Theatre In The Solovki Prison Camp (russian Theatre Archive, V. 3)

First Published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company. There were theatres in many Soviet concentration camps. What were they like? Can we regard them as an artistic phenomenon? Do they constitute a distinct unity? This account provides answers to these questions as well as precise dates and names of the theatre managers, directors and actors. There were theatres in many Soviet concentration camps. What were they like? Can we regard them as an artistic phenomenon? Do they constitute a distinct unity? It has been difficult to answer these and many other questions concerning the term "concentration camp theatre" mainly because the KGB archives are still largely inaccessible and few are still alive of those who worked in the theatres of the "world behind the barbed wire". The most important theatre of this kind, serving as a model for others, was in the Solovki camp for political prisoners. This account provides precise dates and names of the theatre managers, directors and actors

There were theatres in hundreds of Soviet concentration camps. What were they like? Can we regard them as an artistic phenomenon? Do they constitute a distinct unity? It has been difficult to answer these and many other questions concerning the absurd term "concentration camp theatre" mainly because the KGB archives are still largely inaccessible and few are still alive of those who worked in the theatres of the "world behind the barbed wire." The most important theatre of this kind, serving as a model for others, was in the Solovki camp for political prisoners. In this book, readers will not find any rhetoric on the incompatibility of art and concentration camp, but will be offered a well-documented account of a rich reality, with precise dates and names of the theatre managers, directors and actors. The book is illustrated with fascinating and at times poignant archival photographs.

First Published in 1996. The Russian Theatre Archive makes available in English the best avantgarde plays, from the pre-Revolutionary period to the present day. It features monographs on major playwrights and theatre directors, introductions to previously unknown works, and studies of the main artistic groups and periods. Plays are presented in performing edition translations, including (where appropriate) musical scores, and instructions for music and dance. Whenever possible the translated texts will be accompanied by videotapes of performances of plays in the original language. Prison camp theatre is a theme justified by actual life, even though the marriage of such concepts as 'theatre' and 'prison camp' may appear, to the ordinary mind, preposterous. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Introduction to the Series List of Plates Preface Part One 1 From monastery to concentration camp 2 The Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp - SLON 3 The special purpose press: The Solovetsky Islands and The New Solovki 4 Profiles and masques Part Two 5 The Theatre of the 1st Department 6 The smaller theatres - 'Trash' and the group of 'Our Own' 7 The end of the early Solovki 8 At the crossroads 9 The theatre at Kem Part Three 10 The 'court' and 'vulgar' theatres of the White Sea-Baltic Canal 11 Camp theatres and the Central Theatre of the White Sea-Baltic Canal 12 The theatre of the late Solovki References Abbreviations Index