The Routledge Companion to Vsevolod Meyerhold

15A Theatre Company as a Meyerholdian Experiment in Grotesque

Paul Stebbings and Phil Smith

DOI: 10.4324/9781003110804-24

Introduction

In 1980 a tiny ‘fringe’ company, TNT (The New Theatre), was formed by three ‘physical theatre’ actors (including Paul Stebbings) and a writer (Phil Smith). The three performers had diverse training backgrounds including circus arts, dance, and Stebbings’s training with Grotowski’s actors. They had met at Triple Action Theatre, a physical theatre company based in Mansfield (UK). After leaving Triple Action they formed TNT and called in Smith (who had previously set up Bristol Gate Theatre in 1977 with Stebbings) to work on the last few days of rehearsal of TNT’s first production. The following chapter takes ...