The Future Potential of the piece as a theatre product:
I feel there is potential for this piece to alter people's perception of politics. It draws on the conflict between one's personal and professional life and emphasises the fact that politicians are human beings and not just their professional persona.
By the audience being unsure of whether or not Amanda drowns, the audience is invited to consider this and hopefully the topics within the play further.
This play is short and focused and gets the message across clearly. There was a clear crescendo of events in the devised pieces building up to the final Amanda piece. Each devised piece explores a different politician grappling with politics with a big P and a small p. The content of the central ensemble piece of Amanda will remain pertinent when performed in the future as it deals with Amanda's human nature rather than specific issues related to this time period. The individual devised pieces contained current issues such as university fees. Future performers of this play could update the content to what is prominent at the time of performance, making this piece in some ways
Friday 13 December 2013
Overall Evaluation of final performance
Overall evaluation of final performance (strengths and weaknesses)
Effectiveness of Group ensemble: I feel that the overall effectiveness of our piece varied greatly from our initial performance to our peers from the theatre department to our evening performance which was witnessed by invited guests, mostly consisting of parents. I feel the weaknesses of our first performance were most apparent in our finishing group ensemble piece of Amanda from Theatre Uncut itself. Our entire company took part in it and it was significantly weaker than our individual devised group performances beforehand which were spoken clearly, with an effective use of Gestus to communicate an unseen side of politicians and prompt the question “Do we become more right wing in hard times?”. In contrast, I feel our final group piece of Amanda lacked a sense of a strong ensemble and Brechtian technique as we were speaking our lines to one another but needed to create more contact between group members and the audience to further break down the fourth wall. Our lack of group ensemble was mainly due to uncertainty about cues and lines within the group which lead to uncomfortably long silences that felt quite dead and lacking in substance. Although, pauses were necessary in the performance as Amanda attempts to relax in the comfort of her own home with her thoughts milling around her, they did not create the dynamic moments intended. To try and improve our sense of group ensemble and pace, many performers, including me, found it appropriate to re-sequence the lines to try and adjust this mishap. This started the action and voice again but led to issues of sequence in the story. As a consequence some lines were unnecessarily repeated.
After practicing individually, we rehearsed with a clear focus on supporting and reacting to one another as an ensemble. This enabled us to heighten our use of Brechtian technique in our final performance to parents as our Gestus became clearer. Because everyone in the group was more secure with lines, we were enabled to relax and confidently carry out bold and interesting choices affecting the audience and one another. This enabled others to have something more significant to react to. The overall effect of this was we became more of a unit and this showed that we were all the contrasting thoughts of one person – Amanda.
Personal what went well: I am particularly pleased with how I performed the line as I implied clear actions and emphasised certain words to get my point across and used Gestus. I directed this harshly to Sophia who spoke the line before me, causing my outburst, other performers and members of the audience, bearing in mind a Brechtian style acting technique. I feel this was effective in reaching the audience which Brecht saw as desirable, building a sense of Amanda’s conflicting intense emotions and gave other performers something to react to.
Personal and even better if: I feel that I could have heightened my sense of Gestus throughout and perhaps travelled more. I felt I wanted to move more but this became problematic as too many people were positioned around the bath tub at once, making it hard to leave this area due to lack of space for movement. I moved around in response to other actors in a confined space which made interactions with one another more of a challenge. I found a good opportunity to move from the crowded area on the line “You’re not even supposed to be thinking of work Amanda so shut up” which was spoken with frustration as I moved. However, in hindsight, I feel I should have moved beforehand and was stationary by the bathtub for too long and was less liberated due to this.
“clean”
Performances that I particularly liked: Performances within our group that I particularly admire include Demi and Elliott. Demi approached the bathtub early on in the group ensemble piece of Amanda and remained there but did not become lazy or start to lose her clear sense of dynamic Gestus and she continued to react to others as she was always focused on the Gestus and physicality of the lines being spoken at the time. As a result of this, when one of my lines was spoken, she made clear precise eye contact with me, registering and reacting to what I had said and in turn spoke her individual lines in a confident, bold and stylised way which engaged the rest of us and the audience. Elliot equally offered his lines in a dynamic and interesting way to fellow performers and the audience with a strong sense of Gestus, showing the archetype of character he was trying to portray effectively. I particularly liked it when he stood up on a chair to say “A bloody Tory MP” whilst waving his hand about. I feel this choice in Gestus created a mocking tone and invited everyone to join in with his point of view and added energy to the performance which transferred onto other performers.
Performances that I particularly liked: Performances within our group that I particularly admire include Demi and Elliott. Demi approached the bathtub early on in the group ensemble piece of Amanda and remained there but did not become lazy or start to lose her clear sense of dynamic Gestus and she continued to react to others as she was always focused on the Gestus and physicality of the lines being spoken at the time. As a result of this, when one of my lines was spoken, she made clear precise eye contact with me, registering and reacting to what I had said and in turn spoke her individual lines in a confident, bold and stylised way which engaged the rest of us and the audience. Elliot equally offered his lines in a dynamic and interesting way to fellow performers and the audience with a strong sense of Gestus, showing the archetype of character he was trying to portray effectively. I particularly liked it when he stood up on a chair to say “A bloody Tory MP” whilst waving his hand about. I feel this choice in Gestus created a mocking tone and invited everyone to join in with his point of view and added energy to the performance which transferred onto other performers.
Final script for our Devised toilet piece
Michelle
Gove's Bathroom.
R K and S on as sinks.
R: Imagine.
K: Ok?
S: A bathroom.
RKS: Is it just like yours?
K and S off.
R: This is the bathroom of Michelle Give.
J and E enter on opposite sides. They both wash their hands and fix their hair then sit down.
K and S enter as toilet and toilet brush.
E: God that stinks!
S: What did she eat?
R: It was pasta I think.
E: Having a bad day are you? All that stress and pain is getting to you I can see it in your eyes. It's aging you slowly. As of lately you've turned so bitter. I saw you earlier...
J gets up and E follows her as she observes S who is busking.
E: You saw that poor boy begging for money, and you god damn well knew you had twenty quid in your pocket. But you were too selfish to fork out. That's the thing about you politicians, you're all selfish. The sooner you realize that the better.
J walks past S and circles E's chair to return to her own. R sits in in E's chair and E becomes sink.
R: I saw you this morning at the referendum, you were so eager to sign that policy for raising the grade boundaries. You never used to be like this.
K comes on. R and J sit up straighter.
K: Right. We are at the final stage of raising the UK's educational grade boundaries for core subjects for high school students. All those for?
S raises J's hand.
K: All those against? Thank you politicians the grade boundaries will rise this autumn.
E and K swap, K becomes sink. R becomes toilet. S sits in E's chair.
S: She doesn't look too good.
E: She had a bad day, she can't flush this away!
K: But she does deserve a good day doesn't she?
R: Yeah, this is meant to be relaxing, you're not really helping...
S: Do you remember me? Didn't think you would. I was 1 of 1000's. It's our lives that you're ruining, our futures! We are the future.
S K R E sound scape: We are the future.
S K R E surround J on chair shouting.
J: Stop! It's not my fault ok?
J gets up and washes her hands.
E: Listen, I know you've had a hard week. You're a politician and you have to be brave. You have to show the people you are in charge. So, keep your chin up, put a smile on that face, and lets take another day.
E and J circle E's chair. S R K bombard J as paparazzi.
S: Michelle! How do you feel about putting up the grade boundaries?
R: Michelle! Do you know you're ruining lives?
L: Michelle! Do you have anything to say?
All: Michelle michelle!
J: Leave me alone. I'm a human, just like you.
J and E exit.
R S K return to sink format.
R: Imagine.
S: Ok?
K: A bathroom.
RSK: Just like everyone else's.
R K and S on as sinks.
R: Imagine.
K: Ok?
S: A bathroom.
RKS: Is it just like yours?
K and S off.
R: This is the bathroom of Michelle Give.
J and E enter on opposite sides. They both wash their hands and fix their hair then sit down.
K and S enter as toilet and toilet brush.
