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Moscow Art Theatre Production Of Hamlet
The Moscow Art Theatre production of ''Hamlet'' was a 1911–12 production of Hamlet, produced by Konstantin Stanislavski and Edward Gordon Craig. It is particularly important in the history of performances of ''Hamlet'' and of 20th-century theatre in general. Despite hostile reviews from the Russian press, the production attracted enthusiastic and unprecedented worldwide attention for the theatre, with reviews in Britain's ''The Times'' and in the French press that praised its unqualified success. The production placed the Moscow Art Theatre "on the cultural map for Western Europe", and it came to be regarded as a seminal event that influenced the subsequent history of production style in the theatre and revolutionised the staging of Shakespeare's plays in the 20th century. It became "one of the most famous and passionately discussed productions in the history of the modern stage." Chronology of production The story of Craig and Stanislavski began in 1908 when the eccentric Amer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stanislavski's 'system'
Stanislavski's system is a systematic approach to training actors that the Russian theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski developed in the first half of the twentieth century. His system cultivates what he calls the "art of experiencing" (with which he contrasts the "art of representation").Benedetti (1999a, 201), Carnicke (2000, 17), and Stanislavski (1938, 16—36 "art of representation" corresponds to Mikhail Shchepkin's "actor of reason" and his "art of experiencing" corresponds to Shchepkin's "actor of feeling"; see Benedetti (1999a, 202). It mobilises the actor's conscious thought and will in order to activate other, less-controllable psychological processes—such as emotional experience and subconscious behaviour—sympathetically and indirectly. In rehearsal, the actor searches for inner motives to justify action and the definition of what the character seeks to achieve at any given moment (a "task"). Later, Stanislavski further elaborated what he called 'the Syst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polonius
Polonius is a character in William Shakespeare's play ''Hamlet''. He is the chief counsellor of the play's ultimate villain, Claudius, and the father of Laertes and Ophelia. Generally regarded as wrong in every judgment he makes over the course of the play, Polonius is described by William Hazlitt as a "sincere" father, but also "a busy-body, hois accordingly officious, garrulous, and impertinent". In Act II, Hamlet refers to Polonius as a "tedious old fool" and taunts him as a latter day " Jephtha". Polonius connives with Claudius to spy on Hamlet. Hamlet unknowingly kills Polonius, provoking Ophelia's descent into madness, ultimately resulting in her (probable) suicide and the climax of the play: a duel between Laertes and Hamlet. Character Father of Ophelia and Laertes, and counsellor to King Claudius, he is described as a windbag by some and a rambler of wisdom by others. It has also been suggested that he only acts like a "foolish prating knave" to keep his position ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Boleslavsky
Richard Boleslawski (born Bolesław Ryszard Srzednicki; February 4, 1889 – January 17, 1937) was a Polish theatre and film director, actor and teacher of acting. Biography Richard Boleslawski was born Bolesław Ryszard Srzednicki on February 4, 1889, in Mohyliv-Podilskyi, in the Russian Empire to an ethnic Polish family of Catholic faith. He graduated from the Tver Cavalry Officers School. He trained as an actor at the First Studio of the Moscow Art Theatre under Konstantin Stanislavski and his assistant Leopold Sulerzhitsky, where he was introduced to the 'system'. During World War I, Boleslawski fought as a cavalry lieutenant on the Tsarist Russian side until the fall of the Russian Empire. He left Russia after the October Revolution of 1917 for his native Poland, where he directed his first movies. As his birth name was difficult to pronounce, he took the name Ryszard Bolesławski. His ''Miracle at the Vistula'' (''Cud nad Wisłą'') was a semi-documentary about the mira ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laertes (Hamlet)
Laertes is a character in William Shakespeare's play ''Hamlet''. Laertes is Polonius' son and Ophelia's brother. In the final scene, he mortally stabs Hamlet with a poison-tipped sword to avenge the deaths of his father and sister, for which he blamed Hamlet. While dying of the same poison, he implicates King Claudius. The Laertes character is thought to be originated by Shakespeare, as there is no equivalent character in any of the known sources for the play. His name is taken from Laërtes, father of Odysseus in Homer's ''Odyssey''. Role in the play In the first act, Laertes warns Ophelia against Hamlet's romantic attentions, saying that Hamlet will soon lose his desire for her, and that it is not Hamlet's own choice but the king's as to whom he will marry. Before Laertes returns to France from Denmark, (having returned to Denmark only to attend the coronation of King Claudius), his father, Polonius, gives him advice to behave himself in France. During Laertes's absence, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olga Gzovskaïa
Olga Gzovskaya (Russian: О́льга Влади́мировна Гзо́вская; 10 October 1883 – 2 July 1962) was a Russian and Soviet theater and film actress. Life Gzovskaya was born to a family of a Moscow customs official of Polish origin. In 1905, she graduated from the Mikhail Shchepkin Higher Theatre School, Imperial Drama School at the Maly Theatre, having studied under Aleksandr Pavlovich Lensky. On 1 September 1905 she joined the Maly Theatre (Moscow), Maly Theatre troupe, with the first role of Ariel in "The Tempest" by William Shakespeare, that October.Olga Gzovskaya s biography. Krugosvet Online Encyclopedia From 1905 to 1908, she appeared at the Maly Theatre. In 1907, she met Konstantin Stanislavski at a summer resort and began taking private acting lesso ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ophelia (character)
