Aleksi-Meskhishvili, Vladimir

Aleksi-Meskhishvili, Vladimir Sardionovich 

(also known as Alekseev-Meskhiev and Lado Meskhish-vili). Born Feb. 16 (28), 1857, in Tiflis; died Nov. 24, 1920, same place. Georgian actor and stage director. People’s Artist of the Georgian SSR (1930, posthumously).

Aleksi-Meskhishvili joined the Tiflis Georgian Drama Troupe in 1881. In 1887–90 and 1906–10 he acted in Russian theaters, including the Moscow Art Theater. He was the director of the Tiflis theater from 1890 through 1896 and from 1910 until his death, and of the Kutaisi Theater from 1897 through 1906.

Aleksi-Meskhishvili’s work was in the style of heroic romanticism. He created highly emotional tragic characters: Levan Khimshiashvili in Eristavi’s Homeland, Gocha in Tsereteli’s The Crafty Tamara, Neznamov in Ostrovskii’s Guilty Without Guilt, Caius Gracchus in Monti’s play of the same name, Uriel Acosta in Gutzkow’s play of the same name, and Hamlet in Shakespeare’s tragedy of the same name. In 1890 he began to direct plays. He was a prominent teacher of stagecraft. The Kutaisi Drama Theater is named after Aleksi-Meskhishvili.

REFERENCE

Bukhnikashvili. G. “Gruzinskii teatr ν period revoliutsii 1905–1907 gg.” In the collection Pervaia russkaia revoliutsiia i teatr. Leningrad, 1956.