Yavorskaya L.B. (1871-1921), actress

Categories / Art/Music, Theatre/Personalia
YAVORSKAYA (nee von Guebbenet, Princess Baryatinskaya by marriage) Lidia Borisovna (1871-1921), actress. She completed the Drama Courses at the Theatre School in St. Petersburg in 1893 and studied under E. Gaux in Paris. She first appeared on the professional stage in Revel in 1893. In 1893-95, she was an actress at F. A. Korsch's Theatre in Moscow. In 1895-1900, she was among the principal actresses at the theatre of the Literature and Art Society. She played on tour at E. A. Shabelskaya's theatre in St. Petersburg at Ofitserskaya Street in 1901. She opened her own New Theatre in the same year, which operated in Kononovsky Hall at 61 Moika RiverEmbankment until 1906 and had a branch - Komediya - in the hall of Tenishev's School in 1904/05. She also opened L. B. Yavorskaya's Theatre at Ofitserskaya Street in 1915 that existed until 1916. One of the brightest actresses of her time, she combined nerve and passion, showiness, drama, and post-modern affectation. Yavorskaya's contemporaries, though recognising her singularity, pointed out the resemblance to the images created by S. Bernhardt, G. Rejane, and E. Duse. She introduced E. Rostand's plays onto the Russian stage appearing as Silvetta in Romantics, Melicinda in Faraway Princess, Roxana in Cyrano de Bergerac, and Duke of Reichstadt in Eaglet. The New Theatre's repertoire mainly included modern plays by H. Ibsen, G. Hauptmann, G. d'Annunzio, M. Maeterlinck, A. Strindberg, L. N. Tolstoy, A. P. Chekhov, M. Gorky, and S. V. Chirikov. Among Yavorskaya's best roles were Catherine Hubscher in V. Sardou's Madame Sans Gene, Olga Rantseva in B. M. Markevich's Smoke of Life, and Rautendelein in Hauptmann's Sunken Bell. The New Theatre had the most radical repertoire in 1905/06 being a kind of political club where performances often grew into meetings. Yavorskaya toured Russia and Europe in 1907-15 and 1916-18. Among her film roles was Lidia Berestovskaya in Hurricane of Passion in 1916. After returning from the USA, she lived and worked in London from 1918.

References: Беляев Ю. Д. Л. Б. Яворская: Критико-биогр. этюд. СПб., 1900; Юрьев Ю. М. Записки. Л.; М., 1963. Т. 2.

A. A. Kirillov. Bernhardt Sarah
Chekhov Anton Pavlovich
Chirikov S.V.
d'Annunzio Gabriele
Duse Eleonora
Gaux Edmond Francois Jules
Gorky Maxim (Alexey Maximovich Peshkov)
Hauptmann Gerhard
Ibsen Henrik
Korsch Fedor Adamovich
Maeterlinck Maurice
Markevich Boleslav Mikhailovich
Rejane Gabrielle
Rostand Edmond
Sardou Victorien
Shabelskaya E.A.
Strindberg Johan August
Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich, Count
Yavorskaya (nee von Gubbenet) Lidia Borisovna
Dekabristov St./Saint Petersburg, city
Moika River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 61
Беляев Ю. Д. Л. Б. Яворская: Критико-биогр. этюд. СПб., 1900
Юрьев Ю. М. Записки. Л.; М., 1963 Theatre College
Literary and Artistic Society Theatre
Literary and Artistic Society Theatre