Week 26: More Brecht

Wednesday: We discussed gest (or gestus). It is a combination of gestures and body language. It is gestures plus an attitude. We learned that Brecht used pictures and films of rehearsals to looks at his work and to look at things that need to be changed. This method seems good, we could film our work and then look back at it and compare old versions with new ones. We also learned about "stage pictures". This means that one look at the stage should communicate everything, therefore meaning there is less reliance on dialogue. We explored the use of gestus by attempting to show emotions. We learned that details can change the entire meaning, for instance the angle of the eyes can make an action seem sweet or forced, the use of height is important, emotions can be very strong or weak this needs to regulated. The angle of the motion is very important. Brecht was attempting to make a theatre that crossed cultural and linguistic boundaries. We drew on our cultural knowledge to do this activity so we may need to work on it more if we do more Brecht.

Comparison of Brecht and Commedia dell'arte

Both use exaggerated motions

They use stereotypes rather than fleshed out characters

Reflection: the same methods are used but for similar reasons, but different purposes, for they are used to be very clear and easy to understand, the characters are supposed to be easily recognizable, but the reason for this in Brechts style of theatre is because he does not want the audience relating just recognizing and he wanted a simple story. 

In Brechtian theatre scenes stand by themselves, they do not necessarily tell a chronological story and the super objectives of Stanislavsky do not work, although the actors do need to keep track of the message they trying to send. In Brecht's plays he only presents the action, there is no explanation as he not trying to excuse  or condemn anyone's actions. Brecht uses a narrator to tell the story so that when the scene is acted out the audience wonders "how" not "what". This way the audience is more concerned about the situation than the characters. Brecht attempts to show the truth from society while Stanislavski tries to show the truth from the characters emotions. 

We tried to use what we had learned in some skits. First we tried to do a group of losing soldiers. We used a triangle marching pattern to show the fear of the soldiers (the scared people were in  the back and the braver ones were in front). We had some people running, some charging, and some dieing. We discovered that we did not show how we were losing as much as we should have. Then we did one about the management of a big factory giving themselves a raise and refuse to give one to the workers. We were supposed to show how selfish the managers were. When the managers began yelling at the workers we learned that the angrier they got the more scared the workers would get (An inverse ratio). 

Truth in Acting

Stanislavski: wants to convey the psychological truth (the emotions of a relatable character)

Brecht: situational truth (eg. bosses are evil and horrible, workers are good) he may use masks for the A-effect and to show the characters better e.g. a pig mask for the boss

Commedia: truth in characters (stereotypes must be relatable)