E: God that stinks!
S: What did she eat?
R: It was pasta I think.
E: Having a bad day are you? All that stress and pain is getting to you I can see it in your eyes. It's aging you slowly. As of lately you've turned so bitter. I saw you earlier...
J gets up and E follows her as she observes S who is busking.
E: You saw that poor boy begging for money, and you god damn well knew you had twenty quid in your pocket. But you were too selfish to fork out. That's the thing about you politicians, you're all selfish. The sooner you realize that the better.
J walks past S and circles E's chair to return to her own. R sits in in E's chair and E becomes sink.
R: I saw you this morning at the referendum, you were so eager to sign that policy for raising the grade boundaries. You never used to be like this.
K comes on. R and J sit up straighter.
K: Right. We are at the final stage of raising the UK's educational grade boundaries for core subjects for high school students. All those for?
S raises J's hand.
K: All those against? Thank you politicians the grade boundaries will rise this autumn.
E and K swap, K becomes sink. R becomes toilet. S sits in E's chair.
S: She doesn't look too good.
E: She had a bad day, she can't flush this away!
K: But she does deserve a good day doesn't she?
R: Yeah, this is meant to be relaxing, you're not really helping...
S: Do you remember me? Didn't think you would. I was 1 of 1000's. It's our lives that you're ruining, our futures! We are the future.
S K R E sound scape: We are the future.
S K R E surround J on chair shouting.
J: Stop! It's not my fault ok?
J gets up and washes her hands.
E: Listen, I know you've had a hard week. You're a politician and you have to be brave. You have to show the people you are in charge. So, keep your chin up, put a smile on that face, and lets take another day.
E and J circle E's chair. S R K bombard J as paparazzi.
S: Michelle! How do you feel about putting up the grade boundaries?
R: Michelle! Do you know you're ruining lives?
L: Michelle! Do you have anything to say?
All: Michelle michelle!
J: Leave me alone. I'm a human, just like you.
J and E exit.
R S K return to sink format.
R: Imagine.
S: Ok?
K: A bathroom.
RSK: Just like everyone else's.
Wednesday 11 December 2013
Language of theatre - Epic and Dramatic Theatre
Language of Theatre:
Today we learnt about two interesting and contrasting terms Epic theatre and dramatic theatre
Epic Theatre: (Brecht) narrative, turns the audience into an observer and "Amanda aims to do this. It also suggests an argument and in this case it is the argument that politicians are human which is posed by the question "Do we turn more right wing in hard times".
Dramatic Theatre: Opposing epic Theatre is Dramatic Theatre which is plotted, implicit.
Another way of explaining it is that "Epic Theatre" is alterable/being altered and "Dramatic Theatre" is unalterable.
Today we learnt about two interesting and contrasting terms Epic theatre and dramatic theatre
Epic Theatre: (Brecht) narrative, turns the audience into an observer and "Amanda aims to do this. It also suggests an argument and in this case it is the argument that politicians are human which is posed by the question "Do we turn more right wing in hard times".
Dramatic Theatre: Opposing epic Theatre is Dramatic Theatre which is plotted, implicit.
Another way of explaining it is that "Epic Theatre" is alterable/being altered and "Dramatic Theatre" is unalterable.
Tuesday 10 December 2013
Rehearsing Amanda and own devised pieces
Rehearsing Amanda and own devised pieces:
AMANDA STAGING:
As we are performing our political piece of "Amanda" in a Brechtian style, our interpretation of this short play is going to have a stage layout to reflect this so that the audience are reminded that what they are watching is a performance. We are going to do this by arranging the audience seats so that they can see Amanda in the middle, the individual devised performances around the edge and other audience members from across the room - "Theatre in The Round Staging". I think seeing other audience members watching the performance will be intriguing and reflect the Brechtian technique we are studying effectively as the audience are aware of other audience members reminding them they are being influenced by a performance and it is clearly not real life. I think this is clever staging and feels quite episodic and each devised piece is very sectioned off from one another, showing the each politicians isolation from the rest of the world and other humans. It is only at the end with "Amanda" do all these over-whelming thoughts come colliding together and I think all of these aspects of this staging help making the audience a learning, observant, challenged and actively engaged audience. Additionally, as Brecht used signs in his theatre each of the devised pieces in every corner will also have a sign depicted where the politician is to reflect this.
Feedback for our group piece of Amanda:
- Our collective group ensemble piece of Amanda must have more energy as it is what the pieces beforehand build up to. Our energy is going into our words well but not travelling very far. I agree with this comment and think we all need to open up our voices more and connect them more with our physicality as we are studying Gestus and direct it more to others around us, across the room, who said the line before, to Amanda very directly if appropriate and in the spaces the audience is going to be. I feel I improved this sense of energy and Brechtian technique on two more of my lines where I am describing where Amanda is with my physicality and voice more effectively and when I become frustrated with others negativity and talk of work. Whilst I am much more pleased with these particular lines I need to do the same with all my lines and continuously react as this play has a lot of simplicity but will only retain an engaging energy if the performers that make it interesting, engaging and stop it from its simplistic nature from becoming slow-paced or dull.
Feedback and development for my individual group's devised piece:
- We need to base our politician on an actual person as although we know they work in education we are unsure of who exactly they are. Therefore, as a group we researched in the library and decided to base our political character on Michael Gove - Head of Education. Although this may seem like naturalism as we are researching a character it is not completely necessary to go to the extent of which Stanislavski would as Brecht did not intend for this to happen, however, it is useful to have a name and know a bit more about who we are portraying. As this is an abstract piece and our politician is being portrayed by a girl - Angelica - we are naming them Michelle Gove which may seem less familiar to the audience but this will help them to use their creativity and it is okay if it is not transparently clear who the politician is as "Amanda" herself has no exact identity either as it is irrelevant in the piece as the emphasis is more on the fact that she's human.
- We have created short flashback scenes played by the ensemble of the toilet and bathroom furniture which are performed in front of the toilet scene at the same time as they are being described to show brief scenarios of Michelle's life before merging back into toilet/bathroom furniture again. We feel this will enhance the vivid imagery going through Michelle's head, showing that past events feel really real and on-going to her as if it is happening right next to her in her own bathroom as she tries to block it all out. The scenes we have included are Seamus portraying a young homeless person playing the guitar as he has no more money or job due to the drastic change in education and he is ignored by Michelle. Rebecca described the scene in which she changes the law where I portray her doing so and other politicians pressured into agreeing with the new system due to the head of education (Michelle's) opinion. These scenes add pressure and guilt to Michelle's conscious as she is visabley uncomfortable hearing about hem and watching them back. As an ensemble all of us surround Angelica/Michelle chanting "WE ARE THE FUTURE" louder and louder until she has an outburst. Finally the last scene shows Michelle and her reflection deciding to "face another day" but are mobbed by reporters (Seamus, Rebecca and Me) with Michelle replying "STOP! I'm human just like you". I feel this has improved our piece immensely as we are challenging the audience and showing the multifaceted side to politicians far more than before. This is due to portraying her in her worst light, through these newly added scenes and flashbacks, confirming a typical "thoughtless politician" outlook causing the audience to them negatively but we also challenge this view as we show her stresses and her guilt and she says "I'm human". To emphasise our point we end our scene by the ensemble physically embodying sink and repeating the opening phrase but slightly differently. "Imagine. Okay. A toilet. Just like yours".
- Costume and props:
-
- A piece of clothing that provides a small hint to our character: as I am playing the politician in the flashback and a ensemble character I am going to have blazer that I wear and bring in.
