ABSTRACT
By the time Vsevolod Meyerhold attempted to direct Nikolai Gogol's play in 1926, he had built himself a considerable reputation for meeting such theatrical challenges. From his early days on tour with the Fellowship, through the double life he led in St Petersburg, to the founding of his own theatre in Moscow, he had staged well over 100 productions, and proved himself to be an exceptionally versatile director. One key objective for this chapter must be to place Gogol in context, to draw out his intentions as a playwright, and to summarise the contents of the play itself. Gogol was born in the Ukraine in 1809, at a pivotal time in Russian history. In the case of Meyerhold, the designation was not just making a philosophical point. It was a practical indication of the extent to which Meyerhold was prepared to adapt Gogol's text to his own ends.
