Theatre

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Theater Groups in India and Bangladesh

Eminent Theatre Personalities In Bangladesh

Famous persons: In West Bengal (India)

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Bengali theatre also means theatres produced in the official language of the nation-state Bangladesh (became independent from Pakistan in 1971) along with the theatres produced in Bengali in West Bengal, India (West Bengal is at the west of Bangladesh border) - thus, it is supposed to carry the identity and culture of a particular area.

Sanskrit theatre and derivatives

Ancient period With the Gupta annexation of the greater portion of Bengal by the 4th century AD, the Aryan culture of the upper Gangetic plain penetrated into the region. The flourishing trade of Bengal led to the rise of urban centres patronising art and culture. It is quite logical to believe that in such urban centres, performances of classical Sanskrit theatre would be a part of cultural life, at least among the urbane classes of the society. A few literary evidences strongly support this assumption. The most important of these is a Sanskrit play titled Lokananda by chandragomi (6th c), a reputed Buddhist grammarian from Bengal. Lokananda is structured in four acts with a prologue. The play must have been popular, for I-Tsing states, 'people all sing and dance to it throughout the five countries of India'.

Bengal was connected with the Aryan culture until the mid-8th century, during which period Harsavardhan of Northern India, Bhaskaravarman of Kamarupa, Yashovarman of Kanyakubja and Lalitaditya of Kashmir exerted influence. Harsavardhan a renowned Sanskrit playwright, was a patron of Bengali theatre. Bhavabhuti, the author of Malatimadhava, was the court-poet of Yasovarman. However, the most interesting account of a performance is recorded by the Kashmiri poet Kalhan in his Rajatarangini. According to him, Jayapida, the grandson of Lalitaditya, witnessed a performance given by a highly skilled dancer named Kamala in the temple of Kartikeya in the city of pundravardhana. The performance was given in accordance with Bharat's Natyashastra (a Sanskrit treatise on theatre ascribed to Bharat).

The Senas, with their strong Brahmanical and south Indian background, were patrons of performances derived from Sanskrit tradition. King Vijayasena (c 1096-1159) and Bhavadev Bhatta (minister of King Hari Varman and a noted scholar) sponsored deva-dasis in the temples they established. Highly skilled in song, dance and music in the classical tradition as formulated in the Natyashastra, deva-dasis performed publicly in the temples and privately at royal courts. There are references in religious tracts of the period to nata (actor) as a separate class. Halayudh Mishra's sekhshubhodaya, a historical kavya or poem written in Sanskrit, also mentions nata (actors) and nartaki (danseuse) in the Sena court. Vidyapati's Purus Pariksa refers to a performance by an actor, Gandharva, in the court of King Laksmanasena. Prevalence of classical Sanskrit theatre in the Sena court can also be inferred from Govardhan Acharya's work, Aryasaptashati. Shlokas 174 and 538 of Aryasaptashati clearly refer to acting, curtain, and actress, which obviously imply the existence of Sanskrit theatre in the court of the Sena rulers.

Ragatarangini, a critical work on music composed in 1160 by Lochan Pandit, refers to an earlier text, Tambaru-nataka, a critical work on dramaturgy. A significant play written in this period is a Sanskrit performance-text, Gitagovindam (c 1200 AD) by Jaydev, the court-poet of Laksmanasena. In the Gitagovindam, Jaydev blended the existing popular tale of radha and krishna with one of the uparupakas of the classical Sanskrit tradition and set a new trend, which was to be echoed in the centuries. Jaydev performed the Gitagovindam as a singer with his wife Padmavati as a dancer.

