Theodore Komisarjevsky
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Fyodor Fyodorovich Komissarzhevsky (; 23 May 1882 – 17 April 1954), or Theodore Komisarjevsky, was a Russian, later British, theatrical director and designer. He began his career in Moscow, but had his greatest influence in London. He was noted for groundbreaking productions of plays by Chekhov and
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
.


Life and career


Early years

Komisarjevsky was born in
Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
, the son of Fyodor Komissarzhevsky and his second wife, Lithuanian Princess Marie Kursevich. Fyodor was the principal tenor of the Imperial Opera in
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
and the teacher of the influential theatre director Konstantin Stanislavsky. The actress Vera Komissarzhevskaya was Theodore's elder half-sister.Marshall, Norman
"Komisarjevsky, Theodore (1882–1954)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, retrieved 18 January 2015
He was educated at Saint Petersburg University and the Imperial Institute of Architecture."Obituary – Mr Komisarjevsky – Civilization and the Stage", ''The Times'', 19 April 1954, p. 8 In 1907, Komisarjevsky directed his first production, for his half-sister's theatre in Moscow. (She died in 1910, aged 45.) In the same year, he founded a drama school in Moscow, adding a studio-theatre in her memory in 1914. During the rest of the Imperial era, and later under the Soviet régime, Komisarjevsky worked as a producer and director in Moscow until 1919, when, fearing arrest by the secret police, he escaped to Paris. On the advice of his fellow émigré
Serge Diaghilev Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev ( ; rus, Серге́й Па́влович Дя́гилев, , sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪdʑ ˈdʲæɡʲɪlʲɪf; 19 August 1929), also known as Serge Diaghilev, was a Russian art critic, patron, ballet impresario an ...
he went from there to London. Sir Thomas Beecham appointed him to direct the opera '' Prince Igor'' at
Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...
, described by ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' as "outstanding … magnificent production". Further operatic work followed in Paris and New York. Greatly disapproving of the short rehearsal time allotted to some of his operatic work, he became known for his insistence on adequate preparation.


London and Chekhov

In 1919, Komisarjevsky formed LAHDA, the Russian Musical Dramatic Art Society, in London with tenor Vladimir Rosing and dancer Laurent Novikoff. The purpose of the organization was to “bring closer friendship and understanding” between England and Russia “by means of art and its beauty of expression.” In June 1921, Rosing and Komisarkevsky presented a season of "Opera Intime" at the Aeolian Hall in London, with members of the British Symphony Orchestra conducted by Adrian Boult. The operas given were '' The Queen of Spades'', ''
The Barber of Seville ''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( ) is an ''opera buffa'' (comic opera) in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's French comedy ' ...
'', ''
Bastien und Bastienne ' (''Bastien and Bastienne''), Köchel catalogue, K. 50 (revised in 1964 to K. 46b) is a one-act singspiel, a comic opera, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. ' was one of Mozart's earliest operas, written in 1768 when he was only twelve years old. It wa ...
'' and ''
Pagliacci ''Pagliacci'' (; literal translation, 'Clowns') is an Italian opera in a prologue and two acts, with music and libretto by Ruggero Leoncavallo. The opera tells the tale of Canio, actor and leader of a commedia dell'arte theatrical company, who mu ...
''. ''The Times'' commented that the staging gave an "irritating sense of amateurishness," however ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
'' judged that Komisarjevsky had been "very ingenious" in adapting the operas for the small stage."Music of the Week", ''The Observer'', 3 July 1921, p. 10 In 1921, Komsarjevsky earned good notices for his production of Chekhov's '' Uncle Vanya'' for the Stage Society, in Constance Garnett's translation. He was praised for capturing the authentic Russian atmosphere of the play as English directors had failed to do. For the next five years, he produced and sometimes designed productions in London with success, and he became more widely known in 1925 and 1926 when he collaborated with Philip Ridgeway, the proprietor of the small Barnes Theatre in a western suburb of London, in a succession of Russian plays. He assembled a company including
John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud ( ; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Britis ...
, Charles Laughton, Jean Forbes-Robertson, Jeanne de Casalis and
Martita Hunt Martita Edith Hunt (30 January 190013 June 1969) was an Argentine-born British theatre and film actress. She had a dominant stage presence and played a wide range of powerful characters. She is best remembered for her performance as Miss Havis ...
. His productions of Chekhov in particular changed how British actors, audiences and critics understood the dramatist's works. The critic J T Grein wrote in 1926: In 1932, Komisarjevsky became a British national. In the same year, he worked for the first time at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in
Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon ( ), commonly known as Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon (district), Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of Engl ...
. Critics thought his production of '' The Merchant of Venice'' spectacular but distracting from Shakespeare's text. The ''
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...
'' (ODNB) refers to his Shakespeare productions as "unorthodox and provocative, sometimes brilliant, sometimes merely wayward", and comments that he showed little respect for the texts or for Shakespeare's poetry. Nonetheless the ODNB judges them valuable for showing up conventional productions as routine and humdrum. Komisarjevsky, though bald, short and "no Adonis", as one of his many conquests described him, was a persistent and successful womaniser.
Edith Evans Dame Edith Mary Evans (8 February 1888 – 14 October 1976) was an English actress. She was best known for Edith Evans – stage and film roles, her work on the West End theatre, West End stage, but also appeared in films at the beginning and t ...
, one who did not succumb to his charms, dubbed him "Come-and-seduce-me". His first marriage, to Elfriede de Jarosy, ended in divorce. His second wife was the actress Peggy Ashcroft. The marriage was short-lived (1934–1936) but they continued to work together afterwards, and she learned much from him about the craft of acting.Billington, Michael
"Ashcroft, Dame Edith Margaret Emily (Peggy) (1907–1991)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2010, retrieved 18 January 2015
In the view of ''
The Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' his 1936 production of ''
The Seagull ''The Seagull'' () is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 in literature, 1895 and first produced in 1896 in literature#Drama, 1896. ''The Seagull'' is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramati ...
'', with Ashcroft as Nina, Evans as Arkadina and Gielgud as Trigorin was the director's outstanding achievement."Komisarjevsky – Producer, Artist, and Author", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 19 April 1954, p. 2 His last production in Britain was '' The Comedy of Errors'' at Stratford in 1939.


