In aesthetic perception, second only to realism is the perception of dynamics.

Originally, human beings' judgment of existence, safety, and promise of their own lives is based on the perception of authenticity and strength. This kind of survival psychological bottom line is naturally projected as the aesthetic psychological bottom line. Perceptual strength is an important coordinate for people to perceive the world and themselves in an aesthetic way. There are combinations of various forces in life, but most of them are in a state of resistance, chaos, and dissipation, and the drama selects and recombines them, so that there is a force on the stage that is enough to make the audience suddenly eye-catching, excited, and vibrate. Any kind of ideological implication and storyline can only achieve the best effect when they are presented as a "tension structure" similar to physics.

Stanislavsky's pupil Vakhtangov, who was dissatisfied with his teacher's concept of theater, said that he was not ready to use the Moscow Art Theater's approach of showing everyday life on stage and solving artistic problems with the reality of life, "I wanted to find a sharp form, which should be theatrical, should be a work of art." This sharp form requires the actor to have a strong "sense of modeling" on the basis of adequate physical training, and uses the so-called "grotesk" (highly exaggerated) technique to create a "theatrical" effect that Stanislavsky does not appreciate. Vakhtangov does not disparage Stanislavsky's method of acting, but feels that it is less powerful, especially not enough to affect the senses of the audience. He said, "If you take a piece of marble and carve it with a mallet, you will achieve nothing." In order to break the marble, the corresponding tools are needed. He made it clear that the kind of sharp theatrical form he demanded was "the most powerful."

Meyerhold

More important than Vakhtangov is Meyerhold. He said:

The creation of an actor is a creation of a form of spatial modeling, and he must be familiar with his own mechanics. This is necessary for the actor because the expression of any force, including the living organism, is governed by the laws of mechanics. The actor's creation of the form of the form in the stage space is, of course, an expression of the power of the human organism.

This is true for the actors, and even more so for the entire stage. It is recorded that in Meyerhold's rehearsal performances, there were projections of cinematic footage, harsh music and sounds, and even metal structures stood on the stage to allow the actors to move on a large scale. Performers can rush onto the stage from the auditorium in a whirlwind, or they can pour from the stage into the auditorium. In short, everything seems intense and full of power.

Many of Stanislavsky's performances are also powerful, but they are a deep force that needs to be connected to the audience's inner psychological mechanisms (e.g., emotion, understanding, imagination) in order to be felt. Vakhtangov and Meyerhold, on the other hand, sought a force that acted directly on the external senses.

The key to assembling the actors' movements into a complete mechanical structure lies with the director. Meyerhold even used precise mathematical calculations to design the actors' movements. This is very different from Stanislavsky's view of the actor's experience as an artistic purpose. For this reason, Stanislavsky's system of drama is called "actor-centric theory", Meyerhold's proposition is called "director-centric theory", and Vakhtangov takes a more eclectic attitude and calls it a system of "actor and director co-creation".

Jocelyn Herbert "The Mask of Orps"

Drama should put the audience under a strong continuous impact as soon as the curtain is opened. This kind of impact should not only be skin-like, but it cannot pass through the skin; It shouldn't just be intuitive, but it can't be unintuitive; It should not only act on the senses, but it cannot but through the senses.

Stage dynamics are like "force" in the original sense of physics, which can find its point of action, its direction, and its intensity. These are the basis for what we call "force".

The most obvious description of the strength of the stage is the scheduling of the stage location.

Just the different positions on the stage can produce different perceptions of force.

If we divide the stage into six sections--

Their velocity sequences should be: Front-center, front-right, front-left, back-center, back-right, back-left. The general rules are subordinated to the physiological and psychological characteristics of the audience's aesthetics: the front desk is close to the audience, and the person who is close to it is of course more powerful; The middle part is the center of gravity of the whole stage, which is of course more powerful than the left and right; The right side of the stage is more powerful than the left side, because the audience is always accustomed to reading books or other things from left to right, and the audience's left to right is exactly the right to left of the stage.

