Savva Mamontov, degli ucraini Aleksandr Sanin, Grigorij Kozincev, Leonid Trauberg e Nikolaj Foregger, dell’azerbaigiano Aleksej Gripič, del bielorusso Iosif Lapickij, dei georgiani Konstantin Mardžanov, Georgij Tovstogonov, del lettone Solomon Mikhoèls e così via.

Ognuno di loro ha un luogo natio, una religione, costumi e abitudini diverse, pur essendo tutti protagonisti della stessa storia del teatro drammatico e musicale russo-sovietico. La cultura russa è stata diffusa nel mondo grazie all’opera di scrittori come Turgenev, Tolstoj, Dostoevskij, Nabokov; di filologi come Roman Jakobson, Vladimir Propp, Osip Brik, Boris Ėjchenbaum, Jurij Tynjanov; di musicisti e cantanti lirici come Čajkovskij, Rimskij-Korsakov, Stravinskij, Prokof’ev, Fedor Šaljapin; di ballerini come Vaclav Nižinskij, Anna Pavlova, Tamara Karsavina, Michail Fokin, Rudol’f Nureev, ecc.; di registi e attori come Kostantin Stanislavkij, Vsevolod Mejerhol’d, Sergej Ėjzenštejn, Michail Čechov, Andrej Tarkovskij; di pittori come Mark Chagall, Vasilij Kandinskij, Aleksandr Rodčenko, Aleksandra Èkster, Natalija Gončarova, Michail Larionov.

Queste personalità fanno parte della cultura universale. La loro opera si è fusa con quella degli artisti occidentali e sono stati creati ponti di intesa cordiale, collaborazioni, progetti. Il prodotto di questo lavoro spirituale, intellettuale e artistico interculturale deve essere conservato e diffuso perché è un bene dell’umanità, una ricchezza da tutelare e condividere. Il teatro in Russia è sempre stato uno spazio di resistenza contro la dittatura e contro qualsiasi forma di oppressione da parte dello Stato. In tutte le epoche si sono alzate voci contro l’oppressione del potere, di minoranze, di etnie diverse; contro la violenza, contro i pogrom e l’indigenza del popolo. Pensiamo al coraggio, ad esempio, di Vera Komissarževskaja, di Jurij Ljubimov, di Solomon Michoèls, di Kirill Serebrennikov… Soprattutto gli artisti hanno lavorato per creare ponti di cultura tra Oriente e Occidente: Djagilev con i Ballets Russes, Komissarževskaja con l’Internazionale del Teatro, Kandinskij con l’Internazionale delle Arti e poi fino ai nostri giorni con i FORUM Internazionali a San Pietroburgo, incontri dedicati alla letteratura, alle arti, al circo e allo spettacolo mondiale di cui l’ultimo, prima della pandemia da Covid-19, si intitolava Cultural Bridges in Theatre World. ASPA Journal è una rivista interdisciplinare multilingue. La Mission di ASPA Journal è creare ponti di cultura e solidarietà tra popoli diversi attraverso la lingua internazionale delle arti. Il nostro slogan “L’unione internazionale dell’arte abbraccerà l’intero globo terrestre” è stato tradotto in dieci lingue diverse ed è tratto da una frase di Kandinskij, scritta nel 1920, di ispirazione per tutti coloro che sono membri e collaborano ad ASPA Journal. Oggi più che mai crediamo nella condivisione delle esperienze, delle conoscenze e nella collaborazione paritetica e solidale che l’arte in tutte le sue espressioni formali e spirituali contribuisce a creare. E oggi più che mai ogni parola di quella frase di Kandinskij acquista un valore e un senso profondo donando la speranza e il coraggio:

Non è possibile dubitare che siamo alle soglie del giorno in cui ai termini Oriente e Occidente si potrà aggiungere lontano, sì che, estendendosi sempre più, Oriente e Occidente si ricongiungano in un punto e l’unione internazionale dell’arte abbraccerà l’intero globo terrestre e sarà una cosa sola con l’unione di tutti gli esseri umani.

