  Kurevleva-vestnik-2026-3-ru.pdf |
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- Elements of metatheatre in Vladimir Mayakovsky’s The Banya (The Bathhouse)
- Kurevleva Р.M. Elements of metatheatre in Vladimir Mayakovsky’s The Banya (The Bathhouse). Vestnik of Kostroma State University, 2026, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 116–121. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.34216/1998-0817-2026-32-3-116-121
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.34216/1998-0817-2026-32-3-116-121
- УДК: 821.161.1.09«20»
- EDN: GHYLQL
- Publish date: 2026-09-10
- Annotation: The article examines the problem of metatheatricality in Mayakovsky’s play The Banya (The Bathhouse) and the ways in which it is realized. The “play within a play” device shifts the illusion of performance to a meta-level, where spectators may perceive themselves as participants in the action while also witnessing how art is compelled to accommodate censorship revisions in order to secure its right to exist. In addition to the inserted episode in Act III, Mayakovsky employed other metatheatrical elements. One of these is the image of the time machine, which may be interpreted both as a metaphor for art in general and for theatre in particular. The same applies to the stock-type characters, who, like puppets, do not undergo psychological development but instead display exaggerated negative or positive traits. The slogans placed both on the stage and in the auditorium were addressed directly to the audience. Through them, Mayakovsky expressed his views on art and its role in society. The conventional stage design in Meyerhold’s production reinforced the effect of “defamiliarization” generated by the metaphorical plot of The Banya (The Bathhouse), prompting spectators not only to reflect on the problem of bureaucracy but also, after watching the performance, to take action aimed at changing the situation.
- Keywords: metatheatre, conditional theatre, Meyerhold, Mayakovsky, The Banya (The Bathhouse), time machine, play within the play, slogans, spectators.
- Funding and acknowledgments: The research was carried out at A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IWL RAS) at the expense of a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (project No 24-78-10093 “The Poetics of Space: cross-cultural relations of Russian and foreign fiction”), https://rscf.ru/project/24-78-10093.
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