MICHAEL CHEKHOV, SPIRITUALITY AND SOVIET THEATRE

Authors

  • PhD Liisa Byckling A

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55877/cc.vol14.97

Keywords:

Russian theatre, art of acting, spiritual philosophy, communism

Abstract

The present article discusses the work of Michael Chekhov, director of the Second Moscow Art Theatre from 1922 to 1928. After the October revolution Chekhov sought to withstand the threat from those ideological tendencies which led away from the ideals and spiritual values of his teacher Konstantin Stanislavsky. The reasons for Chekhov’s emigration were connected both with his opposition to Soviet cultural policy and the repression of religious groups in Russia. Chekhov was the most famous follower in the Russian theatre of the anthroposophist, Rudolf Steiner. In his production of “Hamlet” Chekhov also followed the spiritual ideas of the Russian symbolists while applying new methods of acting.

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Published

09.11.2022