The Gitagovindam has twelve parts and features three characters: Krishna, Radha, and Sakhi. The characters may be performed by three dancers or by a single dancer. The dancers sing their lines simultaneously as they dance with mimetic gestures (angika abhinaya). Between songs, the sutradhar (narrator) speaks verse narration, describing and commenting on the action, and introduces the characters and describes their mental states. The structure follows the pattern of Sanskrit theatre. The text resembles sangit-natakas (verse-plays) of the Nepalese court. The Gitagovindam and the Aryasaptashati bear evidence that in Laksmanasena's court, the love theme of Radha and Krishna, performed by courtesans, was a regular feature. Jaydev's text stood out as the model, to be emulated by the later poets in vernacular during the course of the following centuries.

From the 16th century onwards, literary evidence appears in greater number. Towards the end of the same century, King Laksmana Manikya of Bhulua composed two plays, Vikhyata-vijaya and Kuvalayashva-charita, his son, Amara Manikya composed Vaikuntha-vijaya and a court poet, Kavitarkik, composed Kautuka-ratnakara. Krishnachandra Roy, tributary king of Nabadwip, continued the tradition in the 18th century. Chandi, unfinished play of court poet Bharatachandra, based on the mythological tale of Mahisasura Vadha (the slaying of the buffalo shaped asura), was influenced by Sanskrit dramaturgy, although the play is not entirely in Sanskrit. Although the play was never performed, the court of Krishnanagara is known to have produced a similar play, Chitra-yajna by Vidyanath Vachaspati, in 1777/78.

Rupa Goswami, one of Chaitanya's close associates based at Vrindavan, composed three Sanskrit plays, Bidagdha Madhava (1524), Lalita Madhava (1529), Dankeli-kaumudi (1549), as well as a critical work on Sanskrit dramaturgy, Nataka Chandrika. Jagannathavallabha by Ramananda Ray, Chaitanyachandrodaya by Kavikarnapur and Sangit Madhava by Govinda Das, were written outside Vrindavan. The plays by Rupa Goswami and Ramananda Ray are based on mythological tales of Krishna. Kavi Karnapur's play is based on the life of Chaitanya. Only Jagannathavallabha is known to have been performed. All save Govinda Das's play were translated into Bangla in the 17th century.

Modern translations of Sanskrit play-texts continued in the 19th century. A few of these are Krishna Mishra's Prabodhachandrodaya, kalidasa's Abhijnana-shakuntala (1848) and Ratnavali (1849). Scholars in Bengal composed Sanskrit texts in the modern period. Amara-mangala by Panchanan Tarkaratna (published c 1913), Nala-damayantiya and Syamantakoddhar by Kalipada Tarkacharyam are examples. Sanskrit theatre influenced Bangla plays initially. Jogendranath Gupta's Kirtibilas, credited as the first original Bangla play and the first tragedy, uses Nandi, the Sutradhara and Nati. The first Bangla play to be performed on stage, Ramnarayan Tarkaratna's Kulinkulasarvasva (composed in 1854, performed in 1857), uses the Nandi, the Sutradhara and the Nati.

With rising social consciousness and effects of western education, the conventions of Sanskrit theatre were seen to be ineffective in portraying the social ethos of the period. Michael Madhusudan Dutt (1824-1873), the literary giant of this period, bridged the transition to an urban theatre independent of Sanskrit influence by introducing techniques of European dramaturgy. From the mid-19th century onwards, Sanskrit theatre and its derivatives ceased to be an effective force in the theatre of Bengal.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

সেলিম আল দীন

সেলিম আল দীন (Selim Al Deen) (১৮ই আগস্ট, ১৯৪৯-১৪ই জানুয়ারি, ২০০৮) একজন প্রখ্যাত বাংলাদেশী নাট্যকার ও গবেষক। স্বাধীনতা উত্তর বাংলাদেশের নাট্য আন্দোলনে তাঁর গুরুত্বপূর্ণ ভূমিকা রয়েছে। তিনি নাটকের আঙ্গিক ও ভাষার উপর গবেষণা করেছেন। বাংলা নাটকের শিকড় সন্ধানী এ নাট্যকার ঐতিহ্যবাহী বাংলা নাট্যের বিষয় ও আঙ্গিক নিজ নাট্যে প্রয়োগের মাধ্যমে বাংলা নাটকের আপন বৈশিষ্টকে তুলে ধরেছেন।