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The article aims to present all the diversity of Russian theater [rossijskij teatr], which is not limited to a theater ethnically Russian [russkij teatr]. This theater is rich in the artistic experience of the many peoples (Jews, Georgians, Tatars, Ukrainians, etc.), who made up the Russian Empire or who still continue today to constitute this multinational entity that is the Russian Federation. We believe that not only should this issue be published, but that the work begun should be continued and systematized in order to do justice to the various theatrical experiences of a multi-ethnic, multi-confessional and multi-cultural Russia.

Keywords: Multi-etnic Russian Theatre, “shadow” figure, Russian theatrical legacy, Stanislavsky, Meyerhold.

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The popularity of Mixail Lentovsky (1843 – 1906), “wizard and magician of the Russian scene”, owes much to the féeries he staged in the decade 1879 – 1890. Playing on grandiose and sophisticated stage effects, Lentovsky’s performances constitute the pinnacle of spectacularism in the theater, anticipating the aesthetics and processes of silent cinema.

Keywords: Féerie, staging, theatrical entreprise , theatre director, Mass theatre.

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In the last quarter of the 19th century, Savva Mamontov created the modern theatrical direction in Russia.

However, his merits have not come to light for political and ideological reasons, despite the existence of first-hand testimonies and the publication, since the second half of the 20th century, of historical-critical studies on this subject. This article tries to do justice to the activity of Savva Mamontov by reconstructing the historical, political and cultural context in which he worked

Keywords: Savva Mamontov, birth of theatrical direction, Russian theatre, Šaljapin, Stanislavskij.

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The article offers a brief overview of the personal archives of opera director Iosif Lapickij. On the basis of archival documents, the author retraces some pages of his life and work. The article contains some memories of the director’s heirs, who transferred the archives to the library.

Keywords: Russian Library of Arts, archival materials, Iosif Lapicki, opera staging, Russian opera.

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The article analyzes the Theatre of Miniatures’ Russian-German productions of “The Blue Bird”, founded in Berlin in December 1921. The combination of dance, song, music, costumes, and scenography aroused the enthusiasm of German audiences and critics and set the stage for later performances by important Russian theatre companies such as the Tairov Chamber Theatre.

Keywords: Artistic cabaret, Miniatures theatre, theatrical enterprise, staging, synthesis of the arts.

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Aleksandr Sanin was an actor, director and teacher of the Russian theater, assistant and staunch supporter of Konstantin Stanislavsky. However, Sanin was excluded from the list of shareholders of the Moscow Art Theater due to his non-Russian origins at the instigation of the industrialist Savva Morozov. Aleksandr Sanin’s personality and his work reflect the trends of his time, the deconstruction of epochs, the long creative research on emigration and the idea of the “eternal return” to Russia.

Keywords: Aleksandr Sanin, Sergej Djagilev, opera, Russian theatre abroad, Mass scenes.

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Leonid Trauberg, who had studied under Miklaševskij in Odesa, and Grigorij Kozincev, a former-pupil of Aleksandra Èkster, in Kyiv, went to Konstantin Mardžanov’s Comic Opera Theatre and began to invent crazy plays in order to upset the Avant-garde theatre which seemed too academic and banal to them. Sergej Èizenštejn borrowed some tricks and attractions from their productions as were the screens installed on the stage. Specific recurring motifs such as the cash register, cross-dressing, the cult of Charlotte and Edison and the magic of electricity generated the aesthetics of their films.        

Keywords: Staging, Excentrisme, circus, musical-hall, bottle, crocodile, attractions

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The article aims to present the theatrical experimentation of Nikolaj Foregger (Kyiv 1892 – Moscow 1939), theorist, director, choreographer, and pedagogue among the most active of the Russian avant-garde. He was undoubtedly a “shadow” figure: considered in his time as an alter-ego of Meyerhold. Scholars ignored his work for a long time, despite the eclectic nature of his artistical personality that led him to be at the centre of many fundamental aspects of theatrical reform after the October Revolution in Russia.