Ophelia () is a character in William Shakespeare's drama ''Hamlet'' (1599–1601). She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes and potential wife of Prince Hamlet. Due to Hamlet's actions, Ophelia ultimately enters into a state of madness that leads to her drowning. Along with Queen Gertrude, Ophelia is one of only two female characters in the original play. Name Like most characters in ''Hamlet'', Ophelia's name is not Danish. It first appeared in Jacopo Sannazaro's 1504 poem '' Arcadia'' (as ''Ofelia''), probably derived from Ancient Greek ὠφέλεια (''ōphéleia'', "benefit"). Character Ophelia is obedient to her father and well-loved by many characters. When Polonius tells her to stop seeing Hamlet, she does so. When he tells her to set up a meeting so that he and Claudius could spy on him, she does so. Ophelia is a foil to Hamlet and Laertes, contrasting and inspiring their behavior. Plot In Ophelia's first speaking appe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olga Knipper
Olga Leonardovna Knipper-Chekhova (; – 22 March 1959) was a Russian Empire, Russian and Soviet Union, Soviet stage actress. She was married to Anton Chekhov. Knipper was among the 39 original members of the Moscow Art Theatre when it was formed by Konstantin Stanislavski in 1898. She played Arkadina in ''The Seagull'' (1898), played Elena in the Moscow premiere of ''Uncle Vanya'' (1899), and was the first to play Masha in ''Three Sisters (play), Three Sisters'' (1901) and Madame Ranevskaya in ''The Cherry Orchard'' (1904). She married Anton Chekhov, the author of these plays, in 1901. She played Ranevskaya again in 1943, when the theatre marked the 300th performance of ''The Cherry Orchard''. Early life Knipper was born on in Glazov to Austrian-born Leonhardt August Knipper and his wife, Anna Ivanovna von Von Saltza, Saltza, who was of Baltic German nobility, Baltic German noble descent. Though both of her parents were of German origin, her father claimed Russia as th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gertrude (Hamlet)
In William Shakespeare's play ''Hamlet'', Gertrude is Hamlet's mother and Queen of Denmark. Her relationship with Hamlet is somewhat turbulent, since he resents her marrying her husband's brother Claudius after he murdered the king (young Hamlet's father, King Hamlet). Gertrude reveals no guilt in her marriage with Claudius after the recent murder of her husband, and Hamlet begins to show signs of jealousy towards Claudius. According to Hamlet, she scarcely mourned her husband's death before marrying Claudius. Her name may derive from Gertrude of Bavaria, who was Queen of Denmark in the late 12th century. Role in the play Gertrude is first seen in Act 1 Scene 2 as she tries to cheer Hamlet over the loss of his father, begging him to stay at home rather than going back to school in Wittenberg. Her worry over him continues into the second act, as she sides with King Claudius in sending Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to raise the spirits of her son. Also, rather than ascribin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nikolai Massalitinov
Nikolai Osipovich Massalitinov (, 24 February 1880, Yelets, Oryol Governorate, Russian Empire, — 22 March 1961, Sofia, Bulgaria) was a Russian (later Bulgarian) stage actor, theatre director and pedagogue, associated originally with the Moscow Art Theatre and, since 1925, with Ivan Vazov National Theatre in Bulgaria. The actress Varvara Massalitinova was his sister. In 1907 Massalitinov, a Maly Theatre Drama School graduate, was invited, personally by Stanislavski, to join the MAT troupe. In 1913, alongside Nikolai Alexandrov and Nikolai Podgorny he co-founded the private Drama School, the so-called "School of the Three Nikolais", which in 1916 was reformed to become the MAT Second Studio. In 1919 Massalitinov, as part of the Kachalov Troupe, found himself abroad, cut off from home. Unlike the majority of the actors, he decided against returning to the Bolshevist Russia and first joined the Prague-based, Maria Germanova-led troupe, then in 1925 settled in Bulgaria to becom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King Claudius
King Claudius is a fictional character and the main antagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Hamlet''. He is the brother to King Hamlet, second husband to Gertrude and uncle and later stepfather to Prince Hamlet. He obtained the throne of Denmark by murdering his brother with poison and then marrying the late king's widow. He is loosely based on the Jutish chieftain Feng who appears in '' Chronicon Lethrense'' and in Saxo Grammaticus' '' Gesta Danorum''. There has never been an actual Danish king of that name. Overview Claudius is seen at the beginning of the play to be a capable monarch as he deals diplomatically with such issues as the military threat from Norway and Hamlet's depression. It is not until the appearance of King Hamlet's Ghost in the courtyard that the audience questions his motives. During the play's progression he takes a turn for the worse by first resorting to spying, and, when that fails, murder. It is in Act III Scene 3, when Claudius forestalls H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vasili Kachalov
Vasily Ivanovich Kachalov (; – 30 September 1948), was one of Russia's most renowned actors. He worked closely and often with Konstantin Stanislavski. He led the so-called Kachalov Group within the Moscow Art Theatre. It was Kachalov who played Hamlet in the Symbolist production of 1911. His father was Ivan Shverubovich, a Belarusian Orthodox priest from Vilna. His schoolmates at Vilna Gymnasium included revolutionary Felix Dzerzhinsky and composer Konstantinas Galkauskas. In 1896, he left the law department of Saint Petersburg University in order to pursue an acting career. After four years of touring the Russian provinces and a brief stint at the Suvorin Theatre, Kachalov made his debut at the Moscow Art Theatre as Tsar Berendey in ''The Snow Maiden'' (spring 1900). The snow maiden was played by Stanislavski's wife, Maria Lilina, who fell in love with Kachalov; she described their affair as "a touch of private happiness".Maria Ignatieva. ''Stanislavski and female actors: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
