Vsevolod Meyerhold

by Robert Leach

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521318433
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	02/26/1993
Series:	Directors in Perspective
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.55(d)

Table of Contents

List of illustrations; Preface; 1. A life; 2. The fourth dimension; 3. The actor's business; 4. The mise-en-scène; 5. Rhythm; 6. Meanings; 7. Masquerade; 8. Meyerhold and Mayakovsky; 9. The legacy; Chronology; List of Meyerhold's productions; Notes; Select bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"Vsevolod Meyerhold is a cogently written overview of a fascinating theatrical era and its greatest single exemplar...." James Fisher, Comparative Drama

From the Publisher