The Actor's Acting in Russia: from the "Dramatic Messenger" (1808) to Voltaire's "General Rules of the Theatre" (1809)

Abstract

The essay is intended as a first examination of the materials relating to the art of acting published in a fragmentary manner in the Russian theater review The Dramatic Messenger, during 1808 in Saint Petersburg: short biographies and anecdotes on foreign actresses and actors; excerpts from memoirs by Garrick, Mlle Dumesnil, Lekain, Mlle Clairon; reviews regarding Mlle George’s debut in Saint Petersburg; excerpts taken from theoretical writings by Diderot, Cailhava de L’Estandoux, Batteux, Voltaire. In 1809 one of the editors of the review, Aleksander Pisarev, to make up for the lack of Russian treatises on dramatic theatre, put together the excerpts of Voltaire already translated and 'synthesized', added others and published the book General Rules of the Theater by Voltaire. In this article we will try to recompose this puzzle of maxims from which Russian actors of that time could draw the rules of acting, to show which aspects were considered most essential for the formation of the Russian theater school at the beginning of the 19th century.