Vsevolod Meyerhold [Paperback]

A study of the career of the Russian revolutionary theatre director, Vsevolod Meyerhold, from his early years to his glittering triumphs in the Tsarist imperial theatres.The career of the Russian revolutionary theater director is traced from his early years as a founding member of the Moscow Art Theater through his Symbolist period, his experiments with commedia dell'arte and other popular forms and his triumphs in the tsarist imperial theaters.The career of the Russian revolutionary theater director is traced from his early years as a founding member of the Moscow Art Theater through his Symbolist period, his experiments with commedia dell'arte and other popular forms and his triumphs in the tsarist imperial theaters.This book traces the career of the Russian revolutionary theater director, Vsevolod Meyerhold, from his early years as a founding member of the Moscow Art Theater with Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko, through his Symbolist period, his experiments with commedia dell'arte and other popular forms, and his glittering triumphs in the tsarist imperial theaters. Leach examines Meyerhold at the height of his fame and influence after the Russian Revolution and during his demise in the Stalin era. He describes in detail Meyerhold's system of theater, which involved the audience, the place of the forestage, biomechanics and actor training, and the mise-en-scene. An exploration of Meyerhold's legacy, which can be detected in the work of Brecht, Eisenstein, Peter Brook and others, concludes the study.List of illustrations; Preface; 1. A life; 2. The fourth dimension; 3. The actor's business; 4. The mise-en-sc?ne; 5. Rhythm; 6. Meanings; 7. Masquerade; 8. Meyerhold and Mayakovsky; 9. The legacy; Chronology; List of Meyerhold's productions; Notes; Select bibliography; Index. Vsevolod Meyerhold is a cogently written overview of a fascinating theatrical era and its greatest single exemplar.... James Fisher, Comparative Drama