The Castle Awakens: Mikhail Chekhov’s 1931 Occult Fantasy

THE CASTLE AWAKENS Mikhail Chekhov's 1931 Occult Fantasy Mel Gordon oday in theatrical circles in Moscow, no historical figure from Russia's past is more in vogue than Mikhail Chekhov, the nephew ofAnton Chekhov and celebrated innovator-rebel from Stanislavsky's Moscow Art Theatre. After leaving the Soviet Union in 1928, Chekhov's acting and directing career spanned six European capitals and New York before settling in Hollywood in 1943. During his difficult life outside Russia, Chekhov pursued a quixotic journey to form his own international troupe and specialized school of actor training. But in every adopted country where his stage and film acting was highly praised, Chekhov's grandiose plans for a theatre studio stalled, backfired, or disintegrated. The traditional curse that plagued other Russian artists-in-exile-that no nation outside of Mother Russia would fully embrace and understand them-doggedly pursued Chekhov wherever he went. In October 1930, following a ten-month period of financial intrigue and failed promises in Berlin and Prague, Chekhov and his Russian troupe (which now included Stanislavsky's son, Igor K. Alekseev) came to Paris, the home of the largest Russian-speaking community outside the Soviet Union. There, both pro- and antiBolshevik factions of the Russian 6migr6 world joined forces to thwart Chekhov's theatre plans. Russian and French supporters of the Soviet Union viewed Chekhov as one more renegade bourgeois actor, seeking material riches in the West. In addition, indignant that Chekhov refused to speak out against Communism or sign their petitions, the powerful Russian anti-Bolshevik factions accused the apolitical actor of being an agent of the GPU. The old repertoire from Chekhov's First Studio and Moscow Art Theatre daysStrindberg 's Enrico IV, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Henning Berger's The Deluge, and Anton Chekhov Sketches-reappeared at the Thditre Montmartre l'Atelier. The Theatre Tschekhov productions found support in the politically moderate French press. But few French spectators weathered the linguistic challenge of these Russianlanguage performances. And once again, technical imbroglios and budgetary mismanagement complicated each premiere. 110 E In May 1931, Georgette Boner, a young Swiss pupil of Max Reinhardt and director of the Deutschen Bahne Paris, met Chekhov at the home of the Vysotskys, a wealthy emigrd family. Immediately, the Chekhov-Boner Company, an amalgamation of their two troupes, was established. Although Chekhov wanted to stage an elaborate dramatization of Don Quixote, a simpler repertoire was finally agreed upon. Throughout the summer and autumn months of 1931, the Chekhov and Boner performers underwent a disciplined regimen of Mikhail Chekhov Technique. On November 9, 1931, at the Thdtre de l'Avenue, the Chekhov-Boner Company opened with a mystical pantomime, The Castle Awakens, created by and starring Chekhov. Concentrating on Symbolist-like decor and musical effects (by Vladimir Butzov) as well as Eurythmic movement, Chekhov hoped the production would attract a large international audience. Dozens of special exercises and dtudes were created to train his young actors. Not wishing to perform solely before the Russian dmigr6 community or playing in badly accented French, Chekhov invented a "universal language" for The CastleAwakens, using the occult ideas of Rudolf Steiner, the German founder of Anthroposophy, a "scientific religion." In fact, the sparse text based on traditional Russian folk tales consisted of only fifty lines of fragmented dialogue (conceived in German but performed in French). Promoted as a mystery parable of modern life, The Castle Awakens, if anything, revealed Chekhov's hidden fantasies in 1931 and their symbolic transformation. Although Boner later analyzed Castle's characters and themes in a purely universal and Jungian context in her book on Chekhov's acting techniques, Werkgehezmnisse der Schauspielkunst(Zurich: Werner Klassen Verlag, 1979), another interpretation points to the play's parallels with Chekhov's personal life. In the ancient Castle (Russia), a faithless Servant (Bolshevism/materialism) lulls both the King and his Courtiers (the Russian people) asleep with his song. Outside the Castle, Prince Ivan (Chekhov) discovers Beauty (Anthroposophy/Second MAT), which he delivers to his father, the King. Immediately, the evil Bone Spirit and his Daughter (Soviet government/cultural commissars) come to steal Beauty away. The frightened King wants to give up Beauty but Ivan hides her. The puny Ivan is...