Amateur and Proletarian Theatre in Post-Revolutionary Russia : Primary Sources

This is the first collection of primary sources that addresses the amateur theatre produced by the workers in the first decade after the Russian Revolution. Newly translated from the Russian, the essays capture both theoretical articulations on the scene – by luminaries such as Alexander Bogdanov, Platon Kerzhentsev, Valerian Pletnev, Alexander Mgebrov and Valentin Smyshliaev – and the more fleeting descriptions and first-hand accounts of the productions staged, accounts and voices which are typically harder to capture. The essays tell a story of unabashed optimism in the creativity of the working classes. They speak of the use of theatre to carve a public and political role in the construction of a new world. The sources, however, also exhibit the flipside of the scene, or the sombre difficulties faced by the amateur actors and the incessant calls to raise standards through professional help. The narrative developed is that of an amateur theatre which began as an autonomous and heterogeneous activity but which by the mid-to-late 1920s was transformed into a regulated practice and a space for cultural programming. The collection makes an important contribution to our understanding of modern theatre: scholarship conventionally tackles the canonical names from the professional world but gives little attention to the more down-to-earth forms of performance taking place in factories, clubs and amateur circles. An introductory essay also highlights the range and significance of the collection and draws links between the essays. Cover Contents List of Figures Acknowledgements Translation Credits and a Note on Transliteration Introduction Stefan Aquilina Prologue Platon Kerzhentsev Part One Aims and Objectives 1 ‘The Proletariat and Art’ Anatoly Lunacharsky 2 ‘The Proletariat and Art’ Resolutions proposed at the First All-Russian Conference of Proletarian Cultural and Educational Organizations Alexander Bogdanov 3 ‘The Proletkult and Soviet Cultural Work’ Anatoly Lunacharsky 4 ‘Ways towards a Proletarian Culture’ Alexander Bogdanov 5 ‘The Proletkult – Organization of Proletarian Amateur Performances’ Platon Kerzhentsev 6 ‘Craving the Stage’ Nikolai Lvov 7 ‘Socialist Theatre in the Years of the Revolution’ Piotr Kogan 8 ‘No to Theatre Art, but to Celebration’ Adrian Piotrovsky 9 ‘Drama and Mass Performances’ Viktor Shklovsky Part Two Amateur–Professional Relations 10 ‘On the Professionalization of the Workers in the Arts’ Fyodor Kalinin 11 ‘On Professionalism’ Valerian Pletnev 12 The Creation of the Proletarian Theatre Platon Kerzhentsev Part Three Repertoire Issues 13 Repertoire at a Factory Theatre Alexander Mgebrov Alexander Mgebrov 14 ‘The Repertoire of the Proletarian Theatre’ Platon Kerzhentsev Platon Kerzhentsev 15 Notes on Pavel Bessalko’s The Bricklayer Alexander Mgebrov Alexander Mgebrov 16 ‘Adapt the Plays!’ Platon Kerzhentsev Platon Kerzhentsev 17 Garland’s Inheritance Valerian Pletnev Valerian Pletnev 18 They Tried to Hide, but Ended Up Fathers Arkhip Part Four Production Approaches and Examples 19 ‘After the Holiday’ Platon Kerzhentsev 20 Performances during the Civil War Alexander Mgebrov 21 Collective Readings Alexander Mgebrov 22 ‘Collective Creation in the Theatre’ Platon Kerzhentsev 23 ‘Strife between the Arts’ Platon Kerzhentsev 24 ‘On Futurism’ Fyodor Kalinin 25 ‘Creative Play. The Improvisational Method of N. F. Skarskaia’ P. P. Gaideburov 26 ‘Experiment in the Staging of Émile Verhaeren’s Poem “Insurrection”’ Valentin Smyshlaev 27 The Results of the New Theatre Platon Kerzhentsev 28 The Proletarian Actor Valentin Tikhonovich 29 ‘The Dramatization of a Living Newspaper’ Moscow Proletkult 30 ‘On Staging Agit-Trials’ Moscow Proletkult 31 ‘Club Stage – Competition of Living Newspapers’ N.N.V. Part Five Training 32 ‘On the Work of the Theatre Department of the Moscow Proletkult’ Valentin Smyshlaev 33 Dramatic Laboratories Platon Kerzhentsev 34 ‘A Unified Studio of the Arts’ Moscow Proletkult 35 ‘On Theatre Work at the Clubs’ Moscow Proletkult Epilogue: The Construction of Amateur Theatre Nikolai Evreinov References Index What did modern theatre in Russia look like and how did it foreground tradition building and transmission processes? The book challenges conventional historiographical approaches by weaving contemporary theories on cultural transmission into its historical narrative. It argues that processes of transmission - training spaces, acting manuals, photographic evidence, newspaper reports, international networking, informal encounters, cultural memories - contribute to the formation and consolidation of theatre traditions. 0Through English translations of rare Russian sources, the book expounds on: side-lined material on Stanislavsky, including his relationship with German actor Ludwig Barnay, use of improvisation at the First Studio, and rehearsal practices for Artists and Admirers (1933); Valentin Smyshlaev's acting manual The Technique to Process Stage Performance and the creation of hybrid practices; proletarian theatre as an amateur-professional combination and force in the transformation of everyday life, as seen in the Proletkult's volume Art at the Workers' Clubs; Meyerhold's Borodin Studio as an early example of Practice as Research, his European tour of 1930, and international persona as depicted in newspapers published in the West; and Asja Lacis's work with children, which contributes to current efforts to address the gender imbalance that is often characteristic of modernism. This historical-theoretical investigation is combined with practical exercises that provide a more experiential understanding of the modern performance realities involved. In this way, the book speaks not only to theatre scholars and historians, but also to students and practitioners engaged in practical work "This is the first collection of primary sources that addresses the amateur theatre produced by the workers in the first decade after the Russian Revolution. Newly translated from the Russian, the essays capture both theoretical