Keywords: Féerie, staging, theatrical company, theatre director, Mass theatre.

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The Petrograd New Drama Theater was founded by partners and followers of Vsevolod Meyerhold. The name of the theater is a tribute to the memory of the ” New Drama Brotherhood”, founded by Meyerhold at the beginning of his career as a director and, at the same time, a declaration of intent: to rely on modern dramaturgy to create new scenic forms. The theater operated only during the 1922-1923 season, but its dazzling activity determined the direction of several theaters of Petrograd and Leningrad (BDT, Red Theater and others) throughout the nineteen twenties. 

Keywords: New Drama Theatre, staging, theatrical enterprise, Grippič, Expressionism.

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This article aims to clarify the overall theatrical conception implemented at the Jewish National Chamber Theater (now GOSET) under the directorship of Solomon Mixoèls (1928 – 1948). Contrary to most studies, which have highlighted Mixoèls art of as an actor, the author insists here on the artistic vision of the director. He blended music, movements and scenography into a seamless system. According to the author, the main reason for the closure of the GOSET in 1948 was caused because it remained faithful to the aesthetics of the avant-garde. (Translated in French by Pascale Melanie)

Keywords: Jewish theatre, avant-garde theatre, Solomon Mixoèls, intermedial theatre, staging system.

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Pavel Benkov (1872 – 1949) was a famous painter, the first professional artist of the Tatar theatre, who established the trends of stage painting and largely determined its future development. Based on archival sources, for the first time, the author reconstructs the productions mounted by Benkov and characterizes the stylistic rendering by analogy with painting. The examination reveals the originality of the artist’s creative method and studies the correlation of the art of scenography with that of the actor, with the drama and with the spectator’s perception. It proves that in the Tatar theatre, the artist embodied the traditions of the Russian culture of stage design that penetrates the styles of various eras and cultures.

Keywords: Tatar theatre, staging, theatre sets, scenography, Monumentalism, Realism.

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The play Xanuma (1882) by playwright Avksentij Cagareli is the best-known work of classical Georgian theatre. In 1948 it gave rise to one of the most famous musicals of the USSR, Keto and Kote, which created the stars of Georgian theater and cinema. At the heart of the work of Georgy Tovstogonov (1915 – 1989), trained as an artist in Tbilisi, was the show of the Leningrad Great Drama Theater in 1972, a free adaptation from Cagareli’s plot, which represents a declaration of love for Georgia, its art, folklore and literature. For this production Tovstogonov, formed a “Georgian team”, composed of the composer Gija Kančeli (1935-2019) and the set designer Iosif Sumbatašvili (1915-2012).

Keywords: Georgian theatre, cultural hybridization, Georgij Tovstogonov, Gija Kančeli, Georgian theme in Russian culture.

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This article aims to propose some considerations on the resonances of musical principles and processes in the theatre of Meyerhold in Brazil, based on specific questions raised during my research. For this reason, I present the analysis of two productions: Professor Boubous, staged in 1925 at the TIM (Théâtre Meyerhold), and Recusa (this word in Portuguese means refusal, negation, rejection, resistance), staged in 2012 at the theatre of the Balagan Company, Brazil.

Keywords: Process of theatrical creation, dissemination, transculturality, Vsevolod Meyerhold, Contemporary Brazilian theatre

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In the letters of Vera Komissarževskaja, we can perceive the phantasmatic presence of a tendency towards mystical and esoteric reflection. One discovers observable assonances between, on the one hand, the words of the actress on her inner search and, on the other, those of Helena Blavatsky. The Theosophical conception is reflected in the Masonic symbologies of Mozart’s Magic Flute, as well as in Tolstoy’s reflection on human existence. All of this converged in Vera’s acting, as demonstrated by comparing different documents through an interdisciplinary approach.

Keywords: Theosophy, spiritualism, inner necessity, Komissarževskaja, Freemasonry.

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