Meyerhold by Edward Braun

Author:Edward Braun
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 1979-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

60 The Meyerhold Theatre in the 1920s

The first performance, timed to coincide with the third anniversary of the October Revolution, took place on 7 November 1920 at the former Sohn Theatre on what is now called Mayakovsky Square. The derelict, unheated auditorium with its flaking plaster and broken seats was more like a meeting-hall which was wholly appropriate, for it was in the spirit of a political meeting that Meyerhold conceived the production. Admission was free, the walls were hung with hortatory cartoons and placards, and the audience was showered at intervals during the play with leaflets. Also derived from the meeting was the declamatory style of the actors, who mostly remained motionless and addressed their speeches straight at the audience. Critics rightly compared the production with Greek tragedy, which furnished the precedent for the static manner of delivery and for the chorus commenting on the peripeteia of the drama. They extended from the stage down into the orchestra pit, some in costume and some in everyday clothes as though to merge performance and public. The chorus was assisted in the task of guiding and stimulating audience reaction by a claque of actors concealed throughout the auditorium.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.