Gestus

An extremely prominent technique Brecht encouraged his actors to employ was the use of Gestus. Click here to see a post on gestus.

Brechtian Productions and Techniques

Brecht’s plays in order of production.

·         Drums in the Night (1922)

·         Baal (1923)

·         In the Jungle of the Cities (1923)

·         Edward II (1924)

·         The Elephant Calf (1925)

·         Man Equals Man (1926)

·         The Threepenny Opera (1928)

·         Happy End (1929)

·         Lindbergh's Flight (1929)

·         He Who Says Yes (1929)

·         Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (1930)

·         He Who Says No (1930)

·         The Measures Taken (1930)

·         The Mother (1932)

·         The Seven Deadly Sins (1933)

·         The Roundheads and the Peakheads (1936)

·         The Exception and the Rule (1936)

·         Fear and Misery of the Third Reich (1938)

·         Señora Carrara's Rifles (1937)

·         The Trial of Lucullus (1939)

·         Mother Courage and Her Children (1941)

·         Mr Puntila and His Man Matti (1941)

·         Life of Galileo (1943)

·         The Good Person of Sezuan (1943)

·         Schweik in the Second World War (1944)

·         The Visions of Simone Machard (1944)

·         The Caucasian Chalk Circle (1945)

·         The Days of the Commune (1949)

·         The Tutor (1950)

·         The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (1958)

·         Saint Joan of the Stockyards (1959)

KEY BRECHTIAN TECHNIQUES:

Signs and banners: Often Brecht would use these to convey messages to audiences. These messages could be names of characters, emotions or commands. A popular one was “STOP BEING SO EMOTIONAL” as he was a strong believer in objective audiences, not passive emotional ones.

Songs and narration: In many scripts written by Brecht there are narrators and/or singers. These play similar roles. Often the songs in Brechtian theatre are not self indulgent and emotional. They all have a purpose and will often narrate the action going on onstage. I was in a production of The Caucasian Chalk Circle and I was one of 9 singers. The songs were still beautiful but they had a purpose, in this case explaining Grusha’s journey – “When Grusha Vashnadze left the city/On the Grucinian highway/On the way to the Northern mountains/She sang a song, she bought some milk”.

Naming: Brecht’s characters were representations of parts of society and often their names echoed this. For example, the archetype of an old woman might be portrayed by a character named “Old Woman” – and this might be explained through a placard or sign. Even when characters did have names, such as Kattrin in Mother Courage and her Children, their journeys were put in place to make a point, explore an issue and to make the audience think. They were not put in as emotional plot devices so the audience can be passive and taken over by emotion. Brecht wished to cause change.

Detaching the audience: Brecht used lighting effects and sound effects to detach his audience from emotional content onstage. He did this so they would think subjectively about the issues being explored and would feel less engrossed in the action; aware that they were watching a play with purpose.  

Notes on Brecht from Mother Courage BBC Documentaries

-          Brecht has a split mind between the academic and more theatrical side of writing, directing and devising.

-          He believed in telling a story being the most important part of a piece of theatre; conveying a message. Often his pieces were a story within a story, a technique often used by other playwrights for example, Shakespeare (i.e. The Taming of the Shrew).

-          He wanted the audience to be fully aware they were watching a play. Playing on belief and disbelief.

-          One of Brecht’s most famous passions is for simplicity. Often in Brechtian theatre the stage is bear and fully visible, the stage crew in their normal clothes maybe even openly watching the action.

-          The ‘alienation’ effects that Brecht used are now a part of traditional theatre.

-          His work is more like un-theatre.

-          It is a message, not entertainment.

-          These are not techniques or systems – they are merely ideas.

-          He aimed for his plays to challenge thought and inspire change. Dialectical theatre.

-          Unlike much professional productions now, actors spent a long time still on their script before learning their lines.

-          A critical distance is left between the audience and the stage.

-          Much like Augusto Boal’s forum theatre, Brecht liked his work to be watched, judged and changed by the audience. They were actively involved.

-          Brecht believed in the “Art of being a spectator”.

-          He did not regard his scripts as being finished. The play was to be watched not read and the observed production was the finished product and only that. For example, the narrator parts in The Caucasian Chalk Circle are often turned in to song and are therefore not complete until the opening night.

-          Brecht was extremely open to changes with his script, characters and staging.

-          He began rather apathetic in his youth but grew to have a passion for inspiring change.

-          Hitler parody – large gestures showed how Brecht liked a story to ride on the action not the words, and with the purpose of making a comment.

-          DIALECTIC – the art or practice of arriving at the truth by the exchange of logical argument.