Vera Fedorovna Kommissarzhevskaia: A life in performance.

Abstract

Vera Fedorovna Kommissarzhevskaia (1864-1910) is acknowledged as one of the finest actresses in the history of Russian theatre. She began her career in 1891 in a production directed by Stanislavsky and soon blazed across the Russian stage, creating at St. Petersburg's Aleksandrinskii Theatre the role of Nina in the first production of Chekhov's Seagull. In time she opened a theatre of her own, a theatre devoted to finding a new dramatic form. Here some of the most innovative figures in Russian theatrical history--Meyerhold, Tairov, Evreinov, Blok, Khol'mskaia and Gorky--created important work. I am always searching for the new form, the new dramatic idea and the new inspiration Kommissarzhevskaia said in an interview with the New York Times (March 1, 1908). As a result of her search, her theatrical legacy emerged in four ways: one, the quest for a new dramaturgy or style of play writing; two, the casting off of traditional Russian styles of acting; three, the emergence of the profession of the stage director; and four, the emergence of a collaborative style of theatrical production. These contributions were directly related to her performance of self and thus the performance of gender as strategy for survival. All were crucial to the evolution of twentieth-century Russian theatre. Kommissarzhevskaia was not alone in embracing new ideas for she lived during a time of transition. And like the changing times in which she lived, her performance of self changed greatly and frequently during her lifetime. Reacting consciously and subconsciously to a variety of factors in her history and personal makeup, she changed her persona, her perceivable self to optimize her chances of success in life. Critical to Kommissarzhevskaia's performance of self was the idea of progress, of moving forward in new and unexplored directions, and as a result she served as a catalyst for many of the changes that were sweeping the Russian theatre at the turn-of-the-century.