Introduction

Ideas of what is ‘new’ in theatre and its scholarship are often contentious, which is why in our use of the word in the title ‘Meyerhold in New Contexts’ authors have opted to be guided by Ezra Pound’s maxim ‘Make it New’: in this sense, claims of originality and novelty are informed less by sharp and sudden shifts in thinking and more by an effort to understand a given field by approaching it afresh, endeavouring ‘to show new sides of reality to people who had become accustomed to seeing only one side’. The term Modernism is typically used to describe experimental works of art produced at the turn of the twentieth century, authored by predominantly white and male artists who operated in the main European cities and New York. In processes of transmission across borders, theatre and performance techniques do not remain unalloyed but are rather bound to mix with local artistic practices.