I choosed to review an article called “The Fair Theatre” composed by an extract of Vsevolod Meyerhold’s book On Theatr
e.About Vsevolod Meyerhold : he was born on the 28th of January 1874 in Penza, Russia. He started his career as a director and actor before the 1915’s Russian Revolution. He created a new acting training method : the bio-mechanic (focuses purely on a physical approach, inspired by Japanese theatre, dance, commedia dell’ arte and pace ). Instead of following the socialist regime’s directives he created avant-garde shows between constructivism and futurism. He was arrested and tortured in 1939, executed on the 2nd of February 1940.
About the article :
In this extract Vsevolod Meyerhold describes two different puppet theatre : the director of the first one wants his puppet to be similar to humans, be provided with all their daily habits and particularities. His desire to reproduce reality “as it is” makes him constantly perfecting the puppet until the simplest answer to this dilemma does appear : the replacement of the puppet by man. The director of the second theatre notices that what people are most amused by is the movements and the situations the puppets are in. Despite their intention to replicate life on stage they have no resemblance with what the public sees in life.
He wrote that he described both to make the actor think : does he have to replace the puppet and continue its auxiliary role which denies any possible personal creative freedom, or should he establish a similar theatre to the one puppetry had managed to win, by refusing to submit to the will of the director to change its nature ?
How could this be useful for puppeteers ? I think that the question Vsevolod Meyerhold is asking in this text is essential for any puppeteer or anyone who wants to use puppets. What does puppets bring on stage that we, as human being, can’t bring ? A puppet is a tool so I am convinced that you should have proper reason to choose a tool from another in order to create the best work. I’ll end with my favourite puppetry quote, by the French poet and playwriter Paul Claudel : “la marionette est une parole qui agit / the puppet is a word that acts.”
About the article :
In this extract Vsevolod Meyerhold describes two different puppet theatre : the director of the first one wants his puppet to be similar to humans, be provided with all their daily habits and particularities. His desire to reproduce reality “as it is” makes him constantly perfecting the puppet until the simplest answer to this dilemma does appear : the replacement of the puppet by man. The director of the second theatre notices that what people are most amused by is the movements and the situations the puppets are in. Despite their intention to replicate life on stage they have no resemblance with what the public sees in life.
He wrote that he described both to make the actor think : does he have to replace the puppet and continue its auxiliary role which denies any possible personal creative freedom, or should he establish a similar theatre to the one puppetry had managed to win, by refusing to submit to the will of the director to change its nature ?
How could this be useful for puppeteers ? I think that the question Vsevolod Meyerhold is asking in this text is essential for any puppeteer or anyone who wants to use puppets. What does puppets bring on stage that we, as human being, can’t bring ? A puppet is a tool so I am convinced that you should have proper reason to choose a tool from another in order to create the best work. I’ll end with my favourite puppetry quote, by the French poet and playwriter Paul Claudel : “la marionette est une parole qui agit / the puppet is a word that acts.”
Very interesting- and a good practical choice for us puppeteers.
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