Harold Clurman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Harold Edgar Clurman (September 18, 1901 – September 9, 1980) was an American theater director and drama critic, most famous for being one of the three original founders of the New York City's Group Theater. He was drama critic for The New Republic (1948–52) and The Nation (1953–1980).

Clurman was born in New York City. He was Jewish,[1] and according to Lulla Rosenfeld, his interest in theater was first inspired by Yiddish theater, in particular Jacob Adler's performances in Yiddish translations of Karl Gutzkow's Uriel Acosta and Lessing's Nathan the Wise. [Adler, 1999, 333 (commentary)].

He was the second husband of Jacob Adler's daughter Stella Adler, the acting coach, like him a member of the Group Theater. They married in 1940 and divorced in 1960.

At the age of twenty Harold moved to Paris, where he shared an apartment with composer Aaron Copeland. In Paris, he saw all sorts of theatrical productions, and was especially influenced by the work of Jacques Copeau and the Moscow Art Theatre. Clurman returned to New York in 1924 and found work as an extra in plays, then became a stage manager and play reader for the Theatre Guild. He briefly studied Stanislavsky’s system under the tutelage of Richard Boleslavsky (Carnickle 39) and became Jacques Copeau's translator/assistant on his production of "The Brothers Karamazov."

Clurman began to realize that the standard American theatre, though successful at the box office (Smith 4), was not providing the captivating experience that he wanted (Smith 11). Together with the like-minded Cheryl Crawford and Lee Strasberg, he began to create what would become the Group Theatre. In November 1930, Clurman began leading group discussions, describing his desire to found a permanent theatrical company that would produce plays dealing with important modern issues.

In the summer of 1931, the first members of the Group Theatre rehearsed for several weeks in the countryside to prepare for their first production, The House of Connelly by Paul Green, directed by Strasberg. Clurman was the scholar of the group--he knew multiple languages, read widely, and listened to a broad array of music (Smith 16) while Strasberg dealt with acting and directing and Crawford dealt with the business side of things.

Clurman directed his first play for the Group Theatre, Awake and Sing! by Clifford Odets, in 1935. The play was a great success and led Clurman to develop his directing style. He believed that all the elements of a play--text, acting, lighting, scenery and direction--needed to work together to convey a unified message. Clurman would read the script over and over, each time focusing on a different element or character ("On Directing 74"). He would attempt to inspire, guide and constructively critique his designers, rather than dictate to them (“On Directing” 54). He would also use Richard Boleslavsky's technique of identifying the "spine," or main action, of each character, then using those to determine the spine of the play ("On Directing" 74). He encouraged his actors to find "active verbs" to describe what their characters were trying to accomplish ("On Directing 28"). He believed that Stanislavsky's system was good to know and study, but too time-consuming to use fully.

In 1937, tensions between Clurman, Crawford and Strasberg caused the latter two to resign from the Group; four years later, the Group Theatre permanently disbanded. Clurman went on to direct plays on Broadway and work as a newspaper theatre critic, but he would never again make the same impact on American theatre as he did during his years with the Group (Smith 422).

Contents

[edit] Work on Broadway

Note = All works are plays and are the original productions unless otherwise noted.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Jewish Journal. Naming Names. Retrieved on September 12, 2006.

[edit] References

  • Clurman, Harold. All People Are Famous (instead of an autobiography). New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1974.
  • Clurman, Harold. The Fervent Years. USA: The Colonial Press Inc., 1961
  • Clurman, Harold. Ibsen. Hong Kong: Macmillan Press Ltd., 1978.
  • Clurman, Harold. On Directing. New York, Mcmillan Publishing Co. Inc., 1974.
  • Smith, Wendy. Real Life Drama: The Group Theatre and America, 1931-1940. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1990.

[edit] External links

Languages