The Moscow Art Theatre Letters

by Jean Benedetti (Editor), Jean Benedetti (Translator)

Overview

Moscow Art Theatre Letters tells the real story of the Moscow Art Theatre, from its origin at the turn of the century through its first forty years. Jean Benedetti presents the historical record first-hand in this collection of the letters of the main protagonists. Many are available in English for the first time—all will come as a revelation to Western readers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780878300846
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/06/1991
Edition description:	UK ed.
Pages:	406
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Jean Benedetti was until recently the Principal of the Rose Bruford College, one of Britain's leading drama schools. He is a playwright and translator and is the author of Stanislavski: An Introduction and Stanislavski: A Life. He is currently working on new translations of Stanislavski for the Collected Works (forthcoming, Routledge).

Table of Contents

One: Prologue 1897; One: Beginnings; Two: The First Decade; Two: The First Season; Three: Uncle Vanya; Four: Three Sisters; Five: Petersburg; Six: Changes; Seven: Julius Caesar; Eight: The Cherry Orchard; Three: Dissension; Nine: Dissension; Ten: The Struggle for Control; Eleven: The Theatre and the System; Four: The Revolution and After; Twelve: America; Thirteen: Stalin

Editorial Reviews

"The fragmentary history of the Moscow Art theatre in English is aided by this collection, containing previously untranslated correspondence." — Choice
"Benedetti, biographer of Stanislavski, has done an excellent job of piecing together a gripping offstage drama." — Publishers Weekly
"This extraordinary cache of letters only recently came to light in various Russian and international archives. Sixteen pages of black and white photos evoke dramatic moments in the history of this famed and influential theatre company." — Playbill
"Letters composed by the Art Theatre's many legendary collaborators . . . are clearly and vividly rendered into contemporary English. . . . an absorbing documentary history. . . . Students of modern drama will find considerable food for thought in this rendering of a theater company's progress from birth to maturity." — Anne Sharp, Library Journal
"It's the perfect form for a theatre book. The protagonists shout, weep, bellow, protest undying affection, plot behind each other's backs, and proclaim repeatedly that this absolutely, finally the end. It's as good as a play." — The Globe and Mail

From the Publisher

The image of the Moscow Art Theatre as a troupe of selfless, united idealists--an illusion promoted by co-founder Konstantin Stanislavski in My Life in Art --is forever shattered by this frenetic collection of letters by the Theatre's members. Stanislavski, ``a hopeless mess'' in the opinion of actress Olga Knipper, Chekhov's wife, was regarded by the company as a muddle-headed dreamer full of impossible schemes like his Method of acting. Stanislavski's explosive, bitter behind-the-scenes feud with co-director Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko nearly destroyed the theater. Turbulent clashes among actors, writers and directors and a desperate struggle to keep solvent marked the years before Stalin's fatal patronage, which squeezed the life and art out of the Art Theatre. Benedetti, biographer of Stanislavski, has done an excellent job of piecing together a gripping offstage drama. Photos. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Benedetti, the author of Stanislavski ( LJ 1/89), offers a selection of newly translated letters (some never published before) written by participants in the glory years of the influential Art Theatre, from its revolutionary beginnings at the turn of the century through its eventual taming by Stalin in the 1930s. Letters composed by the Art Theatre's many legendary collaborators, including Konstantin Stanislavski, Anton Chekhov, Maxim Gorky, and Gordon Craig are clearly and vividly rendered into contemporary English. Using brief explanatory bridges between letters, Benedetti crafts these dialogs into an absorbing documentary history. Interspersed throughout the text are exchanges between the Art Theatre's cofounders, Stanislavski and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, whose disputes over artistic and business matters never quite overcame their respect and affection for one another. Students of modern drama will find considerable food for thought in this rendering of a theater company's progress from birth to maturity.-- Anne Sharp, Ypsilanti Dist. Lib., Mich.

Library Journal

The correspondences of the founders (Stanislavski and Nemirovich- Danchenko) and key talents (e.g. Chekhov, Gorki, Isadora Duncan) of the legendary Art Theatre, from its turn of the century origins through its first 40 years, as selected, edited, and translated with commentary by Benedetti. Acidic paper. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews