What is Meyerhold's biomechanics?

Among the great theater directors, the name of Vsevolod Emilevich Meyerhold stands somewhat apart. Perhaps, the blame for this is a certain incomprehensibility and an overly vivid individuality. Or the Soviet authorities tried to retouch mistakes and tried not to mention the surname of the talented man who was shot in 1940. But he contributed a grandiose contribution to the development of the theater. The system created by the great creator for the training of actors has forever entered the theatrical usage called "Meyerhold's biomechanics".

Changing traditions

The biomechanics developed by Vsevolod Meyerhold is not just one of the most important training systems for the actor, which appeared at the beginning of the 20th century and found its development in the works of numerous followers and pupils. By its nature, V. Meyerhold's biomechanics is a complex and intriguing creative process that should be interpreted in a broader context. In the dual space of the semantic component of the actor's preparation, several hypostases seem to be present. One of them is interested in the precise mechanical functioning of the human body - rational and predictable. Another component seems to be trying to expand the natural framework, increase the bar of development, achieve the ideal.

The very revolutionary nature of the method, known as Meyerhold's biomechanics, is that its creator considered the work of a playwright and director to be only a preparatory stage. The whole emotional load of the performance was to be performed jointly by the most active actors - the actor and the viewer.

Meyerhold (1874-1940): brief biography

It is impossible to understand the prerequisites for the emergence of a method, not having become acquainted with the life of its creator. He was born in a cured Catholic family. He was educated at the Moscow Theater and Music School (VI Nemirovich-Danchenko's class). He worked in the Moscow Art Theater, and later organized a theater troupe in Kherson.

Since 1905 he worked in Moscow. As a director, he was invited by Stanislavsky (Theater Studio on Povarskaya Street), and later by VF Komissarzhevskaya (Drama Theater). During this period, Meyerhold staged a series of performances in a symbolic manner - the characters' characters were not worked out, and the plot was passed conditionally.

In the early 20-ies, a new authorial concept was formed, which was energetically promoted by Meyerhold - biomechanics. The exercises used during the rehearsals made it possible to achieve a well-coordinated work of the group of artists. At the heart of the method was not the interaction of personalities, but the state of a whole society. He was looking for the embodiment of the ideal of collectivism. The stated laws of constructivism and biomechanics denied the movement from the inner world to visual mapping. Meyerhold believed that external factors play a decisive role, and through them it is necessary to convey to the viewer experiences and the inner world of the heroes. The trained actor-wagon, who knows rhythm and perfectly controls his body - that's what the director needed to realize his plans. Over the implementation of his idea, the director worked until the last days.

In June 1939, VE Meyerhold was arrested by the NKVD on false charges. Under torture, he confessed to anti-Soviet activities, but later he was able to renounce his testimony. The verdict was issued on February 1, 1940. Enforced the next day. In 1955, Vsevolod Emilevich was rehabilitated (posthumously).

In the footsteps of the puppets

Meyerhold's work was greatly influenced by the works of the German playwright and writer Heinrich von Kleist (1777-1811), in particular his essay on the puppet theater. The author believed that human capabilities do not exist independently, but are managed by higher powers. All people in his understanding were only puppet beings subordinate to God. The break of this connection could lead to the liberation of man and return him to a state of complete primitive harmony. Although the author admitted that such an event could give rise to unimaginable chaos. The biomechanics of Meyerhold largely relies on the statements made by Kleist.

The director was able to form a training system in which the actor could achieve perfection, discipline his body. Being both a creator and material for the embodiment, control and control in your plastic is the task that Meyerhold's theatrical biomechanics sets for itself.

Not only theater

The unique method of preparing the actors was forgotten for many years and was not studied by specialists. In this you can see the political reasons for the persecution that accompanied the genius director at the end of his life: Stalin's purges, which resulted in the liquidation of the Meyerhold Theater, the arrest of himself and the shooting in February 1940. In principle, up until now, Meyerhold's biomechanics could not have come down. The method, struck from the official history of the theater, temporarily disappeared from professional discourse.

Despite the declassification of the archives, in the 90s all the subtleties of the original method were lost. Some details were preserved only in the writings of students and followers who, during the life of the director, attended a master class on Meyerhold's biomechanics. He himself in his notes did not leave an explanation about the principles and foundations of his system, and the methods used in our time are based solely on the recollections of eyewitnesses.

Social aspects

The influence of biomechanics on the artistic formation and growth of the possibilities of the actor is enormous. But this does not limit its potential. It is possible that the system has not only artistic value. Although Meyerhold himself never let the theatrical reasons out of his sight, he believed that the potential of biomechanics is much larger. In order to understand this point of view, it is necessary to consider what is Meyerhold's biomechanics, in a historical context.

The system was created as a result of the director's experiments with traditional theatrical genres: comedy dell'arte or Japanese kabuki theater . But at the same time the methodology was created at a time when Meyerhold fully supported communist ideas. He wanted to convey the means of theatrical art not only the perception of the world by the artist. Class struggle, social problems, the creation of a new human type - these issues were dealt with by Meyerhold. Biomechanics briefly and concretely reflected the revolutionary ideas of its time - joint management, collective labor and others. But at the same time she did not cease to be a genius in the artistic sense, an excellent physical training and theatrical method.

