Yevgeny Bagrationovich Vakhtangov (also spelled Evgeny or Eugene; russian: Евге́ний Багратио́нович Вахта́нгов; 13 February 1883 – 29 May 1922) was a Russian-Armenian actor and theatre director who founded the
Vakhtangov Theatre
Yevgeny Bagrationovich Vakhtangov (also spelled Evgeny or Eugene; russian: Евге́ний Багратио́нович Вахта́нгов; 13 February 1883 – 29 May 1922) was a Russian-Armenian actor and theatre director who founded the ...
. He was a friend and mentor of
Michael Chekhov
Mikhail Aleksandrovich Chekhov (russian: Михаил Александрович Чехов; 29 August 1891 – 30 September 1955), known as Michael Chekhov, was an American actor, director, author and theatre practitioner. He was a nephew ...
.
[Martin Banham]
The Cambridge guide to theatre
Cambridge University Press, 1995, p. 1157:"''Armenian born, Vakhtangov studied law at Moscow University before enrolling at A. I. Adashev’s drama school, where he was taught by, among others, Leopold Sulerzhitsky''." He is known for his distinctive style of theatre, his most notable production being ''Princess Turandot'' in 1922.
Early life and education
Vakhtangov was born to an
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
father and a Russian mother in
Vladikavkaz
Vladikavkaz (russian: Владикавка́з, , os, Дзæуджыхъæу, translit=Dzæwdžyqæw, ;), formerly known as Ordzhonikidze () and Dzaudzhikau (), is the capital city of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Russia. It is located i ...
, Northern Ossetia. He was educated at
Moscow State University
M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...
for a short time before joining the
Moscow Art Theatre in 1911.
Career
Vakhtangov rose in the ranks at the Moscow Art Theatre, and by 1920 he was in charge of his own theatre studio. Four years after his death, the studio was named
Vakhtangov Theatre
Yevgeny Bagrationovich Vakhtangov (also spelled Evgeny or Eugene; russian: Евге́ний Багратио́нович Вахта́нгов; 13 February 1883 – 29 May 1922) was a Russian-Armenian actor and theatre director who founded the ...
in his honor.
Technique
Vakhtangov was greatly influenced both by the theatrical experiments of
Vsevolod Meyerhold
Vsevolod Emilyevich Meyerhold (russian: Всеволод Эмильевич Мейерхольд, translit=Vsévolod Èmíl'evič Mejerchól'd; born german: Karl Kasimir Theodor Meyerhold; 2 February 1940) was a Russian and Soviet theatre ...
and the more psychological techniques of his teachers,
Konstantin Stanislavski and
Leopold Sulerzhitsky
Leopold Antonovich Sulerzhitsky (russian: Леопольд Антонович Сулержицкий; September 27, 1872 – December 30, 1916) was a Russian theatre director, painter and pedagogue of Polish descent. He is associated with the Mosc ...
, and the co-founder of the MAT
Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko
Vladimir Ivanovich Nemirovich-Danchenko (russian: Владимир Иванович Немирович-Данченко; , Ozurgeti – 25 April 1943, Moscow), was a Soviet and Russian theatre director, writer, pedagogue, playwright, producer an ...
. His productions incorporated masks, music, dance, abstract costume,
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
sets as well as a detailed analysis of the texts of plays and the psychological motivations of its characters.
On the
Actors Studio webpage,
Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg (born Israel Strassberg; November 17, 1901 – February 17, 1982) was an American theatre director, actor and acting teacher. He co-founded, with theatre directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931 ...
is quoted as saying: "If you examine the work of the
Stanislavski System as made use of by Stanislavski, you see one result. If you examine it in the work of one of his great pupils, Vakhtangov — who influenced our thinking and activity — you will see a completely different result. Vakhtangov's work was skillfully done, his use of
the Method even more brilliant and more imaginative than Stanislavski’s, and yet Vakhtangov achieved totally different results."
The
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
theatre practitioner
A theatre practitioner is someone who creates theatrical performances and/or produces a theoretical discourse that informs his or her practical work. A theatre practitioner may be a director, dramatist, actor, designer or a combination of these t ...
