SEEP Vol.5 No3 December 1985

7/22/2019 SEEP Vol.5 No3 December 1985

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VOLUME 5 NUMBER 3DECEMBER 985


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SovietandEast Buropean:rama ~ ~ h e t r e

Volume 5 , Number 3December, 985


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George Mason UniversitySEEDTF has very liberal reprinting policy. Journalsand newsletters which desire to reproduce articlesreviews and other materials which have appeared inSEEDTF may do so as long as the followingprovisions are met:


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Editorial Policy 4Announcements 5


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EDITORIAL POUCYManuscripts in the .following categories are

solicited: Articles of no more than 2,500 words; bookreviews; performance reviews; and bibliographies. tmust be kep t in mind that all of the above submissions must concern themselves either with con:-temporary materials concerned with Soviet or EastEuropean theatre and drama, or with new approachesin recently published works and new performances, toolder materials. In other words, we would welcomesubmissions reviewing innovative performances ofGogol or r ecently published books on Gogol, for


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NNOUNCEMENTSAs previously announced, a proposal for a grantto subsidize this publication beginning January 1987

will soon be drafted. n order to give additionalcredence to the proposal, i t is of great importancethat the readership declare whether this publicationis worthy of such support. Therefore, you are strongly urged to send a let ter to Leo Hecht in which youexpress your opinions as to whether this publication isof interest and help to our discipline and whether youdo or do not feel strongly that t be continued beyondacademic year 1986/87. Please do take a few minutes to write such a let ter and send i t to me at yourearliest opportunity. Many thanks.


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1981. The title role is performed by MaximilianSchell and also stars, among others, VanessaRedgrave, Hanna Schygulla, Lili Palmer, Omar Sharifand Laurence Olivier. Vittorio Storato is the directorof photography. Konstantin Thoeren is the lineproducer of the entire miniseries. This is not a coproduction with the Soviets, although i t was shotnearly exclusively in the USSR. t does, however,have roles for a number of well-known Sovietperformers including Boris Plotnikov, ValentinNikulin, Roman Filippov, Vera Maiorova and NataliaAndreichenko. Major assistance was furnished by theGorky Film Studios in Moscow and by the SovietArmy which furnished a great deal of requiredmanpower for mass scenes.


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please write to Margaret Knapp, Associate Director,Center for Advanced Study in Theatre Arts (CASTA),Graduate Center, 33 West 42nd Street, New York,NY 10036.

The Biograph Theatre in Washington, D.C., isnow in the process of presenting an eight-week seriesof films entitled Soviet Cinema Yesterday andToday. Some of the films included are AnUnfinished Piece for a Player Piano (directed byNikita Mikhalkov, 1977); Siberiade (AndreiKonchalovskii, 1982); Oblomov (Nikita Mikhalkov,1979); Jazzman (Karen Chakhnazarov, 1983);Without Witness (Nikita Mikhalkov, 1984); A Slave

of Love (Nikita Mikhalkov, 1978); WartimeRomance (Piotr Todorovskii, 1984); Don Quixote


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choreographed by Liz Lerman to music byMoussorgsky, Stravinsky, Chaikovsky, Shostakovich,Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov and others, and using thewords of Tolstoy, Catherine the Great, Gogol,Zhdanov, Radischev, Zoshchenko and others. t wasan at tempt to present a thousand years of Russianhistory in two hours. t opened to mixed reviews inthe major Washington newspapers. t is reported thatMs. Lerman will continue working on this productionin preparation for an opening in another city.

A Soldier's Story, the American film aboutracism in the army directed by Norman Jewison, tooktop honors at the International Moscow Film Festivalin. July, 1985. The Soviet jury praised the film forshowing the spiritual destruction caused by racism.


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'nternational Conference on Ira Aldridgeand His Successors

Poznan Poland, April 1, 1986Sponsored by Adam Mickiewicz University,

Poznan and Southern Illinois University,Carbondale, USA

The biography of this unique black actor byHerbert Marshall and Mildred Stock has beenpublished in paperback by Southern Illinois UniversityPress. t is now being translated and published inPolish by the STATE PUBUSHING HOUSE, Warsaw,with additional chapters by Herbert Marshall on TheRoles and Art of Ira Aldridge and a listing of all hisown performances throughout Great Britain and


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Accordingly, we invite participants either asauditors or to give papers related to this area eitheras part of Theatre History or of Afro-AmericanCulture or specifically on the Black in thePerforming Arts from Aldridge s day until now.

