Performing Emotions: Gender, Bodies, Spaces, in Chekhov's Drama and Stanislavski's Theatre by Peta Tait (review)

Reviews 667 PETA TAIT. Pelforming Emotions: Gender, Bodies, Spaces, in Chekhov's Drama and Stanislavski's Theatre. Aldershot Ashgale, 2002. Pp. 207· US$74.9SC42.SO (Hb). Reviewed by Rose Whyman, University ofBirmingham Peta Tait's Performing Emotions: Gender, Bodies, Spaces, in Chekhov's Drama and Stanislavski's Th eatre is a feminist analysis of the plays wrillen by Anton Chekhov and directed by Konstantin Stanislavski, with particular reference to the acting of Olga Knipper, a member of the Moscow Art Theatre and Chekhov's wife. The central thesis of the book is that the emotions of the characters in Chekhov's main plays and the performances by Stanislavski's actors of these emotions were socially defined, in accordance with cultural and gender structures of the epoch in which the plays were produced. Tait asserts that both the notion of Chekhovian universality (i.e., that Chekhov's work encapsulates truths of human behaviour, to which many commentators on Chekhov subscribe) and Stanislavski's emphasis on the authenticity of emotional expression in acting obscure the extent to which the characters in the productions express emotions which are socially constructed and, in particular , gendered. In this respecI, the book makes a new and very valuable contribution to work on Chekhov and Stanislavski, and its examination of the work of Knipper , a Russian actress at the turn of the twentieth century, adds to a field of inquiry largely neglected unlil the recent work of Catherine Schuler and others on Russian actresses, in both Russia and the West. In addition, the book treats the problem of emotion and acting in a way that extends its scope far beyond that of theatre of the period under discussion. As Tait points out, studies on emotion in theatre rarely draw from disciplines such as psychology, and, conversely , other disciplines that deal with emotion make scant reference to theatre . The book contains an impressive bibliography of works on Chekhov, Stanislavski, Russian theatre, and postmodernism and theatre. More generally, Tait also draws from critical theory, philosophy, psychology, and the social sciences. Though her reading is all in translation, Tait generally avoids pitfalls that can result from reliance on the early translations and interpretations of Stanislavski's work in particular, the problems with which have been pointed out by writers such as Sharon Carnicke. A definition of emotion is oUlside the scope of the book. Rather, Tait explores the way the characters in the plays define themselves in terms of their emotions and the emotional truth (as he saw it) that Stanislavski required from his actors. As emotions are embodied and therefore inseparable from issues of self and identity, her discussion engages a wide range of writers on science and the arts. In this way, the book progresses from a discussion of representations of emotions in the texts (with particular attention to femininity) to an 668 REVIEWS interrogation of the precepts of a system of theatre production and an acting theory where ideas of nature, logic, and truth were linked with emotion and issues of social construction were neglected. Tait exposes the circularity of Stanislavski's psychologism, where assumed inner emotions of outer bodies were staged in a way that suggested interiority, reiterated dominant ideas about femininity, and presented a socially logical appearance (that is, where true emotions were socially appropriate ones). Tait uses the work of MerleauPonty to challenge Stanislavski 's assumptions in an interesting way. This new approach affords many valuable insights into Chekhov's main plays. For example, Tait's examination of interrextuality and self-dramatization in The Seagull, where the characters, in their searches for love and fulfilment , frequently relate their own emotional experiences to literature, is particularly enlightening. Her examination of Three Sisters contrasts the emotional self-expression of the women, their aspirations about love and work, and their rejection of conformity to domestic roles with male emotional certainties and assertions of controL Themes of spaces and their emotional connotations recur: for example, the PTOZOroV's house and its usurpation by Natasha in Three Sisters, and, in The Cherry Orchard, the relationship of Ranevskaia and other characters to the estate. Occasionally, Tail's references to other works are so brief as to be obscure. For...