নাট্যকার সেলিম আল দীন জন্মেছিলেন ১৯৪৯ সালের ১৮ই আগস্ট ফেনীর সোনাগাজী থানার সেনেরখিল গ্রামে৷ মফিজউদ্দিন আহমেদ ও ফিরোজা খাতুনের তৃতীয় সন্তান তিনি৷ শৈশব ও কৈশোর কেটেছে ফেনী, চট্টগ্রাম, সিলেট, ব্রাহ্মণবাড়িয়া ও রংপুরের বিভিন্ন স্থানে৷ বাবার চাকরির সূত্রে এসব জায়গার বিভিন্ন স্কুলে পড়াশোনা করেছেন তিনি৷ সেলিম আল দীন ১৯৬৪ সালে ফেনীর সেনেরখিলের মঙ্গলকান্দি মাধ্যমিক বিদ্যালয় থেকে এসএসসি পাস করেন৷ ১৯৬৬ সালে ফেনী কলেজ থেকে এইচএসসি পাস করেন৷ ১৯৬৭ সালে ঢাকা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের বাংলা বিভাগে ভর্তি হন৷ দ্বিতীয় বর্ষে পড়ার সময় ঢাকা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় ছেড়ে গিয়ে ভর্তি হন টাঙ্গাইলের করোটিয়ায় সাদত কলেজে৷ সেখান থেকে স্নাতক পাসের পর ঢাকা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের বাংলা বিভাগ থেকে এমএ ডিগ্রি লাভ করেন৷ ১৯৯৫ সালে জাহাঙ্গীরনগর বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় থেকে মধ্যযুগীয় বাংলা সাহিত্যে নাটক এর উপর গবেষণা করে পিএইচডি ডিগ্রি লাভ করেন সেলিম আল দীন।

সেলিম আল দীনের বাবা ছিলেন সরকারি কর্মকর্তা। সেই সূত্রে ঘুরেছেন বহু জায়গা। ছোটবেলা থেকেই বই পড়ার প্রতি ছিল তাঁর চরম ঝোঁক। তাই দূরে কাছে নতুন বই দেখলেই পড়ে ফেলতেন এক নিমেষে। ১৯৬৭ সালে ঢাকা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ে বাংলা বিভাগে ভর্তি হওয়ার পর লেখক হওয়ার বিষয়ে পাকাপোক্ত সিদ্ধান্ত নিয়ে ফেলেন তিনি। লেখক হিসাবে তাঁর আত্মপ্রকাশ ঘটে ১৯৬৮ সালে, কবি আহসান হাবিব সম্পাদিত দৈনিক পাকিস্তান পত্রিকার মাধ্যমে। আমেরিকার কৃষ্ণাঙ্গ মানুষদের নিয়ে লেখা তাঁর বাংলা প্রবন্ধ নিগ্রো সাহিত্য ছাপা হয় ওই পত্রিকায়।

বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ে পড়ার সময়েই নাটকের সঙ্গে জড়িয়ে পড়েন সেলিম আল দীন, যুক্ত হন ঢাকা থিয়েটারে। প্রাতিষ্ঠানিক পড়াশোনা শেষে যোগ দেন বিজ্ঞাপনী সংস্থা বিটপীতে, কপি রাইটার হিসাবে। ১৯৭৪ সালে তিনি জাহাঙ্গীরনগর বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের বাংলা বিভাগে প্রভাষক হিসাবে যোগ দেন। ওই বছরই বেগমজাদী মেহেরুন্নেসার সঙ্গে বিয়ে হয় তাঁর। তাঁদের একমাত্র সন্তান মইনুল হাসানের অকালমৃত্যু হয়। মধ্যযুগের বাংলা নাট্যরীতি নিয়ে গবেষণা করে জাহাঙ্গীরনগর বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় থেকে পিএইচডি ডিগ্রি লাভ করেন। বাংলাদেশে একমাত্র বাংলা নাট্যকোষেরও তিনি প্রণেতা। আদিবাসী জনগোষ্ঠীর জীবনাচরণকেন্দ্রিক এথনিক থিয়েটারেরও তিনি উদ্ভাবনকারী।