Proposed papers: Fred O Neal, Chairman,Association of Actors and Artists of America,Experiences As A Black Actor; Professor EdwardScobie, Black Studies, City College of New York,USA, New Light On The Ira Aldridge Family; ErrolHill, John D. Willard, Professor Drama and Oratoryat Dartmouth College, USA, Black ShakespeareanActors.

From Adam Mickiewicz University, Professor


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AATSEEL ONVENTIONThe following papers will be read at the annual

AATSEEL Convention which will take place inChicago at the Palmer House, December 27-30, 1985:

Myth, Tradition and Revolution andEisenstein's Que Viva Mexica-N atasha Kolchevska,Unive rsity of New Mexico.

The Role of the Artist in Tarkovsky's AndreiRublev and Merezhkovsky's Romance of Leonardo daVinci -Peter G. Christensen, SUNY, Binghamton.

Nikita Mikhalkov's Works in the Context ofSoviet Filmmaking, --Ludmilla Pruner, VanderbiltUniversity


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BmUOGR PHY

Herbert Marshall. Masters of the SovietCinema: Crippled Creative Biographies. London andBoston: Routledge Kegan Paul, 1983. We should allbe well acquainted with the work of ProfessorMarshall who has published extensively on Soviettheatre and film . This book concerns itself specifically with Vsevolod Pudovkin, Dziga Vertov,Alexander DovzhEmko and Sergei Eisenstein, theirlives and works, and their t reatment by the Sovietauthorities. t contains a plethora of quotes by thesubjects of this study and their contemporaries, someextremely interesting plates, and numerous bibliographic references. The most interesting aspect of


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Simon Karlinksy. Russian Drama from ItsBeginnings to the Age of Pushkin. Berkeley:University of California Press, 1985. The author'sprevious work in the area of Russian drama iscertainly well known to us all. This book continuesthe superb level of scholarship expected of Karlinsky.No further discussion of the book at this point isappropriate since a thorough review of i t will bepublished in the next issue. The one sad fact to beconsidered at this t ime is that the book, which isavailable only in hard-cover, is priced at a prohibitiye$38.50. Although this may be acceptable for l ibraryacquisitions, t certainly precludes its use in theclassroom. where it would be highly appropriate. Itherefore urge everyone who has an interest alongthis line to write to the publisher and strongly


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197 i (Ph.D. Dissertation, The University of Georgia,1978) .

Faina Burko. The Soviet Yiddish Theatre in theTwenties. (Ph.D. Disse rtation, Southern IllinoisUniversity at Carbondale, 1978).

Sharon Marie Carnicke. The TheatricalInstinct: A Study of the Works of Nikolaj Evreinov inEarly Twenti e th Century Russia. (Ph.D . Dissertation,Columbia University, 1979).

Nancy Anne Kindel an. The Theatre ofInspiration: An Analysis of the Acting Theories ofMichael Chekhov. (Ph.D . Dissertation, The Universityof WisconsinMadison, 1977).


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Sharon M. Carnicke. An Actor Prepares/Rabota aktera nad soboi, Chast' I: A Comparison ofthe English with the Russian Stanislavsky. TheatreJournal, December, 1984.

Patricia Carden (ed.). Russian Performance.Irvine, CA: Charles Schlack, 1985.

Denise J . Youngblood. Soviet Cinema in theSilent Era, 1918-35. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press,1985.

The following books published in the SovietUnion in English may be purchased from ImportedPublications, 320 W Ohio St., Chicago, IL 60610-4175:


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Yury Olesha. The Complete Plays. Ed., trans.,intra. by M. Green J. Katsell. Ann Arbor, MI:

Ardis, 1983.Konstantin Rudnitsky. Meyerhold the Director.