Biomechanics and Socomechanics

To fully understand the essence of the process under consideration, it is necessary to return to the time when Meyerhold's biomechanics were formed. One of his opponents was the brilliant ideologue of the revolution and the new theater, AV Lunacharsky, a theater critic, and the first people's commissar of enlightenment of Soviet Russia. He was often critical of the director's experiments, but considered him, undoubtedly, a talented and original creative person. It was Lunacharsky who introduced the concept of "sociomechanics" - a system designed to study human nature in its natural social environment and thereby create real scenic images of a contemporary.

Despite the obvious opposition of the two schools, Vsevolod Emilievich largely agreed with his counterpart. Their views on the duty and purpose of art coincided. Both converged on the fact that the best person is characterized by class consciousness and position in society, and not by individual qualities of psychology. Biomechanics, developed by Meyerhold, was a reflection of the revolution on the theatrical stage. That's how the creator of the system imagined its purpose.

From the scientific point of view

On the basis of what internal messages did Meyerhold's biomechanics appear? The theatrical system was based in part on knowledge, far from the sphere of art. In its foundation were the studies of the American engineer Frederick Taylor (1856-1915). His theory of effective work organization was applied on the theatrical stage. Accuracy of movements of actors and their ergonomics were achieved by exhausting exercises and divisions into game cycles: intentions, actions, reactions. This shows a direct analogy with Taylor's "working cycles".

A whole series of advanced knowledge of his time was used by Meyerhold's biomechanics. The system of exercises for the preparation of actors was based on research on the psychology of Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), used the works of VM Bekhterev (1857-1927) in the field of reflexology. The psychological state of the play's hero as a set of reflexes can be traced in the production of the play "The Forest" by AN Ostrovsky: the hero's feelings are replaced by jumps. Each new rise of a lover is higher than the previous one. The premiere of this performance took place at the Meyerhold Theater in 1924.

Biomechanics Studio

Attempts by director Meyerhold to find a suitable room for classes on his own system were reflected even in the caricatures of those years. On one of them, the four-armed Meyerhold clutching at all the buildings to which he can reach. It was the Alexandrinsky Theater, and Suvorinsky, and the movie company, in which he wanted to create his own studio. As a result, the room was found and entered the history of the theater as Studio on Borodino.

The curriculum included boxing, fencing, gymnastics, classical and modern dances, singing, diction, juggling. In addition to this, the history of theater, economics and biology was taught. Given the variety of subjects studied, we can safely say that Meyerhold's biomechanics is a complete system for learning the actor.

Actor of a new type

Requirements for the actors were tough. They had to unite on the stage a dramatic game and Chinese opera, choreography and balancing, gymnastics and clownery. Meyerhold set such tasks. Biomechanics briefly and in a short time allowed to achieve the desired effect. Thanks to her, each of the actors could constantly improve and improve the luggage of their expressive means. Vsevolod Emilievich believed that the theater does not tolerate immobility, it always hurries and recognizes only modernity. And the theatrical actor should not mindlessly keep up with the times, but must search and experiment.

Experiment

The created studio should not become the basis of the new theater and did not undertake the tasks of the acting school. Its purpose was different - to become a sort of theatrical laboratory. Vsevolod Meyerhold's biomechanics demanded the study of the actor's plasticity and the stage movement, improvisation and strict adherence to the director's plan.

Creative experiments within the framework of the new system were not limited to working with actors. Drawing inspiration from the aesthetics of the circus, the fairground theater, comedy dell'arte, the director rebuilt the inner space. He refused the wings and division into the stage and auditorium. For the actors, he created three-dimensional metal structures, which he called "game machines". As an illustration - the production of the play "The Magnanimous Cuckold" after the play of F. Krommelink (1886-1970). Dressed in blue overalls, the actors played on stage with no scenery surrounded by gymnastic shells. In other performances, multi-level platforms, scaffolding, staircases and scaffolding connecting to the auditorium were used.

Practical embodiment

One of the proposed exercises struck his students. "Jump to the chest" - a well-known exercise, illustrating the opportunities that provided biomechanics VE Meyerhold. His simplest embodiment is reflected in the name itself. One of the actors in a static pose stands on stage, putting one foot in front of the other. The second student runs up and jumps right at him. At the same time he expose the legs bent at the knees forward and clasps the neck of the partner. The first actor has time to pick up one or two hands under the knees of the jumping.

An analysis of this sketch shows how both actors should be coordinated in space. Their movements are brought to automaticity. The strength of the jump, dynamics and flight trajectory are completely subordinated to the logic of collective fulfillment of the goal set by the director. In this case, each of the actors performs their individual task, aimed at achieving a common, joint result. This was the main training load, which was carried by the biomechanics of Vsevolod Meyerhold.

Nowadays

Despite the past years, Meyerhold's system of training actors has not lost its appeal. It is still the subject of discussion and study in theater circles. It can be said that at the appearance of the biomechanics of VE Meyerhold, he was much ahead of time. Many of the students who absorbed Vsevolod Emilievich's system in his studio became famous actors and directors. By their efforts, the plans of the illustrious master were passed on to the subsequent actors' generations and did not stop in time, together with the fatal shot that sounded dull in the Lubyanka cellars in the winter of 1940.