A History of Russian Theatre (review)

A History of Russian Theatre is an ambitious project striving "to put the history of the Russian theatre from its inception to today into a modern perspective" (1). The book consists of eighteen chronologically ordered chapters covering Russian theatre history from early rites and rituals to the present. In his editorial preface, Victor Borovsky gets to the core of the volume's concern at once, saying that "theater in Russia, in a strictly functional sense, was almost entirely borrowed from the West" (6) and asserting that Russian theatre came into its own very quickly after initially following foreign models.

The book reestablishes the significance of Western influences on the Russian theatre without suppressing its national ingenuity and, by doing so, proves that Russia has always been a part of European culture. As much as Russians have traditionally underestimated Western influence and overstated their originality, the West has equally tended to belittle Russian theatre history as derivative. Robert Leach comments on the harm that arises from such negligence, noting that Russian theatre not only has much to teach the West today, but that "almost all the performance techniques which are known in the West today derive from models developed in Russia" (407). Though A History of Russian Theatre displays significant differences in the respective authors' methodologies, the book is generally consistent in terms of its philosophical and historical conception and presents an interdependent co-existence of Eastern and Western cultures.

Contributors take various approaches to analyzing historical material. Catrina Kelly, for example, assesses Russian theatre in tight alignment with political and economic conditions and class struggle. Kelly's two essays, "The Origins of the Russian Theatre" and "Popular, Provincial and Amateur Theatres, 1820-1900," address the wide cultural gap between different social groups in Russia, where "the undemocratic nature of Russian society meant that 'the people's will' could not be objectively determined; yet at the same time this unknowable quantity was constantly evoked as a legitimation for radicalism or reaction" (125). Kelly views the evolution of theatrical entertainment through contradictions within Russian society and differences in political and social demands, noting, for instance, that it was the "unseemly commercialism" of the popular theatre that disgusted many high-minded radicals (131). Cynthia Marsh, explaining the historical phenomenon of Russian realism, states in "Realism in the Russian Theatre, 1850-1882" that "[o]ne of the foremost distinguishing factors of realism in Russia during this period lay in the need to understand and explore the nature of Russianness. . . . Realism meant an examination of Russian society, her history, her customs and her people" (146).

The chapters "Russian Imperial Ballet" by Andy Adamson and "Russian Opera" by John Warrack strive to create a panoramic picture of nineteenth-century Russian theatre, demonstrating its musical achievements. Both chapters perfectly suit the book's overall conception and show how the Russian musical theatre, conceived by foreign parents, later developed a unique national individuality. In keeping with the volume's throughline of cross-fertilization, these chapters point out how annual seasons by the Ballet Russes had a profound effect on European dance and theatre.

Robert Leach in "Revolutionary Theatre" carefully examines the major directorial trends of the Post-Revolutionary theatre, embedding theatrical data in a portrait of a political and social era. Spencer Golub in "The Silver Age, 1905-1917" mixes and mingles descriptions of trends and lifestyles, psychology and philosophy, art and literature, arriving at well-theorized readings of various events. To some extent, the Silver Age was a peak of Russian culture, and Golub's chapter perfectly exemplifies the overall conception of the book. He ably and amply demonstrates how Western trends, absorbed by Russians, were speedily transformed via Russian ingenuity into something new that was later embraced in the West.

Though the twentieth-century Russian theatre has been intensively researched, Inna Solovyova, whose essay was translated by Jean Benedetti, was a witness to the period...