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Meyerhold's Woe to Wit (1928)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2021

Extract

Vsevolod Meyerhold first considered producing Alexandr Griboyedov's Woe from Wit in 1924, the year of its centennial, but because of other demands, he dropped his plans. Then following the premiere of The Inspector General in December 1926, again faced with a serious repertory crisis, he turned to Griboyedov's comedy once more.

Meyerhold continually stressed that the classics should not be treated as museum pieces—something to admire but not touch. He believed that the only way to make these plays meaningful for a modern audience was to chip away the thick encrustation of false tradition and find new interpretations that would be closer to the genuine intent of the authors. “A play,” he wrote, “is simply the excuse for the revelation of its theme on the level at which that revelation may appear vital today.”

For his interpretation of Griboyedov's comedy, Meyerhold decided to go back to the author's earliest plan, even changing the title to Griboyedov's original and more personal Woe to Wit.

Type
Meyerhold Section
Copyright
Copyright © 1974 The Drama Review

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Footnotes

The title photograph is from “The Great Banquet” scene in Episode 14.

*

Words in bold print are from verbatim transcripts made during Meyerhold's rehearsals from late November 1927 to March 1928, just a few days before the premiere on March 12.

The author would like to thank M. Schaefer for her assistance in gathering the materials necessary for the play reconstruction and N. Szalavitz for her help with translations.