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volume 19, no. 3

Fall1999

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- SEEP ISSN 1047-0019) s a publication of the Institute for ContemporaryEast European Drama and Theatre under the auspices of the Martin E. SegalTheatre Center. The Institute is at The City University of New YorkGraduate Center 365 th Avenue New York NY 10016-4307. Allsubscription requests and submissions should be addressed to lavic andEastEuropean Performance Martin E. Segal Theatre Center Theatre ProgramThe City University of New York Graduate Center 365 5th Avenue NewYork NY 10016-4307.

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EDITORDaniel Gerould

M N GING EDITORJennifer Parker StarbuckASSOCIATE EDITORLars Myers

EDITORI L ASSISTANTLara Simone Shalson

CIRCUL TION M N GERSusan T ennerielloASSISTANT CIRCUL TION MANAGERSPatricia Herrera Melissa Gaspar

ADVISORY BO RDEdwin Wilson ChairMarvin Carlson Alma Law

Martha W . Coigney Stuart LiebmanLeo Hecht Laurence Senelick

Allen J. KuharskiMartin E. Segal Theatre Center Publications are supported by generousgrants from the Lucille Lortel Chair in Theatre and the Sidney E. CohnChair in Theatre in the Ph.D. Program in Theatre at the City Universityof New York.Copyright 1999 Martin E. Segal Theatre CenterS P has a very liberal reprinting policy. Journals and newsletters thatdesire to reproduce articles reviews and other materials that have appearedin S P may do so as long as the following provisions are met:a. Permission to reprint the article must be requested from S P inwriting before the fact;b. Credit to S P must be given in the reprint;c. Two copies of the publication in which the reprinted material has

appeared must be furnished to the Editors of S P immediately uponpublication.

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Editorial PolicyFrom the EditorEventsBooks Received

RTICLES

T BLE OF ONTENTS

Interview with Piotr Borowski: Artistic Director ofStudium Teatralne, WarsawPaul AllainP GES FROM THE P ST

True North? Nicholas Roerich and the MoscowArt Theatre Production of Peer Gynt 1912-1913John McCannonAmelia Hertz and Ysolde o he White andsJ adwiga KosickaYsolde o he White Hands by Amelia HertzTranslated by Jadwiga Kosicka

REVIEWS

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The Holocaust in Cinema: a Conference Report 55Stuart LiebmanFrom Oxford to Bucharest: A Report on the First 6International Yiddish Theatre Conference at Oxfordand on the Yiddish State Theatre in Bucharestin Performance

Moshe YassurEastern European Contributions to the Cairo

International Festival of Experimental TheatreMarvin Carlson

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A Hotel Room in the Town of at theKennedy CenterHelena M. White

Witkiewicz's Mother at Cinohernl KlubGerald W ealesPsycho-drama in the Disco-rama: Tonino

Guerra s Fourth hair at Kaunas Mazasis TeatrasJeff Johnson

ContributorsPublications

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EDITORIAL POLICYManuscripts in the following categories are solicited: articles of nomore than 2,500 words, performance and film reviews, and bibliographies.

Please bear in mind that all submissions must concern themselves either withcontemporary materials on Slavic and East European theatre, drama andfilm, or with new approaches to older materials in recently published works,or new performances of older plays. In other words, we welcomesubmissions reviewing innovative performances of Gogol but we cannot useoriginal articles discussing Gogol as a playwright.Although we welcome translations of articles and reviews fromforeign publications, we do require copyright release statements. We willalso gladly publish announcements of special events and anything else whichmay be of interest to our discipline. All submissions are refereed.All submissions must be typed double-spaced and carefullyproofread. The Chicago anual o Style should be followed. Transliterations should follow the Library of Congress system. Articles shouldbe submitted on computer disk as either Wordperfect 5 1 for DOS orWordperfect 6.0 for Windows documents ASCII or Text Files will beaccepted as well) and a hard copy of the article should be included.Photographs are recommended for all reviews. All articles should be sentto the attention of Slavic andEast European Performance lo Martin E. SegalTheatre Center, The ity University of New York Graduate Center, 3655th Avenue, New York, NY 10016-4307. Submissions will be evaluated,and authors will be notified after approximately four weeks.

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FROM TH E ITOR

The Fall Issue 1999 our millennia number-marks two transitionsin the life of the journal: the move of The Graduate Center from 42nd St.to the landmark B. Altman building at 365 Fifth Avenue and the changefrom CASTA to the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center. Named for MartinSegal founder and chairman of the New York International Festival of theArts and Chairman of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the newcenter will sponsor major lecture series, televised seminars, and new playdevelopment as well as initiating meetings and reports on the New Yorktheatre in the new millennium. The publications, Slavic and East EuropeanPerformance Western European Stages and journal o American Drama andTheatre funded by the Lucille Lortel and Sidney Cohn Chairs, will appearunder the aegis of the Martin E. Segal Center.

The issue features two turn-of-the-century entries in PAGESFROM THE PAST. John McCannon presents Nikolai Roerich's stagedesign for Stanislavsky's Peer Gynt in 1912-13, and Jadwiga Kosickaintroduces her translation of Ysolde o he White Hands a unusual versionof the Tristan legend written by Amelia Hertz in 1905.

Paul Allain's interview with Piotr Borowski explores the work ofan innovative director and theatre company. Helena Whites reviews aRussian DeadSouls in Washington, D.C., Gerald Weales discusses a Czechproduction of a Polish Mother Jeff Johnson considers a Lithuanian readingofan Italian comedy, Mosse Yassur reports from Oxford on a conference onYiddish theatre, Stuart Liebman reviews Eastern European films at the"Holocaust in Cinema" conference, and Marvin Carlson covers EasternEuropean productions at a festival in Cairo.

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STAGE PRODU TIONSNew York City

V NTS

The Oasis Theatre ompany presented an adaptation by BrendaLynn Bynum of Chekhov's Platonov: Yaltas on juan in June.

Pulse Ensemble Theatre presented Maxim Gorki's The LowerDepths, directed by Thelma Louise Carter, in June.

The Church for All Nations presented Chekhov's Ivanov, directedby Thomas Luce Summa, in June.

The T. Schreiber Studio presented Chekhov's Three Sisters, directedby Terry Schreiber, from June 8 to 27.

The Red Room Theater at KGB presented Stavrogin s Confession,an adaptation of Dostoevsky's Demons, and Chekhov's short farce, TheBrute in June.

The LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts presentedChekhov's Uncle Vanya, directed by Ben Barnes, from July 12 to 18 .The New York International Fringe Festival presented Notes From

Underground, based on the novella by Dostoevsky, from August 19 to 28.The Greenwich Village Center Theater presented The Freak of

Nature, Slava Stepnov's adaptation of three one-act plays by LuigiPirandello, from September 1 to 12Caught in the Act, the annual festival of international one-actplays presented by the Threshold Theatre Company, was held at the Here

Theatre from September 11 to October 3 Productions of Eastern Europeanplaywrights included: Still Life by Ferenc Molnar, directed by Peter Bennett,with Joel Leffert, Julie-Anne Liechty, and Nancy Nichols; Same, OnlyDifferent by Frigyes Karinthy, directed by Pamela Billig, with MichaelEtheridge, Chris Lindsay-Abaire, and Russell Stevens; and The AtrociousUncle by Konstanty lldefons Gakzyriski, directed by Pamela Billig, withVictoria Patrick and Michael Etheridge.

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The Zagorsk Ensemble Unit presented The Heart of a Dog byMikhail Bulgakov, adapted for the stage and directed by Randy Baruh, atThe Sande Shurin Studio Theatre from September 23 to October 10.

The Access Theater presented Chekhov Now, a three week festivalof Chekhov's works, including productions of The Cherry Orchard, TheJubilee, and a puppet theatre presentation of At Sea from September 28 toOctober 19.

GOH Productions presented The Sixth Annual Mini-Festival, TheMagic of Czech Puppetry, from October 7 to 31. Productions includedMusic from the Opposite Ends of the Steppe a Buryat Mongolian-UkranianDialogue; Twelve Iron Sandals, written and directed by puppeteer/ storytellerVh Horejs and performed by the Czechoslovak-American MarionetteTheatre; The Fisherman s Clever Daughter and other Czech Tales with Stringswith Vlt Horejs; and Morgan Kara in Morgan Kara, a dance-theatreperformance based on the myth of Siberian Shaman Morgon Kara.

New Europe 99, a festival of performances and humanities eventsran from October 12 to 31. Included in the programming were: Heart Piece:A Double Opera, composed by Krzysztof Knittel and John King, based onHeiner Muller's Herzstuck, directed by Maciej Wo jtyszko, set design byKrzysztof Z a r ~ b s k i sound design by T adeusz Sudnik, and performed byOlga Pasichnyk, David Moss, John King, Krzysztof Knittel and the DafoString Quartet, at The Kitchen on October 20 to 23; One Second Hand,performed by Sasha Pepelyaev's Kinetic Theatre, with text fragments by LevRubinstein and Alain Robbe-Grillet, music by Alexy Aigi, and lights byVjacheslav Korjavin, at Dance Theater Workshop from October 13 to 16;and A ria Spinta, performed by Deja Donne Production, a collaborativedance-theatre group including Lenka Flory, Simone Sandroni, Ivana Jozic,Teodora Popova, Anise Olivia Smith, and Ondrej Vajsar, at Dance TheatreWorkshop from October 27 to 30.

T TE will be hosting a season of nine performance installations byLiquid Theatre. Included in the series are Alien Hands Are Writing, anadaptation ofS.I. Witkiewicz's Report on the Effects of Peyote, performedby Kevin Hurley, on December 9, and The Tables ofDestiny, based on alecture by Russian Futurist Velimir Khlebnikov, performed by RichardEoin Nash, on January 11, 2000.