- For our devised piece Seamus will bring in a guitar
AMANDA STAGING:
As we are performing our political piece of "Amanda" in a Brechtian style, our interpretation of this short play is going to have a stage layout to reflect this so that the audience are reminded that what they are watching is a performance. We are going to do this by arranging the audience seats so that they can see Amanda in the middle, the individual devised performances around the edge and other audience members from across the room - "Theatre in The Round Staging". I think seeing other audience members watching the performance will be intriguing and reflect the Brechtian technique we are studying effectively as the audience are aware of other audience members reminding them they are being influenced by a performance and it is clearly not real life. I think this is clever staging and feels quite episodic and each devised piece is very sectioned off from one another, showing the each politicians isolation from the rest of the world and other humans. It is only at the end with "Amanda" do all these over-whelming thoughts come colliding together and I think all of these aspects of this staging help making the audience a learning, observant, challenged and actively engaged audience. Additionally, as Brecht used signs in his theatre each of the devised pieces in every corner will also have a sign depicted where the politician is to reflect this.
Feedback for our group piece of Amanda:
- Our collective group ensemble piece of Amanda must have more energy as it is what the pieces beforehand build up to. Our energy is going into our words well but not travelling very far. I agree with this comment and think we all need to open up our voices more and connect them more with our physicality as we are studying Gestus and direct it more to others around us, across the room, who said the line before, to Amanda very directly if appropriate and in the spaces the audience is going to be. I feel I improved this sense of energy and Brechtian technique on two more of my lines where I am describing where Amanda is with my physicality and voice more effectively and when I become frustrated with others negativity and talk of work. Whilst I am much more pleased with these particular lines I need to do the same with all my lines and continuously react as this play has a lot of simplicity but will only retain an engaging energy if the performers that make it interesting, engaging and stop it from its simplistic nature from becoming slow-paced or dull.
Feedback and development for my individual group's devised piece:
- We need to base our politician on an actual person as although we know they work in education we are unsure of who exactly they are. Therefore, as a group we researched in the library and decided to base our political character on Michael Gove - Head of Education. Although this may seem like naturalism as we are researching a character it is not completely necessary to go to the extent of which Stanislavski would as Brecht did not intend for this to happen, however, it is useful to have a name and know a bit more about who we are portraying. As this is an abstract piece and our politician is being portrayed by a girl - Angelica - we are naming them Michelle Gove which may seem less familiar to the audience but this will help them to use their creativity and it is okay if it is not transparently clear who the politician is as "Amanda" herself has no exact identity either as it is irrelevant in the piece as the emphasis is more on the fact that she's human.
- Costume and props:
-
- A piece of clothing that provides a small hint to our character: as I am playing the politician in the flashback and a ensemble character I am going to have blazer that I wear and bring in.
- For our devised piece Seamus will bring in a guitar
On the day of the Protest
On the day of the Protest:
Unfortunately, on the day of the protest after our planning (see previous posts) and organisation we were unable to perform as all members of our three-piece team were so ill we were unable to do it. I feel I have a rough idea of how the protest would have gone as it had been rehearsed a lot and I think it would have gone well and been very enjoyable to perform as I am keen to protest against this subject that we're passionate about and tell people our message. However, unfortunately there is not was of knowing how it would have gone, only an indication by the work we had prepared. In previous posts I have analysed the process of our protest from initial ideas to how it developed, concepts, meaning, costumes, location, lines, facts, desired outcome, how to get our message across
and how I feel this will be effective for our protest.
Watching Amanda/Theatre Uncut at the Young vic Theatre
Watching Amanda/Theatre Uncut performances at the Young Vic theatre!
I saw Amanda performed on Thursday 21st November.
Watching Amanda among other Theatre Uncut performances at the Young Vic helped me enormously as I feel I really understood the simplicity of the piece far more than before. This is as the three performers only had three chairs and their voices - simple yet effective - and at times casually described what Amanda was doing in the bath tub and at other emotionally expressed her fears and anxieties and the piece had a lot of contrast. They interacted with the audience as they were breaking down the fourth wall and spoke directly to the audience. However, I feel when we perform our own version we will do this more as we are studying the Brechtian techniques including the v-effect and will go closer towards the audience. I also became aware that they did not just speak to the Amanda and the audience, but the two performers either side of her portraying her thoughts constantly interacted with one another which I thought was effective as it gave it a slight feel that it was even more surreal and brought the piece together. I feel seeing this performance will help me adapt what I am doing when I am in Amanda and the individual devised performance as I now understand the sense of group communion and ensemble of her thoughts which I think will be even more effective in our school piece as many people are taking on the role of Amanda's thoughts. The performers I saw said their words descriptively and with feeling as although it is not a naturalistic piece this still needs to be considered to create empathy for Amanda so the audience relate to her and only if this happens can we alter the general audience's perception of politicians. Lastly, I also feel we as a class need to take our time a bit more when performing Amanda and let the piece breathe and not rush unless necessary to portray heighten emotions as there are some points where silences and pauses are very effective as the radio plays and Amanda simply lies in her bath. I think these pauses will help the piece to “breathe” more where appropriate when we perform it and in these gaps of sound have an “energy” not just a silence as if the silences have energy the audience will use that time to compensate over what is happening, thinking more and being more engaged with the message.
Watching Amanda among other Theatre Uncut performances at the Young Vic helped me enormously as I feel I really understood the simplicity of the piece far more than before. This is as the three performers only had three chairs and their voices - simple yet effective - and at times casually described what Amanda was doing in the bath tub and at other emotionally expressed her fears and anxieties and the piece had a lot of contrast. They interacted with the audience as they were breaking down the fourth wall and spoke directly to the audience. However, I feel when we perform our own version we will do this more as we are studying the Brechtian techniques including the v-effect and will go closer towards the audience. I also became aware that they did not just speak to the Amanda and the audience, but the two performers either side of her portraying her thoughts constantly interacted with one another which I thought was effective as it gave it a slight feel that it was even more surreal and brought the piece together. I feel seeing this performance will help me adapt what I am doing when I am in Amanda and the individual devised performance as I now understand the sense of group communion and ensemble of her thoughts which I think will be even more effective in our school piece as many people are taking on the role of Amanda's thoughts. The performers I saw said their words descriptively and with feeling as although it is not a naturalistic piece this still needs to be considered to create empathy for Amanda so the audience relate to her and only if this happens can we alter the general audience's perception of politicians. Lastly, I also feel we as a class need to take our time a bit more when performing Amanda and let the piece breathe and not rush unless necessary to portray heighten emotions as there are some points where silences and pauses are very effective as the radio plays and Amanda simply lies in her bath. I think these pauses will help the piece to “breathe” more where appropriate when we perform it and in these gaps of sound have an “energy” not just a silence as if the silences have energy the audience will use that time to compensate over what is happening, thinking more and being more engaged with the message.
Public, Human, Victim Exercise and devising tasks
Public, Human, Victim Exercise and devising tasks
To understand the multifaceted side of politicians, as Amanda is a politician, we explored this by creating three short scenes showing a politician as a politician (public), a human and a victim. My group decided to focus on the education side of politics, particularly the act of making exams and grade boundaries higher and more vigorous for the younger generation as this has affected us all.
PUBLIC:
We devised a television broadcast of the news where the scene is handed over to a correspondent interviewing a politician on his views on the educational system. Elliot portrayed him as completely for making school exams harder stating that the youth of today "don't care" or "don't work as hard" as they spend too much time drinking and having racous fun so the new education system will make them work harder, learn discipline and care more.
HUMAN:
The second scene was a flashback to a time when the politician was young and bombards his hard-working studying friend with temptation, music and alcohol. Progressively he persuades all of his friends in the scene to "party hard while we're young" and get drunk and forget about exams, insisting that they will be very "easy".
VICTIM:
This last scene shows the politician at home with his wife and children who are struggling with added amounts of revision, exam pressure, deadlines and whether or not they will be able to progress to their desired course due to the decision their father made that exams become harder. He is the victim in this scene as his children are frustrated, worried and resentful towards him due to his decision, making the politician upset and regretting the emotions he has inflicted upon his school students and his children.
These scenes we created show a different politicians frustration, other than Amanda, due to a different cause (education) as we don't know the cause for Amanda's worry.
We developed this by further by adapting to make it more similar to Amanda in the fact that the politician is doing something very human, such as taking a bath, and add ensemble narration of different voices of various emotions to show the complexity of worries being endured.
