ABSTRACT
This is an investigation of how emotions in realist drama and its theatre sustain but also resist gender identity; in performance, embodied emotions can potentially undermine realist form and revoke gender separation. The unique convergence of Stanislavski’s acting in and direction of the first productions of Chekhov’s major drama among the most produced theatre of the last century internationally — and
Stanislavski’s ensuing importance to realism in acting, make this influential period of theatre history crucial for a speculative inquiry into gender relations in the textual representation, directing and acting of emotions. Moreover, Chekhov’s four major plays invite a progressive questioning of cultural understandings of emotions. The central women characters in Chekhov’s (the playwright’s) drama — which became some of the most important female roles in twentieth century theatre — were first performed by Olga Knipper (the performer), Chekhov’s wife, working with, but often resistant to, Stanislavski (the director) and his approach. Why did Knipper and Stanislavski disagree about the performance of emotions? This triangle of professional roles creates a formative paradigm of emotional presence in modem theatre. The social meanings surrounding notions of display and control over emotions, which are embedded in Chekhov’s drama and Stanislavski’s theories of acting, implicitly inform the production of early realist theatre and its ongoing legacies.