জাহাঙ্গীরনগর বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের নাটক ও নাট্যতত্ত্ব বিভাগের প্রতিষ্ঠা সেলিম আল দীনের হাত ধরেই। ঢাকা থিয়েটারের প্রতিষ্ঠাতা সদস্য সেলিম আল দীন ১৯৮১-৮২ সালে নাট্য নির্দেশক নাসির উদ্দিন ইউসুফকে সাথী করে গড়ে তোলেন গ্রাম থিয়েটার।

তাঁর প্রথম রেডিও নাটক বিপরীত তমসায় ১৯৬৯ সালে এবং টেলিভিশন নাটক আতিকুল হক চৌধুরীর প্রযোজনায় লিব্রিয়াম (পরিবর্তিত নাম ঘুম নেই) প্রচারিত হয় ১৯৭০ সালে। আমিরুল হক চৌধুরী নির্দেশিত এবং বহুবচন প্রযোজিত প্রথম মঞ্চনাটক সর্প বিষয়ক গল্প মঞ্চায়ন করা হয় ১৯৭২ সালে। তিনি শুধু নাটক রচনার মধ্যে সীমাবদ্ধ থাকেননি, বাংলা ভাষার একমাত্র নাট্য বিষয়ক কোষগ্রন্থ বাংলা নাট্যকোষ সংগ্রহ, সংকলন, প্রণয়ন ও সম্পাদনা করেছেন। তার রচিত হরগজ নাটকটি সুয়েডীয় ভাষায় অনূদিত হয় এবং এ নাটকটি ভারতের রঙ্গকর্মী নাট্যদল হিন্দি ভাষায় মঞ্চায়ন করেছে।

সেলিম আল দীনের প্রথমদিককার নাটকের মধ্যে সর্প বিষয়ক গল্প, জন্ডিস ও বিবিধ বেলুন, মূল সমস্যা, এগুলোর নাম ঘুরে ফিরে আসে। সেই সঙ্গে প্রাচ্য, কীত্তনখোলা, বাসন, আততায়ী, সয়ফুল মূলক বদিউজ্জামান, কেরামত মঙ্গল, হাত হদাই, যৈবতি কন্যার মন, মুনতাসির ফ্যান্টাসি ওচাকা তাকে ব্যতিক্রমধর্মী নাট্যকার হিসেবে পরিচিত করে তোলে। জীবনের শেষ ভাগে নিমজ্জন নামে মহাকাব্যিক এক উপাখ্যান বেরিয়ে আসে সেলিম আল দীনের কলম থেকে।

পুরস্কার ও স্বীকৃতি

বাংলা একাডেমী সাহিত্য পুরস্কার (১৯৮৪)
ঋষিজ কর্তৃক প্রদত্ত সংবর্ধনা (১৯৮৫)
কথক সাহিত্য পুরস্কার (১৩৯০ বঙ্গাব্দ)
একুশে পদক (২০০৭)
জাতীয় চলচ্চিত্র পুরস্কার (১৯৯৩)
অন্য থিয়েটার, কলকাতা কর্তৃক প্রদত্ত সংবর্ধনা
নান্দিকার পুরস্কার, আকাদেমি মঞ্চ কলকাতা, (১৯৯৪)
শ্রেষ্ঠ টেলিভিশন নাট্যকার (১৯৯৪)
খালেকদাদ চৌধুরী সাহিত্য পুরস্কার (২০০১)
জাতীয় চলচ্চিত্র পুরস্কার (একাত্তরের যীশু, শ্রেষ্ঠ সংলাপ) ১৯৯৪
মুনীর চৌধুরী সম্মাননা (২০০৫)
কথাসাহিত্য পুরস্কার (২০০২)
একুশে পদক (২০০৭)

Monday, October 12, 2009

American Drama

Introduction
American Literature: Drama, literature intended for performance, written by Americans in the English language. American drama begins in the American colonies in the 17th century and continues to the present. See also Drama and Dramatic Arts.
Most American plays of the 18th and 19th centuries strongly reflected British influence. In fact, no New York City theater season presented more American plays than British plays until 1910. The reasons behind this phenomenon are complex, but a common language and the ready availability of British plays and British actors offer the most obvious explanation.
Although the British repertory dominated the American stage for so long, American drama had begun to diverge from British drama by the time of Andrew Jackson’s presidency, from 1828 to 1836. British plays, which typically reflected the attitudes and manners of the upper classes, were by then in conflict with more egalitarian American values. Despite this growing divergence, British actors, theater managers, and plays continued to cross the Atlantic Ocean with regularity, and most American plays copied British models until the early 20th century. For this reason some critics claim that American drama was not born until the end of World War I (1914-1918).
By the end of the 19th century American drama was moving steadily toward realism, illuminating the rough or seamy side of life and creating more believable characters. Realism remained the dominant trend of the 20th century in both comedies and tragedies. American drama achieved international recognition with the psychological realism of plays by Eugene O’Neill and their searing investigation of characters’ inner lives. As the century advanced, the number of topics considered suitable for drama broadened to encompass race, gender, sexuality, and death.
Beginnings: 1600s and 1700s
Because settlement was sparse and living conditions were arduous in the American colonies, little theatrical activity took place before the mid-18th century. The first-known English-language play from the colonies, Ye Bare and Ye Cubb (1665), is lost. The play’s existence is known as a result of the controversy it aroused in the Virginia Colony, where a lawsuit was filed to prevent the play from opening. Several colonies had passed antitheater laws based on a Puritan belief that the seventh of the Ten Commandments prohibited dancing and stage plays.
The oldest surviving American play is Androborus by Robert Hunter (1714). Hunter, the New York Colony’s governor, published the cartoonish play as an attack on his political enemies, despite New York’s antitheater law. Intended for a reading public rather than a viewing audience, it established a tradition of political satire that became common fare in American drama of the 1700s.
Before more American plays had appeared, a company of British professional actors established a touring circuit in the 1750s with an all-British repertory. By the early 1760s this group was known as The American Company and American writers occasionally submitted plays to the actors, though few were produced. But in 1767 The American Company staged The Prince of Parthia, a tragedy by Thomas Godfrey, in Philadelphia. This is usually considered the first professional production of a play written by an American. The play itself is indistinguishable from imitations of the works of English dramatist William Shakespeare that abounded in Britain in the late 1700s and early 1800s.
During the American Revolution (1775-1783), most professional actors moved to Jamaica. Satirical plays were written as propaganda during the war, either supporting British control of the colonies or attacking it. British soldiers presented some of the pro-British plays. Few other plays were performed during the war years, although they were widely read and recited. The Battle of Brooklyn (1776), which was pro-British and written anonymously, presented rebel generals, including George Washington, as drunks, lechers, and cowards. The Blockade (1775), written by British General John Burgoyne, was performed in British-occupied Boston. The play’s ridicule of American soldiers was subsequently burlesqued in The Blockheads; or the Affrighted Officers (1776), written by an anonymous playwright identified only as a patriot. The Blockheads depicts British soldiers as so terrified of the Americans that they soil themselves rather than go outside to use the latrine. Mercy Otis Warren, who created several biting satires of the British, may have written The Blockheads as well. She remained the strongest American dramatic voice of the Revolution and championed the rebel cause in The Group (1775), a play that describes Britain, called Blunderland, as a mother who eats her own children. The Patriots (1775?), a play by Robert Munford, was unusual in its appeal for a neutral stance and its attacks on both sides for their intolerance.
By the mid-1780s professional actors were touring in America again. In 1787, when the Constitution of the United States was being written, Royall Tyler wrote The Contrast, the finest American play of the 18th century. This five-act comedy owes much to The School for Scandal (1777) by British playwright Richard Sheridan. Like Sheridan’s play, The Contrast is a comedy of manners that satirizes the customs of the upper classes. It compares British and American fashions and values and ultimately sides with what it sees as American candor and patriotism over British duplicity and artificiality. A masterful element of the play is the Yankee character Jonathan, whose honest innocence stands in stark contrast to the rumor-mongering and gossiping of the play’s British characters and the American characters who emulate them.
The 1700s also saw the first American play written by a woman reach the professional stage. The melodramatic comedy Slaves in Algiers (1794) by Susanna Rowson reflects troubles at that time with pirates along North Africa’s Barbary Coast who interfered with shipping and ran a white slave trade that involved selling girls and women into prostitution. Although the villain was treated comically, the conflict and resolution in this play indicated a move toward melodrama, a form of drama that became extremely popular in the 19th century.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Vsevolod Meyerhold

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Life and work
Vsevolod Meyerhold was born Karl Kasimir Theodor Meyerhold in Penza on 28 January (10 February) 1874 into the family of a Russian-German wine manufacturer Emil Meyerhold. Though he was by no means from a poor family, he was the last of many children.
After completing school in 1895 he studied law at Moscow University but never completed his degree. On his 21st birthday, Meyerhold converted from Lutheranism to Orthodox Christianity and accepted "Vsevolod" as an Orthodox Christian name. His acting career began when in 1896 he became a student of the Moscow Philharmonic Dramatic School under the guidance of Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, co-founder of the Moscow Art Theatre. At the MAT, Meyerhold played 18 roles such as Vasiliy Shuiskiy in Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich and Ivan the Terrible in The Death of Ivan the Terrible (both by Aleksey Tolstoy), and Treplev in Chekhov's The Seagull.
After leaving the MAT in 1902, Meyerhold participated in a number of theatrical projects, as both a director and actor. Each of his projects served as an arena for experiment and creation of new staging methods. Meyerhold was one of the most fervent advocates of symbolism in theatre, especially when he worked as the chief producer of the Vera Kommisarzhevskaya theatre in 1906-1907. He was invited back to the MAT around this time to pursue his experimental ideas.

Alexander Golovin's portrait of Meyerhold.
Meyerhold continued his search for theatrical innovation during the decade 1907-1917, while working with imperial theatres in St. Petersburg, introducing classical plays in an innovative manner, and staging works of controversial contemporary authors like Fyodor Sologub, Zinaida Gippius, and Alexander Blok. In these plays Meyerhold tried to return acting to the traditions of Commedia dell'arte, rethinking them for the contemporary theatrical reality. His theoretical concepts of the "conditional theatre" were elaborated on in his book On Theatre in 1913.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 made Meyerhold one of the most enthusiastic activists of the new Soviet Theatre. He joined the Bolshevik Party in 1918 and became an official of the Theatre Division (TEO) of the Commissariat of Education and Enlightenment, forming an alliance with Olga Kameneva, the head of the Division in 1918-1919. Together, they tried to radicalize Russian theatres, effectively nationalizing them under Bolshevik control. Meyerhold came down with tuberculosis in May 1919 and had to leave for the south. In his absence, the head of the Commissariat, Anatoly Lunacharsky, secured Vladimir Lenin's permission to revise government policy in favor of more traditional theatres and dismissed Kameneva in June 1919[1].
After returning to Moscow, Meyerhold founded his own theatre in 1922, which was known as The Meyerhold Theatre until 1938. Meyerhold fiercely confronted the principles of theatrical academism, claiming that they are incapable of finding a common language with the new reality. Meyerhold’s methods of scenic constructivism and circus-style effects were used in his most successful works of the time: Nikolai Erdman's The Mandate, Vladimir Mayakovsky’s Mystery-Bouffe, Fernand Crommelynck's The Magnanimous Cuckold, and Alexander Sukhovo-Kobylin’s Tarelkin’s Death. Mayakovsky collaborated with Meyerhold several times, and it is said that Mayakovsky wrote The Bed Bug especially for him; Meyerhold continued to stage Mayakovsky's productions even after the latter's suicide. The actors participating in Meyerhold’s productions acted according to the principle of biomechanics (only distantly related to the present scientific use of the term), the system of actor training that was later taught in a special school created by Meyerhold.
