At the beginning of
this week we discussed Brecht in turns of his theories. We undertook
dramaturgical research by reading and annotating several sources. From Brecht’s
own, “A Short Organum for the Theatre” I’ve selected the following quote which
I believe accurately expresses the main idea of his theory: “We need a type of
theatre which not only releases the feelings, insights and impulses possible
within the particular historical field of human relations in which the action
takes place, but employs and encourages those thoughts and feelings which help
transform the field itself.” In this quote Brecht is expressing his idea that
theatre should not be narrative in the way that is should not create a passive
audience. Rather Brecht wants the theatre to encourage people to take action to
change the present situation presented in the play.
On Wednesday we were
lucky enough to have a workshop with director Helen Leblique! We were told that
the workshop would be on Brechtian acting, that way we could incorporate some
of her directorial insight into our set designs for “Mother Courage”. I was very nervous when she came in for a
couple of reasons: I wanted to impress her, I wanted to be open about learning
something new, and I was pretty sure there would be an element of
improvisation. (I’m starting to think that improvisation is the only way to
devise! At least that I’ve been exposed to yet…) All of the nerves aside Helen
came in and was very friendly and open! (Also so told us that she herself wasn’t
much of an actor, a prospect that really opened my eyes to her genuine role as
a director.
The workshop started
with a warm-up game, almost like Simon’s Says, except in this case we were
meant to do the opposite of the action. Ex: When we hear stop it really mean go!
I found this “game” pretty fun, even though it required concentration I used to
picking up choreography quickly from dance so I didn’t find it too difficult to
manage. I really stepped out of my
comfort zone when I volunteered to go first (oh yeah!) and basically
invited the entire room to watch me walk back and forth across the space…Weird
I know! However the point of this exercise was for the rest of the ensemble to
say the little “quirks” that the person walking was doing; we would then
exaggerate those aspects of our walk, which at that point had become a complete
characterization! Eventually we learned how to neutralize our walks but toning
town the exaggerations and removing the essence of our personal movement. Once
I got to this neutral stage it really helped me in the process of actor because
later in the workshop I was able to move from neutral to character in an improv
scene.
Helen gave some very
specific advice regarding the process of directing and or more specifically
getting started with a piece. You must answer the question:
- Why should this play be performed now? Why is it relevant?
- Where and how will it be staged?
- Why should you direct it? What is your personal take?
Later when we were discussing “Mother Courage”, she explained the
importance retaining your personal first impressions of a piece. I found the
play boring and cast Mother Courage as a villain. If I was direction Mother
Courage I could use those emotional responses to help aide the process, either
by highlighting Courage’s villainous nature or adapting it. The last key idea
that stuck with me was the informality
of theatre. I’d always known “the business” was hard to get into but the
more I hear the more it seems like who you know. For example Helen said that
most of her “job interviews” are informal “coffee meetings”...just another
aspect of the arts that makes it for the perfect for passionate poverty-stricken
artists.
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