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Socialist Realist Theatre in the Soviet Union in the 1930s: Forming a Social Identity Sofia Polychronidou This thesis is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures The University of Edinburgh 2019 Sofia Polychronidou – The University of Edinburgh 2 Sofia Polychronidou – The University of Edinburgh 3 Sofia Polychronidou – The University of Edinburgh 4 Sofia Polychronidou – The University of Edinburgh Abstract The aim of this thesis is to use the socialist realist theatre example to examine the theatre’s ability to form social identities. This is a difficult task because, for a start, the theory has failed – thus far – to give socialist realism a single definition. Very often, socialist realism was solely related to its political connotations and judged as such, a fact that often compromised research findings and underestimated the complexity of the phenomenon. This thesis addresses this shortcoming and follows more recent research, which indicates that early post-revolution socialist realism constituted a distinct artistic movement with its distinguishable traits. From this perspective, the present thesis reports on whether the critical analysis received by socialist realist theatre during the first decades after the Revolution constitutes evidence of the formative power of theatre. In other words, the thesis investigates to what extent the debate on the aesthetics of the new socialist theatre – during the 1920s and 1930s – shaped the social characteristics of the public. The thesis aims to enable theatre practitioners and theorists today to understand the relationship between the social needs of people and theatre’s ability to function as the vehicle for achieving them. Using two leading theatres (the Meyerhold Theatre, and the Moscow Art Theatre) of the time (1928-1939) as case studies, this thesis demonstrates that – in both cases – the theatre directors were both implementers and interpreters of their understanding of this new socialist world, and examines the role of the reviews received in light of this interpretation. Finally, the significance of this study is that it expands our theoretical understanding of how theatre operates as the driving force in the formation of the social identity of any given audience, at any given historical time. 5 Sofia Polychronidou – The University of Edinburgh Lay Summary This thesis examines the correlation between society and theatre. It tries to determine the extent to which theatre is capable of forming specific social characteristics to its audience, in relation with its contemporary economic and social changes. Thus, from a more general viewpoint, it attempts to understand how economic and social changes affect the way we see theatre and our expectations from it. The thesis uses the cases of the Meyerhold Theatre and the Moscow Art Theatre to understand how the critical reviews of socialist realism and the aspirations of its theorists managed to shape the social traits of the public. 6 Sofia Polychronidou – The University of Edinburgh 7 Sofia Polychronidou – The University of Edinburgh 8 Sofia Polychronidou – The University of Edinburgh Table of Contents CHAPTER 1 Introduction and literature review ..................................................... 17 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 17 Literature review ................................................................................................................................ 20 a. Socialist realist theatre .................................................................................................. 21 b. Socialist realist art and aesthetics ............................................................................... 25 b.1. Socialist realism as ‘totalitarian’ art: the impossible theory .............................................26 b.2. The origins of socialist realism in the theory and practice of nineteenth-century Russian aesthetics ........................................................................................................................30 b.3. Socialist realism: its traces in the Russian Avant-Garde and the transition of the artist ........................................................................................................................................................36 b.4. Identifying the canon ..........................................................................................................43 Socialist realism and Theatre Studies ............................................................................................ 50 Objectives, methods, and future plans ........................................................................................ 54 CHAPTER 2 The social framework and theoretical background of the socialist realist theatre ............................................................................................................. 57 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 57 Origins and new challenges ........................................................................................................... 58 The artistic field in the 1920s and the role of the party ............................................................. 60 The aesthetic theory of Anatoly Lunacharsky............................................................................. 68 The aesthetic theory of Maxim Gorky ........................................................................................... 76 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................... 82 CHAPTER 3 The Meyerhold Theatre and the formation of socialist realism ..... 85 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 85 On repertoire ...................................................................................................................................... 88 9 Sofia Polychronidou – The University of Edinburgh On individualism .............................................................................................................................. 107 On estrangement and formalism ................................................................................................ 116 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 128 CHAPTER 4 The Moscow Art Theatre: Conservativism & ................................. 131 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 131 Contemporary repertoire .............................................................................................................. 133 a. The cultural background ........................................................................................... 136 b. The case of The Days of the Turbins .......................................................................... 137 c. The story of the bans .................................................................................................. 146 d. RAPP and MAT ............................................................................................................ 149 Classic repertoire............................................................................................................................. 151 a. Gorky and Lunacharsky on the classics .................................................................... 152 b. Ostrovsky in MAT ......................................................................................................... 155 c. From aesthetic reassessment to ideological incompatibility .................................. 160 d. Identifying the social necessity: Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy ....................................... 162 e. The case of Anna Karenina ....................................................................................... 167 f. From realism as essence to classicism as form ......................................................... 173 Stanislavsky and dialectical materialism .................................................................................... 176 a. Science versus ‘psychologism’ in Stanislavsky’s system of acting .......................... 178 b. The