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Describe, consider and account for the ways in which Meyerhold approached selection,
interpretation and treatment of playscript and/or text.
WC (not including references): 2041 words

Introduction

Vsevolod Meyerhold’s approach to interpretations of playscripts and texts was largely based on

his own anti-realist attitudes regarding live theatre. Naturalism and realism in theatre was largely

popular in Europe in the late 19th-early 20th centuries, pioneered by theatre practitioners such as

Konstantin Stanislavski. In contrast, the notion of physicality was essential to Meyerhold and his

methods of playbuilding, with a strong emphasis placed on ensemble acting. With an extensive

focus on ‘biomechanics’ (an “anti-realistic system of dramatic production developed in the

Soviet Union in the early 1920s”1) and ‘Theatre of the Straight Line’, Meyerhold sought to draw

more attention to the actor as opposed to what he considered to be the ‘trivial details’ of

Naturalism. Meyerhold’s approaches and style in regard to theatre was coined ‘stylised theatre’,

and soon overtook Naturalistic Theatre as the more popular fashion. Under this style of theatre,

the text becomes more of a foundation (as opposed to a defining feature), upon which the actor

can physically develop.

Context

Meyerhold was born in 1874 in Penza, located just south of Moscow. His mother, Alvina

Davidovna, is said to have been “in love with the theatre: [Meyerhold], too, enjoyed street

1 The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, ‘Biomechanics | Theatre’ (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

<https://www.britannica.com/art/biomechanics-theatre>.

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entertainers, and the travelling fairground shows”2. From a young age, Vsevolod Meyerhold

wanted to be an actor, noted when he reminisces on his childhood: “...already at the age of seven,

grown-ups would find me before the mirror trying to transform my childish little face…the

attraction to the theatre proved to be the most powerful of all”3. Through this, the early thematic

concerns of ‘stylised theatre’ can be seen to have been developed from a young age - the

influence of the “physical nature of the Commedia dell’Arte, circus acts and pantomime” 4 in his

youth impacted greatly upon his later interpretations and development of texts. The Moscow Art

Theatre (founded by Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko and Stanislavski) became Meyerhold’s

‘home’ for honing his theatrical skills - he played several leading roles including “Treplev in The

Seagull… Tiresias in Antigone, Malvolio in Twelfth Night, and Tuzenbach in Three Sisters”5. In

the years following Meyerhold’s departure from the Moscow Art Theatre in 1902, he became

increasingly surrounded by the fruits of Italian theatre and was additionally influenced by the

“expatriate revolutionary politics”6 of early 20th-century Italy.

Naturalism v. Stylised Theatre

The Moscow Art Theatre, due to Stanislavski’s influence, was focused very heavily on a

Naturalistic style of acting. The MAT’s fundamental principle, “Accuracy in reproducing

nature”7, was enacted practically in both design of the stage, and interpretations of playscripts

and texts. Naturalism aims to recreate everything, as accurately as possible, to the exact moment

2 Robert Leach, Makers of Modern Theatre : An Introduction (Routledge 2004).

3 Vsevolod Meyerhold, quoted in Robert Leach, Makers of Modern Theatre : An Introduction (Routledge 2004).
4 Justin Cash, ‘Meyerhold’s Biomechanics for Theatre | the Drama Teacher’ (The Drama Teacher2015)
<https://thedramateacher.com/meyerholds-biomechanics-for-theatre/>.
5 Robert Leach, Makers of Modern Theatre : An Introduction (Routledge 2004).
6 Robert Leach, Makers of Modern Theatre : An Introduction (Routledge 2004).
7 Vsevolod Meyerhold and Nora Beeson, ‘On the Theatre’ (1960) 4 The Tulane Drama Review 134
<https://www.jstor.org/stable/1124884>.

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in time in which the play takes place. From the stage design to the makeup and costumes, and

even to the performance of the actor, everything must replicate the detailed intricacies of reality.

This was one of the reasons why Meyerhold disliked Naturalism so greatly - it left little to the

imagination and forced the actors to “rely on facial expressions, not physical dexterity” 8.