Meyerhold gave initial boosts to the stage careers of some of the most distinguished comic actors of the USSR, including Igor Ilyinsky and Erast Garin. In his landmark production of Nikolai Gogol's The Government Inspector (1926): "Energetic, mischievous, charming Ilyinsky left his post to the nervous, fragile, suddenly freezing, grotesquely anxious Garin. Energy was replaced by trance, the dynamic with the static, happy jesting humour with bitter and glum satire".[2]
Meyerhold's acting technique had fundamental principles at odds with the American method actor's conception. Where method acting melded the character with the actor's own personal memories to create the character’s internal motivation, Meyerhold connected psychological and physiological processes and focused on learning gestures and movements as a way of expressing emotion outwardly. Following Stanislavski's lead, he argued that the emotional state of an actor was inextricably linked to his physical state (and vice versa), and that one could call up emotions in performance by practicing and assuming poses, gestures, and movements. He developed a number of body expressions that his actors would use to portray specific emotions and characters.

Russian stamp depicting Meyerhold (left) and Stanislavski (right), 2000.
Meyerhold inspired revolutionary artists and filmmakers such as Sergei Eisenstein, who studied with Meyerhold and whose films employed actors who worked in Meyerhold’s tradition. Eisenstein cast actors based on what they looked like and their expression, and followed Meyerhold’s stylized acting methods. In Strike!, which portrays the beginnings of the Bolshevik revolution, the oppressive bourgeois are always obese, drinking, eating, and smoking, whereas the workers are athletic and chiseled.

Meyerhold's mugshot, taken at the time of his arrest by Soviet police
Meyerhold was strongly opposed to socialist realism, and in the beginning of the 1930s, when Joseph Stalin clamped down on all avant-garde art and experimentation, his works were proclaimed antagonistic and alien to the Soviet people. His theatre was closed down in January 1938; ailing Constantin Stanislavski, then the director of an opera theatre now known as Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theatre, invited Meyerhold to lead his company. Constantin Stanislavski died in August 1938; Meyerhold directed his opera for nearly a year until his arrest in Leningrad June 20, 1939. His wife, actress Zinaida Raikh, was found dead in their Moscow apartment on 15 July 1939. Later that year he was brutally tortured[3] and forced to make a confession that he worked for Japanese and British intelligence agencies, which he later recanted in a letter to Vyacheslav Molotov.
The file on Meyerhold contains his letter from prison to Molotov: "The investigators began to use force on me, a sick 65-year-old man. I was made to lie face down and beaten on the soles of my feet and my spine with a rubber strap... For the next few days, when those parts of my legs were covered with extensive internal hemorrhaging, they again beat the red-blue-and-yellow bruises with the strap and the pain was so intense that it felt as if boiling water was being poured on these sensitive areas. I howled and wept from the pain.
"When I lay down on the cot and fell asleep, after 18 hours of interrogation, in order to go back in an hour's time for more, I was woken up by my own groaning and because I was jerking about like a patient in the last stages of typhoid fever." (From the letter to V. Molotov on January 13 1940).
He was sentenced to death by firing squad on February 1, 1940. The date of his death is unclear; some sources say he was executed on February 2, 1940. The Soviet government cleared him of all charges in 1955, during the first wave of de-Stalinization.

Pages