Pierrot in Petrograd: Commedia dell'Arte/ Balagan in Twentieth-Century Russian Theatre and Drama - Hardcover

Clayton, Douglas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0773511369 ISBN 13: 9780773511361

Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1994

Synopsis

Douglas Clayton examines the tradition of commedia dell'arte as the Russian modernists inherited it, from its origins in Italian street theatre through its various transformations: in Italy (Gozzi and Goldini's plays); in France (the development of Pierrot and the restructuring of the plot); and in Germany (Tieck's and Hoffmann's metatheatre). He also analyses crucial texts by Gozzi, Lothar, Benavente, and Schnitzler that came to play a central role in the Russian theatre. Tracing the history of commedia dell'arte on the Russian stage, he demonstrates that the introduction of the tradition was theory-driven and discusses several milestone productions in the pre- and post-revolutionary period. Clayton examines the impact of commedia dell'arte, russified as the new theatrical genre of balagan, on both popular and lesser-known Russian playwrights, and, in conclusion, explores the significance of the commedia dell'arte as a theoretical underpinning for Sergei Eisenstein's theories of theatre and film.

Edition details

• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0773511369
• ISBN 13: 9780773511361
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400