Though Maria Zankovetska's famous and gifted contemporaries - which included Tchaikovsky, Repin, Hrushevsky and Petlyura - were awed by her remarkable talent, it was the love of usual theatre-goers that she appreciated most.
Maria Zankovetska was named the first People's Actress of the Ukrainian Republic for helping to bring Ukrainian theatre to maturity.
Her life was marked by two vectors of struggle - two roads which she traveled to achieve her dreams despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Her first dream was theatre, which provided her with the means to apply her gift. Her second dream was to fashion the existing theatre into a truly authentic and spiritual Ukrainian theatre.
Becoming an actress was not easy. An offspring of the aristocratic Adasovsky family, her father thought that acting was an occupation far beneath her social standing, and forbade her from considering it. She persevered, however, and married a man she appreciated only because he promised to assist her in her goal. When he failed to keep his promises, Maria left him. As an unknown, she didn't need fear rumors, but obtaining a divorce proved difficult.
Zankovetska escaped to the theatre, only sharing feelings with her longtime love, actor Nikolay Sadovsky.
In 1882, responding to an invitation from Sadovsky to join a theatre company, Maria left her husband despite his fierce resistance, giving up the comfortable life and respectable status of a military officer's wife. She would not obtain a divorce until five years later.
Zankovetska found it difficult to find acceptance among other actors because of her high social status, since most actors of that time came from lower social classes. Her enemies followed her every step, gloating over her mistakes and failures. Nevertheless, she survived, though she suffered greatly.
When the company visited Kyiv in 1882, Zankovetska made her debut on stage, and there was no going back. And though Zankovetska won critical acclaim, she suffered severe fatigue because, contemporaries said, she became so immersed in the parts she played, living the life of the assigned character at every performance. She simply could not act indifferently. Eventually, the fatigue, along with frequent touring and poor accommodations took their toll on her health, which worsened in 1917 when her mother, who Maria called "my only friend," died. Zankovetska balanced on the verge of death for months, never managing to recover completely.
The actress adopted Zankovetska as her stage name so as not to embarrass her relatives and ex-husband. The pseudonym was derived from Zanki, the village where she was born and raised. She always felt that the ties with this land were stronger than those to her family. Those village years may have been why Zankovetska was devoted to the Ukrainian people, their distinct culture, songs and the folk tales she had known since early childhood. They comprised her world, one with which she was more comfortable than the world of the rich and privileged.
She wanted to create a uniquely Ukrainian theatre, a celebration of Ukrainian dramaturgy and the brilliance of Ukrainian acting. Zankovetska wanted the Ukrainian theatre to be regarded as an independent, distinct and individual culture, and together with Sadovsky, Kropyvnytzkiy and Saksagansky, she molded the concept of Ukrainian theatre as a manifestation of ingenuity, acting mastery and dramaturgy.
That became especially difficult in 1876, when Tsar Alexander II prohibited staging works by Ukrainian playwrights, especially those who wrote in the Ukrainian language. Sadovsky characterized the prohibition by writing that the tsar had "chopped off the tongue" of a nation of 30 million people. The edict remained in force until 1881.
On January 10, 1882, a new theatre company that Zankovetska joined once again performed Ukrainian plays.
Ukrainians loved and appreciated Zankovetska for her natural and artistic acting and her work to erase the stereotypical image of the Ukrainian village woman that had prevailed on stage for a long time. She exposed audiences to a different heroine - not a village girl with superficial emotions, noisy, cunning, rude and occasionally indecent - but a lady gifted with remarkable spirit, character and emotion.
Today, unfortunately, the process has been turned back by the popularity of the village woman embodied in comic Andry Danilko's Verka Serduchka character. Serduchka pleases Russian chauvinists, reviving the same shameful stereotype of ignorant Ukrainians as in the Russian Empire during the 19th century. However, the 21st century may give us a new Zankovetska, and audiences can again be proud of the Ukrainian lady who will represent our culture, evince our spirit and fight for our recognition.
Happily, Maria Adasovskaya's dreams came true. She became a great Ukrainian actress remembered not only by her contemporaries but also by her children and grandchildren. The Ukrainian theatre was resurrected with its language and character after years of oblivion.
Elena Shyshova is a Kyiv freelance writer.
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