2025 № 1 (52)

UDC 792.09; 791.43/.45

LBC 85.373(2); 85.333(2)

DOI: 10.51678/2226-0072-2025-1-384-411

For cit.: Margolit E.Ya. Towards the Theatre: Opasnyi Povorot (Dangerous Corner). The 1939 Production by G.M. Kozintsev at the Leningrad Comedy Theater. Hudozhestvennaya kul’tura [Art & Culture Studies], 2025, no. 1, pp. 384–411. https://doi.org/10.51678/2226-0072-2025-1-384-411. (In Russian)

Margolit Eugene Ya. 

PhD (in Art History), Senior Researcher, Mass Media Arts Department, State Institute for Art Studies, 5 Kozitsky Lane, Moscow, 125375, Russia

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3539-9221 

emargolit@mail.ru 

Towards the Theatre: Opasnyi Povorot (Dangerous Corner). The 1939 Production by G.M. Kozintsev at the Leningrad Comedy Theater

Abstract. The subject of this research is the first production in a series of theatrical works by G.M. Kozintsev (1905–1973) of the late 1930s — early 1950s, which are fundamentally important both in his creative biography and in the history of Soviet theatre of that era. The author suggests that the entry of the famous film director into theatre was caused by the desire to find a way out of a creative impasse. 

The director’s appeal to the play of the modern English novelist and playwright J.B. Priestley and its controversial interpretation were driven by the dramatic atmosphere of the late 1930s. The eccentric grotesque of the play and its pamphlet character, which was insisted on by the director, are considered as a parody of tragedy by the author of the research. This reveals a fundamental connection between the production under consideration and the subsequent successful experiments of G.M. Kozintsev in the field of theatrical Shakespeareana. The article draws attention to the fundamental connection between the style of the production and the general style of the Leningrad State Comedy Theatre developed by its director — the outstanding theatre director and set designer, G.M. Kozintsev and E.L. Schwartz’s friend and associate, N.P. Akimov. The research is based on the performance reviews, testimonies of the participants of the performance, contemporaries close to the director (especially the playwright and screenwriter E.L. Schwartz and the long-term G.M. Kozintsev’s co-author L.Z. Trauberg), as well as the surviving radio version of the play. 

Keywords: G.M. Kozintsev, N.P. Akimov, Leningrad Comedy Theatre, pamphlet, parody, tragedy 

References:

Akimov N. “Gamlet”. K postanovke v teatre im. Vakhtangova [Hamlet. On the Production at the Vakhtangov Theater]. Sovetskii teatr, 1932, no. 3, pp. 15–17. (In Russian)

Alekseev N. Rai, yumor i uyut: Interv’yu s N.L. Traubreg [Paradise, Humor and Comfort: Interview with N.L. Trauberg]. Inostranets, 1999, no. 6. Available at: http://trauberg.com/chats/raj-yumor-i-uyut/ (accessed 07.12.2024). (In Russian)

Volkov S. Svidetel’stvo: Vospominaniya Dmitriya Shostakovicha, zapisannye i otredaktirovannye Solomonom Volkovym [The Testimony of Dmitry Shostakovich’s Memoirs Recorded and Edited by Solomon Volkov]. New York, [1979]. 372 p. (Reverse translation from English)

Zingerman B. Akimov segodnya [Akimov Today]. Teatr, 1955, no. 12, pp. 42–51. (In Russian)

Kagarlitsky Yu.I. Pristli [Priestley]. Istoriya zapadnoevropeiskogo teatra [History of Western European Theatre], eds. A.G. Obraztsova, B.A. Smirnov. Vol. 7: 1917–1945. Moscow, Iskusstvo Publ., 1985, pp. 232–254. (In Russian)

Kapler A.Ya. O Grishe, druge yunosti… [About Grisha, a Friend of Youth...]. Vash Grigorii Kozintsev: Vospominaniya [Your Grigory Kozintsev: Memories], comp., ed., notes, ad. V.G. Kozintseva, Ya.L Butovsky. Moscow, Artist. Rezhisser. Teatr Publ., 1996, pp. 5–12. (In Russian)

Kozintsev G.M. Sobranie sochinenii: V 5 t. [Collected Works: In 5 vols.], comp. V.G. Kozintseva, Ya.L. Butovsky. Vol. 1: Glubokii ehkran. O svoei rabote v kino i teatre [Deep Screen. About His Work in Cinema and Theater]. Leningrad, Iskusstvo, Leningradskoe otd-nie Publ., 1982. 560 p. (In Russian)

Kozintsev G.M. Sobranie sochinenii: V 5 t. [Collected Works: In 5 vols.], comp. V.G. Kozintseva, Ya.L. Butovsky. Vol. 5: Zamysly. Pis’ma [Ideas. Letters]. Leningrad, Iskusstvo, Leningradskoe otd-nie Publ., 1982. 620 p. (In Russian)

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Kozintsev G.M. Vremya tragediy [Time of Tragedies]. Moscow, Vagrius Publ., 2004. 448 p. (In Russian)

Mironova V.M. “Gamlet” po-akimovski [Hamlet in Akimov Style]. V sporakh o teatre: Sbornik nauchnykh trudov [In Disputes about Theater: Collection of Scientific Papers], ed., comp. D.I. Zolotnitsky. St. Petersburg, RIII Publ., 1992, pp. 6-21. (In Russian)

Ot balagana do Shekspira: Khronika teatral’noi deyatel’nosti G.M. Kozintseva [From the Booth to Shakespeare: Chronicle of the Theatrical Activity of G.M. Kozintsev], comp. V.G. Kozintseva, Ya.L. Butovsky. St. Petersburg, Dmitriy Bulanin Publ., 2002. 476 p. (In Russian)

Sarnov B.M. Stalin i pisateli. Kn. chetvertaya [Stalin and Writers. Book Four]. Moscow, Eksmo Publ., 2011. 1184 p. (In Russian)

Tynyanov Yu.N. Poehtika. Istoriya literatury. Kino [Poetics. History of Literature. Cinema]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1977. 578 p. (In Russian)

Tsimbal S.L. Akimov i vremya [Akimov and Time]. Akimov N.P. Teatral’noe nasledie: V 2 kn. [Theatrical Heritage: In 2 books], ed. S.L. Tsimbal, comp. and comments V.M. Mironov. Book 1: Ob iskusstve teatra; Teatral’nyi khudozhnik [About the Art of Theater; Theater Artist]. Leningrad, Iskusstvo, Leningradskoe otd-nie Publ., 1978, pp. 3-51. (In Russian)

Schwartz E.L. Zhivu bespokoino…: Iz dnevnikov [I Live Restlessly...: From Diaries], comp., text’s prep., notes K.N. Kirilenko. Leningrad, Sovetskii pisatel’, Leningradskoe otd-nie Publ., Publ., 1990. 752 p. (In Russian)

Schwartz E.L. Sobranie sochinenii [Collected Works]. Vol. 3: Bessmyslennaya radost’ bytiya: Proizvedeniya 30-40–kh godov. Dnevniki i pis’ma [The Senseless Joy of Being: Works of the 30–40s. Diaries and Letters], comp. M.O. Kryzhanovskaya, I.L. Shersheneva, notes K.M. Kirilenko et al. Moscow, Korona-print Publ., 1999. 592 p. (In Russian)

Received 02.11.2024 

Accepted 08.12.2024