1908 - Theatre Theorists Publish

1908 - Theatre Theorists Publish

This year Edward Gordon Craig* settles in Florence (Italy) where he opens a school and begins to publicize his ideas by starting publication of his journal , The Mask* (a theatre magazine, 1908-29,) which will reach readers around the world. Craig* not only edits this theatrical journal, he also writes extensively for it. Conservative theatrical producers regard Craig* as just as dangerous (to their outmoded ideas of theatre) as they believed Ibsen* was in the 1880's. They are right.

Everybody in the theatre seems to be publishing their ideas. This year Strindberg offers his Open Letter to the Intimate Theatre* giving his views on the art of the actor.

In St. Petersburg, Evreinov* is busy exploring the range of the actor's place in the theatre, emphasizing theatricality and the grotesque. This year he produces his Apology for

Theatricality* in which he sets out the basic principle for his "monodramas." His best known monodrama is coming up in 1912.

1908 The Bosnian crisis occurs this year when the Austro-Hungarian Empire annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina. This worries the other "great powers" (Russia, France and Great Britain.)

Georg Fuchs* publishes another book, Revolution in the Theatre* further expanding his theatrical theories of a theatre which is built to be a "place for playing."

The Moscow Art Theatre* premiers the symbolist play, The Blue Bird* by Maeterlinck*, under the direction of Stanislavsky*. This will be one of the most successful of the theatre's productions. The play is also produced in London this year.

Diaghilev* decides, this year, to arrange a six-week season of opera and ballet performances in Paris. This marks a turning point in western theatre. For six weeks the impact of the brilliant amalgam of pictorial, musical and dramatic elements produced by consummate singers, dancers and musicians rocked Paris. The greatest ballet stars of the century, Anna Pavlova* and Waslaw Nijinsky* appeared in this company in Paris this year. The art of the dance is at its peak in Russia at this time, but, until this year, it had not been seen in Europe. The opera is no less remarkable, with Russia's greatest basso, Fyodor Chaliapin*. The lavishness of the sets, costumes and properties astonish Europe. The reception is so terrific that Diaghilev* puts together a company called the Ballet Russes* to tour Europe. During the next three years Diaghilev*'s opera and ballet conquer Europe. He will add French painters, composers and poets to his enterprise and it will become international.

The English writer, Galsworthy*, is represented by his play Strife*. This year Eleonora Duse* retires from the stage after touring all over the world since 1885.

She is regarded as the greatest modern actress, avoiding the use of stage makeup, she has the ability to make the physical adjustments needed to express each role without external aids. She will return to the stage and touring in 1921.

By this time Belasco*'s productions are so popular that the Syndicate* has to agree to his terms when he wants to take his productions on the road. This marks the first significant break in their monopoly.

1910 - Russia

Between 1910 and 1914, Meyerhold* establishes studios where he experiments with circus and commedia dell'arte* techniques. One of his experiments turns the whole auditorium into a performance space where the actors mingle with the audience. [This kind of actor-audience relation will come up again in the 1960s.] He has actors work up their own scripts and tries out geometric, patterned movement. The beginnings of constructivism* appears in Meyerhold*'s experiments that turn the scenic background into an apparatus for acting, a collection of steps and levels. Meyerhold* believes that the director is the primary creative force in a production and he is the most persistent explorer of the possibilities and limitations of theatre. This year Theodore Komisarjevskaya* opens his own theatre and embarks on a directing career similar to Reinhardt* in eclectic style. However he carries this style business Between 1910 and 1914, Meyerhold* establishes studios where he experiments with circus and commedia dell'arte* techniques. One of his experiments turns the whole auditorium into a performance space where the actors mingle with the audience. [This kind of actor-audience relation will come up again in the 1960s.] He has actors work up their own scripts and tries out geometric, patterned movement. The beginnings of constructivism* appears in Meyerhold*'s experiments that turn the scenic background into an apparatus for acting, a collection of steps and levels. Meyerhold* believes that the director is the primary creative force in a production and he is the most persistent explorer of the possibilities and limitations of theatre. This year Theodore Komisarjevskaya* opens his own theatre and embarks on a directing career similar to Reinhardt* in eclectic style. However he carries this style business

This year David Belasco* renames his Stuyvestant Theatre* the Belasco Theatre*. He will remain here until his death. He continues to lead the fight to break the stranglehold of the The Syndicate* over American theatre. He is helped in this by the playwright James A. Herne.*

In Ireland, Yeats* no longer writes exclusively for the Abbey Theatre* and begins to experiment with masks, chants, dance and music, under the influence of Japanese Noh* theatre.

In France a new wave of experimentation inspired by Diaghilev*'s Ballet Russes* is given further impetus by the publication of Jacques Rouch‚*'s Modern Theatre Art*. Rouch‚* describes all the experimentation in Germany and Russia, as well as the ideas of Craig* and Appia* and calls for similar experiments in France. He doesn't wait for others to take his advice and starts trying experimentation himself at the Th‚ƒtre des Arts* (between 1910-13.) He is the first French director to be eclectic, seeking to simplify and evoke a milieu and a mood through color and line.