Location: We chose our location for the politician to be the toilet because it is simple and a realistic place used by all people everyday which is also meant to be private. Using a private location is very important to us as it accentuates the lack of personal space and relaxation politicians can feel they have. This relates to Amanda as she is trying to have some private time but feels as though everyone from her work and all the decisions she is making are following her home form work and into her bathtub and similarly we wanted to construct this but in a toilet.
We chose to continue our focus on the theme of education within politics as we all feel very passionate about this subject which will affect our devising process positively.
Roles/ensemble: The politician (played by Angelica )walks into the bathroom and sees a mirror reflecting her which is the guilty side of herself, puts herself down and telling her her decisions are wrong (Elliot). The other ensemble voices form the rest of the bathroom and the politicians varying thoughts as the sink (Rebecca) is the failing daughter, the toilet paper (Callum) being the man who can't be employed as he has failed his exams, the flusher (me) being the voice of all students taking exams and the plunger (Seamus) being someone who had to retake their exams again and again.
We all took it in turns to say lines to the politician and would push back every time she tried to ignore us by saying things like "You can't just flush this away" and "You can't wash this mess from your hands". This helps create irony as she is on the toilet and helps clearly illustrate where the politician is based as we are having minimal furniture as we want the audience to use their imagination as Brecht did. Although it sounds quite humorous, I think we made it sincere as each negative comment built tension in the piece. We built up the pace and intensity of the piece by creating a soundscape of abuse from the narrators, making him distraught about his work life.
I feel like due to all these things I am coming to terms with Brecht and his acting style more clearly as we are implementing his teachings into our abstract play and devised piece, physically embodying sinks and flushers which contrast Stanislavski's naturalism style. I feel our performance was successful as we portrayed diverse and clashing inner-thoughts of a politician trying to enjoy their personal private life just like Amanda.
To understand the multifaceted side of politicians, as Amanda is a politician, we explored this by creating three short scenes showing a politician as a politician (public), a human and a victim. My group decided to focus on the education side of politics, particularly the act of making exams and grade boundaries higher and more vigorous for the younger generation as this has affected us all.
PUBLIC:
We devised a television broadcast of the news where the scene is handed over to a correspondent interviewing a politician on his views on the educational system. Elliot portrayed him as completely for making school exams harder stating that the youth of today "don't care" or "don't work as hard" as they spend too much time drinking and having racous fun so the new education system will make them work harder, learn discipline and care more.
HUMAN:
The second scene was a flashback to a time when the politician was young and bombards his hard-working studying friend with temptation, music and alcohol. Progressively he persuades all of his friends in the scene to "party hard while we're young" and get drunk and forget about exams, insisting that they will be very "easy".
VICTIM:
This last scene shows the politician at home with his wife and children who are struggling with added amounts of revision, exam pressure, deadlines and whether or not they will be able to progress to their desired course due to the decision their father made that exams become harder. He is the victim in this scene as his children are frustrated, worried and resentful towards him due to his decision, making the politician upset and regretting the emotions he has inflicted upon his school students and his children.
These scenes we created show a different politicians frustration, other than Amanda, due to a different cause (education) as we don't know the cause for Amanda's worry.
We developed this by further by adapting to make it more similar to Amanda in the fact that the politician is doing something very human, such as taking a bath, and add ensemble narration of different voices of various emotions to show the complexity of worries being endured.
Location: We chose our location for the politician to be the toilet because it is simple and a realistic place used by all people everyday which is also meant to be private. Using a private location is very important to us as it accentuates the lack of personal space and relaxation politicians can feel they have. This relates to Amanda as she is trying to have some private time but feels as though everyone from her work and all the decisions she is making are following her home form work and into her bathtub and similarly we wanted to construct this but in a toilet.
We chose to continue our focus on the theme of education within politics as we all feel very passionate about this subject which will affect our devising process positively.
Roles/ensemble: The politician (played by Angelica )walks into the bathroom and sees a mirror reflecting her which is the guilty side of herself, puts herself down and telling her her decisions are wrong (Elliot). The other ensemble voices form the rest of the bathroom and the politicians varying thoughts as the sink (Rebecca) is the failing daughter, the toilet paper (Callum) being the man who can't be employed as he has failed his exams, the flusher (me) being the voice of all students taking exams and the plunger (Seamus) being someone who had to retake their exams again and again.
We all took it in turns to say lines to the politician and would push back every time she tried to ignore us by saying things like "You can't just flush this away" and "You can't wash this mess from your hands". This helps create irony as she is on the toilet and helps clearly illustrate where the politician is based as we are having minimal furniture as we want the audience to use their imagination as Brecht did. Although it sounds quite humorous, I think we made it sincere as each negative comment built tension in the piece. We built up the pace and intensity of the piece by creating a soundscape of abuse from the narrators, making him distraught about his work life.
I feel like due to all these things I am coming to terms with Brecht and his acting style more clearly as we are implementing his teachings into our abstract play and devised piece, physically embodying sinks and flushers which contrast Stanislavski's naturalism style. I feel our performance was successful as we portrayed diverse and clashing inner-thoughts of a politician trying to enjoy their personal private life just like Amanda.
Cosmetics Protest: Final Protest Plan
COSMETICS PROTEST: Final Protest Plan:
As the protest has to take place over 15minutes we have decided to repeat our 5minute scenes/scenario slightly differently three times.
Equipment and where:
- In the foyer at school.
- One table (Abie arranges) covered in toys of stuffed animals (I bring in)
- One chair is behind the table (Abie arranges)
- Make-up (we all bring in)
- Wet wipes (Angelica brings in)
- Beautician costumes (we all bring in)
- Two sided sign with a burned tested on rabbit on one side and the "Leaping bunny" cruelty Free logo on the other (I bring in)
- Three pairs of bunny ears (we all make one individually)
Intro: (this is said to the passing audience to gain some attention as well as to each other. We are all dressed as feminine beauticians and have overstated makeup on with huge smiling acting in a very fake manner with slight humour in our physicality to engage people. At the same time we want them to feel slightly off-edge by our eagerness and smiling. We rotate roughly around this script taking it in turns to say a line with big physicality to draw people in.)
"Gather around!"
"Christmas is coming..."
Parties!"
"New lipsticks!"
"Oooh I am looking forward to that!"
"Come and get your free makeup!" (A volunteer comes up. We may have to strongly encourage/welcome people if they are shy. If no one volunteers we will perform makeover on Angelica in our group. We bring the person over to our table)
We positively do a makeover on who ever volunteers, complimenting them, making them feel put off by our extreme excitement of doing a makeover. As the makeover progresses we positively, happily say facts about the amount of animals killed each year and the conditions and procedures of the tests they are forced into - (these are written in the previous blog). As we say these facts we will play with one of the stuffed animal toys amongst the table of makeup and toss it carelessly over our head without looking and go back to what we are doing. We say facts to the audience, each other and the volunteer happily breaking off into contrasting complimentary phrases to glorify makeup such as "Oh but that does look nice on you!" "But those animals aren't worth it though!" "Their pain is necessary for your beauty!". It is important to constantly engage the audience and at the same time swarm the volunteer with speech and attention too. As the makeover procedes we apply way too much makeup so that they look ridiculous - just as we do. Finally as we near the end "We say ooh you're not quite finished yet...". I use an eyeliner pencil to write "MURDERER" on their forehead and we put one of the three bunny ears we have made on the person. "Right" we say "Now you're a picture of true beauty!"
We turn to the audience and come out of role to tell them in a meaningful and projected voice in unison: "This doesn't happen in the UK. Because you fought for the right cause and made change happen! But this still continues worldwide. Join Cruelty Free International and protest for the right of all animals! We are their voice!"
This five minute role play/scenario with facts is repeated three times. At the end of the second one we turn to the audience and say "You wouldn't blind a stranger. But you're willing to wear the guilt on your face!". At the end of the third one we hold up the rabbit sign (in equipment list above) and say "Do you want to see this?" hold up the side with the burned rabbit on "Or this?" switch the sign over to reveal the "leaping bunny" Cruelty Free logo. "It's your choice!"