Through Naturalism, Meyerhold believed that intentions and characterisation were greatly

limited to what the playwright wrote, and thus limited the exploration of theatrical texts. The

underlying issue of Naturalism was that although “the actor in the Naturalistic Theatre is

extremely nimble at transforming himself… his methods do not originate from plastic action but

from makeup and an onomatopoeic imitation of various accents, dialects and voices” 9. Other

methods of expression are overlooked in Naturalism and rely solely on the face to convey

meaning. A realistic style of acting does not afford anything to be imagined by the audience,

according to Meyerhold when he laments, “The Naturalistic Theatre denies that the spectator has

the ability to finish a painting in his imagination, or to dream as he does when listening to

music”10.

Yet, to Meyerhold, the audience did possess such an ability, and as such, he chose not to follow a

playscript to its exact descriptions, but rather interpret it in a way that allows for the physicality

of the actors to indicate a certain theme or meaning. As a director, Meyerhold “celebrated the

physicality of the actor”11, and felt as though Naturalism suppressed this creative expression

through its hyperfixation on replicating life. Additionally, stylised theatre allowed for the words

8 Jonathan Pitches, Vsevolod Meyerhold (Routledge 2004).

9 Vsevolod Meyerhold and Nora Beeson, ‘On the Theatre’ (1960) 4 The Tulane Drama Review 134
<https://www.jstor.org/stable/1124884>.
10 Vsevolod Meyerhold and Nora Beeson, ‘On the Theatre’ (1960) 4 The Tulane Drama Review 134
<https://www.jstor.org/stable/1124884>.
11 Jonathan Pitches, Vsevolod Meyerhold (Routledge 2004).

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of the playwright to be interpreted by the director12, and thus Meyerhold held creative liberties

when directing theatrical pieces. The stylisation of the performer, from physicality to minimal

props and setting, allows for the audience to draw their own conclusions, and therefore be a part

of the creative process. In opposition to Stanislavski’s Naturalist “method[s] of psychological

analysis”13 in directing and analysing playscripts, Meyerhold (through the art of the grotesque)

preferred a “strictly synthetical”14 approach, relying solely on the emotional, sensory aspects of

the texts in order to convey meaning. According to Meyerhold, “...the Naturalist director subjects

all the separate parts of the work to analysis and fails to gain a picture of whole”15, highlighting

how Naturalism’s infatuation with constructing a replica of reality causes the playscript to lose

meaning as a whole, and creates more division than unification.

Biomechanics

In order to strengthen his actors in the art of stylised theatre, Meyerhold coined a key practice

known as ‘biomechanics’, which soon became a notable method of developing physicality in

performance. Meyerhold’s performances, based on his interpretations of playscripts, were

inherently physical, and focused on the strength of the collective as opposed to the realism of the

individual. As previously discussed, Commedia dell’Arte played an influential role in

Meyerhold’s treatment of playscripts and was the foundation upon which he constructed the

principles of biomechanics. Furthermore, the concepts of Taylorism, based on the scientific work

of Frederick Winslow Taylor, appealed to Meyerhold, who “compared [biomechanics] to

12 Jonathan Pitches, Vsevolod Meyerhold (Routledge 2004).

13 Min Tian, ‘Meyerhold Meets Mei Lanfang: Staging the Grotesque and the Beautiful’ (1999) 33 Comparative Drama.
14 Min Tian, ‘Meyerhold Meets Mei Lanfang: Staging the Grotesque and the Beautiful’ (1999) 33 Comparative Drama.
15 Vsevolod Meyerhold, quoted in Min Tian, ‘Meyerhold Meets Mei Lanfang: Staging the Grotesque and the Beautiful’ (1999)
33 Comparative Drama.

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[Winslow’s] experiments”16 - specifically, the theorisations of A.K. Gastev, who maintained that

“once the worker attained perfect mastery over the handling of [his tools], he would be able to

run any piece of machinery, no matter how complex”17. Biomechanics focuses specifically on the

movements of the actor and intends to shape performance through action as a form of expression.