Bertolt Brecht argued that Vakhtangov's approach was "the Stanislavski-Meyerhold complex ''before'' the split rather than its reconciliation". Brecht outlined the main aspects of Vakhtangov's work as:
#Theatre is theatre.
#The how, not the what.
#More composition.
#Greater inventiveness and imagination.
![Princess Turandot - 1922](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Princess_Turandot_-_1922.jpg)
He identifies a commonality with his own
'demonstrating' element in acting, but argues that Vakhtangov's method lacks the social insight and pedagogical function of Brecht's own ''
Gestic'' form: "when Vakhtangov's actor says 'I'm not laughing, I'm demonstrating laughter', one still doesn't learn anything from his demonstration".
Notable productions
His most notable production was ''Princess Turandot'',
based on
the play ''Turandot'' by
Carlo Gozzi, which has played at the Vakhtangov Theatre ever since 1922 (the year of his death).
Another famous production directed by Vakhtangov in the same year was
S. Ansky's ''
The Dybbuk
''The Dybbuk'', or ''Between Two Worlds'' (russian: Меж двух миров ибук}, trans. ''Mezh dvukh mirov ibuk'; yi, צווישן צוויי וועלטן - דער דִבּוּק, ''Tsvishn Tsvey Veltn – der Dibuk'') is a play by ...
'' with the
Habimah
The Habima Theatre ( he, תיאטרון הבימה ''Te'atron HaBima'', lit. "The Stage Theatre") is the national theatre of Israel and one of the first Hebrew language theatres. It is located in Habima Square in the center of Tel Aviv.
History ...
theater troupe.
Death and legacy
Vakhtangov died of
cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
. The later part of his career took place at a high point of Russian theatre, amidst the
Bolshevik Revolution
The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...
and Civil War.
In 2017, film director Qmars Mootab made a documentary film about him, ''Vakhtangov''.
Bibliography
* Евгений Вахтангов. Документы и свидетельства: В 2 т. / Ред.-сост В.В. Иванов; ред. М.В. Львова, М.В. Хализева. М.: Индрик, 2011. Т. 1 – 519 с., илл.; Т. 2 – 686 с., илл.
* Евгений Вахтангов в театральной критике / Ред.-сост. В.В. Иванов. М.: Театралис, 2016. – 703 с.; илл.
References
Further reading
* Vladislav Ivanov. S. An-sky, Evgeny Vakhtangov and The Dybbuk // The worlds of S. An-sky. A Russian Jewish Intellectual at the Turn of the Century / Ed. by Gabriella Safran and Steven J. Zipperstein. California, Stanford. Stanford University Press, 2006. P. 252–265, 480–481.
* Владислав Иванов. Евгений Вахтангов и Михаил Чехов. Игра на краю или театральный опыт трансцендентального // Русский авангард 1910–1920-х годов и проблема экспрессионизма / Редкол.: Ю.Г. Коваленко и др. М.: Наука, 2003. С. 464–478.
* Brecht, Bertolt. 1964. ''Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic''. Ed. and trans. John Willett. British edition. London: Methuen. . USA edition. New York: Hill and Wang. .
* Carnicke, Sharon M. 1998. ''Stanislavsky in Focus''. Russian Theatre Archive Ser. London: Harwood Academic Publishers. .
* Malaev-Babel, Andrei. 2011. ''The Vaktangov Sourcebook''. Ed., trans. and with an Introduction by Malaev-Babel, Andrei. New York: Routledge. .
* Farber, Vreneli, 2008. ''Stanislavsky in Practice: Actor Training in Post-Soviet Russia'' (Artists & Issues in the Theatre, Vol. 16. New York: Peter Lang. ) (summary of Vakhtangov's ideas and their application in post-Soviet actor training)
External links
Official site of the Vakhtangov TheatreYevgeny Vakhtangov's grave*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vakhtangov, Yevgeny
1883 births
1922 deaths
People from Vladikavkaz
People from Terek Oblast
People from the Russian Empire of Armenian descent
Male actors from the Russian Empire
Method actors
Theatre directors from the Russian Empire
Modernist theatre
Moscow Art Theatre
Theatre practitioners
Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery
Soviet theatre directors