G. Petrov (trans.); S. Schultze (ed.); and E. Proffer(intra.}. Ann Arbor, MI: Ardis, 1981.

M. Bulgakov. Sobranie sochinenii. Tom VP'esy. Ann Arbor, MI: Ardis, 1985.Jerrold A. Phillips (guest editor); Joseph Slowikand Melissa T. Smith (associate editors). Slavic and

East European Arts: Special Issue on Recent Polishand Soviet Theatre and Drama. Volume 3, No. I,Winter/Spring 1985. Published by Department ofGermanic and Slavic, SUNY-Stony Brook, NY 11794.


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The National Theatre NT) was officially openedin London in October, 1976. The site on which thismagnificent building-complex stands, directly on theSouth Bank of the Thames, and a considerable part ofthe construction costs, were provided by the GreaterLondon Council, which also furnishes an annual subsidy. The primary source of regular outside fundingis the Arts Council of Great Britain. The cost ofadmission, although i t is approximat e ly the same asthat of most London theatres, is highly inadequate tomake the NT self-supporting despite the fact thatmost performances are sold out.

A short analysis of the innovative structure ofthe company gives us a clue why this is an expensive


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larly shows samples of its work to the general publicin the Cottesloe Theatre. The size of the total NTacting company, not including directors and thoseinvolved with settings, costumes, lighting, music andother support off-stage, is about 120.

The NT also offers between-performance livemusic, platform performances, lectures arranged inconjunction with the London University Extra-MuralBoard, exhibitions, an assortment of restaurants andbuffets, three bookstores, and many other facilities.As a boon to the theatre-goer, it also prints by farthe most attractive and informative programs-oneof the biggest shortcomings of London theatres ing eneral. For about 20 weeks of e very year the NTsends its productions on tour both in the United


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particularly important, considering this playwright'spenchant for rewriting, revising and cutting. Clearlyi t was not one of the final versions, since its lengthwould have required a performance which would benearly twice as l ong as the average full-length play.We do not even know the intended title of the playwhich is most frequently but arbitrarily called

Platonov after the male lead.Of course this is not the first time the play has

been pe rformed. The most memorable performancein English was at the Royal Court Theatre, with RexHarrison in the leading role, in an excellenttranslation by Dmitri Makarov (who, incidentally, wasone of Michael Frayn's Russian instructors). Sincethen it has been sporadically performed under


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Chekhov was yet unable to separate in his own mindwhether he was going to write comedy, farce ortragedy. There is, therefore, considerable mixtureof elements, many of which are out of place. Thiscauses significant problem to the translator in thechoice of language and intonation.There is cast of 18, plus three stringmus1c1ans who perform mood music in theStanislavsky manner. The plot and setting could nothave been more typically Chekhovian. The action, orlack of it, takes place on country estate with thenormal assortment of lower nobility and peasants,and in an adjoining area. We are exposed to absentminded, elderly nobility such as retired colonel and

local landowner; an alcoholic doctor; student;


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whose depth is quite startling at times. The stagingof the play was magnificent. The first act takesplace on the veranda of the widow s estate. The viewwe have is from the direction of the manor houseonto the veranda and the gardens and birch grovesbeyond it. On the veranda there are numerousdivans, chairs, tables and settees most of which willbe occupied once the members of the cast are introduced one by one. On the right of the stage is anextended side entrance to the manor house whichthen curves around to where the audience is sitting.Upstage from the porch, in the beautifully simulatedbirch grove, there is, appropriately, statue ofAphrodite facing the porch. While most of the audible conversation takes place on the porch, the new


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deal of running about on the stage, and bit of hidingbehind bushes, dashing in and out of the house, andother farcical elements involving murderouspeasant and the rich merchant. The curtain islowered and soon raised to display the inside ofPlatonov's house- the outside facade has been rotatedto reveal the inside which now fills the entire stage.Platonov has been in the house alone for severalweeks. His normally neat appearance has changed togrubbiness. The house is filthy. Pl tonov has beendrinking rather heavily. This act, unfortunately,caters to the Londoner's affection for low-levelslapstick comedy involving physical contortions andalcoholic shticks. As expected, all four womenarrive and try to talk Platonov into either leaving the


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also frequently performed under the ti t ie TheInspector General. t is under the la t ter title thatthe play became extremely well known internationally, particularly because of the film starring DannyKaye in the title role.