The role of different stage positions on the perception of the audience is not only the strength of the force, but also the habitual perception style of the force. Alexander, a professor at Yale University, once explained the above six stage locations as follows:

Location 1 (Front-Center) – Because this location is in the middle of the forestage, it is distinct, powerful, and exposed, and is suitable for performing tense climaxes, arguments, and making major decisions.

Location 2 (front right) – This area has an intimate, warm and informal tone, and is suitable for family performances, tea chats with friends, guest visits, romance and other content.

Location 3 (front left) - This location is a little more formal and serious than location 2 (front right), so it also lacks a bit of intimacy, and is suitable for performing social visits, sudden caresses, business, intrigue, monologues, etc., and it is better for actors who have no drama to stay here.

Position 4 (back center) - This position appears formal, noble, and means power, suitable for performing court and court proclamations, leading figures giving lengthy speeches and exercising authoritative rule, justified caressing, etc., and can also be used for special emphasis on appearances.

Location 5 (back right) - This location is romantic and lyrical, suitable for performances of standing by the window and gazing at the bright moon in the sky, romantic love, dreams, contemplation, etc.

Location 6 (back left) - This is the weakest position on the stage, but it is often contrary to people's visual and psychological habits, but shows special strength, for example, it can be performed here to kill people, commit suicide, go crazy, etc. This kind of overly exciting and brutal incident may be a little more elegant to play in this weakest position, especially for inexperienced actors.

Of course, this is still a stereotyped division. It is not difficult to imagine how complex and wonderful changes will occur in the hearts of the audience when the actors are rushing between various areas and moving back and forth under the director's scheduling.

Shakespeare Playhouse, Stratford, Ontario

For example, if an actor repeatedly appears in the same location, it will form a kind of reinforcement in the audience's mind.

Another example is that the speed of the actor's movement between positions has a lot to do with the strength, generally the rapid movement appears powerful, but if it is too slow and heavy, it will also show special strength. Deliberately rebellious in other locations and directions of action will also constitute a kind of rebellious force in the hearts of the audience.

All mechanical motion structures need to seek a fulcrum, and no fulcrum or no proper fulcrum will cause force to dissipate in the audience's heart. This fulcrum can be fixed or mobile; It can be tangible or intangible. Around this fulcrum, the lines of various dynamics are organically combined, which can be either the action lines of the actors or the set lines constructed by the stage designers.

The dynamics line is also very particular.

As far as the actor's action line is concerned, if the stage is crossed horizontally, the strength will be weakened due to being too stretched.

In terms of character scheduling and the lines of the stage set, the vertices of the triangular lines are the most powerful, and the strength and effectiveness of curves, parallel lines, vertical lines, continuous lines, and broken lines also vary. As Rose Kling said, "On the occasion of coronation, it is better to use a vertical line; In the view of the market, it is better to use parallel lines. To show the departure of the army, it is better to use continuous lines; To show the return of the army, it is better to use broken lines. ”

None of the above examples are fixed rules, and in the specific implementation of art, they are extremely variable. We just want to illustrate the audience's perception of dynamics in the theater.

Although each movement and line can be designed separately, for the audience, the perception of force is a holistic perception. Therefore, in addition to studying the various unidirectional forces on the stage, dramatists must also focus on the overall situation and further study the combination state and combination principle of the overall mechanical structure. The directors' considerations for balance, gravity, emphasis, hierarchy, and rhythm on the stage are actually to achieve the overall combination of mechanical structures.

So far, these combined principles have only been empirical generalizations, rather than accurate, practical and universal methods. However, when these issues are put into the perception of the audience, they are very clear and sensitive. Most viewers react immediately and psychologically to the ills that arise in these areas, quickly becoming uncomfortable, although they often fail to pinpoint the cause of the discomfort. Therefore, these questions are not so much raised by which directors are raised, but by the perception of the audience at large.

That's the case, for example, about balance. The mechanical equilibrium structure of the real world caused by gravity sharpens the viewer's perception, making them almost instinctively unaccustomed to any image of losing their center of gravity and losing their balance.

The same is true for the question of hierarchy and rhythm. Layering and rhythm are the way in which force unfolds and extends, which is full of the real world, and also makes the audience have such adaptation since childhood, so it is inevitable to demand the stage with this.

