V. E. Meyerhold

Andrew Eynon (Grŵp Llandrillo Menai)

Ed. by Neil Cornwell, University of Bristol
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 2.2.2.00: Post-1917 Writing and Culture in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, 1917-present.
Vol. editors: Neil Cornwell (University of Bristol), Roman Koropeckyj (University of California, Los Angeles), Andrei Rogatchevski (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway)

Dates

Born 10 Feb 1874
Died 2 Feb 1940
Activity 1894-1940

Places

Born in Russia
Active in Russia

Activities

Primary

Theatre Director

Resources

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'arte revival, 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. Meyerhold took Russian citizenship and the more Russian name Vsevolod Emilevich Meierkhol'd in 1895...

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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 09 June 2026.]