Skip to main content

Staging Russian Prose

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
  • 77 Accesses

Abstract

This section, ‘Staging Russian Prose’ ponders the popularity of adaptation. After Chekhov, Dostoevsky is the most frequent figure in the database and he was never a playwright. And adaptation has been a means for bringing unfamiliar Soviet literature to British attention (Abramov, for example). Seeing much-loved novels such as The Brothers Karamazov or another favourite, Tolstoy’s, War and Peace (even at the circus!) has become almost addictive. The discussion follows the following headings: The skills and pitfalls of adaptation; New directions; Adaptations by Russian companies and/or directors; British adaptations; Novels; Short stories; Plays ‘after’ novels; Prose adaptation on the stage: some conclusions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Babbage, Frances, ‘Heavy Bodies, Fragile Texts: Stage Adaptation and the Problem of Presence’, in Adaptation and Contemporary Culture: Textual Infidelities, ed. by Rachel Carroll (London and New York: Continuum, 2009), pp. 11–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beumers, Birgit, Yuri Lyubimov at the Taganka theatre 1964–1994 (Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1997).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bulgakov, Mikhail, Master and Margarita, trans. Michael Glenny (London: Collins and Harvill, 1974).

    Google Scholar 

  • Dixon, Ros, ‘From Iconoclast to Traditionalist: A Study of Anatolii Efros’ Productions of Chekhov, Gogol and Turgenev’ (unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Nottingham, 2002).

    Google Scholar 

  • Friel, Brian, ‘Afterplay’, in Three Plays After (Loughcrew, Ireland: Gallery Press, 2002).

    Google Scholar 

  • Gorky, Maxim, The Mother, adapt. by Berthold Brecht, trans. by Steve Gooch (London: Eyre Methuen, 1978).

    Google Scholar 

  • Grossman, Vasily, Life and Fate, trans. by Robert Chandler (London: Vintage, 2006).

    Google Scholar 

  • Nikoliukin, A. N., ‘Dostoevskii in Constance Garnett’s Translation’, in Dostoevskii and Britain, ed. by W. J. Leatherbarrow (Oxford: Berg, 1995), pp. 207–226.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ouspensky, P. D., The Strange Life of Ivan Osokin (London: Stourton, 1947; republished by London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1983).

    Google Scholar 

  • Pasternak, Boris, Dr Zhivago, trans. by Max Hayward and Manya Harari (London: William Collins and Son Ltd., 1958).

    Google Scholar 

  • Platform Papers. 1. Translation [Ranjit Bolt, Michael Frayn, Christopher Hampton, Steven Pimlott, Jeremy Sams, Timberlake Wertenbaker] (London: Royal National Theatre, 1992).

    Google Scholar 

  • Senelick, Laurence, The Chekhov Theatre: A Century of Plays in Performance (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997).

    Google Scholar 

  • Shevstova, Maria, Dodin and the Maly Drama Theatre (London: Routledge, 2004).

    Google Scholar 

  • Smeliansky, Anatoly, The Russian Theatre After Stalin, trans. by Patrick Miles (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999).

    Google Scholar 

  • Sokolov, Sasha, School for Fools (Ann Arbor: Ardis Books, 1977).

    Google Scholar 

  • Tolstoy, Lev, ‘Kholstomer’ [Strider] ([1863] 1886), trans. by Louise and Aylmer Maude in Leo Tolstoy, Nine Stories (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1933).

    Google Scholar 

  • ———, War and Peace, adapt. by Erwin Piscator (and others) [Krieg und Frieden], trans. and adapt. by Robert David McDonald (London: MacGibbon & Kee, 1963).

    Google Scholar 

  • ———, Anna Karenina, adapt. by Helen Edmundson (London: Nick Hern Books, 1994).

    Google Scholar 

  • ———, War and Peace, adapt. by Helen Edmundson (London: Nick Hern Books, 1994).

    Google Scholar 

  • ———, The Kreutzer Sonata, adapt. by Nancy Hughes (London: Oberon Modern Plays, 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  • Turgenev, Ivan, Fathers and Sons. A play by Brian Friel after the novel by Turgenev (London: Faber and Faber, 1987).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cynthia Marsh .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Marsh, C. (2020). Staging Russian Prose. In: Translated and Visiting Russian Theatre in Britain, 1945–2015. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44333-7_7

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics