Hvar City Theatre Days, Vol. 50 No. 1, 2024.
Original scientific paper
The Story of One Theatrical Flop in Zagreb
Maria Ignatieva
Abstract
Croatian critics agreed that the Kachalov Group’s performance of Henning Berger’s
The Flood, shown in Zagreb between March 15 and 21 1921, was a failure. The press harshly criticized the performance and the play. The actors agreed with the press that The Flood was a failure and they found Nina Litovtseva, who directed the play, responsible for it. The article is focused on what is in this »failure« is still worthy of examination? The first point of interest lies in the fact that it was the first-ever MAT production that was directed by a female, who was known as Vasily Kachalov’s wife, as a one-time successful provincial actress, and as a pedagogue who could rehearse with actors, helping them with their roles, but not recognized as competent to stage a play. When she started rehearsing, the actors not only refused to help her but were rather hostile and questioned her authority, although her concept of directing was close to that of Stanislavsky. In spite of criticism, Litovtseva did not give up directing. During the MAT tour to the US (1922-1924), she helped Stanislavsky as his assistant, but Stanislavsky never changed his opinion about women’s inability to stage plays. He and Nemirovich-Danchenko were in agreement that women could help actors to prepare their roles but could not assemble and stage productions.
Keywords
Nina Litovtseva; MHT; Kachalov Group; female director
Hrčak ID:
316990
URI
Publication date:
8.5.2024.
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