Перша жінка — український театральний режисер Ірина Дєєва

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the artistic career of Irina Deeva, Ukraine’s first woman-theatrical director. The author clarifies Deeva’s biographical data and identifies the main phases and turns of her life and professional career. Based on press materials and memoirs, the author provides a detailed account on the emergence in Kyiv of the very first Children’s Theatre in 1924. Analysed are independent productions by Irina Deeva on the stage of the Children’s Theatre. The special attention is paid to the performances of ‘Mowgli’ (1924) and ‘Chasing the Stars’ (1926). The analysis also extends to Irina Deeva’s creative collaborations with artists Vladimir Tatlin, Matvey Drak and Sergey Zaritsky as well as choreographer Evgeny Vigilov. According to critics, one of the successful theatrical production works of Irina Deeva of the late 1920s was the dramatisation of Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. In this connection, the article examines the respective performance as indicative of her directorial style. A separate focus is given by the author to Irina Deeva’s organisational activities. Under scrutiny here is her role in creating not only the first Children’s Theatre in Kyiv but also the first Kyiv Puppet Theatre, the Children’s Theatre in Dnipropetrovsk and Theatre of Working-Class Youth in Kyiv (better known under the Russian acronym TRAM). It is noted that while working in the propaganda-type theatre TRAM, Deeva became the first director to turn to dramaturgy by Alexander Korneychuk. It was she who staged his first play ‘On the Edge’ in 1928. An important aspect of this study was to define the socio-cultural context that contributed to the emergence of Deeva as a director, as well as restore the political circumstances that led her to leave Ukraine for good.