Before Biomechanics
- Vsevolod Meyerhold’s career began as an actor performing roles in Constantin Stanislavski’s Moscow Art Theatre productions at the turn of the 20th century
- He left the Moscow Art Theatre in 1902 and moved on to directing plays, but was invited back by Stanislavski three years later to “experiment with nonrealistic styles, realizing that one approach could not work for every play” (Crawford)
- Meyerhold believed in a presentational style of acting, as opposed to Stanislavski’s representational style of performance.
- He was influenced by the physical nature of the Commedia dell’Arte, circus acts and pantomime.
Theory of Biomechanics
- Meyerhold believed movement to be the most powerful form of theatrical expression
- Biomechanics soon became the principle behind a non-realistic, stylised and movement-centred system of actor training developed by between 1913 and 1922
- Like Jerzy Grotowski’s poor theatre, in Meyerhold’s system the actor was paramount and central focus.
- It can be seen as an integral part of both actor training and performances, though the well-known “etudes” were never seen on stage during a performance and were relevant only as part of the actor training program
- His system of actor training differed with that of Stanislavski’s in which the actor first created a character from within (internal character creation)
- In contrast, Meyerhold’s system instructed the actor to develop a character from without, first employing external movements
- His actors were trained in gymnastics, circus movement and ballet.
Biomechanics in Practice
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- Each movement in was important and deliberate – superfluous movements on stage were eliminated.
- For the actor this involved:
- preparation for an action
- the state of mind and body at the moment of action, and
- the reaction to what follows (Styan)
- The basic skills of a biomechanical actor were:
- precision
- balance
- coordination
- efficiency
- rhythm
- expressiveness
- responsiveness
- playfulness and discipline (Pitches)
- Post-1917 (Russian Revolution), Meyerhold began to use industrial-type language, describing actor movement on stage in terms of efficiency.
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- Meyerhold was influenced by the American industrialist Frederick Winslow Taylor, who believed a worker in a factory would be more efficient if he broke down his tasks into a series of separate actions.
- He interpreted Taylor’s concept of efficiency of action into an efficiency of actor movement for the stage.
- He was making direct links with Soviet-Marxist philosophy, connecting the efficiency of action in workers for means of production (labour) with the efficiency of movement for the actor in terms of means of expression.
Constructivist Staging
- Biomechanics was perfectly suited to one of Meyerhold’s other theatrical achievements, that of scenic constructivism
- Constructivism was already a popular movement in the visual arts and he adapted its form for theatrical set design in many of the productions he directed
- Constructivist theatre sets typically included treadmills, ramps, catwalks, trapezes, turning wheels, multiple levels and machines
- The most famous Meyerhold production that showed the world both biomechanical acting and constructivist set design was The Magnanimous Cuckold (1922). Another well-known production was The Government Inspector (1926)
Downfall
- Increasingly, his non-realistic, avant-garde, experimental theatre productions came under close scrutiny from government censors, as much of his work was risky and opposed to Stalin’s official policy for the arts, that of socialist realism
- Consequently, he was arrested and executed by firing squad in February 1940.
Sources:
Pitches, J., Vsevolod Meyerhold, (Routledge Performance Practitioners).
Styan, J., Modern Drama in Theory and Practice 3.
Crawford, J, Acting: In Person and in Style.
Brockett, O., History of the Theatre.
Rudnitsky, K., Russian and Soviet Theatre.
unet.com.mk/mian/english.htm
http://old.meyerhold.ru/en/biography/
can someone explain what the elements of meyerhold’s theory are and how they are presented in melodrama??
Farida, thanks for leaving your comment on The Drama Teacher. There are no direct connections between the Russian practitioner Vsevolod Meyerhold and that of Melodrama. Meyerhold’s work in Russia was primarily in the early 20th century, after the demise of Melodrama (which was really only popular on the stages of France, England, and the United States). The only connections between the two would be, like Melodrama, Meyerhold worked primarily with archetypes for characterisation, i.e. oversimplified characters, and secondly, through his theory of biomechanics Meyehold worked with actors undertaking deliberately exaggerated movements. But, to be honest, these are pretty flimsy connections between Meyehold and Melodrama. Hope this helps! – Justin
Thank you so much, really cleared things up!
Political Drama is one of the most effective arts of coming in contact with people. As Bangladesh is a product of liberation war, her drama segment is built on masters of this line.
Were he influenced by Stanislavski in any way?
Yes, I think so
despite what this text says,
It contrasted clearly with Stanislavski’s system, in which the actor first created a character from within (internal character creation).
– Meyerhold’s biomechanics instructed the actor to develop a character from without, first employing external movements.
In his later work Stan did work on building a character from without.
You may wish to add a film to your collection is a film we shot in Moscow to illustrate some of the biomechanic techniques by Meyerhold. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nu6z9ZSaR4Y They material was shot for the film “Meyerhold Theatre and the Russian Avant-garde” a 50 minute film bout he life and work of Meyerhold.
how about the Basic Concept of theatre, do you have any information about it? thanks.
Sorry Mark, I’m not sure exactly what you mean by basic concept of theatre?
Thnx for knowledge of meryhold techniques