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STAGE PRODU TIONSRegional U.S.The TinFish Theatre of Chicago presented three one-act comediesby Chekhov: The Proposal The Bear and A Reluctant Tragic Hero from July

30 to September 11.Theatricum Botanicum in Los Angeles presented Chekhov's The

Seagull directed by Heidi Helen Davis, from October 2 to 16.The Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles presented Vanessa Burnham's

adaptation of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya from September 28 to October 17.

STAGE PRODU TIONSEuropeFrom September 10 to 12 a three-day festival of dance, music, and

theatre took place in Pristina, Kosovo. The festival, organized by VanessaRedgrave (United Nations Children's Fund special representative), was titledThe Return and included performances by visitors from Europe and theU.S., as well as a production by Pristina native director and playwrightEnver Petrovic.

The international theatre festival, Theater der Welt in Berlin, washeld from June 18 to July 4. Included in the program were Poland'sGardzienice's Metamorphosis-A Theatrical Essay by Wlodzimierz Staniewskiat the Matthaikirche and Kosmos Gardzienice-The Labyrinth o TheatrePractices at the Parochialkirche; the Estonian Von Krahl Teater's EstonianGames Wedding by Peeter Jalakas and Liina Keevallik, directed by PeeterJalakas at the Sophiensaele; the Romanian production of Saragosa-66de zilewritten and directed by Alexandru Dabija, at the Hebbel-Theater; andBulgaria's Theater Workshop Sfumato's Apokryph written and directed byMargarita Mladenova and Ivan Dobtchev, at the Theater am Hallechen Ufer.

Theatre Archipelago (formerly Communicado Theatre Company)toured England and Scotland with the production, Werewolves written byTeresa Lubkiewicz and adapted by Bill Findley from a version by HelenaKaut-Howson, from September 1 to October 9.

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Krakow s Teatr Ludowy presented Perfect Wedding by RobinHowdon at the POSK Theatre in London from September 10 to 12.

Katarzyna Deszcz directed a production of Princess Sharon anadaptation by Andrzej Sadowski of Witold Gombrowicz s Princess lwonaat the Scarlet Theatre in London from October 7 to 9.

DANCENew York City

The Kirov Ballet under the direction of Makharbek Vazievperformed The Fountain o Bakbebisiray a work from the Soviet era, at theMetropolitan Opera House in July.

Jirl Kylian s Nederlands Dans Theater presented a piece calledA rcimboldo which explored Kylian s feelings about the NATO bombing ofYugoslavia, as part of the Lincoln Center Festival 99 in July.

Lincoln Center presented the New York Premiere of MarthaClarke s Vers a Flamme based on stories by Chekhov with music byScriabin, as part of their New Visions series at the Ne:w Victory Theatrefrom September 15 to 19. Christopher O Riley played piano, and thedancers included: Felix Blaska, Kate Coyne, Sean Dalal, George de la Peiia,Margie Gillis, Alexandre Prolia, and Paola Styron. Vers la Flamme hadpreviously been presented at the Ted Shawn Theatre in Massachusetts aspart of the Jacob s Pillow Dance festival on July 21 to 25.

FILMN ew York City

The Human Rights Watch International Film Festival from June11 to 24, presented as its official centerpiece Goran PaskaljeviC s CabaretBalkan a film exploring life in Belgrade before the NATO bombing.

The Lincoln Center, Walter Reade Theater screened AlexeiGuerman s My Friend Ivan Lapshin (1986), a Soviet film depicting the GreatTerror of the mid 1930s, on June 1.

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Ocularis, n Broolkyn, NY, presented Andrei Tarkovsky s Mirror(1974) on June 5.

The Directors Guild of America Theater presented Genghis Blues(1999), directed by Roko and Adrien Belie, on June 8.The New York Film Festival presented Alexander Sokurov'sConfession, a film based on a Russian submarine captain's diary, at the

Walter Reade Theater on July 24.Srdjan DragojeviC's film The Wounds, with Vesna Trivalic and

Milan Marie, opened nationally on August 27.Sarajevo-born director Emir Kusturica's film Black Cat, W1Jite Cat

opened on September 10 at Lincoln Plaza.The Walter Reade Theater Film Society of Lincoln Center

presented the newly restored The Saragossa Manuscript R ~ o p i s znalezionySaragossie (1964) by director Wojciech Has from September 20 to 24.

The Anthology Film Archives screened Soviet director DzigaVertov's Shagai, Soviet (1926) on October 2.

The BAM Rose Cinemas presented Krzysztof Kidlowski s W1Jite(1994) on September 28, and Red (1994) on September 29.

The Anthology Film Archives presented a Jifl MenzelRetrospective, from October 14 to 16. Four films by the Czech directorwere screened: Closely Watched Trains (1966), Capricious Summer (1967 8),Larks on a String (1969), and Cutting t Short (1980).

The Museum of Modern Art showed Krzysztof Kidlowski s lindChance 1981) on October 18.

FILMRegional U.S.

The Chicago International Film Festival held from October 6 to 21screened six Eastern European and Slavic films including four U.S. premiers:

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Barracks (BARAK} directed by Valerij Ogorodnikov (Russia/Germany),Moloch Molokh) directed by Aleksandr Sokurov (Russia/Germany), Who Elsei Not Us {Kto Esli Ne My} directed by Valery Priemykhov (Russia), and TheWhite Suit Belo Odelo) directed by Lazar Ristovski (Yugoslavia), as well asNothing Nic} directed by Do rota Kt;dzierzawska (Poland), and CheckpointBlokpost} directed by Alexander Rogozhkin (Russia).

Ohio State University held a retrospective of Eastern European filmentitled Look Back Laughing from October 1 to November 12 . Includedin the series were: Tito and Me (Yugoslavia, 1992 directed by GoranMarkovic, Oh, Bloody Life (Hungary, 1985) directed by Peter Basco, TheOak (Romania, 1992) directed by Lucian Pintillie, and Kolya (CzechRepublic, 1995) directed by Jan Sverek.

ARTS, CULTURE NEWSImages o Kosovo, an exhibit of recent images of the war zone andrefugee camps by photographers from the Associated Press, was on display

at Newseum/New York from late May to June 5.Russian conductor llya Aleksandrovich Musin died on June 6 in St.Petersburg, Russia at the age of 95. His method of conducting was the basis

of the Leningrad School of conducting for over 60 years.Hungary Today, a photography exhibit of five contemporary artists,was on display at Sarah Morthland from late May to June 12.Russia in Transition: 19181998, at Leica in July and August,displayed work by photographers from Russia and elsewhere documentingthe country after the end of communism.The Czech Center showed work by thirteen contemporary artistsfrom June to September 3. The exhibit was entitled Czech andSlovak StagedPhotography.A funeral service was held on August 10 at the MoscowConservatory of Music for Russian composer Alfred Schnittke, who died onAugust 3. Cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich and violinist Gidon

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Kremer, along with other musicians, performed pieces by Schnittke at theserv1ce.

On October 2 the annual Czech Independence ay lock Party washeld on the block of East 83rd Street between Madison and Park Avenues.This years event celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Velvet Revolutionof 1989 . Performances included: gymnastics by the New York Sokol UnitIda Kelarova and Romano Rat (her original gypsy band from the CzechRepublic), Moravian folk dance group Javornicek with a dulcimer bandfrom the Czech Republic, and Chicago-based Czech rock group VATA . .

The Indiana University School of Fine Arts Gallery presentedBehind the Iron Curtain: Poster Art from Poland and Romania fromOctober 22 to November 21.

The Columbus Museum of Art will present the exhibition,Spectacular St. Petersburg: 100 Years of Russian Theatre Design, from

November 19 1999 through January 30, 2000. Included in the exhibitionare design sketches of sets and costumes by Sergei Diaghilev circle-membersKonstantin Korovin, Alexander Golovin, Lev Bakst, and Alexander Benois;Symbolists Nikolai Kamalkov and Sergei Sudeikin; Futurist KazimirMalevich and Constructivists Elizaveta Iakunina and Tatiana Bruni; SocialRealists Nikolai Akimov, Viktor Ivanov, and Alexander Bosylaev; and morecontemporary designers such as Marina Azizian, Eduard Kochergin, OlgaSaverenskaia, Viktor Firer, Irina Cherednikova, and Mikhail Mokrov. Alsoincluded are actual costumes, such as Fyodor Chaliapin's costume from histitle role in the 1911 production of oris Godunov at the Mariinsky Theatreand several costumes from the 1917 Vsevolod Meyerhold production ofMasquerade at the Alexandrinsky Theatre.

-Compiled by Lars Myers and Lara Simone Shalson

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BOOKS RECEIVEDBergman, Ronald. ergei Eisenstein: A Life in Conflict. Woodstock, N.Y.:Overlook Press, 1999 . 384 pages. Includes many illustrations, both stills fromfilms and photographs of the filmmaker and colleagues, bibliography, andindex.Croatian Drama, Issue 5, 1999, ed. Sanja Nikcevic. Zagreb: Croatian Centreof ITI-UNESCO, May, 1999. 100 pages. Includes Foreword by SanjaNikcevic, Theory: The Croatian Theatre in 1998, Still Alive-DespiteEverything, and summaries and analyses of plays by thirty-three Croatianplaywrights, with cast reqirements. Also includes information about programsand exhibitions, web sites, addresses, theatre associations and magazines,cultural centers, and theatres in Croatia and abroad, and festivals.Kwartalnikfilmowy No. 25 (Spring 1999 . Instytut Sztuki PAN Specialissue devoted to women in film. 244 pages. Contains 18 major articles withnotes, many photographs, and brief summaries in English and French.Notatnik teatralny, 16-17, 1998. 306 pages. Issue featuring articles on newPolish directors of the young generation as well as historical studies and asection on recent books. Many photographs and a u m ~ a r y in English.Notatnik teatralny, 18-19, 1999 . 254 pages. Special issue devoted to thedirector Krystian Lupa and his theatre. Contains a memoir and interviewwith Lupa and articles by theatre artists with whom he has worked closely.Includes a chronology of Lupa's productions, pp. 225-50, and a summary inEnglish. Many photographs and illustrations.Przybora, Jeremi. r z y m k n i ~ e Oko Opaczno:i: Memuar6w, Parts I and II.Warsaw: Tenten, 1998 . 172 and 220 pages. These two volumes of memoirsinclude dozens of black and white photographs and two in color of theauthor. Volume II contains texts and photographs of the famous KabaretStarszych Pan6w which the author as librettist and Jerzy Wasowski ascomposer presented on Polish TV in the 1960s. Also included are selectedtexts by Przybora from the radio drama, Teatrzyk Eterek, 1948-1958 .

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INTERVIEW WITH PIOTR BOROWSKI: ARTISTIC DIRECTOROF STUDIUM TEATRALNE W RS W

Paul AllainThe following interview was conducted in October 1998, London, on theoccasion of Studium Teatralne's first ever tour abroad to British universitieswhich included a workshop held at Goldsmiths College, University ofLondon, the host organization.Paul Allain: Can you tell me how the group originated and how your firstperformance Miasto The City evolved?Piotr Borowski: Studium Teatralne started in a very natural way. In ourfirst year we did not even have a name, we just wanted to make aperformance. The whole process began with a month-long workshop inApril 994 which had four principal aims: general physical training,individual work, work with a partner and group work. The participantswere completely amateur and had never worked in theatre companies orperformed before, and were very young, aged from about nineteen totwenty-four. The strategy was very simple-they had to surprise themselvesduring this workshop, and do anything they didn't think they couldpossibly do. This led to a very short fifteen minute performance which weshowed to the director of the Centre of Contemporary rt in Warsaw,Wojtek Krukowski. He immediately saw potential in our work and decidedto give us a free space to work for one year. I asked the workshopparticipants if they wanted to follow up his proposal and they agreed.We then spent a year creating a rough outline of our performanceMiasto As we devised the piece ourselves, you might well ask why we madea piece about the city. What was the challenge? t the beginning of theworkshop everybody was telling me, Warsaw is shit and You have tosearch in the forests and the villages, or find something alternative like yogabecause you can't concentrate in the city. I told them that I had to workin the city, for that was my current situation.PA: You had been working in the countryside of Pontedera, Italy for sevenyears with Grotowski?PB: Yes and before that I spent six or so years with Gardzienice TheatreAssociation working in their village. I left them in 982 and then went to

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Italy to work with Grotowski, where I stayed for seven years. Now I haveto live in Warsaw so this idea of the city was intriguing for me s well.After three or four days of the workshop I said we should confront thisissue and this was the beginning of our work on a performance calledMiasto/The City It's not that we had found the answer, but at least wealready had something in our hands to work with, something that motivatedthe work.

That was for one year. Then Krukowski told us that we had hadour time in this free space and another group-this time musicians-shouldhave the space for a year. I then asked the group the same question that Ihad asked after the workshop-what to do now? The actors decided that weshould continue working, so we had to start to look for a space. We had nofixed idea or vision of what to look for. I mean we didn't even have a name,or a philosophy. And when Ania found a place in east Warsaw, in thedistrict called Praga, it felt right.PA: It has a very particular atmosphere.PB: We found this space quite by accident. t was great for us with theright dimensions, but in Warsaw there is the view that Praga is a very roughno-go area. t is an old district which was not destroyed in the Second WorldWar. But for us there was only one real problem with the space. It has fourcolumns in it and we have to arrange our spectators and our action aroundthem. t is a challenge to share the space with these four people s we callthem. A completely empty space would be perfect for us, but these are theconditions we work in.

We had to make some repairs, s the place was quite derelict. Butthe most important thing was that this was our space which we could use llthe time. We have this main room, s well s a smaller rehearsal spaceadjacent to it, and a small room for meetings where the audience can waitbefore performances. There is a good feeling about the space, and we feel wecan win the battle in it, but the rent is very expensive. I therefore thoughtthat if we had a name and formed an organization with an accountant, wewould have a more permanent presence and maybe the City Council, fromwhom we lease the space, would reduce the rental. We had no fundingthen-we earned (and still do earn) money cleaning the newspaper SuperExpress's large office in Warsaw. So we immediately came up with a name,Studium T eatralne, registered s an association, and even if the rental did notchange, we started to exist officially.

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When we had moved in, I then told the performers that wewouldn't make a new piece, but that they would now have to really discoversomething about their own acting and consolidate this knowledge. Thework was starting to expand, not emotionally, but in terms of theperformers' actions and the detail of those actions.We were then invited to and paid to perform at festivals in Poland,which gave us a little money to pay the rent. Only then did we start towork on a new performance. We now have three new people in our groupbecause three of those performing in iasto left for personal reasons. Butat any moment someone else could decide it isn't for them any longer.

PA: Will it be possible to keep iasto in repertoire?PB: We d like to because it's our identity. It evolved, unplanned, fromnothing.PA: The company are all involved in their own projects, their own studies,their own work. Does this bring any richness to what you do?PB: I would rather they only worked with me. I know what I want fromthem and they trust me enough to be sure that they're not going in thewrong direction. Yet sometimes we are incredibly tired. Not so muchmentally, but physically.P A: Why do you work with young actors?PB: Age is not important. What matters is whether the person can workin that particular group. They have to be punctual, disciplined and wantto work every day. After that comes talent. f you have talent, it's good,but if you don't it's also good because you have to fight with this. It's justa matter of doing.PA: You don t like the word actor?PB: Recently I started to think about my father, who had been a partisanin the war. As a boy I would see his medals and would ask him how he gotthem. He told me that like everybody else he was carrying a cabbage andgrenades. His job was to blow up a train. He told me: I put the grenadesin a bag and wrapped them in cabbage leaves. I put on a special hat, glovesand moustache and went out. My way of walking was so strange that even

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people who knew me did not recognize me. I had a sort of character, whotook me over and I was very attentive to how my hands moved. I detonatedthe bomb and then I moved off like an old man. (He was only twenty orso then). I pushed the button and everything exploded and then I wenthome without the grenades. And that was my job. I wondered whethermy father could be called an actor, but I still don t know. What isimportant is what he risked, death, but of course he was also stupid becausehe put his whole family at risk. So his actions had to be very precise inorder to justify his pushing that button. Risk for us is important. f we dosomething, it is important how we do it and what we risk. What we can winby means of our risk and with our action. So if in rehearsal I say cabbageand grenades, the actors have to look for something special. I remembermy father saying that there were many occasions when his action did not gowell and he had to change this or that. In our training we always have anopen phase at the end. We have to be very flexible. On the outside they areactors who make a performance, but on the inside they are fighting forsomething else-to press the button at the right moment.P A: Do you work with notions similar to the idea of imaginativeconnection?PB: When we rehearse and something is working, never ask theperformers if they are using a particular association or not. f it does notwork, I draw on my experiences with many people-Staniewski,Grotowski-I call on every brain cell to find out how I can help that person.I might suggest an association-burning earth, for example-and they findanother way of walking or running. But if it's working well, you don thave to say anything. Why should I want to destroy good things bydemanding that they work like this or that? When I see a person workingwell, she becomes more beautiful than usual. The action gives her new life,her eyes open and nothing is forced.I don't know any tricks to help build a performance even if I haveread books, and worked with Grotowski and other important people. Wecan follow ideas or philosophies, but these are not truths. When you workwith people, you work with a live human being who is completely differentfrom anyone you have met before. You must be very open and you mustnot see the person as a sociological object. I simply look at how they walkand speak. My role is to take the group to the edge of possibilities and givea little push. I am always searching for possibilities.

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PA: You don't see your role as a traditional director?

PB: No. We frequently use the term outside eye and the actors can alsobe outside eyes. Initially I suggest what I want and they go and develop anaction. I make some comments and they go back to work. At the end ofthe day we show something so that everybody can see what everyone elseis doing, and we look for connections. We progress with small steps. Thenext day we meet and we follow the same pattern. They have to find thenucleus of their personal action around -which the others can work likeatoms. We found that the most interesting feelings arise not when I feelsomething and so I do something, but within a precise action. Forexample, in Miasto in what the grandmother (on whom Ania based heraction) was actually doing. The feeling might arise spontaneously andsurprisingly without any falseness or emotional manipulation as you startto become completely involved in the action.PA: Do you always train at the beginning of the day?PB: Usually we train at the beginning of our work, but there are no rules.I observe the group, see how they move when they come into the space andif they are moving well, I decide not to do the training then but goimmediately to the most difficult point of the work. Afterwards we may doa very short bit of training and then again move on. It must not be amechanical process. There is no system and the situation is fluid. You mustbe prepared, responsive and attentive to change every second. You don'thave one fixed direction.PA: Tell me why you work with silent stepping in the training and inperformance?PB: Silence gives you rich possibilities. When you see people working in aspace, if they are concentrated they never step noisily. By landing quietlywe train our attention and we also become more aware of our body. At thatmoment you find strength in the body. It also influences your voice. fyour steps are so silent, you can't speak loudly. So you can speak normally,but the body can be engaged with full force.PA: Can you say more about how you structure the performance?PB: You can't explain how you flow from one action to another. It's like20 lavic and ast uropean Performance Vol. 19 No 3

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a light in the brain. Even if an actor prepares an action precisely, s o m e t i m ~it still doesn t work. The next moment she starts to change somethinginternally, another way of looking or holding the body, and suddenly it sperfect. My role then becomes very important and I have to note manythings. I must remember every detail. It s not important to say anything,but I must remember, for example, that the spine was like this or her kneeswere like that, the sharpness of the movement, the rhythm . It oftenhappens that someone o n s t ~ t s an action in a minute-instantly-but itcan also take one month to construct ten seconds. It s not something youcan measure and we have no method. What they are doing must beobjective. He or she is doing something with an action and you must seethe same thing, not something else. f someone is not clear you lose yourconcentration and quickly become tired. I tell them if it is not clear andthey repeat the action until we all agree.PA: When you re watching the performance, you have huge engagement,almost as though you are performing. Are you experiencing the actionsinternally?PB: I remember every moment. I feel that I can help with my presence.Usually I sit n the worst place, leaving the best space for the audience. Evenin the corner, the performance must touch you. This is the only time thatI cannot stop the action. They are in the midst of battle and they mustpersist.PA: How do songs interact with the action?PB: I asked everybody what was required for a particular action and whatcould be added to make it richer. All the songs we chose were lullabies,because at the beginning I asked them to remember what had touched themin their lives. Two people recalled how their mothers had sung to them.P A: What other texts are used?PB: We never use literary texts in their entirety. Rather we take a stimulus,like a line from a poem, and build action around it. We use two lines fromKafka, but altogether iasto was inspired by about ten to ty.relve differentwriters. I wrote some bits as well.PA : The text is spoken very musically.

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PB: You must speak like you sing or sing like you speak. The person yousing to must not dance as they want to, but as the song demands.Everything must meld together in one moment, which is very hard to do.When I see other groups perform, if they force the voice, they killthemselves and their action. Even if you act very well, and do your actionvery precisely, it's still not enough. Your action must touch everybodywho is acting around you and they must respond. Between them you feelsomething like compressed air. Without this quality there are no dynamicsin the space. Everyone likes this work and finds it engaging. They never gettired of it. We discovered that good work never takes your strength away.

PA: How do you practice with and train the voice?PB: We don t really train the voice. I want them to speak like normalpeople in unusual situations and they must speak without any manipulationor strategy. The only requirement is that I must understand the meaning.PA: Can you tell me about your new pedormance?PB: The text of Mickiewicz's Dziady (Forefathers Eve) Parts Two, Three,and Four is a big challenge. It's as though we are speaking with the writer,questioning our ingenuous, mystical Romanticism.PA: Are you putting him on trial?PB: I don t know. It's a big challenge because this boy is very holy inPoland, almost untouchable. Many people forget that he wrote these poemswhen he was the same age as our actors. They assume he was old when hewrote Dziady We only know that we want to talk to him in the present.We want to say what is happening now and who our enemy is. It 's notRussia any more- now it's our own slavery. The challenge of this holytext is essential t every Polish artist. t touches and provokes all of us.PA: Warsaw City Council is funding this new performance?PB : The money we get from the City Council covers production costs, butit doesn't pay the rent. So we are under pressure to produce a pedormancewithin one year at the most. t makes it difficult to do things with thenecessary quality. Even famous people like Grotowski, Staniewski, andKantor needed three to four years to prepare a performance. How can you22 Slavic nd East European Performance Vol. 19 No.3

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work at this pace with young people when they are just starting? It s a hugechallenge to make something from scratch. In such conditions thedevelopment of young groups in Polish theatre is really difficult today.Artists must be fierce warriors to win something and I have deep respect forpeople who decide to form companies today. But I know that Polishtheatre is not so interesting now. It has less influence and the artists are notfighters any more.PA: Do you have a strong interest in what shape society is going to takeand how social relationships might change?PB: I have seen some very big changes since I came back to Poland inSeptember 993 . I don t know if their effect will be good or bad, but I onlyknow it s dangerous that they happen so quickly. For many people it salready a disaster. You cannot change everything in one year. We importso many things from the West without due caution and as a resultsomething else gradually starts to die.PA: What can your theatre do about this? Do you want to make people seedifferently with your performance?PB : I only want one thing I want the group to know how to work.P A: Do you have any expectations how your work might change youraudience?PB : don t think so, When we talk after the performance, for example, wespeak about what happened during it, how we could do something better.Of course when an audience attends,it is two groups coming together, oneto perform, one to watch. We make an effort and maybe they getsomething from this. It doesn t matter what it is. But if the work isimportant for us, it will be important for them.

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TRUE NORTH? NICHOLAS ROERICH AND THE MOSCOWART THEATRE PRODUCTION OF PEER GYNT 1912-1913

John McCannonShortly before his death in 1919, Leonid Andreev, whose

pessimistic, macabre dramas had haunted the Russian stage at the turn of thecentury, penned an essay in honor of the painter and designer NikolaiRoerich [Rerikh]. This article, entitled The Realm ofRoerich, 1 praised theartist's otherworldly, mystical style, asserting that the worlds containedwithin Roerich's artworks were all reflections of the realm of Truth.Andreev then went on to say that Roerich was the the only poet of theNorth the only singer and interpreter of its mysterious soul, profound andwise, contemplative and gentle.

While it may or may not have bargained on gaining the cosmicinsights that Andreev claimed were present in Roerich's creations, themanagement of the Moscow Art Theatre MK.hT did have certainexpectations regarding Roerich's ability to paint the North when it engagedhim to design the sets and costumes for the theatre's 1912-1913 productionof Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt. Sergei Makovsky, editor of the Russian artjournal Apollon had written of Roerich as a Gauguin of the North ; criticS. S. Glagol anticipated great things from what he considered to be theperfect match between Roerich's talents and Ibsen's dramatic spirit, andfellow artist Mstislav Dobuzhinsky commented that one would seek in vainfor a Russian painter better suited than Roerich to convey the poetry ofIbsen by means of brush and pencil.2 As it transpired, though, fewexpectations had been met completely when the curtain rose on the firstperformance in October 1912. The play itself suited neither theacting-directing methodology nor the aesthetic stance of MK.hT in1912-19 13. As typically happened when MKhT made use of designersassociated with the World of rt Society and Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, adiscernable mismatch marred the relationship between the sets and costumesand the play's performative aspects. Moreover, Roerich's own developmentas an artist was causing him to perceive his approach to art-and his PeerGynt commission-differently than when he had painted the works that hadattracted MKhT to him in the first place. In the end, the only successfulelements of the MK.hT Peer Gynt were the costumes and, especially, the sets.For MK.hT, the staging of Peer Gynt turned out to be something of adisappointment. For Roerich, the commission was part of a key transitionin his long painterly career.24 Slavic and ast European Performance Vol. 19, No. 3

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In 1911-1912, when MKhT brought him on board for its Peer Gyntproduction, Roerich seemed a natural choice for the job. He was chairmanof the World of Art Society; he was the protege of the important, ifeccentric, patroness Maria T enisheva; and he was Director of the School ofthe Society for the Encouragement of the Arts. He was also at the pinnacleof his career as a stage designer.3 Roerich first worked for the theatre in1907, when he was asked to create the set for The Three Magi aneleventh-century mystery play put on by Nikolai Evreinov's and BaronNikolai von Drizen's Ancient (Starinnyi) Theatre. In 1907 and 1908,Roerich completed designs for the Opera Comique's version ofRimsky-Korsakov's Snegurochka as well as several uncommissioned sketchesfor Wagner's Die Walkure. The following season, 1909 proved to be hisbreakthrough. One production-Aleksei Remizov's Tragedy o udas Princeo Iscariot fell through after actress Vera Komissarzhevskaia declined toplay the role of the Princess Unkrada. But this misfortune was more thanoutweighed by the stunning successes Roerich scored later that year, whenhe designed sets and costumes for two of the spectacles Diaghilev organizedin Paris during his first Russian Season of opera and ballet:Rimsky-Korsakov's Maid ofPskov (renamed Ivan the Terrible for Westernaudiences) and, especially, the Polovtsian Dances sequence of Borodin'sPrince Igor on May 19 . The Polovtsian Dances were part of the firstprogram Diaghilev's troupe soon to be known throughout the world as theBallets Russes-offered in Europe, and the tremendous reaction of the Paristheatregoers to that evening's performance was the clearest signal possiblethat the Russian ballet, and the Russian art world as a whole, had burst intothe West with the savage force of a barbarian rout. It was universally agreedthat Roerich's sets had contributed heavily to the overall success of theRussian Season's debut, and it was this work that gained him internationalrepute and, for a time, established him, along with Leon Bakst, as a leadingpainter of the exotic, idealized Orient with which Diaghilev made Europefall in love.The splash made by Prince Igor also brought Roerich morecommissions. In 1910 he began his renowned collaboration with composerIgor Stravinsky, fleshing out the basic scenario of what would become TheRite o Spring. The next year saw Roerich paint the entr'acte curtain, Battleof the Kerzhenets, for the Theatre du Chatelet's Tale o he Invisible City oKitezh by Rimsky-Korsakov, as well as the sets for Lope de Vega's FuenteOvejuna put on by the Ancient Theatre. 1912 saw Roerich committed toseveral theatrical projects. His work on The Rite was nearing completion,and he provided the sets for the Russian Dramatic (Reinecke) Theatre's26 Slavic and East European Performance Vol. 19 No. 3

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staging of Ostrovsky's Snegurochka. Roerich devoted time to designs for theZimin Opera's Tristan und Isolde and A. K. Liadov's folk-inspired suiteKikimora, but those productioqs went unrealized. And, of course, Roerichspent part of 1911 and much of 1912 working with MKhT to get Peer Gyntready for its fall premiere.With regard to MKhT itself, there was nothing unanimous aboutthe decision to hire Roerich, or indeed, to stage Peer Gynt. By the early1910s, several lines of cleavage divided the theatre's major organizers anddirectors. For almost a full decade, MKhT's co-founders, KonstantinStanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, had been feudingopenly over personal issues, b\.lsiness dealings, and fundamental approachesto acting and directing.4 With respect to the latter, one of the many bonesof contention between Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko involvedtheir attitudes toward Ibsen. For his part, Stanislavsky had ambiguousfeelings about Ibsen's work. n the early 1900s MkhT began experimentingwith symbolist productions. Until WWI, it regularly offered plays by theNorwegian author Knut Hamsun, the Belgian master Maurice Maeterlinck,and Russia's own Andreev; it also gave many of Ibsen's works-The WildDuck Ghosts Brand and several others-a similarly symbolist twist. By theend of the new century's first decade, however, Stanislavsky had alreadytraveled as far along what he called the line of symbolism andimpressionism as he cared to go.' Furthermore, Stanislavsky's experienceswith Ibsen productions had been anything but pleasant. His Hedda Gablerfailed in 1899 as did The Wild Duck in 1901 and The Pillars o Society (whichhe referred to as this disgusting play in a letter to Chekhov) in 1903.6Stanislavsky respected Ibsen as a writer, but found it extremely frustratingto put on his work; as he complained, in our productions of Ibsen, thingsand sounds did not live on the stage as they did in our productions ofChekhov. 7 He explained that we could not create a true symbol in theworks of Ibsen because they are alien to the soul of the Slav, 8 and, as soonas he reached the 1908 agreement with Nemirovich-Danchenko that allowedhim to choose his own roles and the one play per year he would direct, heassiduously steered clear of the Norwegian dramatist.By contrast, Ibsen was very much a favorite ofNemirovich-Danchenko, who also remained interested in symbolist, or atleast semi-symbolist, productions longer than Stanislavsky did.9Nemirovich-Danchenko gave direction of Peer Gynt to Konstantin

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Nikolai Roerich, Solveig's Mother. Costume Design for Peer Gynt 1912

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Mardzhanov [Mardzhanishvili], a vivacious, energetic Georgian who hadassisted Gordon Craig with MKhT's experimental production of Hamlet in1911; that same year, he had also helped stage Hamsun s In the Claws oLife 1 Mardzhanov adored Ibsen, and had studied the designs Scandinavianartists had made for his plays, such as Edvard Munch's 1896 sketches for Peerynt at Paris's Theatre de 'Oeuvre and Finnish symbolist AkseliGallen-Kallela's paintings for The Lady from the Sea In Roerich, who hadextensive experience with rendering northern landscapes in a symbolistidiom, Mardzhanov and Nemirovich-Danchenko found a kindred spirit. AsNemirovich-Danchenko declared, "I am planning to stage Peer ynt andhave decided that there can be no better candidate [to create the designs]than Roerich. This is his sphere; to have the graphic part of our play donein his style will help both the director and the actors understand fully all thekeenness of this work." 11 Roerich was also brought to MKhT for moreprosaic reasons. Thanks to the success of Diaghilev's various enterprises,both n Russia and abroad, artists connected with the World of Art Societyand the Ballets Russes were very much in vogue during the late 19 s andearly 1910s; as Dmitrii Filosofov, Diaghilev's cousin, quipped, the "Worldof Art group suddenly went into business as the "World of Theatre."u Putbluntly, market forces dictated that MKhT give commissions to designerslike Benois, Bakst, Roerich, et al ., even though their ornate, decorativiststylizations were always slightly at odds with the theatre's {or at leastStanislavsky's) professed commitment to naturalism and simplicity.13Whatever the case, Roerich, shuttling between Moscow and his home inPetersburg, set to work after November 1911.The task was a mammoth one. The play's action takes place overthe course of many years and ranges all over the globe. MkhT askedRoerich to provide sketches for more than 300 costumes, sets for fourteenscenes, and a drop curtain {three scenes were eventually cut, but theremaining eleven still called for ten separate designs) .14 About his workingconditions, however, Roerich had no complaints. To begin, he received asizable personal fee of 3,800 rubles {2 per design, plus 1,000 for thecostume sketches, drop curtain, and miscellaneous items). MKhT alsoallowed Roerich to hand-pick six assistants-Viktor Zamirailo, K. N.Sapunov, Stepan Yaremich, A. A . Petrov, N . A. Klodt, and PavelNaumov-each of whom received his salary and studio space courtesy of thetheatre. No expense was spared on paints or materials. Beyond that,Roerich simply enjoyed working with MKhT. Part of his enthusiasmstemmed from the fact that he was undergoing a very unpleasant experiencethat same year, designing sets for the Reinecke Theatre's production of

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Snegurochka in St. Petersburg. The Reinecke's scene-painters botched hisoriginal designs; the sets were roundly criticized in the press, and Roerichwrote angry letters to a number of editors to disassociate himself from theplay. From his perspective, any commission could not help but comparefavorably. Moreover, Roerich also appears to have appreciated MKhT'sperformers, staff, and work ethic. As he wrote, At M.KhT you feel at everystep that you are as necessary to the director and actors as they are to you.Here you feel the joy of collaborative work. You feel that here and in thismoment Art lives My impressions were excellent; I was captivated bythe friendly and affectionate nature of this business. We worked togetheras if we had worked together for many years. 15 Whether or not Roerich'scolleagues felt equally fond of him is unknown, but that Roerich was quitehappy during his time at MKhT is clear.

How did Roerich approach the universe of Peer Gynt Over thepast decade, Roerich had grown into an artist who thought in cosmic terms;to a long-standing interest in Russia's pre-Petrine past, archaeology, andstone-age prehistory, he added a deep preoccupation with mysticism and theoccult. This latter was encouraged not only by his wife Helena [Elena), amember of the Russian Theosophical Society, but also by close associationwith St. Petersburg's leading symbolist writers and artists, many of whomwere fascinated with alternative religion and the supernatural.16 From1904-1905 onward, Roerich's easel painting had taken .on an increasinglysymbolist aura, as he strove with ever-greater intensity to make thetranscendent manifest itself on canvas. More and more, Roerich wasallowing this same effort to inspire his work for the theatre. This wasperfectly in keeping with what Nemirovich-Danchenko and Mardzhanovexpected from him, and they would have considered it not only natural, butdesirable, that his designs for Peer ynt explore the play's moral,extra-physical dimensions.

On the other hand, Nemirovich-Danchenko and Mardzhanovwerehoping for something more from Roerich, and that was the historical andgeographic verisimilitude for which he had been famous since his studentdays in the late 1890s. For years, Roerich had carefully cultivated areputation as a historical painter, especially as the most skilled interpreterof Russia's ancient, pre-sixteenth-century era. Although he had long agoabandoned the strictly realist style of earlier historicists like Repin, Surikov,and Vasnetsov, Roerich a gifted amateur in the fields of archaeology andfolklore-took great pains to render his historical subjects with painstakingaccuracy in terms of content. Clothing, architecture, artifacts: all these werepictured with meticulous faithfulness, so far as research could enable30 Slavic andEast European PerformanceVol. 19 No.3

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Nikolai Roerich, Circle Dance. rom the wedding scene, Act I, eer ynt

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Roerich to do so. When it came to painting old Russia-as well as theScandinavian North another region of interest to him-Roerich wasconsidered to be able to achieve a degree of authenticity that was almostacademically ethnographic. In this respect, his 1909 designs for Prince Igorwere seen as his greatest triumph to date.17Mardzhanov and Nemirovich-Danchenko wanted more of this forPeer Gynt. What they did not realize, however, was that Roerich's painterlypriorities had been changing between 1909 and 1912. Although he couldhardly be said to have abandoned his interest in folklore andarchaeology-an interest that would stay with him his entire life-Roerichwas becoming less concerned with replicating the literal reality of the timesand places he painted. No longer was Roerich's primary goal therepresentative portrayal of a particular region. at a particular moment intime. Instead, place and era were meant to serve metaphorically asreflections of the spiritual landscape he was now almost obsessed withcapturing on canvas. This transition was already evident in Roerich'sdesigns for The Rite of Spring, on which he worked from 1910 to 1912.Although much about the prehistoric Russia that Roerich depicted in hissets and costumes for The Rite was authentic, much of it was not, mostnotably the human sacrifice which provides the ballet with its central plotdevice (and for whose presence in ancient Slavic ritual no evidence exists) .18Roerich took such poetic license for the sake of both artistic and mysticalconv1ct10ns. He did the same while working on Peer Gynt, and thissurprised his MKhT colleagues somewhat. Although the play's actionunfolds in a variety of locales, the crucial scenes take place in Norway,specifically in the Gudbrandsdal, the valley of valleys surrounded by thewest-central mountain ranges of the Dovrefjell (home to the MountainKing , Rondane, and Jotunheim. Ibsen cherished this region, and Peer Gyntwas based at least partly on research done here on local legends-theEventyr by Peter Christen Asbj0rnsen. Mardzhanov hoped dearly to makethe Gudbrandsdal come alive on the MKhT stage, and he looked to Roerichto create a northern landscape that did for his Norway what the artist haddone for Prince Igor s Russia. Roerich's intentions, however, were geareddifferently, and he chose to focus less on geographic and folkloricrepresentation, and more on what he considered to be the play'sphilosophical and aesthetic essence. 19 Nowhere did this difference inapproach become more apparent than in late 1911, when Mardzhanovproposed that, in the interest of exactitude, the entire cast and crew of PeerGynt travel to central Norway, in order to experience first-hand thelandscape that Ibsen had written about in the play. To everyone's32 Slavic and ast uropean Performance Vol. 19, No. 3

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astonishment, Roerich-with his reputation as a stickler for detail andprecision-refused to go. Stating outright that he wanted to eschew anysuch exercises in ethnography, Roerich later wrote: I explained to themthat I wished first to create the settings and scenes. Perhaps afterward, Iwould go to Norway, because it was my intention to create my settings onthe inner basis, taking the inner sources of the creative work of the author,rather than composing with local 'realities. ' Everyone but Roerich traveledto Norway during the summer, then returned to work on the play. At thatpoint, Roerich tells his readers, his decision was vindicated: In the autumn,when we discussed my sketches for the drama, my own viewpoint wasjustified, because they, coming from Norway, admitted that my Norwaywas the real one. For a number of reasons, Roerich was determined topaint landscapes of the imagination, rather than of a physical reality that hehad come to decide was lifeless and mundane.

For all that, Roerich's sets and costumes were not nearly as openlysymbolist as his easel work of those years, and most of his designs werereasonably evocative of Scandinavia, North Africa, the high seas orwhichever locale the play's action demanded. The costumes weresufficiently picturesque, but, tellingly, many of them appeared to be inspiredmore by Russian folk designs than by anything particularly Norwegian.More striking were the sets, typically Roerich's stronger suit. The designswere rendered in a rich, slightly decorativist style that was, in a way, apartial reversion to the Art Nouveau historicism he had learned as a youngerartist .

For the beginning of Act IV, Roerich laid out a Moroccan desertscene and an Egyptian tableau; for the opening of the final act, he created aship's cabin, for Peer's North Atlantic voyage. The rest of the scenes wereNorwegian. The curtain, Battle with the Dragon, depicted a scenetotally unconnected with the play's action; the black sigils that decorated thecurtain's orange-brown background were intended to mimic the old Norsestyle, but, as did the costumes, looked more Russian than Scandinavian. Toopen Act I, Roerich painted The Mill in the Mountains which, with itsforested slopes and mountain stream, conveys a sense of rustic tranquility;this is the home Peer will forsake as his troubled adventures begin. TheHaegstad farmstead, from which Peer will abduct Ingrid, the bride-to-be, hasto accommodate an extensive song-and-dance sequence, and is thus folksyand festive. Roerich designed no fewer than three mountain-scapes for ActII; the second and third were especially noteworthy. The ondane Cliffsthrough which Peer travels as he loses himself deeper and deeper in thehighlands, are rendered in an eerie combination of rosy pink and sickly

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green. 7he Hall o he Mountain King houses a scene that is both threateningand comic, and, although Roerich plays more to the former than the latter,he balances the two by creating a subterranean kingdom that is bothoverwhelming and fantastic. Like The Mill in the Mountains in Act I,Roerich's designs for the third act the house in which Peer's mother Asedies and, even more so, the winter and summer versions of Solveig s Hut-aregentle, almost lyrical, interpretations of the stereotypical Norwegiancountryside.

Solveig's hut, where the loyal maiden matures into an old womanafter a lifetime of waiting for the capricious, globetrotting Peer, is,depending on the season, blanketed with snow or nestled in a grove of redpines, kissed by the rays of the setting sun. Either way, her home is suffusedwith a loneliness that is profoundly sad, but beautiful in its purity. Themiddle part of Act V takes place at the crossroads: the physical and symbolicno-place where Peer confronts the Button-Moulder and his spiritualambiguity. The play's conclusion takes the characters back to the hut in thepinewoods, where Peer is redeemed by Solveig's love.MK.hT's production ofPeer Gynt opened on October 9, 1912; it ranuntil early 1913, overlapping partially with Andreev's Katerina Ivanovnawhich began on December 17 and also continued into the new year.21Leonid Leonidov played the title role, while L M. Koroneva took the partof Solveig; the Armenian-born Georgii Burdzhalov was the Troll King, S.V. Khaliutina filled the role of Ase, L. I Dmitrievskaia played Ingrid, andAlisa Koonen, who had risen to fame as an original cast member ofMaeterlinck's 7he Blue Bird, made a fetching Anitra. The incidental musicconsisted of the traditional score by Grieg. The play itselfwas anything butan unqualified success, although to call it a flop would be going too far.Critical reaction to the MK.hT Peer Gynt was almost unanimously hostile,but the play did manage to attract a public, and it went through arespectable, if not spectacular, forty-two performances. In the spring of1913, the production moved on to St . Petersburg, where it ran at theMikhailovsky Theatre.

As it happened, Roerich's work turned out to be the saving grace,along with Grieg's music, which never failed to charm. Critics panned theperformances (especially Leonidov's Peer), complained about the play'sstylistic inconsistency, harped on the crew's technical ineptitude, andderided the bit players (such as the trolls as circus clowns. Audiences werenoticeably uncomfortable with the play's great length (approximately fourhours) and bewildered by the rapid, frequent, and poorly-executed scenechanges. But everyone was in agreement that Roerich's sets were a delight,34 Slavic and East European Performance Vol. 19, No.3

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and it is more than safe to conclude that their visual appeal deserves thelion's share of credit for enabling such a poorly-received play to stay onstage as long as it did. Critic Nikolai Efros declared that the production'sbest feature was that it provided a holiday for [Roerich's] brush. PoetSergei Gorodetskii, who shared with Roerich a deep interest in Russia'spagan past, waxed rhapsodic about the landscapes the artist had created forPeer Gynt especially Solveig s Hut which made him weep with bothmelancholy and delight. 23 Even Stanislavsky, who had been perfectlyhappy not to have anything to do with the entire affair, cabled hiscongratulations to Roerich. 4

In retrospect, it is clear that Roerich's designs were decidedly outof synch with the rest of the work that M.KhT did on Peer Gynt. Certainlythe painter's approach to symbolism-his insistence that a symbolist workcould be decoded by a means of perception and analysis that was universalistin nature-was at odds with Stanislavsky's (and, for a time, Mardzhanov's)argument that to comprehend any symbolist work required a solidgrounding in the specific culture from which the work emerged. Moregenerally, in hiring Roerich, M.KhT ran the same risks that it always ranwhen it extended commissions to World of Art painters: namely, as culturalhistorian Rene Fiilop-Miller puts it, that all these scenic artists were of fartoo pronounced an individuality ever to fit in with the complete picture, theharmonious whole, which was [the Theatre's] invariable aim; while neverfailing to display their talents to advantage, they were unable to blend themwith those of the actors and the supreme master of the theatrical production. the Art Theatre was no place for men like these, impatient as they wereof any higher authority. 25

Referring specifically to Peer Gynt Fulop-Miller states that it wasplain at once that [Roerich's] scenic surroundings interfered with thecustomary business of the actors ; this dovetails with a remark by the criticPetr lartsev, who wrote in 1912 that Roerich's decorations play unwillinglyin the production and more for themselves. 6 Elena Poliakova of o s c o w ~ sScientific-Research Institute of the Arts concurs that Roerich's theatricalwork did not adapt itself to the actors or the director, although she arguesthat, in absorbing into themselves the actors and the director himself, theartist's designs made the play worthy of them, leading it away fromordinary genre theatre and toward triumph and grandeur. 27 Poliakova isperhaps overly generous to Roerich here, but it does seem indisputable that,in this one case the traditional mismatch between M.KhT and the Diaghilevschool proved fortunate, and that Roerich's designs did in fact salvage whatwould have otherwise been, at best, a mediocre production.

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Understandably, PeerGynt did not go down in MKhT s annals asone of its more impressive, or fondly-remembered, efforts. No more majorIbsen productions made their way onto MKhT s stage, and the theatre spropensity for symbolist experimentation, already fading by 1912 dwindledduring the rest of the decade. Mardzhanov, who had been champing at thebit for some time, went his own way in 1913; that same year, he founded theFree (Svobodnyi) Theatre in Moscow, only to see it go bankrupt by 1914.By 1917 he found himself in Kiev, working with actress Vera Iureneva anddesigner Isaak Rabinovich on productions of Salome and Fuente Ovejuna;after the final takeover of Ukraine by the Red Army, he drifted southwardto his native Georgia.

As for Roerich, to call his work for Peer Gynt a landmark would beto exaggerate. His designs were pleasing, and his initial studies for Solveig sHut The Rondane Cliffs, and The Mill in the Mountains are consideredimportant works in his pre-Revolutionary period.28 But Roerich had longbeen established as an artist and stage designer by 1912, and the scenes andcostumes he completed for Peer Gynt are overshadowed by those he did forPrince Igor three years beforehand and The Rite of Spring, whichpremiered-with such notorious consequences-the following May. Still,the commission was not without significance for Roerich. Not only wasthis the single opportunity he had to work with what remains one of theworld s most famous theatre companies, it was the one time his stage workreached a Moscow audience; although Roerich was hired as a designer byseveral Moscow theatres, Peer Gynt was the only play he worked on therethat was actually realized. Working for MKhT was an extremely enjoyableexperience for Roerich, who did not always have good workingrelationships with his theatrical colleagues. He corresponded withBurdzhalov for quite some time, and his friendship with Mardzhanovcontinued. n fact, the Georgian invited him to design the sets for his FreeTheatre s upcoming productions of Maeterlinck s Princess Maleine andRimsky-Korsakov s Koshchei the Deathless in 1913 and 1914 although thetheatre s financial collapse ended those plans.

Peer Gynt was also one of the last plays on which Roerich workedbefore key changes n his artistic style took place, and it was the next-to-lasttheatrical production he completed in his native country. Roerich and hisfamily fled from Russia to Finland in the winter of 1917-1918 after theCommunist takeover; after spending time in Scandinavia and Great Britain,they arrived in New York City, in the fall of 1920. Roerich continued topaint, although commissions for the stage fell off not long after he arrivedin the U.S. He and his wife also established an occult tradition called Agni36 Slavic and ast uropean Performance Vol. 19 No . 3

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Yoga, an offshoot of Theosophy that became popular in the States duringthe 1920s and 1930s.29 As Roerich's interest in mysticism deepened, so didhis desire to paint spiritual landscapes. However, instead of using Russiaor the North as the prism through which to glimpse the transcendantrealm he sought, he turned instead to Asia, most notably India, CentralAsia, and the Himalayas. Traveling twice to those regions-from 1923 to1929,and again in 1934-1935-Roerich painted innumerable mountain-scapes,scenes from various Asian legends, and divine figures from the manypantheons found in this religion-rich part of the world. His great personalquest was now to discover the real-life location of the mythic land ofShambhala, which he had come to believe was the source of all the culturaland religious traditions of Eurasia. After the mid-1930s, Roerich and hisfamily took up permanent residence in northern India, where they had livedoff and on since 1928. He died in 1947, and in the course of three and a halfdecades, he had traveled a long way away from the Gudbrandsdal, themountain fastness of the Troll King, and Solveig's hut-perhaps, all thingsconsidered, even farther than Peer Gynt himself.Readers interested in learning more about Roerich and his art may wish to visitthe Nicholas Roerich Museum in New York City. Located at 319 West 107thStreet at Riverside Drive, the museum is open from 2:00 to 5:00, Tuesdaythrough Sunday. The museum staff can be reached at {2 2} 864-7752. Themuseum also maintains a large website-complete with biographical informationand an on-line collection ofdozens ofRoerich s paintings at www.roerich.org.

NOTES1. L Andreev, Tsartsvo Rerikha, the last item the playwright ever wrote,appeared in Helsingfors, n March 1919, n the emigre newspaper Russkaia zhizn ;it was published simultaneously as Rorichin Valtakunta in the Finnish periodicalOtava. An English-language version was translated as The Realm of Roerich inThe New Republic 21 December 1921): 97-99.2. Sergei Makovsk.ii, N.K. Rerikh, Zolotoe runo 4 1907): 3-7; S. S. Glagol', ' PerGiunt'na stsene Khudozhestvennogo teatra, Maski 1 1912): 57; M. V.Dobuzhinsk.ii, Vospominaniia (Moscow: Nauka, 1987), 236. Compare these remarkswith that of New York World journalist Frederick Eddy, who wrote that Roerichbrings to modern perception for the first time the weird spirit of the northland[cited n Nina Selivanova, The World ofRoerich (New York: Corona Mundi, 1923),96-104].

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3. Although much of it is not up to scholarly standards, the literature on Roerichis sizable, both in English and, especially, Russian. A reputable, i non-academic,biography in English is Jacqueline Deeter, Messenger of Beauty: The Life andVuionary Art ofNicholas Roerich (Rochester, Vt.: Park Street Press, 1997). KeyRussian-language biographies include V. P. Kniazeva, Nikolai KonstantinovichRerikh (Moscow and Leningrad, 1963); L. V. Korotkina, N K. Rerikh St.Petersburg: Khudozhnik Rossii, 1996); and Elena Poliakova, Nikolai Rerikh(Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1985). Roerich is featured in numerous general studies ofRussian art; among the specialized works dealing with his theatrical designs areKenneth Archer, The Theatrical Designs of Nicholas Roerich: Problems ofIdentification (M.A. thesis, Antioch University, 1985); Elena P. Iakovleva,Teatral no.Jekoratsionnoe iskusstvo N K Rerikha Samara: Agni, 1996); F. Y. Sirkinaand E. M. Kostina, Russian Theatrical Design (Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1978); ParmeniaM. Ekstrom, Nicholas Roerich: Decors and Costumes for Diaghil.ev s Ballets Russes andRussian Operas (New York: Cordelier and Ekstrom, 1974); and Igor Stravinsky andNicholas Roerich, Le sacre du printemps-The Rite ofSpring: Pictures ofPagan Russia(New York: E. F. Kalmas, 1930).4 See Constantin Stanislavsky, My Life in Art (New York: Theatre Arts Books,1948); and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, My Life in the Russian Theatre (NewYork: Theatre Arts Books, 1968); as well as Jean Benedetti, Stanislavsky: nIntroduction (New York: Theatre Arts Books, 1982); idem, ed., The Moscow rtTheatre Letters (New York: Routledge, 1991); Rene Fillop-Miller and Joseph Gregor,The Russian Theatre {New York: Benjamin Blom, 1968); David Magarshack,Stanislavsky: A Life (London: Macgibbon and Kee, 1950); Konstantin Rudnitsky,Russian andSoviet Theatre, 1905-1932 (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1988); OliverM. Sayler, The Russian Theatre (New York: Brentano's, 1920); idem, Inside theMoscow rt Theatre (New York: Brentano's, 1925); and Marc Slonim, RussianTheatre (Cleveland: World, 1961).

5. Stanislavsky, My Life in Art 344-51; and Slonim, Russian Theatre, 147-58.6. Magarshack, Stanislavsky 188, 230, 244-45.7. Stanislavsky, My Life in Art 344-46.8. Ibid.9. As Sayler, Inside the Moscow rt Theatre, 194-95, states, the artist and theregisseur in Nem.irovitch-Dantchenko most emphatically expressed themselveswhen he staged Ibsen; also see Magarshack, Stanislavsky, 160.

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10. OnMardzhanov, who Stanislavsky snidely said pretended to be an innovatorin the theatre, see Fiilop-Miller and Gregor, The Russian Theatre, 54-55, 58;Poliakova, Nikolai Rerikh, 160-63; Rudnitsky, Russian and Soviet Theatre, 30, 43-49,133; and Stanislavsky, My Life in Art, 510.11. This remark is preserved by Nemirovich-Danchenko's niece, E. M. Bebutova(who was also one ofRoerich's art students), in Vospominaniia, in the RussianState Archive of Literature andArt (RGALI), f. 2714, op. 1, ed. kh. 25 . Note thatRoerich claims that he himself was invited by MK.hT to decide which play wouldactually be performed: i this account is true, he was offered a choice betweenMaeterlinck's Princess Maleine and Peer Gynt. Roerich was greatly enamored ofMaeterlinck, but, at this juncture, settled on Ibsen. As he explained: To choosewhich should e first was for me a difficult task, because I so sincerely appreciatedthe picturesque surface and deep inner side of Maeterlinck. But the pan-humanvoices of Ibsen's creations were also very close to me, so I finally decided uponhim. See Archer, Theatrical Designs, 22; and N. K. Roerich, Adamant {NewYork: CoronaMundi, 1924), 48 -49.12. Iakovleva, Teatral'no, 62 .13 . Fiilop-Miller and Gregor, The Russian Theatre, 52.14. Mardzhanov and Roerich settled on terms in a series of letters sent to each otherin October and November 1911. The correspondence is housed in fond 44 of theTretyakov Gallery's Manuscript Department (Otdel rukopisez). Also see Iakovleva,Teatral'no, 62-63, 263.15. Rerikh o 'Per Giunte', Maski 1 {1912): 43-44; also cited in Poliakova, NikolaiRerikh, 160-61; and Iakovleva, Teatral'no, 61.16. On the prevalence of occult beliefs in fin-de-siecle Russia, see Maria Carlson,No Religion Higher Than Truth : A History o he Tbeosophic Movement in Russia,1875 1922 {Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993); Bernice Glatzer Rosenthal,ed., The Occult in Russian and Soviet Culture {Ithaca: Cornell University Press,1997); Peter Washington, Madame Blavatsky s Baboon: A History o the Mystics,Mediums, and Misfits Who Brought Spiritualism to America {NewYork: Schocken,1995); James Webb, The Occult Establishment (La Salle, i l l: Open Court, 1976);idem, The Occult Underground (La Salle, Dl. :Open Court , 1974).17. As it happened, Roerich's costume designs for Prince Igor were, through nofault of his own, less than 100 authentic. Since almost no archaeologicalinformation about the Polovtsy was available in 1908-1909, Roerich was forced toimprovise. His costume sketches were based on studies of the folk dress of peoples

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like the Iakut and Kirghiz. See Lynn Garafola, Diaghilev s Ballets Russes (New York:Oxford University Press, 1989), 13.18. On this point, see Garafola, Diaghilev s Ballets Russes, 71-73; Millicent Hodson,Nijinsky's Choreographic Method: Visual Sources from Roerichfor Le Sacre duPrintemps. Dance Research Journal 18, no. 2 (Winter 1986-1987): 7-15; SimonKarlinsky, Stravinsky and Russian Preliterate Theatre, NineteenthCentury Music6, no. 3 (Spring 1983): 234-35; and Peter Conrad, Modern Times, Modern Places (NewYork: Knopf, 1999), 381-88.19. Roerich would have been drawn to Peer Gynt not only as an opportunity topaint northern landscapes, but also because of his interest in the play's centraltheme: the pursuit of excellence and individuality in a world of mediocrity andsameness. He would also have been attracted to the play's portrayal of Solveig asthe eternal feminine (das ewig weibliche). Like many turn-of-the-century Russianintellectuals, influenced by the philosopher Vladimir Solov'ev's treatment of thismotif, Roerich regarded the eternal feminine as extremely important; time andagain, he painted many female figures in various guises of what he called the queenof heaven.20. Roerich, Adamant, 49 ; idem, Vstrechi, Iz literaturnogo naslediia (Moscow,1974), 193; as well as Korotkina, N K Rerikh, 53-54; and Iakovleva, Teatral no, 63.21. For details on the performance and reception of MKhT's Peer Gynt, seePoliakova, Nikolai Rerikh, 159-63; Nils Ake Nilsson, Ibsen in Russ/and (Stockholm:Almqvist and Wiksell, 1958), 128-31; Iakovleva, Teatral no, 64-67, 263 ; Stanislavsky,My Life in Art, 577-78; Moskovskie vedomosti (October 11, 1912); and EzhegodnikMoskovskogo khudozhestvennogo teatra (Moscow, 1946), I: 476.22. Poliakova, NikolaiRerikh, 161 ; reviews by S. S. Mamontov and S. Iablonskii inRusskoe slovo, as well as an anonymous critic for Rossiia, were in agreement. SeeIakovleva, Teatral'no, 64-67. 23. Poliakova, Nikolai Rerikh., 162 .24. Ibid.25. Fiilop-Miller and Gregor, The Russian Theatre, 52.26. Fiilop-Miller and Gregor, The Russian Theatre, 52; and Poliakova, NikolaiRerikh, 162.27. Poliakova, NikolaiRerikh, 162.40 Slavic and East European Performance Vol. 19, No.3

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28 . Many of Roerich's designs for Peer Gynt were shown at the World of rtExhibition of 1913; several were profiled in the journal Apollon in 1915. Many ofthe designs found their way into the personal collections of people like Benois,Andreev, andG. P. Annenkov; a good number of them now hang in the T retyakovGallery and the Russian Museum.29. Roerich's American activities were extensive. Agni Yoga attracted a numberof wealthy and well-connected followers (among them FDR's AgriculturalSecretary, and later Vice-President, Henry Wallace); with their help, he was able toestablish a museum and cultural institute in Manhattan, as well as persuade theRoosevelt Administration to sponsor an international treaty for the protection ofart trearures during wartime. Roerich was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in1935, and his second Asian expedition was bankrolled by the U.S. Government. tthe same time, however, fin nci l difficulties and accusations of tax fraud led to thecollapse ofhis American enterprises and forced him and his family to give up U.S.residence. On these controversies, see Robert C. Williams, Russian rt andAmerican Money 1900 1940 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1980), 111-46;and Charles J. Errico and J. Samuel Walker, The New Deal and the Guru,American Herit4ge 40, no. 2 (March 1989 : 92-99 .