The effectiveness/ our desired outcome:
I feel that the gradual build of sincerity in our protest will be effective as people may think at first we are simply going to do a normal makeover and will have their mind switched off onto less pressing thoughts. As the message of our protest becomes more prominent with time but remains oddly jolly through out, they will realise the seriousness and the irony of what we are doing as we are dressed in makeup and happily applying it. Hopefully this will make them feel off-edge by what they are seeing in front of them and what is happening around the world and connect the two together in their mind by what we are saying. I feel that the role play is effective as it creates a satire of beauticians and the beauty industry and will make the audience question what really is "beauty" as we are emphasising the ridiculous, vain and thoughtless nature involved in the beauty industry. We are planning to show the ugly side!. I feel our protest shall be made stronger by the fact that we have stuffed toy animals amongst the makeup on the table as they show the manipulation humans are having over animals as we toss them away and they are motionless and voiceless - just like the live ones in cages. I think this will help emphasise our message as we make contact with them and say the facts about live animals but don't truly connect the two together. This will make the audience work harder as Brecht wanted as we are visually challenging them and provoking debate, making them use their imagination and realise that the toys are representing what really happens to live animals.
As the protest has to take place over 15minutes we have decided to repeat our 5minute scenes/scenario slightly differently three times.
Equipment and where:
- In the foyer at school.
- One table (Abie arranges) covered in toys of stuffed animals (I bring in)
- One chair is behind the table (Abie arranges)
- Make-up (we all bring in)
- Wet wipes (Angelica brings in)
- Beautician costumes (we all bring in)
- Two sided sign with a burned tested on rabbit on one side and the "Leaping bunny" cruelty Free logo on the other (I bring in)
- Three pairs of bunny ears (we all make one individually)
Intro: (this is said to the passing audience to gain some attention as well as to each other. We are all dressed as feminine beauticians and have overstated makeup on with huge smiling acting in a very fake manner with slight humour in our physicality to engage people. At the same time we want them to feel slightly off-edge by our eagerness and smiling. We rotate roughly around this script taking it in turns to say a line with big physicality to draw people in.)
"Gather around!"
"Christmas is coming..."
Parties!"
"New lipsticks!"
"Oooh I am looking forward to that!"
"Come and get your free makeup!" (A volunteer comes up. We may have to strongly encourage/welcome people if they are shy. If no one volunteers we will perform makeover on Angelica in our group. We bring the person over to our table)
We positively do a makeover on who ever volunteers, complimenting them, making them feel put off by our extreme excitement of doing a makeover. As the makeover progresses we positively, happily say facts about the amount of animals killed each year and the conditions and procedures of the tests they are forced into - (these are written in the previous blog). As we say these facts we will play with one of the stuffed animal toys amongst the table of makeup and toss it carelessly over our head without looking and go back to what we are doing. We say facts to the audience, each other and the volunteer happily breaking off into contrasting complimentary phrases to glorify makeup such as "Oh but that does look nice on you!" "But those animals aren't worth it though!" "Their pain is necessary for your beauty!". It is important to constantly engage the audience and at the same time swarm the volunteer with speech and attention too. As the makeover procedes we apply way too much makeup so that they look ridiculous - just as we do. Finally as we near the end "We say ooh you're not quite finished yet...". I use an eyeliner pencil to write "MURDERER" on their forehead and we put one of the three bunny ears we have made on the person. "Right" we say "Now you're a picture of true beauty!"
We turn to the audience and come out of role to tell them in a meaningful and projected voice in unison: "This doesn't happen in the UK. Because you fought for the right cause and made change happen! But this still continues worldwide. Join Cruelty Free International and protest for the right of all animals! We are their voice!"
This five minute role play/scenario with facts is repeated three times. At the end of the second one we turn to the audience and say "You wouldn't blind a stranger. But you're willing to wear the guilt on your face!". At the end of the third one we hold up the rabbit sign (in equipment list above) and say "Do you want to see this?" hold up the side with the burned rabbit on "Or this?" switch the sign over to reveal the "leaping bunny" Cruelty Free logo. "It's your choice!"
The effectiveness/ our desired outcome:
I feel that the gradual build of sincerity in our protest will be effective as people may think at first we are simply going to do a normal makeover and will have their mind switched off onto less pressing thoughts. As the message of our protest becomes more prominent with time but remains oddly jolly through out, they will realise the seriousness and the irony of what we are doing as we are dressed in makeup and happily applying it. Hopefully this will make them feel off-edge by what they are seeing in front of them and what is happening around the world and connect the two together in their mind by what we are saying. I feel that the role play is effective as it creates a satire of beauticians and the beauty industry and will make the audience question what really is "beauty" as we are emphasising the ridiculous, vain and thoughtless nature involved in the beauty industry. We are planning to show the ugly side!. I feel our protest shall be made stronger by the fact that we have stuffed toy animals amongst the makeup on the table as they show the manipulation humans are having over animals as we toss them away and they are motionless and voiceless - just like the live ones in cages. I think this will help emphasise our message as we make contact with them and say the facts about live animals but don't truly connect the two together. This will make the audience work harder as Brecht wanted as we are visually challenging them and provoking debate, making them use their imagination and realise that the toys are representing what really happens to live animals.
Animal Rights Protest: Research and more planning
Animal Rights Protest: Research and more planning
To gain facts and an awareness of animal testing, where it used, how necessary it is, the side effects, precautions and statistics, I carried out some research.
Firstly, I found out that a complete ban on all cosmetics developed through animal testing has taken effect in the EU in March 2013 in favour for alternative methods of research (which I am very glad to hear!). However, animal testing still takes place worldwide and still deserves to be protested against to ban it everywhere!
The main websites I have gained my knowledge of animal testing are: PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), Animal Welfare Act (AWA), Cruelty Free International, RSPCA, SPEAK (the voice of animal rights), youtube.
Cruelty Free International is an organisation that works solely to end animal testing for cosmetic purposes. They work in Korea, China, Brazil, Vietnam and the USA, pressing regulators to ban animal deaths for make-up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12qens23byg
(I have gained facts and information from this video but we plan to conduct our protest very differently to the one in this video )
To gain facts and an awareness of animal testing, where it used, how necessary it is, the side effects, precautions and statistics, I carried out some research.
Firstly, I found out that a complete ban on all cosmetics developed through animal testing has taken effect in the EU in March 2013 in favour for alternative methods of research (which I am very glad to hear!). However, animal testing still takes place worldwide and still deserves to be protested against to ban it everywhere!
The main websites I have gained my knowledge of animal testing are: PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), Animal Welfare Act (AWA), Cruelty Free International, RSPCA, SPEAK (the voice of animal rights), youtube. Cruelty Free International is an organisation that works solely to end animal testing for cosmetic purposes. They work in Korea, China, Brazil, Vietnam and the USA, pressing regulators to ban animal deaths for make-up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12qens23byg
(I have gained facts and information from this video but we plan to conduct our protest very differently to the one in this video )
FACTS AND STATISTICS:
- Every year over 100 million animals are burned, crippled, poisoned and abused in U.S labs every year and this animal testing costs the American public over $136 billion annually!
- Millions of rabbits die after being placed in crates with their heads sticking out. Their eye lids are usually forced to open while chemicals are poured into their eyes and rabbits often break their necks trying to get out of these crates. These chemicals blind millions of species of animals!
- Chemicals are rubbed onto the shaved skin of animals!
- Some animals suffer the torture of these horrific "tests" for up to 12 months - a year!
- Pregnant animals are tested and killed and are treated no differently from other animals and have their foetuses tested on!
- Since the EU has banned cosmetics developed through animal testing for alternative methods they have found it more cost effective and provides better results!
- "Lethal" dose tests large amounts of death chemicals to measure the amount of chemical needed to cause death!
- In China it is the law that all cosmetics MUST be tested on animals first before selling!
- All these tests can be in vain as SPEAK has found that animals react differently to cosmetics to people so after all these deaths hormone replacement therapy which tested safely on monkeys has caused heart disease, strokes and breast cancer in millions of women.
