person
Glikeria Fedotova
Fedotova
also: Федотова, Г. Н. Федотова, Glikeria Nikolayevna Fedotova
Glikeria Nikolayevna Fedotova (1846-1925), one of the most celebrated actresses of Moscow's Maly Theatre, renowned across her long career for both comic and tragic roles and honored with a stage jubilee. The narrator of "The Critic" sneers that jubilee actresses like Fedotova have "only spoiled the public's taste" -- a comic character's drunken overreach, not a real assessment; Fedotova was in fact a foundational figure of Russian realist acting technique.
Reading notes
- The Critic §45 Fedotova or Yermolova
Glikeria Fedotova and Maria Yermolova were both genuinely towering figures of Moscow's Maly Theatre, each honored in her own lifetime with a public stage jubilee -- real, well-earned honors that the noble father twists into an accusation that jubilee actresses have merely "spoiled the public's taste." The mockery inverts the historical record rather than reporting it.
- To A. S. Suvorin, 17 December 1888. Moscow. §5 Fedotova has supposedly refused, and Ermolova is up to her ears with Averkiev's "Theophano" and Fedotov's "The Prisoner of Chillon," which are going on soon.
Glikeria Fedotova, already established in this corpus (first appearance in "The Critic"), reused here as one of the two leading Maly Theatre tragediennes reported (via Nikulina, secondhand) to be unavailable or unwilling to take the title role in "Tatyana Repina." Ermolova (likewise already established) is reported tied up with two other productions. Averkiev's "Theophano" is glossed with cautious attribution to the playwright Dmitry Averkiev (already established in this corpus); Fedotov's "The Prisoner of Chillon" is glossed to Alexander Fedotov (already established, "probable rather than confirmed" identification per his existing entity record) -- he is a plausible but not certain author here, and is himself the husband of the actress Fedotova's Maly Theatre colleague circle rather than of Fedotova herself; neither attribution should be treated as more than cautiously probable on this letter's evidence alone. Neither title nor author is elaborated further by this letter.
- To A. S. Suvorin, 17 December 1888. Moscow. §8 Don't rejoice on Kokoshkina's account. It's no great catch that Fedotova will be playing her. She will play it worse than Nikulina.
A further casting detail: Fedotova is now reported to be taking the role of Kokoshkina instead of Nikulina, with Chekhov predicting she will play it worse. Continues the "Tatyana Repina" casting thread from \S3-7, unrelated to "Ivanov."
- To A. S. Suvorin, 18 December 1888. Moscow. §3 Fedotova is old and given to intrigue. She'll want Rybakov to play, and so on.
The senior Maly Theatre actress Glikeria Nikolayevna Fedotova, already established elsewhere in this corpus, here appearing as an offstage rival under discussion -- never in person in this letter -- whom Lensky characterizes as old and prone to intrigue, and expected to insist on Rybakov being cast opposite her.
- To A. I. Sumbatov, 14 December 1889. Moscow. §4 Fedotova's
Glikeria Nikolayevna Fedotova, celebrated leading actress of the Maly Theatre; Chekhov predicts the play will not suit her taste -- a prediction that, if this is indeed "The Wood Demon," proved apt, since the play was not taken up by the Maly and premiered instead at Abramova's theater.