Meyerhold (1874-1940), born in Russia in a German family, begins his career before the Revolution, initially in Moscow, then in Saint-Pétersburg, and during while assembling spectacles of propaganda in decorations constructivistes& It continues it will make a round in Paris in 1930 and since 1935, instead of following the directives of the mode and to create spectacles on collectivization and industrialization, it assembles the traditional ones and is interested only in the beauty. That will be worth the Soviet lightnings to him and the life will cost him. In 1939, it is stopped, tortured, constrained "to acknowledge" its culpability (it is shown trotskysme and of espionage) and carried out in secrecy on February 2, 1940. His wife meanwhile is assassinated by police officers. They will be 'rehabilitated' only in 1955 and the family will have an official confirmation of it only in 1988!
...I am crazy. No, I am senile. No, I am tired and sick old man. I already have this big Theatre Biomechanics directory!
Well, this is the problem -- it's big. Secondly, it's BM by itself, but here at vTheatre I would like to combine both Method and BM... and therefore the material must be organized differently. See act.vtheatre.net : fundamentals of acting!
Well, maybe I am not that crazy after all. ...
There are only four pages in this mini-directory: intro, notes, ps...
Meyerhold (sum): Russian theatrical producer and director. He acted with the Moscow Art Theatre in 1898 and formulated his avant-garde theories of symbolic theater. Opposed to the naturalism of K. Stanislavsky, he directed plays in a nonrepresentational style that became known as biomechanics. After 1908 he staged plays in St. Petersburg that drew on commedia dell'arte and Asian theater. He was noted for his direction of The Magnificent Cuckold (1920) and for his controversial production of The Queen of Spades (1935). Condemned by Soviet critics for his artistic individuality and opposition to socialist realism, he was arrested and imprisoned in 1938 and was probably executed. (Britannika)
I recommend, read the old DM pages first.
Now, about the master-teacher, about Meyerhold. I believe that he already sneaked onto my pages somewhere (maybe StageMatrix -- directing). So, I do not want to introduce him again. I simply want to list the characters:
Meyerhold, the Director, Meyer (his name among friends)
Anatoly, myself
Stanislavsky
Students: Acting -- Mike, Directing -- Tracy
Public
Scenes from Mikado, 12th Night, Don Juan (Spring 2003): read the scripts!
Plus, the ugly scenes Meyerhold makes during my rehearsals.
Storyline: Meyerhold reaches peace with Stanislavsky, the happy end.
Since it ends happily, it must be a comedy.
NEW:
2007 --
Summary
Of course, I have no time to write the "scenes" with Meyer (Master) and Stanislavsky (Teacher). Although in THR221 Intermediate Acting Meyerhold is master-teacher. [Stanislavsky himself used this literaly device]
BM: The history of this science goes back to its' definitional beginning. Kinesiology is a combination of the Greek for 'to move' (kinein) and 'logos' (discourse). Kinesiologists - those who discourse on movement-in effect combine anatomy, the science of structure of the body, with physiology, the science of function of the body, to produce kinesiology, the science of movement of the body. *
Notes
Acting I * Acting IIIInstead of a historical note: Russia, this rebelious bastard of Europe, went through the same rapid transformations as the West, but in extremes. You can recall evolutions of Picasso from realism to the blue period to cubism -- and the see the same paterns in Meyerhold's development. The 20th century was the end of the high modernism and a few decades of revolutions. Biomechanics is a reaction to the new age (futurism, constructivism, formalism); how the true artist could ignore the changing reality? It was the new wave of the Industrial Age, when the Machine became common, but just public anymore (sociologically, the jump from railroads to cars is a qualitive step). Electricity itself change the theatre spectacle forever. Should I mention Eistein with his theory of relativity (1905)? Not the society was changing, but the individual -- the extreme "materialist" theories (communism) asked for demystification of man. What else could we expect from the times of cinema and flying machines?
Biomechanics is an approach to actor training and to theatre developed by Russian actor, director and teacher, Vsevolod Meyerhold during the 1920’ and 1930’s. For political reasons, Biomechanics was forced underground after Meyerhold’s execution by the Soviet regime in 1940.
Textbook? Áèîìåõàíèêà – ïðàêòè÷åñêàÿ âåùü è ïåðåäàåòñÿ òîëüêî îò ó÷èòåëÿ ê ó÷åíèêó. [Àëåêñåé Ëåâèíñêèé] (ru)
Two years ago I placed "ACTORS speak" poll on my webpages. "What is MORE important in Acting?" was the question. 1360 votes recieved by Oct 1, 2004. Judge for yourself:
Talent 494 (36%)
Skills 57 (4%)
Luck 32 (2%)
Knowledge 43 (3%)
Connections 32 (2%)
Training 55 (4%)
Love for Acting 488 (35%)
Persistence 106 (7%)
Good Looks 18 (1%)
Hustling 35 (2%)
Even if we put "knowledge" (3%), "training" (4%) and "skills" (4%) we will have only 11%! I do not know any other professional field where the learning could be counted for so little! Even in arts! Where goes the most of the time of a concert pianist? How many hours of performances are next to preporation? I guess, "talant" and "love for acting" do not ask for training...
