Brecht

Brecht

1. Production work

   • Theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet
   • First full-length play, Baal (written 1918)
   • Second major play, Drums in the Night, in February 1919

2. Experimentation and developing imagination

   • Brecht often experimented with the structure

3. Developing vocal and physical skills

   • Early Life
     • Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht
     • Due to his mother's influence, Brecht knew the Bible,
   • Learnt a lot from Valentin
   • Brecht was influenced by a diverse range of writers and practitioners including Chinese theatre and Karl Marx

4. Analysis of text

5. Improvisation

6. Approach to and use of research

   • Developing and interpreting character
     • Very little character development
   • Epic Theatre
     • Brecht hoped to communicate that the audience's reality was equally constructed and, as such, was changeable.
   • Verfremdungseffekt ( Distancing effect)
   • Brecht was also influenced by Chinese theatre, and used its aesthetic as an argument for Verfremdungseffekt.
   • Music/song
     • characters frequently and suddenly burst into song - sometimes directly to the audience
   • Multi - rolling
     • Actors commonly perform more than one character in a drama
   • Ensemble
     • Actors on stage at all times and who perform together
   • Narration
     • Where parts of the play are narrated rather than acting them, telling the audience what is going on.
   • Direct address
     • An actor speaking directly to the audience
   • Gestus
     • The combination of gesture, facial expression and body language is used to create meaning and communicate a message to the audience
   • Speaking stge direction
     • The actors speak the stage directions directly to the audience
   • Placards
     • Signs or projections which tells us what's going to happen before each scene
   • Tickle and slap
     • Lull the audience into a false sense of security and then hit them with something shocking

7. Observation

   • Brecht had no desire to destroy art as an institution; rather, he hoped to "re-function" the theatre to a new social use.
   • Brecht used his poetry to criticize European culture, including Nazis, and the German bourgeoisie. Brecht's poetry is marked by the effects of the First and Second World Wars.