Yevgeny Vakhtangov
Yevgeny Bagrationovich Vakhtangov (also spelled Evgeny or Eugene) (13 February 1883 – 29 May 1922) was a renowned Russian-Armenian director who was associated with the State Institute of Theatre Arts (GITIS) in Moscow in the early 20th century, and founded the Vakhtangov Theatre. He was one of Constantin Stanislavski's most renowned students, and a mentor of Michael Chekhov.
Vakhtangov was born to Armenian parents from Georgia in Vladikavkaz. He joined the Moscow Art Theatre in 1911 and rose in the ranks, so that by 1920 he was in charge of his own studio. Four years after his death, the studio was named Vakhtangov Theatre in his honor.
Vakhtangov was greatly influenced by the theatrical style of Vsevolod Meyerhold, but managed to blend this with the more naturalistic techniques of Stanislavski and Sulerzhitsky. His productions incorporated masks, music, dance, abstract costume, and avant-garde sets. His most distinctive production was that of Turandot by Carlo Gozzi, which has been run at the Vakhtangov Theatre ever since 1922, also the year of his death. Another famous production directed by Vakhtangov in the same year was S. Ansky's "The Dybbuk" with the Habimah theater troupe.
On the Actors Studio webpage, Lee Strasberg is quoted as saying: "If you examine the work of the Stanislavski System as made use of by Stanislavski, you see one result. If you examine it in the work of one of his great pupils, Vakhtangov — who influenced our thinking and activity — you will see a completely different result. Vakhtangov's work was skillfully done, his use of the Method even more brilliant and more imaginative than Stanislavski’s, and yet Vakhtangov achieved totally different results."
The German theatre practitioner Bertolt Brecht argued that Vakhtangov's approach was "the Stanislavski-Meyerhold complex before the split rather than its reconciliation". Brecht outlined the main aspects of Vakhtangov's work as:
1) Theatre is theatre.
2) The how, not the what.
3) More composition.
4) Greater inventiveness and imagination.
He identifies a commonality with his own 'demonstrating' element in acting, but argues that Vakhtangov's method lacks the social insight and pedagogical function of Brecht's own Gestic form: "when Vakhtangov's actor says 'I'm not laughing, I'm demonstrating laugher'. one still doesn't learn anything from his demonstration".[1]
Notes
- ^ From a note probably written in the 1930s. See Brecht (1964, 237-238).
Bibliography
- Brecht, Bertolt. 1964. Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic. Ed. and trans. John Willett. British edition. London: Methuen. ISBN 041338800X. USA edition. New York: Hill and Wang. ISBN 0809031000.
- Carnicke, Sharon M. 1998. Stanislavsky in Focus. Russian Theatre Archive Ser. London: Harwood Academic Publishers. ISBN 9057550709.