W. Hasenclever’s Play “Napoleon Greift Ein” ("Napoleon Intrudes") on the Stages of Moscow and Leningrad (1930-1931): History, Relevance, Genre Peculiarities, Criticism
The article considers the following issues: history, relevance and genre peculiarities of W. Hasenclever’s play “Napoleon Greift Ein” ("Napoleon Intrudes") staged in Moscow and Leningrad in 1930-1931. The author analyzes critical publications, memoirs and previous works on this problem. Scientific originality of the study lies in the fact that the researcher evaluates the relevance of the play, identifies genre peculiarities of three Soviet stagings. As a result, it is proved that W. Hasenclever’s play was highly relevant, all three productions became a theatrical event and attracted genuine interest of spectators and critics. However, theatre critics’ perception was ambiguous, mostly due to genre transformations occurred in the process of staging.