I started my biomechanics pages to point that "talant" is this "love for acting" -- and learning to act is everything. Well, the 11% do have a chance to become professionals. This is sounds right...
Anatoly
BM
Biomechanics (BM) is a METHOD of physical acting. If the Method Acting (Stanislavsky) approaches the process from "inside out," BM -- from "outside in"...
This is a new gate to BM directory @ GeoAlaska (Geocities-Yahoo), which replaced Theatre w/Anatoly @ theGlobe. Well, there are some changes. Bad news: many pages got lost during the relocation. The good news: I paid for the new address vtheatre.net and hope that it prevent me from the pain of losing pages. Now, the original Biomechanics directory (BM) is still at the Tripod and I am not working much on it... because I want to bring the two together: BM + Method = BioMethod! I try to do in act.vtheatre.net (do you see the banner?)
I do BM in my classes for years, but never thought about this "Anatoly's Method"...
To avoid any charges in not representing Meyerhold the right way, call it "Biomechanics w/Anatoly"!
Think in pix!
[ the "subjects pages" -- acting space and time, bodymachine, mise-en-scene for actors and etc. -- are in the old (main) BM directory: filmplus.org/biomx ]
...
I hear myself screaming in class: "Visualization!"
What do I mean?
Physicalization and Vocalization!
"I don't see it!" Stanislavsky cried too.
Well, friends, this is SHOW business! (I try not to use word "audience" -- from listeners; now you can imagine what kind of actors the Greeks were).
Here Method Acting usually runs into first big problem. Did we say "from inside out" (Method)? Psychological Realism... What if it's only "inside"? What if we do not see what is inside?
MEYER. Stop, stop it! What is that? This naked woman! I like art, but what does she has to do with biomechanics? Who did put her here?
ANATOLY. Me, sir. To demonstrate the forth point of acting cycles; the full stop. That actors must think not only about the dynamic elements, but also the static once -- that's why "positions and poses"...
MASTER. But a woman, not a man?
ANATOLY. She is more "bio"... man is more "mechanics"...
MASTER. It could be destructive, you know. You didn't do at "his" method pages.
ANATOLY. I will put some closeups there too. I'm working on it, sir.
...
PS
BM -- antirealistic system of dramatic production developed in the Soviet Union in the early 1920s by the avant-garde director Vsevolod Meyerhold. Meyerhold drew on the traditions of the commedia dell'arte and kabuki and on the writings of Edward Gordon Craig for his system, in which the actor's own personality was eliminated and he was entirely subordinated to the director's will. Coached as gymnasts and acrobats and emphasizing pantomime rather than words, the actors threw themselves about in puppetlike attitudes at the director's discretion. For these productions the stage was exposed to the back wall and was then furnished with harshly lit, bare sets consisting of scaffoldings, ladders, and ramps that the actors used. Biomechanics had lost its appeal by the late 1920s, though Meyerhold's emphasis on external action did become an element in Soviet actor-training techniques. (Britannica)
Medical: Biomechanics deals with all aspects of biological systems. Life expresses itself in movement, mechanics describes movement - this lies behind the term biomechanics. Movement occurs only when forces are acting. These can often not be recognized let alone appraised by the naked eye. The magnitude and direction of forces acting on the body contain valuable information for orthopedists, coaches, shoe manufacturers, ergonomists, neurologists, car makers and many other specialists in the broad interdisciplinary field of Biomechanics.
* Spring 2004 updated. Next time -- Spring 2005. The old BM directory is not directly connected to my live classes (THR221 Intermediate Acting) and I will be working on pages over there between the Theatre UAF offerings.
I have too much on my plate right now -- and, regardless how much I wish to complete BM textbook, I do not have a few months to work on the manuscript. In addition, I keep enlarging the body of the "Biomechanics for Method Actors" with new parts (most recent -- Yoga for warmups more or less familiar to students). Besides, so many compositional elements I had in mind are not developed ["Symposium" -- the dialogues with "Master" (Meyer)].
I need them for the style (or tone) of the narrative; I would Meyerhold's voice to lead the "story"... BTW, what is the story?
I suspect that the problem is in "BioMethod" (THR121 Fundamentals of Acting); the field of acting is not established. The gods, other characters and even the four (five) acts structure isn't defined (still "parts" and "chapters" instead of scenes). I hope that at some moment the editing will take care of the mess.
