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Kira Zoeller

Professor Kinsey

Theatre Appreciation

30. September 2020

Director Essay - Vsevolod Emilyevich Meyerhold

Vsevolod Emilyevich Meyerhold was one of the most famous Russian and Soviet

directors, actors and theatrical producers of his time, introducing new acting techniques,

combining psychological and physiological processes. But how did he manage to become such a

great deal in the theatre industry?

Born on February 9th, 1874 in Penza Oblast in the Russian Empire as son of

Russian-German wine manufacturer Friedrich Emil Meierhold and mother Elisabeth Alvina

Luitgard, Karl Kasimir Theodor Meierhold, was the youngest of eight children (Braun, 1998.)

He finished school in 1895, and began to study law at the Moscow University but never

completed his degree. Afterwards he was torn between studying theatre and a career as violinist.

But he failed his audition to become the second violinist in the University’s orchestra. In 1896,

Vsevolod joined the Moscow Philharmonic Dramatic School. On his 21st birthday he converted

from Lutheranism to Orthodox Christianity and accepted “Vsevolod” as his name, after Russian

writer Vsevolod Garshin (​Секретно​, 2014.)

When Meyerhold started his acting career in 1896, under guidance of Vladimir

Nemirovich-Danchenko, he played over 18 roles, such as the lead male in the first successful

production of Chekhov’s play “The Seagull” (McSmith, 2015.) The same year he married Olga

Mund with whom he has three daughters but they divorced after he met actress Zinaida Reich. In
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1902 he decided to leave MAT because he felt the need to break free from highly naturalistic

“missing fourth wall” productions of Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko. Vsevolod moved

on to participate in theatrical productions as actor and producer. He was the most fervent

advocate of Symbolism in theatre and was invited back to MAT in 1907 to pursue his

experiential ideas. In 1913, he published his book “On Theatre” in which he elaborates his

theoretical concepts on the “Conditional Theatre”. On February 25th, 1917, the Russian

Revolution broke out when Meyerhold’s newest production had a dress rehearsal. It was

described as: “the last act of the tragedy of the old regime, when the Petersburg elite went to

enjoy themselves at this splendidly luxurious production in the midst of the chaos and confusion”

(Reeder, 1995.)

Meyerhold was one of the first Russian artists to welcome the Bolshevik Revolution into

theatre, he even joined the Bolshevik Party after narrowly escaping execution (Basker, 1999.)

From 1918 to 1919 he formed an alliance with Olga Kameneva where he tried to radicalize

Russian theatres. In 1920, Vsevolod returned to Moscow and founded his own theatre, where he

used methods of scenic constructivism and circus-style effects. His famous works include: “The

Mandate” or “Mystery-Bouffe”. But it was closed in 1938 by order of Politburo because his

works were proclaimed to be alien to the Soviet people. This is why he became an assistant to

Stanislavsky and took over directing his theatre after he died in August of 1938.

When he returned to Leningrad on June 20th, 1939 they arrested him and took him to

NKVD headquarters in Moscow, where he broke down and confessed to being a British and

Japanese spy, while intruders broke into his flat and stabbed his wife to death. On February 1st,

1940, Vsevolod was sentenced to death by firing squad and executed the following day.
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Vsevolod Meyerhold was one of the most influential Russian directors, leaving various

techniques for actors behind that revolutionized the theatre up to this day.
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Works Cited

Basker, Michael. ​"Fear and the Muse": an Analysis and Contextual Interpretation of

Anna Achmatova's 'Voronež'. 1999.

Braun, Edward. ​Meyerhold: A Revolution in Theatre.​ A&C Black, 1998.

K., Kseniia. “Vsevolod Meyerhold and His Unconventional Theatre.” ​Slavorum,​ 12 Mar.

2020, www.slavorum.org/vsevolod-meyerhold-and-his-unconventional-theatre/.

McSmith, Andy. ​Fear and the Muse Kept Watch: the Russian Masters - from Akhmatova

and Pasternak to Shostakovich and Eisenstein - under Stalin​. New Press, 2015.

Reeder, Roberta. ​Anna Akhmatova, Poet & Prophet.​ Allison & Bubsby, 1995.

“Архив Номеров.” ​Совершенно Секретно​, 2014,

www.sovsekretno.ru/magazines/article/1243/.