In short, it is the audience's own perceptual system that regulates the mechanical structure on the stage, and the dramatist just complies.

However, the requirements of balance, level, rhythm and other directions are only the adjustment and arrangement of the overall strength, and the driving force of the overall strength is in the script.

Most viewers can't see the script, but when they finish watching a play, they can always feel the mechanics of the script. This mechanical structure is hidden, but it controls the whole picture.

The strength of the script is manifested in the structural layout and the plot conflict. One of the most direct manifestations is the collision between the protagonist and the environment.

We can look at a few famous classical Chinese tragedies.

The strength of "Dou E's Injustice" is well known. The mechanical structure of this play is the repeated coercion of a weak force by a violent external force. The weak forces did not take the initiative and did not take positive action. However, when the coercion of the force of rage came again and again, weakness turned into flexibility, showing the power of impact, and bursting out in the impact of tragic beauty. If the weak force is crushed in the first impact, or conversely, the weak force suddenly turns into strong due to some special factor, and overwhelms the force of violence, then the strength of the play is far from enough.

Ji Junxiang's "Zhao's Orphan" adapted and performed on the stage of Peking Opera

The other mechanical structure is the opposite, not that the violent external force repeatedly invades the weak force, but that the violent external force is actively attacked by the resolute force. "The Orphan of Zhao" is an example. Although there are rivers of blood, corpses everywhere, and families are ruined, if the external force of rape is not impacted, it still does not show its strength in the play. Thus, we see that the power of violence grows an inch taller, and the power of fortitude also grows an inch taller; Rape to the extreme, and fortitude to the extreme. Both sides fought with all their might to carry out the highest level of impact, so the sound was particularly deafening and the sparks were particularly dazzling.

Generally speaking, the weak force that is in a passive state is repeatedly bullied by violent external forces, and the audience's feelings are more important than sadness; On the contrary, the violent external force was resisted by the force of fortitude, and the audience's feelings were more important than strong. Therefore, "Zhao's Orphan" is generally more heroic than "Dou E's Injustice".

Of course, it doesn't have to be that the harder the impact, the stronger the drama. The wind blows and bends the soft branches and it is difficult to break them, and its strength may not be less than the collision of two stones.

In "Peach Blossom Fan", the two kinds of collision forces of good, evil, internal and external are very deep and typical. Let a celebrity who restores the society not only represent justice, but also bring out an upper class; Let a famous prostitute in Qinhuai not only represent beauty, but also bring out a wider social aspect. and let them fall in love with each other, bringing together the power of beauty and justice, and at the same time bringing together the power of indifference and evil. In short, Kong Shangren brought the two kinds of powerful forces to the nearest point of impact, and became the symbol and concretization of the large-scale historical collision. The power of justice and beauty is not as hard as the stone for a while, so the maimed and bleeding is a typical embodiment of the tragic mechanical structure.

If you are interested in drawing a map of the mechanical structure of these dramas, then there may be some lines like this: "Dou E's Injustice" uses several thick and hard external lines to impact a thin, soft and flexible main line; The main line and the external force line of "Zhao's Orphan" are straight lines, and the arrows of the main line point proudly to the external force line; "Peach Blossom Fan" is a quiet confrontation between two sharp tops and wide bottoms, containing deep arrows.

Sketching a map of the mechanical structure of a theatrical work is not a metaphysical theoretical game, but on the contrary, a description of the perceived possibilities of the audience. The collective perception of the audience is always rough, so what a play ultimately leaves an impression on them is not the theme idea and artistic details, but the mechanical structure and character image. In contrast, the mechanical structure is a rough existence that is difficult to capture, and it is difficult to grasp it by other means than perception, so it is rarely discussed by drama critics. Many drama critics don't care about perception, let alone the perception of the audience, so they don't have the mechanical structure of drama in their eyes and hearts.

In fact, the perception of the broad lines of the audience is a healthy aesthetic psychological reaction, from which the strength and bearing of the drama work are born. There is no reason for works without the perception of force and the "strength" that is not perceived by people to appear in front of tens of millions of viewers.