- The asthma drug ISOPRENALINE has killed thousands of people yet proportionate dosing showed no side effects in primates!
-Up to 90% of animals used in testing are not counted in the official statistics and receive no protection under the animal welfare act!
- At the end of tests animals are killed because they are no longer needed. This is normally done by asphyxiation (strangling), neck breaking or decapitation (head chopped off). No pain relief is provided to make this less painful. After death sometimes animals are put into rubbish bags to be taken away!
THESE FACTS ARE DISGUSTING!!!!!
We are planning on showing horrific images of dead animals to have a strong impact with the catch phrase "Are THEY worth it?" as a spin-off from the well-known phrase spoken by celebrities advertising make up "You're worth it!".
Planning Our Protest
Planning Our Protest
My Group is formed of three people:
- Abie
- Angelica
- Me
... This was because we noticed we had all at some point become passionate during debates in class and were eager to listen to other peoples opinions to broaden our own understanding as well as challenge current ideas. Due to the enthuasim and interest we all had for beginning a political protest, we decided to work together. We also had a few similar political ideas as to what we may choose to protest against.
Initial Protest Idea: We initially were unsure of what we wanted to protest against as we felt very passionate about many subjects. Abie suggested that we protest against the idea that females deserve rape if they are dressed in a revealing or procative manner. Although we were all initially interested in protesting against this, we realised that we were not very passionate about this subject and this would consequently affect the energy, delivery and power of our message to the audience in an un-effective way.
We all agreed that we were passionate about the fact that animals are forced to suffer the harsh consequences of chemicals used in order to test make up for human safety - Animal Rights! We are keen to bring this issue into light as it is very unjust but is not fully accepted as a serious important enough topic which we want to highlight and believe we can do in interesting and dynamic ways.
Initial ideas for our animal rights protest:
Considering that the protest has to be theatrical, creative, informative and original we brainstormed ideas...
Visual Aids: We want to include visual aids to enhance our protest to intrigue passers by and draw them in to our performance. They will also help illustrate the facts we are saying and reveal the reality of animal testing through real and unpleasant images to help engrain the underlying seriousness of our message, despite our contrasting humorous role play. Our role play within the protest is going to have costumes for the beauticians and overstated makeup to emphasise the strange nature of undergoing this procedure at the cost it has on animals.
Theatricality: For our protest to be effective and theatrical we decided to take on characters, possibly even animal, roles to address our issue in a way that is more interesting than simply telling people facts. We think playing beauticians in a cringing and repulsive yet also humorous manner, will unmask the truth of how make-up is made and tested and will create a satire of those involved in the make-up industry.
Audience Involvement: To engage our audience in our political protest we plan to interact with them as much as possible, breaking down the fourth wall and using clear Gestus as Brecht did, to force them to think and be engaged with what we are saying and the message of our performance. Our use of the v-effect will intrigue passers by and create a message which is more influential as we are planning to affect them directly as much as possible.
Where: We want to have our protest in a central place to attract as many people as possible to our cause. We feel that the foyer by the box office at the entrance to school would be a suitable place as we want our protest to be seen by various strands and ages and this location enables a diverse range of people to see out work.
Jobs/ research allocated: We have allocated jobs to all group members to make our preparation as efficient as possible and have decided to gain facts and knowledge, costumes, and props to add our these initial ideas for the protest.
My Group is formed of three people:
- Abie
- Angelica
- Me
... This was because we noticed we had all at some point become passionate during debates in class and were eager to listen to other peoples opinions to broaden our own understanding as well as challenge current ideas. Due to the enthuasim and interest we all had for beginning a political protest, we decided to work together. We also had a few similar political ideas as to what we may choose to protest against.
Initial Protest Idea: We initially were unsure of what we wanted to protest against as we felt very passionate about many subjects. Abie suggested that we protest against the idea that females deserve rape if they are dressed in a revealing or procative manner. Although we were all initially interested in protesting against this, we realised that we were not very passionate about this subject and this would consequently affect the energy, delivery and power of our message to the audience in an un-effective way.
We all agreed that we were passionate about the fact that animals are forced to suffer the harsh consequences of chemicals used in order to test make up for human safety - Animal Rights! We are keen to bring this issue into light as it is very unjust but is not fully accepted as a serious important enough topic which we want to highlight and believe we can do in interesting and dynamic ways.
Initial ideas for our animal rights protest:
Considering that the protest has to be theatrical, creative, informative and original we brainstormed ideas...
Visual Aids: We want to include visual aids to enhance our protest to intrigue passers by and draw them in to our performance. They will also help illustrate the facts we are saying and reveal the reality of animal testing through real and unpleasant images to help engrain the underlying seriousness of our message, despite our contrasting humorous role play. Our role play within the protest is going to have costumes for the beauticians and overstated makeup to emphasise the strange nature of undergoing this procedure at the cost it has on animals.
Theatricality: For our protest to be effective and theatrical we decided to take on characters, possibly even animal, roles to address our issue in a way that is more interesting than simply telling people facts. We think playing beauticians in a cringing and repulsive yet also humorous manner, will unmask the truth of how make-up is made and tested and will create a satire of those involved in the make-up industry.
Audience Involvement: To engage our audience in our political protest we plan to interact with them as much as possible, breaking down the fourth wall and using clear Gestus as Brecht did, to force them to think and be engaged with what we are saying and the message of our performance. Our use of the v-effect will intrigue passers by and create a message which is more influential as we are planning to affect them directly as much as possible.
Where: We want to have our protest in a central place to attract as many people as possible to our cause. We feel that the foyer by the box office at the entrance to school would be a suitable place as we want our protest to be seen by various strands and ages and this location enables a diverse range of people to see out work.
Jobs/ research allocated: We have allocated jobs to all group members to make our preparation as efficient as possible and have decided to gain facts and knowledge, costumes, and props to add our these initial ideas for the protest.
Friday 6 December 2013
Gestus and Bertolt Brecht Research
Gestus and
Bertolt Brecht Research
Gestus: (originating from the word gesture) acting technique developed by the Brecht relating to bodily movements and physicalityor gestures. The combination of gesture, facial expression and body language are used to create meaning, educating and communicating a message to the audience. In essence it is a universal and instantly recognisable character created through archetypes, not stereotypes, portrayed through physicality. It is a means by which "an attitude or single aspect of an attitude" is revealed as it is "expressible in words or actions." Brecht saw the physical aspect of Gestus as more liberating than natiralism which consists of a stanislavski approach and detail as Gestus is more universal. An
example of Gestus is a woman with her hands on her hips thrusting them as far forward as she can to show the Gestus of a pregnant lady.
We bent our knees an bent forward and put our head up. This made us physically appear as the universally known Archetype of an old person without having to think of deeper questions and history surrounding the character.
We thrust our hips forward to portray an alcoholic, an imaginary beer in our hands with our head slumped onto our chest. This physicality is so clear that stumbling or slurred words are not necessary.
In this image the boys became soldiers, thinking of small physical traits and raising their chins up slightly as this fits the archetype of a soldier who is proud to serve their country and has been taught to stand to attention. They stood straight with their hands flat by their sides as well to show this.
Verfremdungseffekt (v-effect):
It is in essence the breaking of the fourth wall including and engaging the audience. This has also become known as the "distancing effect" as it prevents the audience from completely loosing themselves in the story of the plot as directly engaging the audience reminds them they are watching a performance and it is not real life. It intends to instead make the audience a critical, engaged learning and observant one so they can understand the message of the performance and have their minds provoked without believing it is real life.
My Opinion: I feel that gestus is effective as it is a universal way of communicating to an audience, creating a character through archetypes, meaning it is instantly identifiable and accessible for the audience. It contrasts naturalism as nauralism includes great depth of charactre analysis, given circumstances, history, background research, whilst Brecht on the othe hand did not aim to do this. I think both naturalism and a Brechtian style technique are important forms of theatre and should be acknowledged as respectable and valid in their own ways.
Archetypes: are characters instantly recognisable, often confused with “stereotypes”. The difference is archetypes are a model from which other models follow, whereas a stereotype is a shallow representation created by key features taken from commonly held views about a type of person. Gestus is how you could make a character that is acknowledging a sense of balance – it is not excessive in its naturalistic state but neither is it melodrama. It shows certain archetypes within society, e.g. drunk man, soldier, pregnant woman.
The montage exercise: Having learnt the definition of Gestus and Archetypes and how Brecht uses them, we put this into practice by creating a montage of three frames titled “ladies who lunch”. Our aim was to alter the common association with the title and challenge the audience’s perspective. First we showed “ladies” having fun, followed by ladies being confronted by bad news of the war and finally the aftermath reaction among them following this. We used clear Gestus in all of these, sitting upright, crossing our legs and sipping tea. This connects with the archetype of “ladies” and is universally recognisable. However, we altered this as we hear the bad news, slouching and adopting a deflated physicality, challenging the audience showing a side not commonly associated the title of the montage. This did not communicate the Gestus of “ladies” but instead of people weighed down with troubles. We then developed this by moving from one frame to the next, still implying our knowledge of gestus, showing each of the events.
What went well: I think this made the audience a learning audience as although no extreme individual character detail was involved, as it would in naturalism, the audience could depict and engage with the situation portrayed through Gestus and were challenged by how the montage was presented. The focus of this exercise was primarily to come to terms with the Brechtian technique of Gestus but I found that the topic we are exploring through this montage was political with a small p as it was not about government.
Even better if : I would like to continue practising these techniques as I could continue to refine my skills and make the acting technique of Gestus clearer to the audience. If we were to develop this further I would include the v-effect by interacting with the audience to emphasise that we were portraying archetypes not real-life characters and include and engage the audience more in the performance that was happening to break down the fourth wall and challenge those watching.
Bertolt Brecht
- Bertolt Brecht (1898 –1956) was a 20th century German poet, playwright and theatre director and practitioner who has widely influenced the landscape of theatre over time.
- He is well known for the use of signs in his performances rather the using naturally decorated scenes
- He is known for the Gestus acting technique (explained above)
Brecht attempted to develop a new approach to theatre. He tried to persuade his audiences to see the stage as a stage, actors as actors and not the traditional “make believe” or naturalism of the theatre.Brecht shows a moment but the actor does not reveal the life-time of that character and all of their given circumstances as this would be naturalistic. Portraying all of the sides to a character through extensive research and exploration and through historical background knowledge, as we did for "A Doll's House" would be considered as an naturalistic approach to theatre whilst Brecht simply intended to show a moment for the audience and believed this was all that was needed to create a learning audience.
Brecht wanted the audience to observe theatre in a detached way with their minds so they could understand his version of the truth. He didn’t want the audience to become passionately or emotionally involved. Brecht usually left the stage bare in his productions to prevent the audience from believing in a detailed illusion of reality. The audience saw stage machinery, the staging to the wings and often the back wall was visible. They could also see the lighting grid so they could see how the lights were used to affect the mood of the play and how this was trying to influence their judgement. His unnaturalistic style of theatre, in my opinion, is interesting as he wants the art of theatre to be seen as an art and not as real life for the audience. I think perhaps the intention of this is that the audience is more motivated to change their behaviour or gain a message as they are aware that what they have seen was supposed to teach and provoke their political mind so gain Brecht's message more effectively.
He had a Communist (Marxist) perspective and this view is reflected in the nature of his plays. When Hitler came to power in 1933 Brecht fled Nazi German. While he lived in exile he wrote anti-Nazi plays such as “Fear And Misery Of The Third Reich”.
Brecht argued that realistic theatre reinforced a particular political vision, a view of society as the inevitable product of evolution and history, and therefore, not susceptible to change. He believed the audience needs to arrive at their own conclusion of how events are linked together.
How he did this:
Brecht usually left the stage bare in his productions to prevent the audience from believing in a detailed illusion of reality. The audience saw stage machinery, the staging to the wings and often the back wall was visible. They could also see the lighting grid so they could see how the lights were used to affect the mood of the play and how this was trying to influence their judgement. He also had no fear in letting the audience see one another, unlike naturalism, and this all contributed to his individual Brecht style for which he is known.
Gestus: (originating from the word gesture) acting technique developed by the Brecht relating to bodily movements and physicalityor gestures. The combination of gesture, facial expression and body language are used to create meaning, educating and communicating a message to the audience. In essence it is a universal and instantly recognisable character created through archetypes, not stereotypes, portrayed through physicality. It is a means by which "an attitude or single aspect of an attitude" is revealed as it is "expressible in words or actions." Brecht saw the physical aspect of Gestus as more liberating than natiralism which consists of a stanislavski approach and detail as Gestus is more universal. An
example of Gestus is a woman with her hands on her hips thrusting them as far forward as she can to show the Gestus of a pregnant lady.
We bent our knees an bent forward and put our head up. This made us physically appear as the universally known Archetype of an old person without having to think of deeper questions and history surrounding the character.
We thrust our hips forward to portray an alcoholic, an imaginary beer in our hands with our head slumped onto our chest. This physicality is so clear that stumbling or slurred words are not necessary.
In this image the boys became soldiers, thinking of small physical traits and raising their chins up slightly as this fits the archetype of a soldier who is proud to serve their country and has been taught to stand to attention. They stood straight with their hands flat by their sides as well to show this.Verfremdungseffekt (v-effect):
It is in essence the breaking of the fourth wall including and engaging the audience. This has also become known as the "distancing effect" as it prevents the audience from completely loosing themselves in the story of the plot as directly engaging the audience reminds them they are watching a performance and it is not real life. It intends to instead make the audience a critical, engaged learning and observant one so they can understand the message of the performance and have their minds provoked without believing it is real life.
My Opinion: I feel that gestus is effective as it is a universal way of communicating to an audience, creating a character through archetypes, meaning it is instantly identifiable and accessible for the audience. It contrasts naturalism as nauralism includes great depth of charactre analysis, given circumstances, history, background research, whilst Brecht on the othe hand did not aim to do this. I think both naturalism and a Brechtian style technique are important forms of theatre and should be acknowledged as respectable and valid in their own ways.
Archetypes: are characters instantly recognisable, often confused with “stereotypes”. The difference is archetypes are a model from which other models follow, whereas a stereotype is a shallow representation created by key features taken from commonly held views about a type of person. Gestus is how you could make a character that is acknowledging a sense of balance – it is not excessive in its naturalistic state but neither is it melodrama. It shows certain archetypes within society, e.g. drunk man, soldier, pregnant woman.
The montage exercise: Having learnt the definition of Gestus and Archetypes and how Brecht uses them, we put this into practice by creating a montage of three frames titled “ladies who lunch”. Our aim was to alter the common association with the title and challenge the audience’s perspective. First we showed “ladies” having fun, followed by ladies being confronted by bad news of the war and finally the aftermath reaction among them following this. We used clear Gestus in all of these, sitting upright, crossing our legs and sipping tea. This connects with the archetype of “ladies” and is universally recognisable. However, we altered this as we hear the bad news, slouching and adopting a deflated physicality, challenging the audience showing a side not commonly associated the title of the montage. This did not communicate the Gestus of “ladies” but instead of people weighed down with troubles. We then developed this by moving from one frame to the next, still implying our knowledge of gestus, showing each of the events.
What went well: I think this made the audience a learning audience as although no extreme individual character detail was involved, as it would in naturalism, the audience could depict and engage with the situation portrayed through Gestus and were challenged by how the montage was presented. The focus of this exercise was primarily to come to terms with the Brechtian technique of Gestus but I found that the topic we are exploring through this montage was political with a small p as it was not about government.
Even better if : I would like to continue practising these techniques as I could continue to refine my skills and make the acting technique of Gestus clearer to the audience. If we were to develop this further I would include the v-effect by interacting with the audience to emphasise that we were portraying archetypes not real-life characters and include and engage the audience more in the performance that was happening to break down the fourth wall and challenge those watching.
Bertolt Brecht
- Bertolt Brecht (1898 –1956) was a 20th century German poet, playwright and theatre director and practitioner who has widely influenced the landscape of theatre over time.