Big issue: it is a book, textbook, or workbook?..
[ I'll keep the questions to myself in Notes and other directories: Theatre Theory, The Book of Spectator, Virtual Theatre. ]
House is Pregrant with Stage!
Mini-test (what do you know about the Fundamentals of Acting):
* What are 5W's?
* "Acting Areas" (floor plan) -- 9 squares?
* Main elements of dramatic composition -- ?
* 6 principles by Aristotle (Poetics)
* Who is Stanislavsky and what are the main points of "Method Acting"?
* What is "pre-acting"?
* What is "Actor's Text"?
* Do you have a comedy monologue to audtion for BM class?
Meyerhold: "Actor lives on stage a double life, he lives in two worlds -- in the world of his role, he created; and in a world of his own `I.' He is an executive, a manager; sometimes an adventure seeker, sometimes a prophet, he knows how he has to re-distribute all he needs." Eiseinsten's Notes on Meyerhold.
How do you understand this statement? Post your "100 words" to the BM 12night List *
WEBMASTER: Anatoly, please, please, let me fix the layout! Let me hyperlink everything! Stop throwing new images at me! You have no regard for readers, sir! Let me workout the templates! Let me clean the pages, I beg you! Please, please, we all ned it -- some peace...
ANATOLY: Sorry, folks. I have to do it. So many really important things are missing. The stories, symbols, heroes. Everything should be visible -- why can we have it in pictures, like the Greeks? Gods of motion, angels of space and time, sons and daughters of demons, the struggle, the passions... I know that the forms are out there, I simply have no time to notice and recognize them. I hear the sounds, the music...
SMIRNOV. [Teasing her] Silly and rude! I don't know how to behave before women! Madam, in my time I've seen more women than you've seen sparrows! Three times I've fought duels on account of women. I've refused twelve women, and nine have refused me! Yes! There was a time when I played the fool, scented myself, used honeyed words, wore jewellery, made beautiful bows. I used to love, to suffer, to sigh at the moon, to get sour, to thaw, to freeze. . . . I used to love passionately, madly, every blessed way, devil take me; I used to chatter like a magpie about emancipation, and wasted half my wealth on tender feelings, but now--you must excuse me! You won't get round me like that now! I've had enough! Black eyes, passionate eyes, ruby lips, dimpled cheeks, the moon, whispers, timid breathing--I wouldn't give a brass farthing for the lot, madam! Present company always excepted, all women, great or little, are insincere, crooked, backbiters, envious, liars to the marrow of their bones, vain, trivial, merciless, unreasonable, and, as far as this is concerned [taps his forehead] excuse my outspokenness, a sparrow can give ten points to any philosopher in petticoats you like to name! You look at one of these poetic creatures: all muslin, an ethereal demi-goddess, you have a million transports of joy, and you look into her soul--and see a common crocodile! [He grips the back of a chair; the chair creaks and breaks] But the most disgusting thing of all is that this crocodile for some reason or other imagines that its chef d'oeuvre, its privilege and monopoly, is its tender feelings. Why, confound it, hang me on that nail feet upwards, if you like, but have you met a woman who can love anybody except a lapdog? When she's in love, can she do anything but snivel and slobber? While a man is suffering and making sacrifices all her love expresses itself in her playing about with her scarf, and trying to hook him more firmly by the nose. You have the misfortune to be a woman, you know from yourself what is the nature of woman. Tell me truthfully, have you ever seen a woman who was sincere, faithful, and constant? You haven't! Only freaks and old women are faithful and constant! You'll meet a cat with a horn or a white woodcock sooner than a constant woman!
POPOVA. Then, according to you, who is faithful and constant in love? Is it the man?
SMIRNOV. Yes, the man!
POPOVA. The man! [Laughs bitterly] Men are faithful and constant in love! What
an idea! [With heat] What right have you to talk like that? Men are faithful and constant! Since we are talking about it, I'll tell you that of all the men I knew and know, the best was my late husband. . . . I loved him passionately with all my being, as only a young and imaginative woman can love, I gave him my youth, my happiness, my life, my fortune, I breathed in him, I worshipped him as if I were a heathen, and . . . and what then? This best of men shamelessly deceived me at every step! After his death I found in his desk a whole drawerful of love-letters, and when he was alive--it's an awful thing to remember!--he used to leave me alone for weeks at a time, and make love to other women and betray me before my very eyes; he wasted my money, and made fun of my feelings. . . . And, in spite of all that, I loved him and was true to him. And not only that, but, now that he is dead, I am still true and constant to his memory. I have shut myself for ever within these four walls, and will wear these weeds to the very end. . . .
[ two monologues -- in class -- from "The Bear" by Chekhov ]
Monologues/Scenes Pages
Spring 2007 : NEW class list/forum [google.com/group/acting2]
