Teatr, życie, gra : studia o pisarstwie dramaturgicznym Nikołaja Kolady

Abstract

The present book is an interpretation of the rich output, containing around 70 plays of that modern Russian playwright from Ekaterinburg, who was also a theatre director, an actor, the editor of the Ural magazine, a teacher and a passionate advocate for novice playwrights, a great lover of the theatre and expert in theatre matters. He was popular not only in Russia, but also in Europe and in many countries of the other continents. Kolada’s plays are unconventional and controverial. He treats there of modernity, of modern man and his loneliness, alienation, helplessness, miserable existence, his desperate search for a friendly soul, and frustrating wait for recognition. That recognition never comes, it is made impossible by one’s living conditions, lack of support, some kind of stupor, or deadlack that cannot be broken. Kolada’s plays show the lives of his characters at the time when they have a chance to express their personality in full. This is connected with their meeting another human being whom they can finally tell the truth about their inner life, their dreams and hopes. Such situations give the author a possibility to reveal the truth about modern man, about what is deep inside his soul, and what he rarely speaks about for fear of being suspected of childishness and naivety. Kolada’s characters are authentic and sincere. They do not, however, immediately reveal their true face in front of others, first they want to see through the other person. In order to achieve this purpose, they play games, put on masks, eventually to disclose their most secret thoughts. This is the subject matter of Chapter One of the present book in which the untypical ways of Kolada’s discovering the truth about man are analysed. An important problem in Kolada’s plays is the characters’ language often regarded as particularly controversial. The writer does not, however, want to shock the reader with indecent and eccentric vocabulary, his purpose is to emphasise man’s individuality, the characters’ essential independence and their distance from the world that is indifferent to their suffering. Language is their sole property, owing to which they can play their games, masquerade, and indulge in camivalesque behaviour. It also lets them forget about their miserable existence and push the thought of the inevitable death out of their minds. This is the subject matter of Chapter Two of the present study. The analysed plays, from their beginning to the last word, consist in acting. It the use of different variants of acting that determines the originality of the dramatic work, chiefly it gives the author limitless possibilities of penetrating the inner life of a character and of studying life as such. It is also acting that makes it possible to blur the dividing line between life and the theatre, which is one of the most important features of Kolada’s dramas. These matters are discussed in ChapterThree of the present book. The reader will find there an interpretation of various relations, discovered by Kolada, between art and life, life and the theatre, and also between the theatrical arts, acting, and the truth about man, including the relation between sincerity and acting, about in life and in the theatre. Kolada occasionally expresses his dissatisfaction with the way his plays are staged, he is shocked by the lack of authenticity in the actors’ performance which seems to be centred on emphasising the eccentricity of the dramatis personae rather the on showing their inner lives. This is why the said problem became one of the points of view in the author’s analysis of the texts of the discussed plays. Kolada’s plays contain extensive authorial texts in the from of elaborate stage directions, prefaces, and epilogues, which often have the character of lyrical digressions. On the other hand, they are an element of the writer’s play with the audience, the aim of which is to present a wide range of possibilities of interpreting the senses of a given work. Kolada’s chief purpose is to create a special climate and atmosphere which help the audience to understand the message of the plays. Besides, the unconventional authorial texts underline the strong link between the writer and the represented world of his dramas, which, in fact, is the topic of Chapter Four of the present monograph. Chapter Five, in its turn, is devoted to Kolada’s playing with another writer’s text. Playing with traditions, the writer, at the same time, plays with his readers, suggesting that a well known, or classical text does not have to express the established views. The playwright has conceded that he is profoundly fascinated with Chekhov’s and Tennessee Williams’s plays, consequently, in the later part of the chapter, the connections between his dramas and the great figures of the world theatre are discussed.