Vsevolod Meyerhold free essay sample

Meyerhold was a founder-member of the Moscow Art Theatre, est. 1898. * He registered for an acting class at the Moscow Philharmonic Society’s Music and Drama School, in the course of Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, co-founder of the Moscow Art Theatre. * He was accepted into the troupe of the Moscow Art Theatre where he would act from 1898 to 1902. * He performed in many plays including: The Seagull (Treplyev), The Three Sisters (Tuzenbach), Antigone (Teiresias) and The Death of Ivan the Terrible (Ivan the Terrible). Interesting Information * He was widely recognized as a driving force in the Russian Symbolist movement, along with Stanislavski. * He was heavily influenced by the work of Stanislavski. The two were close friends although they quarrelled, because of their different approaches to theatre. * Stanislavski never actually allowed his plays to be performed, he hated Meyerhold’s work. Meyerhold’s Methods * He explored theatre as a kinaesthetic spectacle where an actor understood the inner and outer rhythm of the character. We will write a custom essay sample on Vsevolod Meyerhold or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Much like Stanislavski, Meyerhold was uninterested in the naturalistic theater of the 19th  century, he preferred a theater that could reveal â€Å"inner dialogue by means of the music of plastic movement. †Ã‚   * He saw movement, gesture, space, rhythm, and music as the true â€Å"language of the theater,† focusing on the â€Å"form† onstage. Key Principles The key theoretical principles of Meyerholds anti-illusionistic theatre and approaches to acting are: * non-naturalistic theatre  stylisation * rhythm and music * the mask * the grotesque * biomechanics * Chaplin and montage (adapted from Pitches, 2003, p. 46). Biomechanics * acquiring the skill of expressive movement: to improve awareness of tension- relaxation; to subordinate movements to rhythm; to shift the balance; to fix positions – foreshortening (which Meyerhold called â€Å"raccoursi†); * developing kinesthetic vision (which Meyerhold called â€Å"mirrorizing†); * working wit h objects (sticks, balls); Communicating within a group and controlling disposition in space; * carrying out the orders of director as quickly and correctly as possible. Biomechanical Etude A Biomechanical etude is a miniature storyline made up of three parts intention, realization, and reaction. Each of these parts, in turn, comprises four stages of movement: otkas, posyl, stoika, and tormos. * Otkas literally, â€Å"the refusal† is a set-up or preparation for the main movement of the sequence, enacted by a movement in the opposite direction, like a spring. Posyl literally, â€Å"the sending† is the main action of the sequence the execution of the movement set up by the otkas. * Stoika literally, â€Å"the stance† is the completion of the movement a stop-motion pose that serves both as the closure of the posyl and as the starting point for the next stage of the etude. * Tormos literally, â€Å"brake† or â€Å"resistance† is the element underlying the other three parts of the movement sequence the physical control which allows fluid, precise completion of the action.