Structure of the actor's work cont ...

The Mask

Stylisation and the use of The Mask are interrelated in Meyerhold's approaches to acting. Meyerhold believed that the creativity of the actor is shown in his movements which is enhanced and extended by the use of Masks. Meyerhold's mask training was explored through make-up, hair, hats, scarves, eye glasses as well as Commedia dell 'arte masks .

Masks therefore enabled the paradoxical nature of theatre to be explored in rehearsals and performance.


Individual activity

Create a mask using anything in your surroundings. Complete the steps below slowly.

  • Inspect yourself from different angles.
  • Explore your gestures and movements.
  • Observe what other characters are doing (if possible) but do not approach them.
  • Inspect and look at the room you are in.
  • Examine and explore all the windows and their functions.
  • Examine and explore all the chairs and their functions.
  • Go in and out of the doors.
  • Find a place in the room where and make yourself at home.

(Hatton and Lovesy, 2009, pp. 136: Adapted from Appel 1982).

Online reflection

Discuss with your peers via video conferencing or chat the questions below.

  1. Why is a mask full of contradictions?
  2. How can a mask encourage spontaneity in the actor's training?
  3. How does the mask create a distance between the actor and character?
  4. How does a mask stimulate the imagination of the audience? (Pitches, 2003, p. 58).

The Grotesque

The Grotesque is a style of contrasts which allows. the actors to switch the audience from an emotion or understanding of whats/he has just seen to another which is totally unforeseen (Cutler, 2004, p.17). The Grotesque can be called the 'genre of surprise' (Pitches, 2003, p.61) and Meyerhold used the contradictions in surprise to help disturb his audience by creating shifts and changes in the reactions to the performance. Pitches' says that Meyerhold felt that The Grotesque should have the following unsettling qualities:

  • it mixes opposites: tragedy and comedy, life and death, beauty and ugliness
  • it celebrates incongruities
  • it challenges our perceptions
  • it is naturally mischievous, even satirical
  • it borrows from different (and unlikely) sources
  • it always has a touch of the diabolical, the devil's influence
  • it stretches the natural to the extent that it becomes unnatural or stylized
  • it revels in fantasy and mystery
  • it is constantly transforming things: objects, figures, landscapes and atmospheres (pp.61-62).

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References and images credit
Cutler, B, (2004). Vsevolod Meyerhold. JEDA, 101(1), 2004, 6-20.
Hatton, C. & Lovesy, S. (2009). Young at Art - Classroom Playbuilding in Practice.
Pitches, J. (2003), Vsevolod Meyerhold, Routledge Performance Practitioners. Routledge, London.