«It’s Not Carmen». Spain on the Russian Drama Stage of the Second Half of the 20th Century

Since the first half of the 19th century, Russian theater appears to be genuinely drawn to Spanish dramaturgy, starting to convey the ideals of Spanish culture and incorporating Spanish mythologems. This intense and long-lasting passion for Spain can be attributed to the Russian culture seeking to acquire some of its features. Thus, Pedro Calderón’s play «The Surgeon of his honour», staged in 1830 by the great Russian actor Vasily Karatygin, was a manifestation of Russian «hispanophilia» in the 1820s, nurtured by the Russian Romantics’ interest in the revolutionary events in Spain. In the 1860s–1870s, during the era of liberal reforms initiated by Alexander II of Russia, performances based on the works of Lope de Vega resonated with the most pressing socio-political issues of Russia. In 1915, in the midst of World War I, Vsevolod Meyerhold staged Calderón’s play «The Constant Prince» which highlighted the world’s beauty and vulnerability. The success of Spanish comedies in the late 1930s and 1940s stood in stark contrast to the era of harsh trials. The directors of the second half of the 20th century sought to distance themselves as much as possible from the stereotypical way of staging Spanish performances that emerged in the USSR in the 1940s: Andrey Goncharov wanted to present Spain as a country of «dusty roads and braying donkeys», while Sergey Barkhin alluded to Spanish mannerism in Leonid Jeifets’ performance «Jealous of Herself». Consequently, the tradition of staging Spanish plays in Russian theaters manifested itself in attempts to go beyond the «popular» Spain, to find another Spain and new forms of portraying it on stage.