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AMELIA HERTZ AND YSOL E OF THE WHITE H NDSJadwiga Kosicka

Amelia Hertz 1879-1942) was a brilliant Polish cultural historian andscholar. She wrote pioneering articles on ancient and Byzantine history aswell as several historical dramas. From a progressive Jewish family(associated with Janusz Korczak and his Orphanage), she was arrested by theGestapo in 1941 and died in the notorious Nazi prison in Warsaw in 1942.

Her first play, Ysolde of the White Hands (1905), offers an unusualp e r ~ p e t i v e on the well-known Celtic legend. Hertz has chosen the secondYsolde as the perverse and hallucinatory heroine of her drama. In many ofthe versions of the legend, there are two Ysoldes: Ysolde the Fair, daughterof the King of Ireland, andYsolde of the White Hands, daughter of the Kingof Brittany. When Tristan went to Ireland to be cured of his battle wounds,Ysolde the Fair took care of him, and they fell in love. But Ysolde the Fairbecame the wife of Mark, King of Cornwall, Tristan s uncle, to whomTristan brought the bride.The lovers eloped, but eventually Y solde the Fair was restored to herhusband. Tristan married Ysolde of the White Hands for her name s sake;but, though he married her, his love for Ysolde the Fair grew stronger andstronger. In the course of time Tristan, being severely wounded, sent forYsolde the Fair, who alone could cure him, and if the lady had consented tocome, the ship was to hoist a white flag. The ship came in sight, andTristan s wife, Ysolde of the White Hands, out of jealousy, told him it borea black flag at the mast-head. On hearing this, Tristan fell back on his bedand died. When Ysolde the Fair landed and heard that Tristan was dead, sheflung herself on the body and died also. The two were buried in one graveon which a rose and a vine were planted that grew up and intermingled theirbranches.Hertz s drama takes place after the supposed death of Tristan, butsuggests the possibility that Tristan and Ysolde the Fair are still alive in thedungeons of the castle where Ysolde of the White Hands holds them hostageto her vengeance. The Bishop, who has come to persuade Y sol de of theWhite Hands to remarry, becomes lost in the play of her imagination wherethe boundaries between reality and fiction grow blurred. At the end it isimpossible to tell where truth ends and madness begins. Is Ysolde of theWhite Hands simply reliving the most intense moments of her past, and arethe tortures only a reenactment of her painful memories of rejection andjealousy?42 Slavic and ast uropean Performance Vol. 19, No 3

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BISHOP.

YSOLDE OF THE WHITE HANDSby

AMELIA HERTZTranslated by Jadwiga Kosicka

Copyright o 1999

CHARACTERS

YSOLDE OF THE WHITE HANDS-daughter of Duke Jovelin andDuchess of Karsie of Arundel.MESSIRE KAEDIN brother of Ysolde of the White Hands.CURNEVAL tutor and friend of Tristan since the latter s infancy.

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Ihe stage shows a great hall on the lower level in the castle at Arundel. Its wallsand the doors are draped in black cloth. t the main entrance there stands a suitofarmor belonging to Tristan ofLyoness; the helmet has a skull drawn upon itand aheavy battle-axe s fastened to the right glove. Ihe BISHOP is seated in anarmchair in front ofone of he windows which is wide open. KAEDIN pacesnervously.BISHOP. I do not know the Duchess.MESSIRE KAEDIN. Stopping in place) Really? But you baptized her.BISHOP. Angrily) An answer worthy of you. Close the window. Brrit's cold in this accursed castle.MESSIRE KAEDIN. Closing the window) What makes you suddenly soangry?BISHOP. By Saint George This castle reeks of death. Those blackdraperies, that armor at the entrance, and this silence You would swearsomeone is breathing his last in the room next door. I cannot stomach death.

MESSIRE KAEDIN laughs.BISHOP. You're laughing? Reach my age and you will laugh at death nomore. Oh yes, it's easy to die in battle amidst the clang of arms, whilethinking only how to inflict death on others. Have you ever seen a corpse44 Slavic and East European Performance Vol. 19 No.3

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beneath a shroud, a rigid cadaver, the folds of the cloth molding its faceanew into a white expressionless mask? I warrant it has never once occurredto you that the moment can approach when you yourself will resemble thatshrouded corpse.Noticing that K.AEDJN has stoppedat the window and isLooking intently at thecourtyard below; louder.) Tell me, what did you drag me here for?MESSIRE KAEDIN . Turning around} You ve come here of your own freewill.

BISHOP. Free will, free will indeed I had one groom with me, armedwith a stick, to your five knights n full armor, and you c ll that free will.MESSIRE KAEDIN shrugs his shoulders.BISHOP. With mountinganger) What are your squabbles and brawls tome? You seek the aid of Roger of Parmenie in your plundering and rape,and I am supposed to persuade your sister to remarry. That is not a task fitfor a dignitary of the Church. Widowhood is a blessed and sacred state, asit is written, as it is written . very rapidly) by St. Paul in the Epistle to theCorinthians.MESSIRE KAEDIN. I d wager my neck that St. Paul never wrote anythingof the sort.BISHOP. Well, maybe not, but what does it matter to you? Looks aroundcarefully) A skull on the helmet. What s the need of putting human boneson display . . . But will she listen to me? She wouldn t listen to her ownfather.MESSIRE KAEDIN. Have you ever met anyone who would listen to theold duke? I surely havent. Soon I ll be locking him up in some dark closetso he won t shame us.BISHOP. What are you talking about?MESSIRE KAEDIN. He drinks too much and carries on egregiously withserving girls. At his age. And he meddles in my affairs.

BISHOP. You are a bad son, Messire, that I know.45

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MESSIRE KAEDIN. {Angrily) I am Through clenched teeth) You're a fineone to talk about .bad sonsBISHOP. Hastily) I am ready to speak with the Duchess; I'll try ,to bendher to your will.MESSIRE KAEDIN. If she were willing to speak to me, I wouldn t needyour help, but she refuses. Remember, I was the matchmaker for Tristan.BISHOP. Ironically) You weren't very lucky at it.MESSIRE K.AEDIN. The cur, the liar, the insolent rogue He swore on hishonor as a knight that he no longer loved the other Ysolde. I wish I couldremember his words, he spoke beautifully. But then later on Everygroom, every page, every peasant knew he was betraying my sister for thatIrish slut who was ready toBISHQP. Stop it I m an old man, but I'll enter the lists against you todefend her honor.MESSIRE KAEDIN. I won t fight with you.BISHOP. Why didn't you challenge Tristan? By St. George Evenwiththose five knights at your side, you wouldn't dare spew that slander of yoursif Tristan were still alive.CURNEVAL. {Bowing deeply as he enters} The Duchess will be here in amoment.BISHOP. Where was she?CURNEVAL. At the graves. She was praying.BISHOP. So she's forgiven everything then? I must admit it's difficult forme to believe it; to forget, yes, that's possible, but to remember and forgive,that's beyond human strength.CURNEVAL. The Duchess s a saint. I used to hate her, as the wife of mylord, because he didn't love h r ~ but now I would kiss the prints that her feetleave in the sand.46 Slavic and East European erformance Vol. 19, No. 3

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MESSIRE KAEDIN. And I would flay you alive for bringing your mistressto ever new tears and sorrows.CURNEVAL. t is not my fault that the Duchess refuses to remarry.MESSIRE KAEDIN. Not your fault Then whose is it, you deceitfulpanderer?CURNEVAL. For all the respect I haveYSOLDE. Entering) What 's this quarrel about? In my castle as though itwere a roadside inn? Oh it s you, my brother {Starts to withdraw.)MESSIRE .KAEDIN. Swiftly comes up to her and grabs her by the hand) Ihaven't seen you for six months. Looks her over. With a smile.) You're pale.You look as though you were hiding some great secret behind those tightlyclosed lips of yours. Leans forward and tries to kiss her.)YSOLDE. Pulling away abrupdy and trying to free her hand.) Leave me alone,please. To CURNEVAL) Curneval, why didn't you tell me that MessireKaedin had come?CURNEVAL. He forbade me to mention his name to anyone.MESSIRE KAEDIN. I had to have recourse to cunning in order to see you.I've missed you so much.YSOLDE. What do you want from me?MESSIRE MEDIN. I came here accompanied by the bishop of Tamis.He'll tell you everything.YSOLDE. Bowing to the Bishop) Forgive me for not greeting you sooner.It's my brother's fault that I didn't see you right away.BISHOP. God be with you, my daughter.YSOLDE. Noticing that MESSIRE KAEDIN and CURNEVAL have notleft) Escort Messire to the dining hall, Curneval, and have my womenservants wait upon him. (MESSIRE KAEDIN opens his mouth to answer his

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sister, thinks bettero t, waves his hand in resignation and leaves; CURNEVALfollows him.}YSOLDE. Sighing deeply) At last. To the BISHOP; politely) What do youwish of me, I m completely at your service.BISHOP. Rapidly) I have come on the orders of your father.YSOLDE. Coldly) I see.BISHOP. You can undoubtedly guess what I want of you.YSOLDE. Is silent}.BISHOP. Your father wants you to marry Roger ~ Parmenie.YSOLDE. Coldly) I see.BISHOP. I do not approve of widows remarrying; widowhoo