To enrich the methods of biomechanics, Meyerhold enlisted professionals to educate his acting

students in various activities, such as “fencing, boxing, Dalcroze eurhythmics, classical ballet,

floor gymnastics, modern dance, ‘tripod positioning’, cabaret dance, juggling, diction, speech

[and] music”18, which Meyerhold considered to be of the utmost importance in developing the

plasticity of an actor.

Workshops under the tutelage of Meyerhold (along with fellow biomechanic instructors such as

Valeri Inkidjinov, Mikhail Korenev and Nikolai Kustov) were rich with biomechanical exercises,

which played to the key études devised by Meyerhold. Études, or short compositions of the

movement, aimed to develop physicality and rhythm within actors. Such études include

“shooting the bow”, “throwing the stone”, and “stab with a dagger”19, and allowed for the

playscript to be interpreted through the lens of physical movement as opposed to set meaning

and text. Each étude was commenced and completed with a dactyl, a circular clapping motion,

which was designed to “[establish] an exact instant of concentration and [provide the actor] with

a timing device to coordinate his actions with the other participants”20. This is reflective of a key

theme of Meyerholdian theatre: ensemble acting, and collective work of the actors. The

principles of biomechanics positioned the actors as workers, and the director as the engineer -

16 Vsevolod Meyerhold, Meyerhold on Theatre (Edward Braun tr, Bloomsbury Methuen Drama 2016).
17 A.K. Gastev, quoted in Mel Gordon, ‘Meyerhold’s Biomechanics’ (1974) 18 The Drama Review: TDR 73.
18 Mel Gordon, ‘Meyerhold’s Biomechanics’ (1974) 18 The Drama Review: TDR 73.
19 Mel Gordon, ‘Meyerhold’s Biomechanics’ (1974) 18 The Drama Review: TDR 73
20 Mel Gordon, ‘Meyerhold’s Biomechanics’ (1974) 18 The Drama Review: TDR 73

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building and moulding the scaffolding of the playscript in order to create a physically

functioning piece of theatre. In order to bring true meaning to a text or playscript, the actor must

work with a series of small sequences, or movements, that in fact act as ‘cogs’ in the ‘well-oiled

machine’ of theatre. The essence of this is expressed very clearly by theatre practitioner Aleksei

Levinski, who says “in biomechanics [you work] with very simple things, very simple

movements. You put them together and you can make something very complicated. But they

are…simple”21.

Theatre of the Straight Line

The concept of acting as a form of improvisation was referred to by Meyerhold in 1905 as

‘Theatre of the Straight Line’, which was soon to be one of his new approaches to interpreting

playscripts (coupled with biomechanics). This involved the “director assimilating the work of the

playwright” and subsequently, the actors would “[use] the director’s thoughts, ideas and

interpretations to make their performances”22, and formed the foundations of Meyerhold’s

approaches to interpreting and understanding playscripts and texts for the remainder of his

career. The ‘straight line’ encompasses the transmission of meaning in a text from the playwright

to the director, to the actor to the audience. The underlying issue, however, with Theatre of the

Straight Line, is that the symbolic meanings hidden in Meyerhold’s grotesque theatre was “not as

easily predictable…as naturalistic drama is”23, thus leaving the spectator often confused and left

to their own imaginations. In deciphering a playscript and staging it, Meyerhold elected to “make

21 Aleksei Levinski, quoted in Jonathan Pitches, Vsevolod Meyerhold (Routledge 2004).

22 Robert Leach, Makers of Modern Theatre : An Introduction (Routledge 2004).
23 Robert Leach, Makers of Modern Theatre : An Introduction (Routledge 2004).

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the audience complicit”24 in the processes of theatre, which breaks the separation between

spectator and actor established firmly in Naturalistic Theatre. The improvisation of actors, under

the guidance of the Theatre of the Straight Line, was encouraged to include exaggeration, in

order to mimic “silent screen performers”25. The exaggeration of movements, as previously

explored, allowed for meaning to be widely demonstrated, and for the audience to have room to

draw their own conclusions.

