Vsevolod Meyerhold was the canonical director of theatrical productions in a wide variety of genres and artistic currents including Symbolism, Theatre of the Grotesque, the
Commedia dell'arterevival,
Agitki[agitprop], Constructivism and Soviet satire. Meyerhold was also a pioneer of actor training, most famously through his system of biomechanics. He had begun his career as an actor in Stanislavsky's Moscow Art Theatre (MKhT) in 1898. When he left MKhT in 1902 to establish his own theatre company and focus on directing, Meyerhold directed his productions as the non-realist counterpoint to Stanislavsky's naturalist style of theatre.
Meyerhold was born Karl Theodore Kasimir Meiergol'd in Penza, in 1874, into a Volga German family who had been converted to the Lutheran faith from Judaism.
2095 words
Citation: Eynon, Andrew. "V. E. Meyerhold". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 September 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11730, accessed 22 November 2024.]