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Teaching Meyerhold

Article · July 2016

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David Roy
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mask 2.0 - teaching meyerhold with david roy

Mask 2.0 - Teaching Meyerhold with David Roy

This article argues for importance of Meyerhold in earlier learning years and offers practical methodologies to engage with
Meyerhold.

mask 2.0 - teaching meyerhold with david roy

Teaching Meyerhold with David Roy

David Roy

Lecture in Drama and Creative Arts Education, University of Newcastle

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In the modern day drama and theatre curriculum, there is a focus on skills – looking at form and elements. Drama curricula
are open to allow for a variety of theories and practitioners to be introduced to students. It is usually in Year 12 that specific
choices are mandated. However there is often an engagement with the knowledge and methods of practitioners such as
Stanislavski, Brecht and Boal in the earlier years. This article argues for importance of Meyerhold in these earlier learning
years and offers practical methodologies to engage with Meyerhold.

Vsevolod Meyerhold was a Russian theatre director and auteur, a student, competitor and colleague of
Stanislavski(Symons, 1973). Vsevolod Meyerhold is not as familiar a theatre directorial name with the general public as say
Stanislavski, Brecht or Brook. Indeed his own student Eisenstein has superseded him in the public consciousness through
his film work. Meyerhold is, however, one of the most influential directors of modern day theatre (Pitches, 2003). He is often
referred to in passing but with little detail attached and so has not always been recognised for his influence. The debt of
modern, ‘physical’ theatre can trace the roots to Meyerhold. Although hewas the first to acknowledge his debt to Commedia
dell’Arte, it was through his development of bio-mechanics as a form and language of physical theatre that he best known
for (Roy, 2002).

His influence has been present from the beginning of the twentieth century. Meyerhold took further Stanislavski’s rejection of
Melodrama and vaudeville. Whilst Stanislavski’s earlier work developed realism, Meyerhold chose to explore the physicality
of performance. His innovative ideas encompassed actor training, body exaggeration, scenography, music and politics.
Before Brecht, Meyerhold was challenging the concept of alienation and audience self-awareness of a performance (Leach,
2003). Theatre needs to differentiate from film, to offer innovation and engagement. Meyerhold’s theories and techniques do
just that and as such can offer a thrilling form of performance learning for students of all ages.

Brecht was interested in ‘gestic’ masks. The performer uses gestic masks to move from facial expression to force a greater
reliance upon using physical movement to communicate an objective. Meyerhold initiated such concepts through his
exploration of Commedia dell’Arte and the ‘grotesque’ (Gordon, 2006). Engaging with masks that were inspired through
Commedia dell’Arte, Meyerhold chose to satire the political elite and authoritarian through the physical. Meyerhold’s
adoption of the ‘Grotesque was most prominent in his productions from “The Magnificent Cuckold” through “The Death of
Tarelkin” (a Russian classic reintroduced by Meyerhold though in his style) (Braun, 1969) to “The Court Rebellions”.
Meyerhold’s awareness of the role of the mask in performance and increasing underlying desire to explore the ‘grotesque’ of
the inner person that the mask represents was explored in detail (Bradshaw, 1954; Braun, 1995; Carnicke, 1989; Carter,
1970; Cooper, 1990; Eaton, 1985; Kleberg, 1993).

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Using masks, performers could focus on their physicality.

Activity:

This activity involved three participants wearing full-face masks. The three stood in a line, facing the audience, in
neutral position: from left to right labelled M1, M2 and M3.
M3 leans forward and turns their head to the left.
M2 leans forward and turns their head to the left.
M1 turns their head to the right.
All three turn their heads to look to the front.
M3 turns their head to the left
M2 turns their head to the right
Both M3 and M2 turn their heads to the right and fold their arms.
M1 turns their head to the right, then turns their head to the front, lowers their head slightly and pulls shoulders
forward.

Figure 5.5 Communicating Without Words Activity.

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However, masks were but a tool for Meyerhold whom wanted to challenge performers and audience with what now would be
seen as multi-media performances. He challenged the very nature of set design, creating an industrial from of design termed
‘constructivist’ which was part of the futurist movement (a form easily linked to development of absurdist and Dadaism
performances (Hoover, 1988).

‘The Magnificent Cuckold’ is a key example of this.

Activity:

Within the classroom, students can be challenges by using furniture and tables to create a multi level set design where the
mechanics of the set can be clearly seen.

Being aware of safety, have students construct multiple levels of performance areas using:

Tables
Rostra
Chairs
Boxes

Or choose images of set designs and redraft them showing only the construction underneath without the ‘decoration’
designs – thus allowing all to see the construction form. Showing clips from programs such as ‘Grand Designs’ allows
students to grasp the construction foundations before ‘facings’ are placed over it.

Audiences knew they were watching a performance and made consciously aware throughout due to the set design, that this
was a construct.

In furthering the blurring between performance and reality, Meyerhold would place political slogans (linked to the Russian

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Revolution) through the auditorium. Performance could be interrupted by news of political developments, where the
audience would break into revolutionary songs (Schmidt, 1980).

However it is through the development of biomechanics that Meyerhold’s influence is best remembered and can easily be
incorporated in to classroom practice to engage and challenge students in their physical performances (Verlag, 1997).