- He is well known for the use of signs in his performances rather the using naturally decorated scenes
- He is known for the Gestus acting technique (explained above)
Brecht attempted to develop a new approach to theatre. He tried to persuade his audiences to see the stage as a stage, actors as actors and not the traditional “make believe” or naturalism of the theatre.Brecht shows a moment but the actor does not reveal the life-time of that character and all of their given circumstances as this would be naturalistic. Portraying all of the sides to a character through extensive research and exploration and through historical background knowledge, as we did for "A Doll's House" would be considered as an naturalistic approach to theatre whilst Brecht simply intended to show a moment for the audience and believed this was all that was needed to create a learning audience.
Brecht wanted the audience to observe theatre in a detached way with their minds so they could understand his version of the truth. He didn’t want the audience to become passionately or emotionally involved. Brecht usually left the stage bare in his productions to prevent the audience from believing in a detailed illusion of reality. The audience saw stage machinery, the staging to the wings and often the back wall was visible. They could also see the lighting grid so they could see how the lights were used to affect the mood of the play and how this was trying to influence their judgement. His unnaturalistic style of theatre, in my opinion, is interesting as he wants the art of theatre to be seen as an art and not as real life for the audience. I think perhaps the intention of this is that the audience is more motivated to change their behaviour or gain a message as they are aware that what they have seen was supposed to teach and provoke their political mind so gain Brecht's message more effectively.
He had a Communist (Marxist) perspective and this view is reflected in the nature of his plays. When Hitler came to power in 1933 Brecht fled Nazi German. While he lived in exile he wrote anti-Nazi plays such as “Fear And Misery Of The Third Reich”.
Brecht argued that realistic theatre reinforced a particular political vision, a view of society as the inevitable product of evolution and history, and therefore, not susceptible to change. He believed the audience needs to arrive at their own conclusion of how events are linked together.
How he did this:
Brecht usually left the stage bare in his productions to prevent the audience from believing in a detailed illusion of reality. The audience saw stage machinery, the staging to the wings and often the back wall was visible. They could also see the lighting grid so they could see how the lights were used to affect the mood of the play and how this was trying to influence their judgement. He also had no fear in letting the audience see one another, unlike naturalism, and this all contributed to his individual Brecht style for which he is known.
Sunday 1 December 2013
Receiving Amanda Script, discussing newspaper topic and introduction to protest
The “Amanda” Script
Today we were assigned our script for our group performance which we will perform at the end of this term. Ours is “Amanda” from Theatre Uncut which is a series of short political plays written by new writers who respond to a current political question each year. Theatre Uncut’s plays are made available and free for anyone anywhere to perform to get people talking, thinking and taking action about political issues. I have booked a ticket at the Young Vic to see Amanda performed by Theatre Uncut to support me with my study this term.The creators of Theatre Uncut carried out a public survey to decipher a political question to write about and perform and settled on “Do people become more right wing in hard times?”. This is as a result the stimulus for “Amanda”.
As the plays respond to a current political question it was important that this was equally matched by updating the script , as stated at the front of it, to the area and circumstances of when it was performed. An example of this was one of my lines
"She is her in her high-ceilinged Edwardian flat in Victoria. Where she live. Here where she lives by herself." Tim told me to change this to a high-ceilinged Victorian flat in London. Clapham." The newer version is slightly more relevant and has more of a chatty colloquial tone .
...as well as aligning the time Amanda is in the bath to when we are performing the piece. I feel this will add to the feeling that Amanda’s troubles are present, prominent and inescapable and the political issues she hides herself from are existing current worries. Although throughout the piece her particular political duties and doubts aren’t revealed nor her political status or party, this intrigues the audience as to what they are, creating a captivated audience provoking debate in their minds as to what personally feels politically incorrect for them at that present.
I feel that although the script is clearly abstract as people portray Amanda's various voices it is also clearly very human as well as stress and anxieties are relatable to everybody.
...as well as aligning the time Amanda is in the bath to when we are performing the piece. I feel this will add to the feeling that Amanda’s troubles are present, prominent and inescapable and the political issues she hides herself from are existing current worries. Although throughout the piece her particular political duties and doubts aren’t revealed nor her political status or party, this intrigues the audience as to what they are, creating a captivated audience provoking debate in their minds as to what personally feels politically incorrect for them at that present.
I feel that although the script is clearly abstract as people portray Amanda's various voices it is also clearly very human as well as stress and anxieties are relatable to everybody.
For me the prominent message of Amanda is first and foremost
to alert people to the fact that politicians are humans despite the hard outer
shell they are perceived to have. This play challenges and manipulates common views of a politician which may be within the audience. We are studying Brecht so will therefore rehearse, stage, devise and perform it in a Brechtian style to emphasise this as Brecht also wanted the audience to be challenged,engaged and question their views which is what the piece Amanda promotes. I
think the playwright, Kieran Hurley, purposely didn’t state Amanda’s political
status and opinions as she is trying to show that it is irrelevant and
regardless of what her political opinions are, she is still human. Showing her relaxing,
or trying to relax, in her bath in her own home
demonstrates a vulnerable side to politicians not often seen or acknowledged,
which I think is engaging and can alter audience perceptions if performed
effectively. Lastly, the audience’s mind is most stimulated by the ending as we
are left unsure of whether or not Amanda finds the courage and energy to face
another day of work or whether she chooses to stay underwater and drown
instead.
Newspaper
topics and beginning our protest
We discussed current newspapers topics from various papers
in small groups and fed back to the rest of the class whether we think they are
politics with a “small P” or “big P”, why this is and our opinion on it.
Politics (Big P) = is to do with government and society at large. It involved issues such as conservative vs liberal, right-wing vs left-wing. Typically political issues that are obviously political such as whether or not the BNP should be allowed to be a party. This clearly relates directly to the subject of politics.
politics (small p) = relate to a small scale, more personal politics between individuals and groups. This includes racism, intolerance, sexism and how we interact with others on a daily basis. Everything we do I political.
Politics (Big P) = is to do with government and society at large. It involved issues such as conservative vs liberal, right-wing vs left-wing. Typically political issues that are obviously political such as whether or not the BNP should be allowed to be a party. This clearly relates directly to the subject of politics.
politics (small p) = relate to a small scale, more personal politics between individuals and groups. This includes racism, intolerance, sexism and how we interact with others on a daily basis. Everything we do I political.
We discussed the suggestion that Burqas should not be allowed in England or Europe since
a story of a suspected terrorist who used one as a disguise was brought into
light, which created a very interesting conversation. -
I understand the view that this topic is Politics (P) as this man has broken the law and is being sought by the police. I feel this topic could fit into either categories but personally feel it is Politics (p) as the article prominently deals with racism rather than the laws and how the government is planning to deal with this.
My Thoughts: I feel this topic is very controversial and found
myself agreeing with contradicting arguments at some points. I agree that it is
a human right to freely express ones religion but can also agreed with Nicholas's point that others may
view covering all parts of one’s body except their eyes as unreasonably
excessive or an opportunity for mishaps to take place, such as discussed in the
newspaper article. However, I feel that the overwhelming majority of Muslims
have no such intent and only wish to practice their beliefs. I feel disarming
Muslims of their right to wear Burqas due to a particular and rare incident
regarding one person would be unacceptable as that one person cannot represent
an entire community of people. In my opinion, it would be similarly wrong to
ensure that all school students are escorted form their house due to a small
proportion misbehaving outside of school as you cannot put one umbrella over a
large diverse group of people.
BEGINNING OUR PROTEST PLANNING:
The political subjects discussed in class today shall act as
a great stimulus for possible topics to protest against. I am interested in
exploring the Burqa argument as I feel strongly that people should be allowed
to wear them to express their religion but understand that this is also highly
controversial and I can sympathise with why people may disagree. There is
potential for many dynamic and unexpected ways to approach this complex issue but
seeing this is my initial thought I am going to explore many other politics
(big P and little p) topics before deciding, which will help widen my political
knowledge for this term.
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