The Jewish Theatrical Network in the Late Empire: “The Troupe Consists Solely of Jews… Resorting to the Use of Jewish Jargon” (1870s–1910s)

Abstract

The paper examines the formation of Jewish theater in the ethnically Ukrainian part of the Russian Empire in the late 19th and the early 20th century. Such a scope allows one to detach oneself from the imperial point of view and the hierarchies it created. Theatre as a spectacle has an old tradition, but in the long 19th century, together with society as a whole, imbued with modernity, it became more democratic. The theatre in the Ukrainian lands, as a reflection of their population, was multicultural: Ukrainian, Polish, Jewish, Russian, etc. The purpose is to consider Jewish troupes as active participants in the Jewish migration within the empire. Its main routes and nodes overlapped with those of the actors. An analysis of the theatrical network as a social group enables us to trace the routes, understand what facilitated the migration and what hindered it. The Pale of Settlement was a significant obstacle, imposing restrictions on everyone in the Jewish theater. The subject is addressed in the context of the Jewish theatrical history as a part of cultural, social and economic development of Ukraine. The presence of theatre in cities subsumed under the interaction between the community and the imperial bureaucracy, as well as Gentile compatriots. The emergence of professional theatre is considered in the context of rapid urbanization, as one of the modern responses to the crisis of the traditional culture. Theatre had a place in the Jewish tradition but challenged it by adopting Yiddish and transition from amateurism. The extent to which the conservative Jewish community was open to those changes indicates the level of its transformation. The Jewish theatrical experience coexisted with experiences of other ethnic communities in Ukraine. Cultural figures and intellectuals paid great attention to theatre. Its repertoire and reactions of the audience showed the relevance of certain themes, the severity of certain problems. The article will help to understand further cultural developments in interwar Soviet Ukraine, as ethnic theaters took an active part in the public life.