Soveto engekishi – ソヴエト演劇史 – Das russische Theater

Fülöp-Miller, René ルネ・フューロップ‐ミレー

Sonoike, Kinnaru 園池 公功 & Sanbayashi, Ryôtarô 三林 亮太郎 (transl., edt.).

Soveto engekishi ソヴエト演劇史. Das russische Theater. Seine Geschichte mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Revolutionsperiode.

Tokyo, Kensetsusha Shôwa 7 [1932].

188pp. of which 48 pages with two illustrations each.

22,5 x 16 cm. Original cloth and slipcase.

EUR  150

First edition, first printing.

The Japanese translation, with its extensive illustrative material, was published at a time when the drama of the Russian Revolution and avant-garde staging techniques (such as those employed by Meyerhold) were exerting a massive influence on the Japanese theatre world. As a writer, René Fülöp-Miller was known for making the cultural upheavals in Russia accessible to a Western (and, through this translation, also an Eastern) audience.

The Japanese translation was more than just a specialist text; it served as a visual and theoretical guide for a generation of Japanese theatre practitioners who sought to revolutionise Japanese theatre in the wake of the Great Kantō Earthquake (1923). As it was published at a time when travel to the Soviet Union was difficult, the 48 illustrated plates served as a crucial source of inspiration. Shingeki (‘New Theatre’) sought to move away from traditional forms such as Kabuki, following the Western model. Soviet theatre offered the most radical model for this. However, the publication of ‘Soveto engekishi’ in 1932 also marked the end of this golden age, as the Japanese government began a campaign of massive repression against left-wing theatre groups shortly afterwards.