One example of Meyerhold’s interpretations of a playscript under the Theatre of the Straight

Line is evident in his performance of ‘The Government Inspector’, originally written by Russian

dramatist, Nikolai Gogol. In Meyerhold’s performance, he introduced “certain characters who

don’t appear in Gogol’s original”26, both of whom provide little to no dialogue, and instead are a

menacing physical presence. This highlights the key concepts of Meyerhold’s interpretations and

practices and demonstrates how these new characters can contribute more meaning to a

playscript, despite having no words to speak. Nick Worrall’s article regarding this performance

indicates that the second character, a military captain with no dialogue, was a “puzzle to all who

saw the production”, and that he was treated as merely “invisible…a hole, an empty space in the

play”, which in turn symbolises “an emptiness in its inner world”27. Perhaps this was intended to

be a social commentary, or perhaps Meyerhold simply desired the audience to feel

uncomfortable with this unanticipated character. However, the mere physical presence of the

actor created enough character to form this unease within the spectators and created a new

meaning within the playscript that was previously not present. A modern production of J.M.

24 Robert Leach, Makers of Modern Theatre : An Introduction (Routledge 2004).

25 Nick Worrall, ‘Meyerhold Directs Gogol’s Government Inspector’ (1972) 2 Theatre Quarterly.
26 Nick Worrall, ‘Meyerhold Directs Gogol’s Government Inspector’ (1972) 2 Theatre Quarterly.
27 Nick Worrall, ‘Meyerhold Directs Gogol’s Government Inspector’ (1972) 2 Theatre Quarterly.

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Barrie’s ‘Peter Pan’, directed by Sally Cookson in 2017, contains several elements of

Meyerhold’s aesthetics, although not being closely related to his work. Such examples include

the concept of physical, ensemble performance - themes of childhood wonder and innocence are

frequently created through the collective physicality of the performers, which differentiates it

from previous performances of the same playscript. Thus, Meyerholdian aspects of interpretation

of playscript, and physical plasticity of the performer are evident, even in the modern age.

Conclusion

To conclude, Meyerhold’s transition from Naturalistic Theatre to stylised theatre was the main

catalyst behind his processes in interpreting playscripts. He believed that theatre should be

focused on the physicality of actors and the transformation of playscripts, as opposed to

Stanislavski’s methods of replicating reality onstage. To Meyerhold, this removed meaning and

symbolism from performances and left little room for actors to perform and improvise in their

theatrical art. Under Meyerhold’s stylised theatre, less importance is placed on the intricacies of

the text, and focuses more on the movement of the performers. Through this, the director and

actors were able to work more closely together to create a functioning piece of theatre and work

within their interpretations to bring a different lens to the original playscript. Meyerhold’s

practices of ‘biomechanics’ and ‘Theatre of the Straight Line’, although questioned by critics

during his context, are still widely used today, and help to develop and strengthen the physical

nature of a performer. Through this, an actor can build the physical foundations of a character,

from which they can then construct the emotional complexities often evident in humanity.

Meyerhold approached and interpreted playscripts and texts through a focus on physicality, thus

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leading to a more symbolic meaning being created that was unable to be achieved through

Naturalism.

Bibliography

Cash J, ‘Meyerhold’s Biomechanics for Theatre | the Drama Teacher’ (The Drama Teacher2015)

<https://thedramateacher.com/meyerholds-biomechanics-for-theatre/>

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Gordon M, ‘Meyerhold’s Biomechanics’ (1974) 18 The Drama Review: TDR 73

Leach R, Makers of Modern Theatre : An Introduction (Routledge 2004)

Meyerhold V, Meyerhold on Theatre (Edward Braun tr, Bloomsbury Methuen Drama 2016)

Meyerhold V and Beeson N, ‘On the Theatre’ (1960) 4 The Tulane Drama Review 134

<https://www.jstor.org/stable/1124884>

Pitches J, Vsevolod Meyerhold (Routledge 2004)

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, ‘Biomechanics | Theatre’ (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

<https://www.britannica.com/art/biomechanics-theatre>

Tian M, ‘Meyerhold Meets Mei Lanfang: Staging the Grotesque and the Beautiful’ (1999) 33

Comparative Drama

Worrall N, ‘Meyerhold Directs Gogol’s Government Inspector’ (1972) 2 Theatre Quarterly

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