Vsevolod Emil'evich Meyerhol'd

Russian director. Born in Penza to a German-Jewish businessman. Dropped out of Moscow University's Faculty of Law and entered the Moscow Philharmonic Society's School of Music and Drama in 1896. In 1908, he participated in the founding of the Moscow Art Theatre as an actor, appearing in such productions as The Seagull, Three Sisters, and Twelfth Night, but was dissatisfied with the theatre's realism and naturalism and left. In 1902, he founded a regional touring theatre company in Kherson, and experimented with various aspects as a director and actor. In 1906, he became the chief director of the Komissarzhevskaya Theatre in St. Petersburg, and from 1908 he worked at the Alexandrinsky Theatre and the Mariinsky Theatre. While directing plays such as The Storm and Masquerade, he pursued stylized theatre under the influence of the Meiningen Duke's Theatre and Commedia dell'Arte, and experimented with mystical and symbolic theatre in works such as Blok's The Fairgrounds. He enthusiastically accepted the October Revolution (1917), and under the slogan "Theatre October", he aimed to create innovative theater and rose to a leading position in the theater world. In 1920, he founded the Meyerhold Theater in Moscow, and re-evaluated classical plays with innovative direction that incorporated techniques from aj-production theater and circus acts. He also practiced a unique physical training method called "biomechanica", which had a great influence on avant-garde art movements around the world. He was branded a formalist during the Stalin era, and his theater was closed in 1938, he was arrested the following year, and executed in 1940, but his honor was rehabilitated in 1955. His famous productions include "Mysteria-Bouffe", "The Bedbug", "The Forest", "The Commissioner", "The Inspector General", and "La Traviata".

[Nobuyuki Nakamoto]

"Meyerhold" by Kyoko Sato (1976, Hayakawa Publishing)" ▽ "The Overall Picture of Meyerhold" by Edward Brohn, translated by Masaharu Ura (1982, Shobunsha Publishing)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

ロシアの演出家。ペンザのドイツ系ユダヤ人の実業家の家に生まれる。モスクワ大学法学部を中退、1896年モスクワ音楽愛好(フィルハーモニー)協会の音楽演劇学校に入る。98年にモスクワ芸術座の創立に俳優として参加し、『かもめ』『三人姉妹』『十二夜』などに出演したが、同座の写実主義・自然主義的傾向に飽き足らず、退団。1902年ヘルソンで地方巡業劇団を創立し、演出家、俳優としてさまざまな実験を行った。06年にはペテルブルグのコミサルジェフスカヤ劇場の主任演出家になり、08年からアレクサンドリンスキー劇場やマリンスキー劇場で活躍。『雷雨』『仮面舞踏会』などを演出しながら、マイニンゲン公劇団やコメディア・デラルテなどの影響のもとに様式演劇を追求し、ブロークの『見世物小屋』などで神秘的、象徴主義的演劇の実験を行った。十月革命（1917）を熱狂的に受け入れ、「演劇の十月」のスローガンのもとに革新的演劇を目ざし、演劇界の指導的地位についた。1920年にはモスクワにメイエルホリド劇場を創設、アジ・プロ劇の手法やサーカス芸を取り入れた斬新(ざんしん)な演出で古典劇の再評価上演をも行うとともに、独創的な肉体訓練「ビオメハニカ」を実践して、世界の前衛的な芸術運動に多大の影響を与えた。スターリン時代に形式主義の烙印(らくいん)を押され、38年劇場閉鎖、翌年逮捕、40年に処刑されたが、55年に名誉回復された。『ミステリア・ブッフ』『南京虫(なんきんむし)』『森林』『委任状』『検察官』『椿姫(つばきひめ)』などの名演出がある。

［中本信幸］

『佐藤恭子著『メイエルホリド』（1976・早川書房）』▽『エドワード・ブローン著、浦雅春訳『メイエルホリドの全体像』（1982・晶文社）』

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