{"id":176,"date":"2017-04-19T17:39:26","date_gmt":"2017-04-19T17:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/15\/?p=176"},"modified":"2023-06-03T08:01:51","modified_gmt":"2023-06-03T08:01:51","slug":"performing-in-mask-michael-chekhovs-pedagogy-commedia-and-mime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/15\/performing-in-mask-michael-chekhovs-pedagogy-commedia-and-mime\/","title":{"rendered":"Performing in Mask: Michael Chekhov\u2019s Pedagogy, Commedia<\/em> and Mime"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lenka Pichl\u00edkov\u00e1<\/strong>*<\/a><\/p>\n

As a teacher of dramatic arts, professional actor and mime, who is also a theatre historian, I come to the study of Michael Chekhov\u2019s career and pedagogy \u201con the lookout\u201d for aspects of his technique that I can put to use in class and onstage. I teach acting and mime for actors and dancers, corporeal pantomime and Commedia dell\u2019<\/em>Arte<\/em>. While scholars have generally not found these to be a good fit with the Michael Chekhov system, there are many points of intersection, specifically with Chekhov\u2019s pedagogy and emphasis on make-up, costume and stage properties as essential elements of the character\u2019s formation. I would like to share my own applications of his methods to teaching Commedia<\/em>. I note interesting parallels between Chekhov\u2019s methods and those taught by the mime master, Marcel Marceau, with whom I have studied.<\/p>\n

Commedia dell\u2019Arte<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

At the time Chekhov began his training in the early twentieth-century Russia, Commedia<\/em> was experiencing a revival there, seen in the ballets of Igor Stravinsky and the experimentation of Alexander Tairov and Konstantin Miklashevsky. These experiments influenced Vsevolod Meyerhold\u2019s study of Commedia<\/em> and the style of Commedia<\/em> and mime practiced by Evgeny Vakhtangov. In the ninety-thirties, the ideas of Sergei Volkonsky on rhythmical pantomime, and of Chekhov\u2019s colleague, Georgette Boner, on Commedia<\/em>, would affect Chekhov\u2019s artistic practice and teaching. Boner was a particular champion of Commedia<\/em>. She later lectured on it for the Chekhov Theatre Studio at Dartington Hall, Devon, England, where pantomime had been taught before Chekhov\u2019s arrival. His student and colleague, Deirdre Hurst du Prey, attended the Dartington School of Dance and Mime in 1934, the year before she met Chekhov. When Chekhov came to Paris in 1931, he also could have encountered Commedia<\/em> in the works of Jacques Copeau\u2019s disciples, such as Suzanne Bing and Michel Saint-Denis, and their Compagnie des Quinze (Rudlin 177-84). One should add that, according to Boner, Chekhov\u2019s costume for the 1931 Paris production of The Castle Awakening<\/em> \u201cwas cut to resemble the shape of that of a Pierrot\u2014something like the garment Gilles has on in Watteau\u2019s painting\u201d (Boner 163).<\/p>\n

While Chekhov\u2019s use of Commedia<\/em> was often in opposition to Meyerhold\u2019s (Meerzon 23, \u00a0118-22, 286-87), Chekhov did develop a metaphor<\/em> for character formation that involved the use of a \u201cmask\u201d created in the actor\u2019s imagination, but it was understood as an all-enveloping persona to which the actor has adapted his or her own personality and physicality. It is clear that this metaphorical \u201cmask\u201d is not the same as either the physical masks of the Commedia<\/em> or the stock characters they emblemize.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Chekhov, as an actor, repeatedly employed something analogous to Commedia<\/em> masks. He used extensive make-up, false noses, eyebrows and wigs. Boner gives a description of how Chekhov used make-up for the role of Foma in Dostoyevsky\u2019s The Village of Stepanchikovo<\/em>, staged in Riga, in 1932:<\/p>\n

Chekhov used great care of the mask with cotton wool, adhesive strips, paints and powder. The result was a furrowed, yellow, cheesy face, with a misshapen nose, a protruding lower lip and weary bags under the eyes. . . . Chekhov created this mask for every performance himself, which required over two hours preparation. Now how does Foma speak? How does his voice sound? . . . His voice was higher than Chekhov\u2019s normal voice, sometimes screwed up voice, sometimes even pressed. Now and then a shrill note was heard, a shriek, even a falsetto, then again a mysterious swaying, a murmur, the babble of a river flowing through the valley.\u00a0 (Boner 160-61)[1]<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Chekhov as Foma Opiskin in Dostoyevsky\u2019s The Village of Stepanchikovo<\/em>, staged in Riga, in 1932 (Meerzon photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n
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Chekhov\u2019s drawings for his character
of Foma, 1932
(photo from Georgette Boner
private archive, Z\u0171rich)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n
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Michael Chekhov, ca. 1931-33
(Meerzon photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

While each of Chekhov\u2019s characters was unique, as opposed to the Commedia<\/em> stock characters, they also revealed his investigation of archetypes and his genius at transformation. One could even argue that Chekhov made himself a willing \u201cprisoner\u201d (Rudlin 35) of both the overall \u201cmask\u201d of the all-embracing persona and the physical masks of make-up that often covered his face. In my classes, students make their own masks along with their lazzi, scripts, and choosing or playing the music. First, they make a drawing in keeping with the specific Commedia<\/em> stock character. For Arlecchino, for example, they can use raised eyebrows, large almond-shaped eyes, a bump on the forehead and a large mouth. Compare these sketches with Chekhov\u2019s detailed drawings as he created his various characters, including those of Foma Opiskin, Ivan the Terrible and Ableukhov.<\/p>\n

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Student drawing of Arlecchino (Brian Bowyer, SUNY Purchase, 2016\u2014photo author)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Video 1<\/h6>\n