ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that Meyerhold two of the powerful 'symbolic devices' to transform the theatre were indeed music and musicality. Meyerhold used musical terminology to describe exactly the pace, movement and gestures of any staged work, and referred to his schema for a production as a 'partitura'. The kind of musical education that Meyerhold puts forward for the training and rehearsal practices in his 'straight theatre' is based on a musically inspired notion of both improvisation and structure and a highly developed autonomous sense of musicality both as an individual and an ensemble but without the strict hierarchies of a symphony orchestra. Meyerhold was an outspoken fan of the films of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, who 'encapsulated the physical clarity and economy of craft Meyerhold was seeking his production'. Meyerhold thus insists on the necessity for the actor to be familiar with musical terminology, just as they need to be in control of their physical skills.
