This course examines the significance of Russian Theatre from 1898-1938, the period of modernism and the revolution. The course aims to enable the student to understand the relevance of the particular social, cultural and historical context in which Russian Modernist theatre developed. The relationships between theatre writing and theatre production, also between theatre and film, and the development of theories of acting will be analysed. The course will assess the importance of this period in terms of its enduring influence in Western Culture on theatre production and acting.
Texts will include the following: Gorky, The Lower Depths
Vladimir Mayakovski's Mystery Bouffe, Bedbug
Nikolai Erdman: The Suicide
Films: Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin