Our Non-Judgemental, Resignative and Mild Portrayer of the Deepity of the Russian Soul – A Comfortable but Distorted View on Anton Chekhov

  • The Hypothesis
  • Method Beyond Comment-is-Proof
    • Interpreting Literature by Working with Conditional Probabilities
    • Hoarding Circumstantial Evidence and Necessary Precautions to Take if Doing so
    • Weighing Evidence: Action Counts More Than Words
    • Introducing Variables for Weighing Evidence: Cost, Benefit, Risk, Time Investment, Calories
    • Multiple Essential-Pattern Application
    • Search for Coherence – A Path Paved with Traps
  • “I`m boiling with rage” – The Furious Judgemental Stoicist
    • The Pre-Gulag – Chekhov`s Data Collection on the Island Sakhalin
      • The Solitude and Width of the Landscape Causes the Gulag – A Practical Interpretation of the “Russian Soul”
      •  Deepest Misery and Telenovela Theatre – A Conspicuous Contradiction
    • The “Wise Guy” and The Self Help Book – Anton Chekhov and Marc Aurel
      • You don`t go to Weight Watchers if You are Thin – An Eye Correction on Stoicism
  • Chekhov and the “Intellectuals”
    • How “He portrays the Life of the Russian People in the Province” Misses the Point that he portrays an absolute minority elite.
    • The Real Normal People: A Comparison to Thornton Wilder`s “Our Little Town”
    • Dugashwili Rising – A Timeline Related to the First Performance of “Three Sisters” in the Year 1901
    • Not his Tribe: Grandson of Serfs, Poverty, an Abusive Father, Living in A Corner and a Self-Made Physician
    • Chekhov and Human Progress
      • Individuals, not Collective
      • Science, not “Intellectuals”
      • A Darwinian Chekhov
      • Strange Nebulae: The Known Universe and the Physical Worldview of 1900
      • 1900 as the “Best Time Ever” of its Time
  • Huddles of Semi-Deep People
    • The Probability of Having 7 Deep People in a Room
    • Party Talk
    • “Are any Women here today?” – A Biological View on Public Philosophizing
    • The Lack of Self-Distance of the “Intellectual” “Left” in Interpreting the 1900 Russian Playwrights: A Digression to Peter Stein`s “Sommergäste”
  •  Chekhov and Stanislavski: Their Conflicts on Acting as An Essential Pattern
  • Stanislavski`s Error: Unrealistically Deep People
    • Secret Agent Olga Knipper
    • Chekhov`s “He Kisses Her Because He has Nothing Better to do.” and Stanislavski Rhett-Scarlett Interpretation
    • “Those who dance are considered insane…” A View Beyond empathic identification
    • Towards a Brechtian View on Chekhov
  • Chekhov`s “Three Sisters” as Multiple Protagonist Story
    • Variations of One Story: Linda Aaronson`s model in her “21st Century Guide to Screenplay”
    • The 1900 Emancipatory Play and the Crisis of Men: A Digression to Henrik Ibsen and a Claim for Reconsideration
    • A Quest for What?
    • A Quest Without an Antagonist?
  • The Most Probable of all States as Antagonist in Anton Chekhov`s “Three Sisters”
    • “Only Entropy Comes Easy”- A Chekhov Quote Quoted Only By Non-Theatre People
      • Clausius, Boltzmann, Chekhov (, Shannon) – A Timeline
      • The Entropy of “Entropy” – Obviously not Only a Two Cultures Problem
      • “Love- the Greatest Blunder in the History of Mankind” – Rough Concept vs specific Quantity and the Unavoidability of Folk Interpretations
      • A Folk Conceptualization of Entropy Beyond “Degree of Disorder”
    • Upstream Swimming, Tragedy and Glory
    • Most People Don`t Move to Moscow Most of Their Time – A Look into Mobility Statistics
  • How To Make Things Visible
    • From Semi-Informative to Informative Image: The General Fight of the Director and the Probability to Win this Fight
    • We Love Our Friends, but Sometimes they are Idiots: Towards a Normal View on Stage Characters
    • Decision Making by Non-Decision Making Made Visible: How to Recogonizably Shape “the Moment When It Doesn`t Happen”
    • Practical Symbolism
      • A Breaking Tellurium
      • To Do Lists and a Wind Machine
      • Irina`s Telegraph Office Anecdote
      • Walls of Moving Boxes
      • Viva la Vida
    • The Second Act – How to Read with these Lenses

Meyerhold`s Seat or the Eye of the Beholder

Wsewolod Meyerhold, a student and later (as it often goes) artistic opponent of K.S. Stanislavsky, one of the theatre geniuses of the 20th century, a convinced fighter for the communist idea who was finally shot in the neck by Stalin`s people in the year 1940, was a big explorer not only of the rules of human movement and the affordances of a serious education of the actor but also of the perceptional relationship between what was going on on stage and its effect on the audience.

He was known for, during rehearsals, often sitting with his back towards the stage and instead of observing what was going on on stage, closely examining the reactions of the few people who were sitting in the audience attending the rehearsal. He knew that what was going on on stage was not equal to what was going on in the eyes and minds of the beholders.

He also staged Elvis Presley`s “Jailhouse Rock”, see here:

Federico Garcia Lorca: Bluthochzeit

Wiederaufnahme am 16. und 17.12.2022 im Theater Spielraum!

Ein ärmliches Dorf, unfruchtbare Berghänge, alter Hass, die Ehe als ein Kuhhandel und lauter Leute, die die Augen vor der Wahrheit lieber weit geschlossen halten: In dieser merkwürdigen Welt entfacht sich eine Geschichte starker Gefühle, von denen manche nicht sein dürfen. Mit dem zweiten Schauspieljahrgang der Schauspielschule Wien habe ich dieses poetische spanische Märchen inszeniert, in dem die Leidenschaft der Liebe nicht das Unvernünftigste ist, wozu Menschen imstande sind. Und weil`s so schön ist, gibt es jetzt im Dezember eine Wiederaufnahme!

Termine:
Freitag, 16.12. und Samstag, 17.12., Theater Spielraum  Tickets

Schauspiel: Jenny Blochberger, Yvonne Brandstätter,  Max Brühl, Viktoria Dorls,  Elisabeth Flock, Melanie Möhrl, David Nagl, Aeria Rainer, Hannah Rederlechner, Heide Rossak,  Rica Salchinger
Regie: Anne Frütel

Fotos: Markus Hippmann