Later years

When World War II broke out, Komisarjevsky was in the United States, which remained his home for the rest of his life. He devoted his time more to lecturing and teaching than to production. One theatrical venture was in Canada, where he directed ''
Cymbeline ''Cymbeline'' (), also known as ''The Tragedie of Cymbeline'' or ''Cymbeline, King of Britain'', is a play by William Shakespeare set in British Iron Age, Ancient Britain () and based on legends that formed part of the Matter of Britain concer ...
'' in 1950 for the Montreal Festival of Music and Drama. In the last year of his life, the Arts Theatre in London invited him to direct there, but his health did not permit it. In 1946, Komisarjevsky made his debut with the
New York City Opera The New York City Opera (NYCO) is an American opera company located in Manhattan in New York City. The company has been active from 1943 through its 2013 bankruptcy, and again since 2016 when it was revived. The opera company, dubbed "the peopl ...
, staging Tchaikovsky's ''Eugene Onegin''. With that company, he went on to direct ''Andrea Chénier'', ''Don Giovanni'', ''Aïda'' (with Camilla Williams, Suzy Morris, Ramón Vinay, and Lawrence Winters, with
George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze;, Romanization of Georgian, : April 30, 1983) was a Georgian-American ballet choreographer, recognized as one of the most influential choreographers ...
as choreographer), ''L'amour des trois oranges'' (in a production "devised by" Komisarjevsky; he became ill before the opening), and, in 1952, ''Wozzeck'' (with Marko Rothmüller and Patricia Neway). Komisarjevsky died at his home in
Darien, Connecticut Darien ( ) is a coastal town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. With a population of 21,499 and a land area of just under , it is the smallest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast (Connecticut), Gold Coast. Situated on the Long Island ...
, on 17 April 1954, survived by his third wife, the dancer Ernestine Stodelle (1905–2008).Borovsky, p. 457 It is not known how many children he left from his various affairs, but the ODNB records two sons and one daughter.


Legacy

Komisarjevsky wrote several books. Those published in English include ''Myself and the Theatre'' (1930), ''The Costume of the Theatre'' (1931) and ''The Theatre and a changing Civilization'' (1935). His books in Russian include ''Theatrical Preludes''; ''The Costume'', and ''The Art of the Actor''. Komisarjevsky left a lasting legacy in London in the shape of theatre and cinema interiors he designed, including the Phoenix Theatre in
Charing Cross Road Charing Cross Road is a street in central London running immediately north of St Martin-in-the-Fields to St Giles Circus (the intersection with Oxford Street), which then merges into Tottenham Court Road. It leads from the north in the direc ...
, the Tooting Granada, the first cinema to be awarded Grade I-
listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
status, the Woolwich Granada, and six other auditoria originally built for the same cinema chain."Komisarjevsky, Theodore"
Who Was Who, Oxford University Press, 2014, retrieved 28 January 2015
File:Gala Bingo (former Granada Cinema), Tooting 32.jpg, Tooting Granada File:Granada Tooting.JPG, Tooting Granada File:2015 London-Woolwich, interior former Granada Cinema27.jpg, Woolwich Granada File:2015 London-Woolwich, interior former Granada Cinema25.jpg, Woolwich, staircase


Notes


References

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External links


Komisarjevsky in Encyclopædia Britannica



Komisarjevsky in St Petersburg Encyclopedia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Komisarjevsky 1882 births 1954 deaths Theatre people from Moscow Russian theatre directors British theatre directors British opera directors Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United Kingdom Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States