Meyerhold Speaks/Meyerhold Rehearses

278 Pages·1998·61.884 MB·English

by  Aleksandr Gladkov, Alma Law

Meyerhold speaks
Meyerhold rehearses
Russian Theatre Archive
Aseries of books edited by John Freedman (Moscow), Leon Gitelman
(St Petersburg) and Anatoly Smeliansky (Moscow)
Volume 1 Volume 7

The Major Plays of Nikolai Erdman The Death of Tarelkin and Other Plays:

translated and edited by fohn Freedman The Trilogy of Alexander Sukhovo­

Kobylin

Volume 2 translated and edited by Harold B. Segel
A Meeting About Laughter
Sketches, Interludes and Theatrical Volume 8
Parodies by Nikolai Erdman A Chekhov Quartet
with Vladimir Mass and Others translated and adapted by Vera Gottlieb
translated and edited by fohn Freedman
Volume 9
Volume 3 Two Plays from the New Russia
Theatre in the Solovki Prison Camp Bald/ Brunet by Daniil Gink and
Natalia Kuziakina Nijinsky by Alexei Burykin
translated and edited by John Freedman
Volume 4
Sergei Radlov: The Shakespearian Volume 10
Fate of a Soviet Director Russian Comedy of the Nikolaian Era
David Zolotnitsky translated and with an introduction
by Laurence Senelick
Volume 5
Bulgakov: The Novelist-Playwright Volume 11
edited by Lesley Milne Meyerhold Speaks/Meyerhold Rehearses
by Aleksandr Gladkov
Volume 6 translated, edited and with an introduction
Aleksandr Vampilov: by Alma Law
The Major Plays
translated and edited by Alma Law
Additional volumes in preparation:
Off Nevsky Prospect: Russian Theatre and Movement:
Theatre Studios of St Petersburg The 1920s
in the 1980s and 1990s Vladislav Ivanov
Elena Markova
The Theatre of Poets
The Theatre of Mikhail Chekhov Dmitry Milkov
Andrei Kirillov
This book is part of a series. The publisher will accept continuation orders which
may be cancelled at any time and which provide for automatic billing and
shipping of each title in the series upon publication. Piease write for details.
Meyerhold speaks
Meyerhold rehearses
by Aleksandr Gladkov
translated, edited and with an introduction by
Alma Law
Copyright © 1997
Harwood Academic Publishers.
Reprinted 2004
By Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OXl4 4RN
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Transferred to Digital Printing 2004
Routledge is an imprint oft he Taylor & Francis Group
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Gladkov, Aleksandr
Meyerhold speaks/Meyerhold rehearses. - (Russian theatre
archive; V. 11)
1. Meierkhold, V. E. Vsevolod Emilevich), 1874-1940-
Criticism and interpretation 2. Theatrical producers and directors - Russia -
Moscow 3. Theater - production and direction - Russia - Moscow
1. Title II. Law, Alma
792'.0233'092
ISBN 90-5702-044-0 (HB)
90-5702-045-9 (PB)
DOl: 10.4324/9780429333675
Cover illustration: Meyerhold at a rehearsal of Bezymensky's The Shot (1929).
For Eric and Keith

CONTENTS

Introduction to the Series ix

List of Plates xi

Acknowledgements xiii

Introduction by Alma Law 1

With Meyerhold 54

Meyerhold speaks 91

About Myself 91

On the Art of the Actor 102

On the Art of the Director 116

On Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov, Dostoevsky 139

On Tolstoy, Chekhov, Blok, and Mayakovsky 144

On Stanislavsky 148

On Lensky, Komissarzhevskaya, Duse, Moissi and Others 151

On Opera and Chaliapin 156

On Self-restriction, Improvisation, Rhythm, Associations 160

On Miscellaneous Subjects 164

Meyerhold rehearses 173

Meyerhold demonstrates 175

Meyerhold improvises 180

Meyerhold rehearses Mayakovsky 181

Meyerhold rehearses Chekhov 187

Meyerhold rehearses Shakespeare 189

Meyerhold rehearses Pushkin 192

Selected Bibliography 212

Glossary of Namesand Places 214

Index 251

vii

INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES

The Russian Theatre Archive makes available in English the best avant­
garde plays from the pre-Revolutionary period to the present day. lt
features monographs on major playwrights and theatre directors, intro­
ductions to previously unknown works, and studies of the main artistic
groups and periods.
Plays are presented in performing edition translations, including
(where appropriate) musical scores, and instructions for music and
dance. Whenever possible the translated texts will be accompanied by
videotapes of performances of plays in the originallanguage.
ix