Just a few words should be said about thehistory of the play. It was completed in 1836 and hadits premiere on April of that year. Its performancewas permitted by the censors partly, as i t is rumored,due to Pushkin's intervention. Although the firstperformance was, generally speaking, a success, itwas still considered controversial. The audience wasnot quite sure what the playwright intended to say.Was it an attack upon small-town corruption, or did ithave an added meaning? Another shockingly unusual


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to at tack the political system of pre-revolutionary,Tsarist Russia. Meyerhold continued to direct theplay until 1938 when his theatre was closed by Stalinand he, himself, was imprisoned and soon thereafterkilled.

The NT version was performed at the OlivierTheatre under the direction of Richard Eyre, from anew adaptation by Adrian Mitchell. According toMitchell, he worked from a literal translation . Thisseems to indicate that he was unable to work withthe original t ex t a fact well apparent from hisadaptation. He also included punch-lines from anumber of Gogol's short stories which are of littlevalue for an unde rstanding of the action and, in fact ,sometimes distract from it. The cast numbered 26,


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documents, covered with printed and hand-writtenRussian. The expanse of the back wall was a similarly immense canvas sheet. And, all over thesedocuments, were oversized flies. When the lightswere dimmed, there were claps of thunder andflashes of lightning. large head was projectedsideways onto the back wall. t then slowly turnedfull-face to the audience with a look of extremeterror, its mouth opened in a silent scream. The backwall was raised overhead by a system of pulleys toform a sort of canopy over the entire stage, and a setwas then rolled to stage front. t depicted the officeof the mayor with the entire council present, gathered around a conference table laden with documents. Next to the table, a bust of the mayor. On


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with slapstick including pratfalls, a drop through theskylight, and other shticks which, although well done,would have been refused as too low by the ThreeStooges. At any rate, the mayor offers Khlestakovquarters in his home.

The next set is the back of the first set anddepicts the mayor's home. We are introduced to hiswife and daughter who are shallow, self-centered anddull-witted. What is striking about the play, true toGogol's script, is that there are no positivecharacters in i t A party is arranged for Khlestakovat which he becomes increasingly inebriated, inarticulate and obnoxious. This is another excellentopportunity for slapstick which has been gratefullyaccepted by the director. Khlestakov also exag


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the floor of the stage, simulating flight. Khlestakovstands in the center of the troika with effectivelighting directly upon him, and then starts recitingone of the most significant passages in all of Russianl i terature--the final two paragraphs from Gogol'snovel Dead Souls, which starts with the line "Andyou, Russia--are n't you racing headlong like thefastest troika imaginable?" The effect is quite goodand Gogo would have liked i t I t would have been aneffective counterweight to all the misplaced slapstick. But i t is spoiled terribly. A few lines down,the text reads: "And where do you fly to, Russia?"Mayall adds a real cockney "Eh? to the question,which breaks up the London audience and turns themagnificent text into a farce.


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standing of the lines more difficult for nonEnglishmen. But this is just a minor inconvenience.

Leo Hecht, George Mason University

ELDAR RIAZANOV S GARAGEIn the 1979 film Garage the director Eldar

Riazanov departs from standard Soviet practice anduses satire in his investigation of the socio-moralvalues of the Soviet intelligentsia. A great deal ofattention is devoted to issues of individual freedomand personal rights. My purpose is to analyze thefilm s ideological message in the light of the genre


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between human conduct and the social environmentfrom several societal and human perspectives.

The plot of Garage is simple. There is aResearch Institute for the Protection of Animalsagainst the Environment. A group of staff membersof this Institute is involved in building individualgarages in cooperation with the state and under thedirection of a Committee. This project meets withnumerous obstacles, both expected and unexpected.The committee s wisdom helps the Institute groupovercome all the difficulties and guides them towardtheir goal- the successful construction of theirgarages.

Up to this point the film parodies the teleo


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sidered once the scenario has been chosen is, to usehis term, the intonation of the film. Then thedirec t o r can SEE his future film, as a painter is ableto SEE his future picture, or FEEL the sequence ofrhythm and mood, or C L C U L ~ t h e film by carefully conside ring all the possible means for conveyinghis message to the viewer.