articulations on the scene - by luminaries such as Alexandr Bogdanov, Platon Kerzhentsev, Valerian Pletnev, Alexander Mgebrov, and Valentin Smyshliaev - and the more fleeting descriptions and first-hand accounts of the productions staged, accounts and voices which are typically harder to capture. The essays tell a story of unabashed optimism in the creativity of the working classes. They speak of the use of theatre to carve a public and political role in the construction of a new world. The sources, however, also exhibit the flipside of the scene, or the sombre difficulties faced by the amateur actors and the incessant calls to raise standards through professional help. The narrative developed is that of an amateur theatre which began as an autonomous and heterogeneous activity but which by the mid-to-late 1920s was transformed into a regulated practice and a space for cultural programming. The collection makes an important contribution to our understanding of modern theatre: scholarship conventionally tackles the canonical names from the professional world but gives little attention to the more down-to-earth forms of performance taking place in factories, clubs, and amateur circles. An introductory essay also highlights the range and significance of the collection and draws links between the essays"-- Provided by publisher "Amidst the turmoil of political revolution, the stage directors of twentieth-century Russia rewrote the rules of theatre making. From realism to the avant-garde, politics to postmodernism, and revolution to repression, these practitioners shaped perceptions of theatre direction across the world. This edited volume introduces students and practitioners alike to the innovations of Russia's directors, from Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vsevolod Meyerhold to Anatoly Efros, Oleg Efremov and Genrietta Ianovskaia. Strongly practical in its approach, Russian Theatre in Practice: The Director's Guide equips readers with an understanding of the varying approaches of each director, as well as the opportunity to participate and explore their ideas in practice. The full range of the director's role is covered, including work on text, rehearsal technique, space and proxemics, audience theory and characterization. Each chapter focuses on one director, exploring their historical context, and combining an examination of their directing theory and technique with practical exercises for use in classroom or rehearsal settings. Through their ground-breaking ideas and techniques, Russia's directors still demand our attention, and in this volume they come to life as a powerful resource for today's theatre makers"-- Provided by publisher "Amidst the turmoil of political revolution, the stage directors of twentieth-century Russia rewrote the rules of theatre making. From realism to the avant-garde, politics to postmodernism, and revolution to repression, these practitioners shaped perceptions of theatre direction across the world. This edited volume introduces students and practitioners alike to the innovations of Russia's directors, from Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vsevolod Meyerhold to Anatoly Efros, Oleg Efremov and Genrietta Ianovskaia. Strongly practical in its approach, Russian Theatre in Practice: The Director's Guide equips readers with an understanding of the varying approaches of each director, as well as the opportunity to participate and explore their ideas in practice. The full range of the director's role is covered, including work on text, rehearsal technique, space and proxemics, audience theory and characterization. Each chapter focuses on one director, exploring their historical context, and combining an examination of their directing theory and technique with practical exercises for use in classroom or rehearsal settings. Through their ground-breaking ideas and techniques, Russia's directors still demand our attention, and in this volume they come to life as a powerful resource for today's theatre makers." [Source : 4e de couv.] "The touch and movement senses have a large place in the modern arts. This is widely discussed and celebrated, often enough as if it represents a breakthrough in a primarily visual age. This book turns to history to show just how significant movement and the sense of movement were to pioneers of modernism at the turn of the 20th century. It makes this history vivid through a picture of movement in the lives of an extraordinary generation of Russian artists, writers, theatre people and dancers bridging the last years of the tsars and the Revolution. Readers will gain a new perspective on the relation between art and life in the period 1890-1920 in great innovators like the poets Mayakovsky and Andrei Bely, the theatre director Meyerhold, the dancer Isadora Duncan and the young men and women in Russia inspired by her lead, and esoteric figures like Gurdjieff. Movement, and the turn to the body as a source of natural knowledge, was at the centre of idealistic creativity and hopes for a new age, for a 'new man', and this was true both for those who looked forward to the technology of the future and those who looked back to the harmony of Ancient Greece. The book weaves history and analysis into a colourful, thoughtful affirmation of movement in the expressive life."-- Provided by publisher "What does it mean, in a polarized political climate, that feminism is popular in mainstream pop? Engaging with feminist theory and previous research about gender and music, this book investigates the meaning of current trends relating to gender, feminism and woman-identified artists in mediated popular music. The examples discussed throughout the book include Beyoncé's concert documentary Homecoming, the Swedish music industry #MeToo petition signed by 2,192 artists, the television show Star and the functions of a music streaming service. The volume discusses the media specificity of the different examples; introduces and explains feminist theories and concepts; and analyses the position of women, gender equality and feminism in mainstream pop music today"--