• The Сreative Legacy of Vsevolod Meyerhold and the Formation of Aesthetics of Jerzy Grotowski

УДК: 792.075:792.01

DOI: 10.35852/2588-0144-2024-3-160-174

EDN: UIVKAL

Full text (PDF): Download

Stanislav A. Vasilyev

Post-graduate student. Scientific supervisor: Dmitry V. Trubochkin — D. Sc. in Art Studies, Professor, Head of the Department of European classical art of the State Institute for Art Studies.
Moscow State Academy of Choreography
Moscow, Russia
E-mail: urastas@rambler.ru

The Сreative Legacy of Vsevolod Meyerhold and the Formation of Aesthetics of Jerzy Grotowski

Abstract

In the article, the author examines the theory of Vsevolod Meyerhold's legacy influence on the work of Jerzy Grotowski. A comparative analysis of theatre methodologies of both masters allows the researcher to conclude that Grotowski, based on Stanislavskiy’s method, starting from Meyerhold’s theories, the aesthetics of Vakhtangov and Artaud, empirically created his own “rules of the game” in the theatre and tried to create his own method. Grotowski used all the possible tools and technologies in his search, so it is impossible to state the special influence of Vsevolod Meyerhold’s work on the formation of Grotowski's system. According to the author of the article, Grotowski’s “Meyerholdization” is mythologized. Overcoming his passion for “Meyerholdisms” and various theatre “systems”, Grotowski spent his life extracting genetic “memory” from “corporeality”, awakening forgotten knowledge of the mankind or recalling it. The corporality and overcoming the corporality for Grotowski was one of the theatre instruments of the actor and the elements of utterance and body language. The main technique in his system was the principle of distancing from realism and the creation of a special theatre language, a coded and encrypted one. For Grotowski, encryption in the body is like a body-memory. And according to his idea, it does not matter whether it is an actor or a spectator, in the theatre each person must decipher this coded language as inner genetic memory of the mankind.

Keywords

Vsevolod Meyerhold, Jerzy Grotowski, constructivism, formalism, plastic theatre, poor theatre, mythologization.

For citation

Vasilyev S.A. The Сreative Legacy of Vsevolod Meyerhold and the Formation of Aesthetics of Jerzy Grotowski. Theatre. Fine Arts. Cinema. Music. 2024, no. 3, pp. 160–174.

DOI: 10.35852/2588-0144-2024-3-160-174

EDN UIVKAL

References

  1. Osiński Z. Tradicija Meyerholda v Polshe posle 1945 goda: Jerzy Grotowski, Jerzy Jarocki, Tadeusz Kantor [The Meyerhold Tradition in Poland after 1945: Jerzy Grotowski, Jerzy Jarocki, Tadeusz Kantor]. Voprosy teatra. Proscaenium [The Problems of the Theatre. Proscaenium]. 2012, no. 3–4, рр. 264–292. 
  2. Jarocki J. Przystanek Moskwa [Moscow Stop]. Notatnik Teatralny. 2000, no. 20/21, pp. 40–41. 
  3. Ryazhsky B. Kak shla reabilitatsia [How the Rehabilitation Went]. Teatralnaya zhizn. 1985, no. 5, pp. 11–13. 
  4. O nekotorykh voprosax istorii sovetskogo teatra. [On Some Issues of the History of the Soviet Theatre]. Teatr. 1956, no. 7, pp. 49–57. 
  5. Osiński Z. Grotowski i jego laboratorium [Grotowski and His Laboratory]. Warszawa: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1980. 412 s. 
  6. Gruda J. Po obejrzeniu “Krzeseł” w Teatrze Poezji [After Seeing Chairs at the Poetry Theatre]. Teatr i film. 1957. 1 października, no. 9, pp. 13–17.
  7. Grotowski J. Teksty zebrane. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Krytyki Politycznej, 2012. 1136 s. 
  8. Grotovski E. Ot Bednogo teatra k Iskusstvu-provodniku. [From the Poor Theatre to the Conducting Art]. Transl., compl., comment. by N. Bashindzhagyan. Moscow: Artist. Rezhisser. Teatr, 2003. 351 p. 
  9. Grodzitski A. Rezhissery polskogo teatra. [Directors of the Polish Theatre]. Warsaw: Interpress, 1979. 186 p. 
  10. Grotovski E. K Bednomu teatru [To the Poor Theatre]. Compl. by E. Barba, preface by P. Brook. Moscow: Artist. Rezhisser. Teatr, 2009. 298 p. 
  11. Flaszen L. Metafizyka wyszla na ulicu [Metaphysics is out on the Street]. Odra. 2000, no. 7–8, pp. 79–81. 
  12. Osiński Z. Jerzy Grotowski. źródła, inspiracje, konteksty. Prace z lat I999–2009 [Jerzy Grotowski. Sources, Inspirations, Contexts. Works from 1999–2009]. Gdansk: Wydawnictwo słowo/obraz terytoria, 2009. 488 p. 
  13. Bashinjagyan N. Glinianye Golubi [Clay Pigeons]. Voprosy teatra. Proscaenium [The Problems of the Theatre. Proscaenium]. 2010, no. 1–2, pp. 134–137. 
  14. Stepanova P. Reaktualizacija ritualnoj struktury v spektakle Jerzy Grotwvskogo “Sakuntala” Kalidosy (1960) [Reactualization of Ritual Structure in the Performance of Jerzy Grotowski’s Shakuntala by Kalidasa (1960)]. Dom Burganova. Prostranstvo kultury [Burganov House. The Space of Culture]. 2021, no. 2, pp. 124–137. 
  15. Flaszen L. “Siakuntala”. Regulamin patrzenia dla widzów, a szczególnie recenzentów, “Materiały — Dyskusje” [“Siakuntala”. Rules of Viewing for Viewers, Especially Reviewers. “Materials — Discussions”] In: Flaszen L. Grotowski & Company. Źródła i wariacje [Grotowski & Company. Sources and Variations]. Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Krytyki Politycznej, 2014, pp. 49–50. 
  16. Barba E. Ziemia popiołu i diamentów. Moje terminowanie w Polsce oraz 26 listów Jerzego Grotowskiego do Eugenia Barby, przełożyła Monika Gurgul [The Land of Ashes and Diamonds: My Apprenticeship in Poland and 26 Letters from Jerzy Grotowski to Eugenio Barba. Transl. by Monika Gurgul]. Wrocław: Ośrodek Badań Twórczości Jerzego Grotowskiego i Poszukiwań Teatralno-Kulturowych, 2001, 241 p.
  17. Stepanova P.M. Antropologicheskij teatr v teorii i praktike Ezhi Grotovskogo [Anthropological Theatre in the Theory and Practice of Jerzy Grotowski]. Vestnik Akademii Russkogo baleta im. A.Ya. Vaganovoy. 2021, no. 4 (75), pp. 121–130.

Received: 01.07.2024

Revised: 27.07.2024

Accepted: 31.07.2024