Meyerhold, Vsevolod Emilievich (1874–1940/3), Russian actor and director, who after training under
Nemirovich-Danchenko joined the
Moscow Art Theatre on its foundation in 1898, making his first appearance as Treplev in
Chekhov's The Seagull. In 1902 he left to found his own company, with which he toured the provinces until 1905, in which year he was invited by
Stanislavsky to take charge of a newly opened studio theatre. It was soon apparent that his conception of the actor as a puppet to be controlled from outside by the director (a concept he formulated under the influence of Gordon
Craig) was totally opposed to the
naturalism of the Moscow Art Theatre style, and the studio closed. From 1906 to 1907 Meyerhold worked with Vera
Komisarjevskaya, but again came into conflict with the actors when he tried to put his theories into practice, and was forced to leave. For some years he directed productions at the Imperial theatres in St Petersburg. After the Revolution he was the first theatre director to offer his services to the new government. He was also the first to stage a Soviet play,
Mystery-Bouffe (1918) by
Mayakovsky, also directing his
The Bed-Bug (1929) and
The Bath House (1930). In 1936, with the establishment of
Socialist Realism, Meyerhold, who was already out of favour because of his
Formalism, was dismissed, and in 1938 he was imprisoned. He was rehabilitated in 1955 and is now recognized as one of the most important directors of his time. The date and circumstances of his death are still unknown.