Meyerhold’s aim was to create a codified language for physical performance; a language that could be used in a similar
method to musical notation for all performances (Law & Gordon, 1996). The challenge is that physical communication varies
across different groups and societies. It failed, in the same way that formally creating a language such as ‘Esperanto’ does
not carry over to the wider populace. However there were some key elements to biomechanics that works well with actor
training and in the classroom.

As part of the rehearsal process, Meyerhold developed a series of rehearsal movements with his actors, termed ‘études’
(studies). These performance movements were broken into three stages with unnecessary movements removed (Gladkov,
1997).

1. Intention: preparation for an action

2. Realization: the state of mind and body at the moment of action,

3. Reaction the follow on afterwards

A classic example is the slap with an exaggerated pull back, through the connection finalised by a follow through. Both
participants exaggerate their movements.

Activity:

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For students, try the initial handshake.

Students stand apart

The both reach back in as an exaggerated way as possible (intention)
They both stretch and connect their hands for the shake (realization)
They both separate their hands, moving to an extreme exaggerated position (reaction).

Using this method, in pairs, the performers choose another physical movement and break the movement into three parts:
intention, realization and reaction.

Any movement can be exaggerated.

It develops real physical control.
From this a series of movements can be put together.
Add in dialogue and you have a biomechanics performance.
At times it can be helpful to approach this task with a mask on, if they are finding it difficult to apply exaggeration to the
movements.

It has a balletic, almost surreal unnatural feel to it but it is teaches movement and control for the students. It asks the
students to fully consider the precision of their physicality in realizing an emotion or character. It allows students to create
said emotions from the physical than can then influence the internal emotional understanding. It is apposite almost to the
concept of ‘method’ acting and emotional memory.

In particular it is a support for students whom are challenged in communicating their emotions through internal
understanding, and therefore it supports diverse learners (Roy & Ladwig, 2015).

Through engaging with Meyerhold in the classroom, the drama student (prior to year 12) can consider alternative ways of
approaching performance and rehearsal. Meyerhold forces the student to consider the audience, the stage area and design,
the meaning and message of any performance and most importantly the physicality of their own body in communication to
create meaning (intentionally or otherwise).

In 1939, Meyerhold was arrested in Leningrad after Stalin denounced all experimental and avant-garde theatre. Meyerhold
was executed for treason in February 1940. He was cleared in 1955 (Leach, 1989).

David Roy, University of Newcastle

David Roy is a lecturer in Drama Education and Creative Arts at the University of Newcastle.

His research interests are in masks, drama and arts learning, and dyspraxia and inclusion in Education. He was nominated
for the 2006 Saltire/TES Scottish Education Publication of the Year and won the 2013 Best New Australian Publication for
VCE Drama and/or VCE Theatre Studies. His most recent text is 'Teaching the Arts: Early Childhood and Primary’ (2015)

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published by Cambridge University Press.

References

Bradshaw, M. (Ed.). (1954). Soviet Theatres 1917-1941. New York: Research program of the USSR.

Braun, E. (1969). Meyerhold on Theatre. London: Methuen.

Braun, E. (1995). Meyerhold: A Revolution In Theatre. London: Methuen.

Carnicke, S. (1989). The Theatrical Instinct. New York: Peter Lang Publications.

Carter, H. (1970). The New Spirit in the Russian Theatre 1917-1928 New York: Benjamin Bloom Press.

Cooper, J. (Ed.). (1990). The Government Inspector and Other Russian Plays. London: Penguin.

Eaton, K. B. (1985). The Theatre of Meyerhold and Brecht. London: Greenwood Press.

Gladkov, A. (1997). Meyerhold Speaks Meyerhold Rehearses (A. Law, Trans.). Amsterdam: Harvard Academic
Publishers.

Gordon, R. (2006). The Purpose of Playing: Modern Acting Theories in Perspective. Michigan: University of
Michigan Press.

Hoover, M. L. (1988). Meyerhold and His Set Designers (Vol. 3). New York: Peter Lang.

Kleberg, L. (1993). Theatre As Action (C. Rougle, Trans.). London: Macmillan.

Law, A., & Gordon, M. (1996). Meyerhold, Eisenstein and Biomechanics. London: McFarland.

Leach, R. (1989). Directors In perspective Vsevolod Meyerhold. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.

Leach, R. (2003). Stanislavsky and Meyerhold. Bern: Peter Lang.

Pitches, J. (2003). Vsevolod Meyerhold. London: Routledge.

Roy, D. (2002). Twentieth Century Theatre: Vsevolod Meyerhold Annotated Bibliography. Dundee: Learning
Teaching Scotland.

Roy, D., & Ladwig, J. (2015). Identity and the Arts: Using Drama and Masks as a Pedagogical Tool to Support
Student Identity. Creative Education, 6(10), 907-913.

Schmidt, P. (1980). Meyerhold At Work. Austin (TX): University of Texas Press.

Symons, J. (1973). Meyerhold's Theatre of the Grotesque. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge Rivers Press.

Verlag, A. (Writer). (1997). Meyerhold's Theatre and the Biomechanics [DVD]. In M. C. Berlin (Producer).
Germany: Contemporary Arts Media.

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