Experiencing the environment in Viacheslav Spesivtsev's amateur theater of the 1970s

Abstract

Viacheslav Spesivtsev's unorthodox stagings of amateur productions in Moscow in the 1970s are examined here in terms of Richard Schechner's theories of “environmental theater.” The relevant features of environmental theater include inventive uses of theatrical space as well as total abandonment of conventional stages and theatrical spaces. It also recognizes that the theatrical experience for spectators begins long before the performance and ends long after it. Although this idea echoes Stanislavskii's maxim that theater begins in the cloakroom, Schechner rejected many of Stanislavskii's principles, especially the importance of “the fourth wall” dividing spectators and performers. Schechner believed that theatergoers became passive observers in such arrangements, and he sought to undermine what he called the status of theater. Spesivtsev incorporated these strategies into some of his works, although he would have known little about Schechner's ideas. In addition, Spesivtsev integrated aspects of his rehearsals with amateurs, and, therefore, drew more attention to the theatricality of performance. The productions discussed here include Timur and his team, Romeo and Juliet, Does it hurt? and The Train of my memory. Spesivtsev's efforts were part of a broad trend among amateur theaters of the time to develop new relationships with spectators by breaching the fourth wall.