• American vacations in Russian village. (Russian classics on foreign stage: problematic dialogue and the role of interpretеrs)

УДК: 792.03(73)+792.09:821.161.1-21

DOI: 10.35852/2588-0144-2023-2-10-31

EDN: URWHEW

Full text (PDF): Download

Marina G. Litavrina

D. Sc. in Art Studies, Leading Researcher of Laboratory of Cultural History at History Department, Lomonosov Mоscow State University, University, professor of the Department of Russian Theatre History
Lomonosov Mоscow State University, Russian Institute of Theatre Arts (GITIS)
Moscow, Russia
E-mail: itavrina55@gmail.com

American vacations in Russian village. (Russian classics on foreign stage: problematic dialogue and the role of interpretеrs)

Abstract

The production of Turgenev’s “A Month in the Country” (Theatre Guild, 1930) is taken here as inherent example of Russian classics interpretation in the timeline of drama history and intercultural communication through theatre. Meanwhile the difficulties and obstacles on this way are revealed. In the author’s view, the named production is often underestimated being regarded as merely a remake or replica of MAT’s classical version of 1909. The stumbling block on Turgenev’s drama way to American spectators is easily identified at the close glance. According to American critics’ general agreement, Turgenev’s play was outdated, tedious and morbid. Though often flattery compared to Chekhov’s works, it is yet based, they wrote, on drama principles, “hardly worth preserving”. Chekhov’s drama highly favored by the Anglo-saxon criticism already enjoyed numerous interpretations on the American stage. Thus Chekhov turned to be Turgenev’s predecessor in the USA. Moreover, the advent of Turgenev to American stage is highly indebted to Russian immigrant theatre workers — Rouben Mamoulian, the director, and Alla Nazimova, the player of the main part — who proved to be the uniting “Russian center” of the production. The descriptions of acting, sets, mise en scene, the article is dwelling on, are borrowed from American and Russian sources, including archival, such as scrapbooks, iconography, witnesses or participants, letters, memoirs and critical reviews.

Keywords

Turgenev, Russian drama, Theatre Guild, Theatre in USA, Rouben Mamoulian, Alla Nazimova, Dobuzhinsky.

For citation

Litavrina M.G. American vacations in Russian village. (Russian classics on foreign stage: problematic dialogue and the role of interpretеrs). Theatre. Fine Arts. Cinema. Music. 2023, no. 2, pp. 10–31.

DOI: 10.35852/2588-0144-2023-2-10-31

EDN URWHEW

References

  1. Murenina E.K. Turgenev v SSHA kak potomok Chekhova? “Mesyats v derevne” i problemy stsenicheskoy interpretatsii russkoj klassiki v ХХI veke [Turgenev in the USA as a descendant of Chekhov? “A Month in the Village”: and Problems of Stage Interpretation of Russian Classics in the 21st Century]. In: A.P. Chekhov i I.S. Turgenev: sbornik statej po materialam mezhdunarodnoj nauchnoj konferencii “Shestyje Skaftymovskije chtenija”: k 200-letiju so dn’a rozhdenija I.S. Turgeneva [A.P. Chekhov and I.S. Turgenev. Collection of articles according to the materials of the International scientific conference “Sixth Skaftymov Readings”: to the 200th anniversary of the birth of I.S. Turgenev]. Moscow: GCTM im. A.A. Bahrushina, 2020, pp. 334–353. 
  2. Meyerhold V. E. Russkije dramaturgi [Russian playwrights]. In: Zvuk lopnuvshey struny. K 100-letiju p’jesy “Vishnevyj sad”. Chekhoviana [The sound of a broken string. To the 100th anniversary of the play “The Cherry Orchard”]. Chekhovian. Moscow: Nauka, 2005, pp. 124–133.
  3. Waldau R. The Fervent Years of the Theatre Guild. Cleveland: Press of Case Western Reserve University, 1972. XIV, 519 p. 
  4. Barson M. Mamoulian Rouben. Available from: https://www.britannica.com/biography/RoubenMamoulian (Accessed 9th December 2022). 
  5. Rouben Mamoulian. A Month in the Country. Rouben Mamoulian Papers, 1740–1987. (Bulk 1906– 1987). Series 4. Productions and Projects. 1922–1987. In: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Washington DC.
  6. Druesne M. Nazimova. Her Silent Films. Part 2. Films in Review. 1985, August, vol. XXXVI, no. 7/8, pр. 405–412. 
  7. Lambert G. Nazimova. A Biography. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1997. 420 р. 
  8. A Month in the Country. In: Encyclopedia of the New York Stage. 1920–1930. Ed. By S.L. Leiter. 1985. Vol. 1. А — M, pp. 614–615.
  9. McKerrow M. A Descriptive Study of the Acting of Alla Nazimova: PhD dissertation. Michigan, 1974.
  10. Bronner E. J. The Encyclopedia of the American Theatre. 1900–1975. San-Diego: A. S. Barnes, 1980. 659 p. 
  11. Alla Nazimova to М. Mandel. Kopiya pis’ma [Copy of letter] [1928?]. Iz chastnoy kollektsii [From a private collection].
  12.  Genette G. Palimpsestes: La litterature au second degre’. Paris: Seuil, 1982. 467 p. 
  13. Helene Pons, Georges Pons. Obituaries. In: Encyclopedia of Biography of New York. New York: Nobel Press, 1992, pp. 480–482. 
  14. Chekhov A. P. Perepiska A. P. Chekhova i O.L. Knipper: v 2 t. T. 2 [Correspondence of A. P. Chekhov and O.L. Knipper: in 2 vols. Vol. 2]. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 2004. 501 p. 
  15. Vinogradskaya I.N. Zhizn’ i tvorchestvo K.S. Stanislavskogo: letopis’: v 4 t. T. 1. 1863–1905 [Life and work of K.S. Stanislavsky: Chronicle: in 4 vols. Vol. 1. 1863–1905]. Moscow: Vserossijskoe teatralnoje obshestvo, 1971. 558 p. 
  16. Sanin Alexandr Akimovich. In: Russkiy dramaticheskij teatr. Entsiklopediya [Russian Drama Theatre: Encyclopedia]. Moscow: Bol’shaya rossiyskaya entsiklopediya, 2001, p. 406.
  17. Solovieva I.N. Puti iskaniy [Ways of searching]. In: Rezhisserskije ekzempljary K.S. Stanislavskogo: v 6 t. T. 5: 1905–1909. “Drama zhizni” K. Gamsuna, “Mesyats v derevne” I.S. Turgeneva [Director’s copies of K.S. Stanislavsky: in 6 vols. Vol. 5: 1905–1909. “Drama of Life” by K. Hamsun, “A Month in the Village” by I.S. Turgenev]. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1988, pp. 5–71. 
  18. Khomitsky V. 15 izbrannykh odnoaktnykh pjes. Izdanie Peredvizhnogo teatra v v N’ju-Jorke [15 selected one-act plays. Publication of the Traveling Theatre in New York]. New York, 1964. 231 p. 
  19. Templeton J. Ibsen’s Women. Cambridge University Press, 1999. 386 p. 
  20. [Alla Nazimova] AN Papers. Scrapbooks. Clippings. Harry E. Vinyard Jr. collection. Box 3. In: Lincoln Centre. Manuscript Division. Washington DC.
  21. Radishcheva O.A. Stanislavsky i Nemirovich-Danchenko: Istoriya teatral’nykh otnoshenij: 1917–1938 [Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko: History of theatrical relations: 1917–1938]. Moscow: Artist. Rezhisser. Teatr, 1999. 445 p. 
  22. Stanislavsky K.S. Iz zapisnykh knizhek: v 2 t. T. 1. 1888–1911 [From notebooks: in 2 vols. Vol. 1. 1888– 1911]. Moscow: Vseros. theatralnoye obshestvo, 1986. 608 p. 
  23. Litavrina M.G. Amerikanskije sady Ally Nazimovoy. Novaya versija [American gardens of Alla Nazimova. A new version]. Moscow: Dialog kultur, 2012. 288 p. 
  24. Knipper-Chekhova O.L. O. L. Knipper — M. P. Chekhova. Perepiska: v 2 t. T. 2. 1928–1956 [O.L. Knipper — M. P. Chekhov. Correspondence: in 2 vols. Vol. 2. 1928–1956]. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, 2017. 689 p.
  25. O Stanislavskom: Sbornik vospominanij. 1863–1938 [About Stanislavsky: Sat. memories. 1863–1938]. Moscow: Vserossijskoe teatralnoje obshestvo, 1948. VII, 660 p.
  26. Shchapova Yu.V. Vvedenie v veshchevedenie [Introduction to broadcast science]. Moscow: Lomonosov Moscow State University, 2000. 144 p. 
  27. Kirkland A. A Woman from Yalta. Theatre Arts. 1949, December, vol. 33, no. 11, pp. 28–29. 
  28. Cherkassky S.D. Masterstvo aktera: Stanislavsky — Boleslavsky — Strasberg: Istorija. Teorija. Praktika [Acting: Stanislavsky — Boleslavsky — Strasberg: History, theory and practice]. St. Petersburg: RGISI, 2016. 814 p. 
  29. The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. Ed. by P. Hartnoll, P. Found. Oxford, 1992. 568 p. 
  30. Eustis M. Players at work. New York: Theatre Arts Books, 1937. 127 p. 
  31. Litavrina M.G. Nostal’gia: medlennyj yad [Nostalgia: slow poison]. In: Nostal’giya: mify, sud’by i literaturnyj opyt russkoj emigracii [Nostalgie: mythes, destins et l’experience litteraire de l’emigration Russe]. Tunis: Sotepa Graphics, 2022, pp. 12–25.

Received: 09.12.2022

Revised: 01.03.2023

Accepted: 14.03.2023