The Dramatic Works of Catherine the Great: Theatre and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Russia by Lurana Donnels O'Malley , Catherine (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 727 contribution to Russian pre-revolutionary scholarship and its non-appearance at the time was a sad deficit.Much of its scholarly achievement has been overtaken by other work during the last hundred years, but it stillhas much to offer. The volume may also be seen as a contribution to the history of historiography. Moreover, its publication at the present time is an act of collegial and filial piety on the part of post-Soviet Russian scholars, and it honours thememory of an undoubtedly outstanding historian. LudlowRoger Bartlett O'Malley, Lurana Donnels. The Dramatic Works ofCatherinethe Great:Theatre and Politics inEighteenth-Century Russia. Performance in the Long Eighteenth Century: Studies in Theatre, Music, Dance. Ashgate, Aldershot and Burlington, VT, 2006. xiii + 227 pp. Illustrations. Notes. Appendix. Bibliography. Index. ?50.00. As woman, monarch and cultural figure,Empress Catherine II continues to impress.Among both scholars and the general public, her appeal has persisted for generations. Although there are many superb studies devoted to Catherine's life and reign, specialists and non-specialists alike seem always ready to read another book about the admired empress. The story of Catherine's personal life is one of tragedy, romance, intrigue and danger, and her accomplishments as ruler compare favourably to those of any monarch in early modern Europe. Some historians would call her the greatest ruler ever to govern Russia. Numerous scholarly studies have analysed Catherine's mili tary and diplomatic victories and her wide-ranging institutional and cultural reforms. In almost any discussion of eighteenth-century Russian culture, Catherine plays a prominent role as both patron and participant. Leading European intellectuals of the day admired the empress's political and artistic writings, and scholars have long included her works in discussions of the European Enlightenment(s). Lurana Donnels O'Malley provides another con tribution to this time-honoured practice in her sensitive study of Catherine's dramatic works. Between 1770 and 1790 Catherine wrote over two dozen plays and operas in Russian and French. The empress claimed to write for her own and her subjects' amusement, but because Catherine viewed theatre as a tool of education and enlightenment, she also effectively 'staged' her political views. O'Malley is not a Russian historian or literary scholar in the traditional academic sense, and her discussion of the cultural and political background to Catherine's dramatic writings tends to be thin and formulaic. But as an histo rian of theatre and a practising director, O'Malley brings valuable qualities and a unique perspective to the reading of Catherine's plays. In a lively and original analysis, she draws attention toCatherine's technical skillsas a play wright and shows how the empress employed aesthetic strategies to convey a political and moral message. O'Malley also relates the content of Catherine's plays to events in the empress's personal lifeand in the history of the empire she ruled. 728 SEER, 86, 4, OCTOBER 2008 In chapters organized by genre ? comedies, historical plays, and comic operas ? O'Malley also tries tomaintain a chronological approach in order to highlight the emotional, intellectual and policy concerns that informed Catherine's dramatic writings. She begins with five comedies written around 1772 and thenmoves on to discuss the later comedies, including three anti Masonic plays, written in the period 1785-90. In the comedies, Catherine emerges as an Enlightenment moralist adept in the application of neo-classical artistic forms. From the comedies and French dramatic proverbs, O'Malley shifts our gaze to the Shakespearean plays of 1786 ? one comedy and two historical plays ? which reveal a Catherine open to artistic innovation (willing to abandon neo-classical symmetries), appreciative ofRussian cultural traditions, and skilled in the use of baroque pageantry to assert political power. Finally, in the last chapter of thebook, O'Malley examines Catherine's comic operas, written between 1786 and 1790,which pay 'homage toRussian folk forms by stitching together fairy tales, byliny, popular songs, and even a witch' (p. 200). In the comic operas, Catherine's ability towrite Russian verse also becomes evident, as does her talent for treating serious, even disturbing, subject matter with humour and grace. O'Malley's study isbased on a close reading ofCatherine...