ABSTRACT
In this short contribution I aim to examine an international transmission of Meyerhold’s Biomechanics – a reflection on my research, teaching and artistic work over the past three decades in Europe, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, India and Nepal.
As a result of Stalinist terror and the Cold War between East and West, Biomechanics seemed to be lost when I studied acting in the early 1980s. In 1987 Eugenio Barba encouraged me to do some research on it and send me on a ‘mission impossible’. Very little was known in the West about Meyerhold’s Biomechanics at this point in time. However, I was able to connect with its living roots when I worked with Gennady Bogdanov in the 1990s. Berlin and Moscow were hotspots then, and learning from Bogdanov was essential for my own understanding of the form and the inner principles of Biomechanics. Teaching Meyerhold’s psychophysical approach to acting, with its specific terminology and detailed understanding of the craft, became my passion.
In the essay I underline biomechanics as a living entity that bridges disparate theatre cultures. Grotowski and Barba influenced my professional upbringing in the 1980s. Going back to Meyerhold from there meant going back to the roots.
