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.
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