DOI: 10.35852/2588-0144-2021-1-47-62
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Efros and theatre at the turn of the 1930 – 1940s: early theatre impressions
Abstract
The article provides a reconstruction
of Anatoliy Efros (soon an outstanding
Soviet director) youth and the preconditions for his initial interest in theatre.
In his young years he was not connected
with the art sphere. The testimonies of his
relatives and few memories of Efros himself about his childhood and youth help
to define that he was attracted to theatre
not as a viewer of the performances but
after reading books about theatre and listening to radio rogramms. It seems
the most important fact that he was interested in books about E. B. Vakhtangov.
He became a reference figure for Efros
as an innovator and creator of his own
theatre.
Efros viewer’s tastes formation is considered in the context of the theatre Moscow
of 30-40s. It is highlighted a very common
for that time tendency to limit the opportunities for the director’s free art. Their functions in the late Stalin era were transferred
to the great actors. That fact explains Efros
memories about outstanding Soviet actors
(these are his youth theatre memories, kept
in his articles, books and oral stories). Their
stage roles and work stayed in his memory
for his whole life. His impressions about
I. M. Moskvin, V. I. Kachalov, N. P. Khmelev
and all the actors of the Moscow Art
Theatre further determined the peculiarities of his own acting school.
Efros memories are chosen and
arranged for the first time as a holistic system of the stage preferences and
desires of the future director. The whole reconstruction is made on the basis of selection the critic reviews of the same theatre
events in the Soviet press.
Keywords
Soviet theatre, theatre life
of the 1940s, directing, A. Efros, E. Vakhtangov,
K. Stanislavsky, V. Nemirovich-Danchenko,
Moscow Art Theatre, I. Moskvin, N. Khmelev.
For citation
Stepanova A. A. A. V. Efros and theatre at the turn of the 1930 – 1940s: early theatre impressions. In: Theatre. Fine Arts. Cinema. Music. 2021, no. 1, pp. 47–62.
DOI: 10.35852/2588-0144-2021-1-47-62
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Received: 30.12.2020
Accepted: 15.02.2021