Meyerhold's Theater and Biomechanics - Screener

Film distributed by Contemporary Arts Media http://www.artfilms.com.au/Detail.aspx?ItemID=617
Code: MB-Mey

"Meyerhold! A mix of creative genius and human vulnerability. Innumerable, those in agony over his loss, whom, like myself, loved him endlessly. Innumerable moments of excitement for those, who witnessed the creative magic of this one time wizard of the stage." Sergei Eisenstein Is Meyerhold, framed and murdered by Stalin in 1940, the "greatest theater master" (Eisenstein)

of our century? Perhaps. He is without a doubt the most puzzling. Biomechanics was the core and culmination point of his theatrical concept. Its traces were disfigured, smeared, and distorted by history and politics. Its traces were searched and researched by many, including Jerzy Grotowski, Peter Brook and The Living Theater.

In the 1990's, after the opening of archives in the former Soviet Union, an original source of Biomechanics became known. Nikolai Kustow, the Biomechanics instructor in Meyerhold's Theater, maintained a "hidden" school and secretly passed on principles and etudes to a new genera-tion of actors.

In this video, Russian actor and pedagogue, Gennadi Bogdanov is shown presenting the most important etudes and principles of Biomechanics. In addition to historical film and photodocumentation of Biomechanics, the video also displays recent scenic work from Europe and the USA developed from the basis of Meyerhold's Biomechanics.
In English, 43 mins, colour & Black & white.

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• Arts
• Media
• Artfilms
• instructional

[ruzickaw]

now i know from where some of the exaggerated bad russian acting comes from.

[artfilms07]

(pssst...)

[Elfcheg]

@cuteSTARGIRL15 no one knows exactly.

[cuteSTARGIRL15]

how many etudes were there? one sheet says 13 other says 16? :/ help for college work

[BibiayWanitaio830]

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[LimlahTimmy]

@pixelated111 You should see Gennadi do it. This particular performance is not as specific or as precise as I understand it as being. It is hard to understand - the videos here were done a long time ago (comparatively). You have to remember Meyerhold was killed in 1940. Since then, his principles and system were kept secret for a long time and students only continued his work through photographs and memories as they were worried they too would b killed for continuing his work...do some research

[ThePatriotshqiptar]

stanislawski,meyerhold und grotowski alle Jahundertkünstler(s)

[ruzickaw]

@Windkind0 I am not in favor of a realistic acting style either, like " real life". That is boring.

But a highly stylized acting like in most asiatic theater like India and Bali and Japan is also boring.

They are more conserned with an exact traditional fozialized form than with expressing some inner truth.

And Meyerhold falls in a similar category.

[Windkind0]

@ruzickaw haha. What you say is like saying that actors of the traditional japanese theatre are bad actors only for the reason that they don't act in veristic styles but based on a own system. thats what meyerhold is about. The movements should not copy the movements of the real world because the target is a ostentatious body-language.

[Chelita2007]

Love it!

[pixelated111]

i dont get the 'shooting from the bow' :(

i cant see how it fits with its description...

[pixelated111]

@francescacarey where they do it? its very hard for me to percieve :(