Traditions and Interpretations of the Ancient Theater in Post-Revolutionary Petrograd

Abstract

The attention to the ancient drama characterized European culture at the turn of the 19—20th centuries was reflected in Russia in the search for new forms in theatrical art both at the very beginning of the 20th century and after the events of 1917. The author focuses on the most remarkable performances of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex in 1910s in St. Petersburg/Petrograd at the Ciniselli Circus: in 1911 this Greek tragedy was staged by the famous German director Max Reinhardt, and in 1918 renewed by the famous Russian actor Yury Yuriev. The analysis of the important sources — the memoirs of participants and eyewitnesses of these performances, reviews and various publications in theater magazines, as well as surviving archival materials, etc. — makes it possible to trace the features of the interpretation and reception of this tragedy, which was especially consonant with the turbulent era of world cataclysms and wars.