studies in motion / eadweard muybridge

An old high school friend, who now works for the Playhouse Theatre Company, sent me an invitation to attend Studies in Motion: The Hauntings of Eadweard Muybridge. I’m not typically interested in the theatre, but was drawn to going after I found out that it was about photographic investigations into animal locomotion & human movement, at a time when photography was beginning to gain traction as a new & near spellbinding technology.

Although Muybridge was not a filmmaker, he was dubbed the “Father of Motion Picture”, for his inventive work & studies of visual phases in movement. Muybridge’s determination was initially driven by his obsession to prove that there is a moment in a horse’s gallop when all four hooves are off the ground. Although he considered himself an artist, his work has since been accepted as scientific research into the studies of movement. However ambitious, his commitment & looming madness with the documentation of his work was nearly swallowed by the dramatics of his personal life. An early stage accident and a resulting head injury forced him out of his early work in San Francisco & back to England for healing. Muybridge returned to San Francisco, accumulated appraisal & success in his work & fell in love, only to be betrayed by infidelity & left with a pregnant wife: identity of the father unknown. Muybridge shot & killed his wife’s lover, but was later acquitted for reasons of a “justifiable homicide”. Despite his lingering feelings of transgression, Muybridge carried on with his studies in motion, progressing the art of photography as if forever cursed by the creative demon of his conscience.

The play was created by Kevin Kerr & directed by Kim Collier of the Playhouse Theatre Company. The music, the somber & yet violent lighting aligned flawlessly with both the acting & choreography.

Despite the play’s ominous mood, it was still surprisingly hilarious & full of scandalous nudity.