The Theatre of Andrzej Wajda by Maciej Karpinski (review)

Book Reviews the stories of Stanislavski's relationship with his translator, Elizabeth Hapgood, and his American publishers, and how problems with both - along with Stanislavski's pressing need for quick money - contributed to misunderstandings about concepts central to the "System" (emotion memory. the method of physical action) that persist to this very day, especially among teachers of acting who've never gone beyond All Actor Prepares. The portrait of Stanislavski that emerges from Benedetti 's book is of an intensely private, unflaggingly patrician man whose sjngl e~minded devotion to the art of theatre revolutionized European and American actor training. Benedetti's biography should remind theatre scholars and practitioners that we still have much to learn from Stanislavski about discipline. craft, and fidelity to aesthetic ideals. The latter is particularly important to a fuller understanding of Stanislavski. One of the most moving parts of the book concerns the fortunes of the MAT after Stalin's rise to power. Like other theatres, the MAT was under considerable pressure to confollTl to the party line. Socialist realism replaced more sophisticated genres and the theatre, now producing as many as three plays per day, was forced into production practices antithetical to its most fundamental aesthetic principles. Although the MAT, apparently Stalin's favorite theatre, tried to travel the path of compromise and conciliation, and although Meierhold is still given much of the credit for challenging Zhdanov and the Socialist ,Realist agenda, it was Stanislavski who, as early as 193 1, spoke out loudly against the rising tide of oppressive, state-initiated arts policies and practices, . Whatever his personal idiosyncracies and eccentricities, Stanislavski never ceased to evolve as an artist nor did he betray his principles through years of struggle, first inside the Art Theatre itself and later with the Soviet state. Although Stanislavski seems to have been fundamentally apolitical, his defense of freedom of artistic expression should be noted by all theatre artists who find themselves in the uncomfortable position of squaring off with Jesse Helms and the new director of the NEA. Benedetti 's book is well-written and researched; although more a biography of the artist than the individual, it will be of interest to the general public as well as Russian theatre historians. CATHERINE SCHULER, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND MACIEJ KARPINSKI. The Theatre ofAndrzej Wajda. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1989. Pp. xviii + 135, iliuslraled. $49.50. In the West Wajda is far better known as a film director than as a theatre director. But· in Poland his work in the two media has been equally important. Maciej Karpinski 's chronology of Wajda's life work lists 23 feature fil ms and 22 theatre productions. Part of the reason for his film work being better known is simply that film travels more easily; but it is no doubt also true that he has been somewhat eclipsed for us by his more famous compatriots Grotowski and Kantor. Unlike them, Wajda has never set Book Reviews up a "Laboratory," nor has he sought to build up a permanent company. His work has been carried out within the constraints that afe normal for the professional theatre in Poland. But this does not mean that he has shunned experiment: his production of The Idiot, for example, was al~ost entirely improvised and never used the same sequence of scenes from one night to the next. In fact, his work for the theatre has often proved to be more experimental than his work for film. In 1984 he said: "I try never to mix the two [film and theatre), When I am working in the theatre. I look for the theatrical. For me a theatre is a convention, the relationship between the actors and a live audience." True to this principle. his productions have constantly experimented with the playing space and its relalionship to the audience space. For The Idiot, he even opened up the rehearsals to an audience. This is an unusually sensitive and complex assessment of a director's work. Maciej Karpinski is well-placed 1 0 write such a study, having observed the director at work many times and even collaborated with him on some of his productions. From this experience, he can draw...