Migrating Modernist Performance British Theatrical Travels Through Russia [Hardcover]

Exploring the experiences of early to mid-twentieth century British theatre-makers in Russia, this book imagines how these travellers interpreted  Russian realism, symbolism, constructivism, agitprop, pageantry, dance or cinema.

With some searching for an alternative to the corporate West End, some for experimental techniques  and others still for methods that might politically inspire their audiences, did these journeys make any differences to their practice? And how did distinctly Russian techniques affect British theatre history?

Migrating Modernist Performance seeks to answer these questions, reimagining the experiences and creative output of a range of, often under-researched, practitioners. What emerges is a dynamic collection of performances that bridge geographical, aesthetic, chronological and political divides.

In recent years, scholars have completely reassessed the modernist avant-garde. Migrating Modernist Performance contributes to this ongoing objective, analyzing the transmission (and appropriation) of theatrical techniques and performance methodologies from Russia to Britain. The book discusses the work of practitioners who journeyed to the USSR during the early decades after the Revolution (such as Huntly Carter, Basil Dean, Cicely Hamilton and Herbert Marshall), influential Russian emigres like Michael Chekhov and Russian practitioners who shaped the British stage, such as Sergei Diaghilev. The book makes a timely contribution to ongoing debates in modernist performance scholarship and reworking recent models of transnational modernism.

Claire Warden is Reader in Drama at De Montfort University, UK. She is the author of BlCi