Theatrical Biomechanics—the Scientific Management of an Actors Work: On Links between Vsevolod Meyerhold’s Actor Training and the Concept of Taylorism
Małgorzata Jabłońska
goskajablonska@gmail.comUniversity of Łódź (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4532-6296
Abstract
The paper addresses the relationship between ‘theatrical Taylorism’, i.e. Vsevolod Meyerhold’s biomechanics, and Frederick Winslow Taylor’s scientific organisation of work, arguing that biomechanics, although inspired by the tools of Taylor, the Gilbreths and Le Chatelier, constituted an autonomous, theatrical scientific study that aproached the actor’s body as an object of research rather than objectifying control. The analysis is based on a study of source materials and the author’s own empirical experience in biomechanical training, enabling the reconstruction of the practical aspects of the method. Previous research on theatrical biomechanics has been taken into account, pointing to the hitherto overlooked emancipatory dimension of Meyerhold’s method. The article discusses key concepts of acting training, such as biomechanical third, in the context of the scientific labour management, to show how biomechanics was situated between the productivity discourse and the artist’s autonomy.
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Keywords:
Vsevolod Meyerhold, theatre biomechanics, acting techniques, actor training, Taylorism, Russian theatreReferences
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Authors
Małgorzata Jabłońskagoskajablonska@gmail.com
University of Łódź Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4532-6296
MAŁGORZATA JABŁOŃSKA – theatre scholar, works at the Department of Drama and Theatre at the University of Łódź. She deals with the history and issues of acting training (with particular emphasis on Vsevolod Meyerhold's biomechanics), non-verbal communication strategies in theatre based on the body, and the history of Polish alternative theatre.
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