For one reporter present at the opening ceremony on September 1922, GITIS was ʻa place unique on the planet, where the science of theatre is studied and theatre itself is being constructed. Exactly—“science” and not “art”—“constructed” and not “created”.
It was during Meyerholdʼs short period at GITIS that he and Eisenstein worked together most closely, and one phase of the particular synthesis of revolutionary theatre was clearest. The work they were able to do together combined Futurism, circus and commedia dellʼarte in a unique way. Futurism typically dislocates conventional sense to release new kinds of meaning; circus stimulates the adrenalin with its boldness and spectacle; and commedia dellʼarte creates narrative through action. United in Meyerhold and Eisensteinʼs work, they generated a uniquely theatrical energy, first in the projected Heartbreak House, which Eisenstein wanted to stage with lions and tigers in cages on stage throughout, then with the production of Alexander Sukhovo-Kobylinʼs nineteenth-century black farce, The Death of Tarelkin. Though sometimes considered unsuccessful, this production nevertheless appealed to some important spectators, including Moscow Party boss, Lev Kamenev, and it was important for its director and his assistant in cementing the revolutionary style, which Eisenstein described as ʻa strong and colourful grotesque, moving in places into pure clowningʼ.