How does he calculate his film ? Throughconstant juxtapositions, contrasts, comparisons in thesequence of shots, i.e., the montage and alsojuxtapositions within individual shots.

The film opens with an unde rstated contrastbetween the appearance of industrial prospe rity andan underlying reality that leaves much to be desired.


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A female driver who is obviously in a hurry leads usinside. She races through exhibit halls that displaythe history of animal life on earth: first dinosaurs,then mammoths, then all kinds of birds, insects, andso on. We hear the voice of the official at themeeting as we follow the woman to the room wherethe meeting is being held. There, flanked by themuseum's rarest and most valuable stuffed animals,the participants in the garage project are carryingout their business.

Let us stop for a moment and analyze thewoman's journey: she has come in from an openspace, an anonymous street that may suggest theentire country. It's important to notice that thisopen space is associated with the voice of authority.


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Then a striking conflict suddenly emerges. TheInstitute members have paid the State toward theconstruction of the garages, and thus have enteredinto a contract with it. However, the State changesits plans, which affects the project. Four membersof the Institute will lose their garages. Thecommittee has already selected the victims: theyare the most inoffensive, l east protected animals inthe cave. They have no privileges of status, no blat.For all practical purposes they are worker bees.From this moment on the stuffed animals surroundingthe members of the Institute for the Protection ofAnimals Against the Environment become a controlling metaphor in the film. Betrayed humans adoptthe behavior of wild animals, displaying all thecharacteristics of the fight-flight reflex. The only


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speaking, without papers they don't exist as anorganiztion. Riazanov has created an ideal atmosphere in which everyone finally begins telling thetruth to each other. The woman who led us into theenclose d space, the place of the meeting, calls uponeveryone to reconsider their past and start a new lifebased on the democratic principles of a Socialiststate. Her formulation is received with laughter.

Before long, however, they decide to sleep inthe room . The lights go off and the Institute members sing a lullaby in chorus. The lullaby not onlyrevives the comic atmosphere and changes the film'srhythm, but also establishes the sort of mood associated with telling children stories before bedtime. Asa result, the s r i o u s n ~ s s of the confessional mono


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must draw lots before it arrives. Because of eventsthat we do not need to go into, the woman whochaired the committee and heads the Institute isforced to leave the room just before the lots aredrawn. On her way out she says: Don't worry. We'llmeet tomorrow at another place and on anotherlevel. Her meaning is obvious, and as metaphors,light and future (tomorrow) acquire menacingovertones.

Thus, the apparent happy end in fact becomesan open ending. As t ~ protagonists leave thebuilding, we return symbolically to the beginning ofthe film, where we first heard the voice at themeeting, and we realize that the voice of theauthority that was extinguished in the phantasma


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was excellent, most frequently predominating in rich,warm, earthen tones. The visual effects werecorrectly subdued. The audio was excellent.

Most important, however, was the theory, whichdefinitely was targeted towards adults rather thanchildren. The film opens with a party at the home ofa middle-aged, apparently unmarried, man . t is hisbirthday. The table is laden with an astonishingvariety of food and drink. Many flash photographsare taken. Then, out of the blue, he receives abirthday gift package which contains a paper airplaneand a note, "Stay well Take i t easy " signed"Shurik." The man sinks into a pensive mood and goesto his musty study saturated with books and mementos and pulls out a photo album filled with


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In general, this children's-short for grown-ups isexcellently done, and creates the bitter-sweet,nostalgic, melancholy mood it intends to convey. treeks with Russian atmosphere and Chekhov.Leo Hecht

Please duplicate the slip below when you send in yourcontribution for postage and handling. Make yourcheck for $3.00 payable to George MasonUniversity and mail to Prof Leo Hecht, Chairman,Russian Studies, George Mason University, Fairfax,


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The State Universityin orthern Virginia4400 University Driveirfax, Virginia 22030Department of ForeignLanguages and Litercttures

eorgeMasonUniversity

Non-Profit OrganizatU.S. Postage?AIDFairfax, Virginial)ermit o. 1532

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SEEP Vol.5 No3 December 1985

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