VLADISLAV IVANOV

THE RHYTHMOMETRIC THEATER OF BORIS FERDINANDOV

Boris Alexeevich Ferdinandov (1889-1959) (Figs. 193, 194), artist, ac- tor, and director, belongs to the second generation of scenic innovators within the Russian avant-garde and, while indebted to the pioneering ef- forts of Vsevolod Meierkhold and Alexander Tairov, still merits indepen- dent scrutiny and serious assessment, especially in the context of his rhythmometric or analytical theater. Born on July 15, 1889 in Moscow, Ferdinandov received his sec- ondary school education at the Fidler Practical Institute, but in 1909 he transferred to the Sofia Khaliutina School (its faculty included Konstantin Mardzhanov, Vakhtang Mchedelov, and Ivan Moskvin), whence he grad- uated two years later. In 1910 he also took classes at the Agricultural In- stitute, the Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, and attended lectures in linguistics and philosophy at Moscow University. In April of 1908, he made his debut as artist at the exhibition "Contemporary Trends in Art" that Nikolai Kulbin organized in St. Petersburg, contributing a cycle of paintings entitled Subjective Sufferings.' After studying at the school of the Moscow Art Theater, Ferdinandov worked as an understudy during the 1911-12 season. After military ser- vice in 1912-13, he moved to St. Petersburg, where he joined Our The- ater as an actor and the Theater of Musical Drama as a designer. It was a favorable moment, for, countering the traditional star system and inspired by the idea of bringing theater to a broad popular audience, many aspir- ing actors and directors were coming to St. Petersburg to try their luck, including Alexander Mgrebov and Georgii Pitoev (Georges Pitoeff). Pitoev, in fact, was already director of Our Theater and would later achieve fame for his film-making in Paris in the 1920s, even though he was then just on the threshold of his theatrical career. "These seekers of the absolute were waging an all out war on stardom. They wrote only the actors' first names on the playbills. Anonymity was intended to bring a

1. B. Ferdinandov. "Avtobiografüa" (between 1937 and 1956). Original manuscipt and copy made by A. Ferdinanova, RGALI, Call No.: f. 2392, op. 1, ed. khr. 163, II. 1,2. total victory over vanity."z Still, at the end of the 1913-14 season Ferdi- nandov returned to Moscow, where he signed a contract with Alexander Tairov's Chamber Theater, making his acting debut as Harlequin in Ernö Dohnänyi's and Arthur Schnitzler's pantomime Der Schleier der Pierrette, he also played the young Syrian in Oscar Wilde's Salome (premiered on October 9, 1917), Beaumundo in Rudolf Lhotar's Harlequin King (premiered November 29, 1917), and Louis Laine in Paul Claudel's L'Echange (premiered February 20, 1918). In addition, Tairov commis- sioned Ferdinandov and Boris Erdman to design Harlequin King and the pantomime Box of Toys after Claude Debussy (premiered December 21, 1917). However, Ferdinandov was not content with these thespian and artis- tic endeavors. Indeed, exposure to Tairov's methods only prompted him to envision his own theater, teaming up with other "dissidents" in the Chamber Theater, including the writer Vadim Shershnevich, at that time manager of the Theater's literary department (Fig. 195). Incidentally, Claudel's L'Annonce faite a Marie and Shakespeare's Romeo and juliet were performed at the Chamber Theater in Shershenevich's translations. Among the bohemians of the 1910s and 1920s, Shershenevich was known for his eccentric and controversial actions. At first he moved with the Cubo-Futurists, prompting them to investigate more traditional and familiar meters. But by the beginning of the 1920s he was one of the leaders of Imagism, along with Boris and Nikolai Erdman. Sergei Esenin, amd Anatolii Mariengof. The Erdmans and Shershenevich also moved closely with the composer and actor, Yurii Miliutin, who played a primary role in their theatrical undertakings, later gaining a national reputation for his catchy dance tunes and jazz arrangements (Fig. 196). When the KhPSRO Theater (Theater of the Artistic-Enlightenment Union of Working Organizations) closed (Fedor Komissarzhevsky was director there before emigrating in 1919), its leading actors, Konstantin Eggert, Mikhail Mukhin and others, relocated to the Rogozksko-Simonovsky The- ater (later known as the Safonov Rogozksko-Simonovsky Theater or the Safonov Theater). Here, in the former Vulcan Movie-Theater on the Taganka, they revived Shakespeare's The Tempest (one of Komissar- zhevsky's most celebrated productions), while Eggert, leader of the new troupe, produced the following plays: Oscar Wilde's A Fiorentine Tragedy, Pushkin's The Stone Guest, The Golden Cockerel, and Mozart and Salieri; and an experimental dramatization of Beethoven's Moonlight

2. E. Finkelshtein, »Kartei chetyrekh,홢 Frantsuzskaia rezhissura mezhdu dvumia voinami (Leningrad: Iskusstvo, 1974), p. 290.