Grotowski and Pygmalion.

Throughout this lesson, we took the opening scene of the play- "Pygmalion", which involves a punning girl (Eliza), who gets her flowers knocked over by an onlooker. The pair then begin to argue. 

To connect this scene with Poor theatre, we decided that we would take the scene into an unusual space, that didn't nee any 'set-up'. To do this, we decided that we would take the scene outside onto the busy playground. This gave us an easy area to perform in, and it also gave us a large audience immediately. Moreover, it was an almost perfect site, as it was similar to the one in the play. 

We decided that we would portray the argument between the characters loosely. To do this, we had James (who represented Freddy knocking over Eliza's flowers), who slammed into the year sevens and threw their crisps around. Then Sophie (who represented Higgins), began shouting at the kids and threw the remains of the crisps in their faces. She got progressively angry and began screaming at the year sevens. The rest of our class either tried to calm her down, or stayed back (we represented the onlookers). Finally, when the teachers were alerted, we stopped and told the audience that we were just performing a piece. 

Overall, this was very successful as the onlookers soon became enthralled in the action and many people even ran to get a teacher. It was effective as it showed us how fluid and unique any piece of poor theatre can be. Just because there is no complex set or stage, doesn't mean that the performance is any less interesting and complex. Moreover, it shows us how we can use the themes of the play we choose to create an interesting piece. 

Grotowski.

Jerzy Grotowski and poor theatre:
Nowadays, Jerzy Grotowski is well-known as one of the greatest directors in more modern theatre. He is most well-known for one particular type of theatre. This is called 'Poor theatre':

Poor theatre is usually performed in any bare space available. For example, it can be performed in a huge number of places- a hall, or a classroom or even outside in a large open space. Because of this, his techniques are rather attractive to students and school departments as it isn't necessary for a huge budget to be spent. 

Typically, Grotowski preferred create performances and works in non-traditional spaces, such as abandoned rooms and buildings, rather than the more usual stage and playhouse environment. Moreover, he also used unusual staging types, and commonly placed the audience around the action or even within it.

Theory:

• Notable influences on Grotowski's work included Brecht and Stanislavski.
• Usually, a large amount of Grotowski's work focused on actor training.
• He was arguably known as the having the most intensive actor training after Stanislavski.
• All of theatre's excess is stripped away in poor theatre, and only the necessary is kept.
• Grotowski believed that theatre is never able to compete with film and television, so it should not attempt to.
• Few of the Poor theatre works actually made performance.
• Those that did were usually shown to only a small group of spectators, and were only ever shown once. 
• Grotowski ended all public performances in 1975. 

George Tesman

If i was to cast an actor for the role of Tesman, I would cast "Adrian Scarborough".
I envisage Tesman as middle aged, a little weary and quite bumbly. He is happy, yet oblivious, and Hedda means everything to him. 
Cotume:
I would actually use a costume that is imilar to the picture. When he is going out or wearing daily clothes, he would be wearing a suit. It would be a bit battererd and obviously worn out as this would show how little money he has in comparison to Hedda. It would be in a brown or mustard colour as he simply cannot afford anything nicer. his trousers would be of the same colour, but perhaps a different shade, which further shows us his obliviousness and status. 
When he was wearing nightclothes, i imagine him wearing a long dressing gown. This would be stained and worn yet again, as this is what he usually wears. 
Sound:
I think that is you were putting on a more 'pantomine' version of the play, you could have a plodding, rythmic tune that marks his footsteps. However, if it was more serious, you could just have a more jolly tune that marks his entry. 
Lighting:
Finally, I believe that his lighting would be rather like himself- it would be rather patchy in places yet still bright. 

Pygmalion and Forum theatre.

At the beginning of this lesson, we looked at this scene in Pygmalion. This scene is the opening section of the play and consist of a few characters trying to get away from the rain. The main character, the flower girl (Eliza), gets her flowers knocked over and because of this, argues with another character. She becomes increasingly aggravated with this gentleman and also argues with another man, who turns out to be friends with the first gentleman. In the end, she receives lots of money from the man and leaves in a taxi, however, she is still poor and her flowers are ruined.

We ran through this scene normally at first, then we took the scene and used forum theatre to explore how the outcome can change.
Firstly, James decided to see how the scene would change if Eliza never had her flowers knocked over by the man. This was actually not beneficial for Eliza as she gained a lot of money out of pity and not through selling her flowers. Therefore, if her flowers were not knocked over, she would not receive and more money, and her life will not change.

Then, we decided to work the scene if the bystanders and gentlemen were kinder to Eliza. We saw that the gentleman would offer Eliza a place to sleep straight away. However, Eliza was very wary about this prospect and decided not to go with the man. Therefore, nothing changed for her.

Overall, out of all of the changes we completed, the original scene actually appears to be the most beneficial to Eliza. However, it would have been interesting to observe how these slight changes would effect the entire play, and how this would effect Eliza and her life later on in the play.

Forum Theatre.

We decided to look at a new theatre type this lesson. This is a unique type of theatre that is developed by Brazilian practitioner Augusto Boal. Usually, the genre of his plays was some kind of oppression and Boal also used his technique- 'The rainbow of desire' heavily.
Boal decided to create a new kind of theatre in which the audience can participate within the action of the show.

To do this, a play or scene would be shown two times to the audience and during the second version, the audience was encouraged to shout 'Stop' and take the place of one of the characters in the scene. This is used to observe how the situation can change and enable a different outcome in the end. These participants are called spect-actors and many different outcomes can be explored in one show.
The other actors remain in their role and improvise their responses. In order to smoothly enable communication between the actors and the audience, a facilitator (Joker) is needed.

This technique breaks the fourth wall between the performers and the actors which puts them on equal levels. It allows the audience to try out courses of action which are applicable to their daily lives. Originally, Boal developed the technique as a tool for political change, but it had been adapted and is widely used in educational contexts.

Love and information- 'Grief'.

In this lesson, we each got into small groups. We were then told to choose one of the scenes out of a Love and Information. I teamed up with Fiona and we took the scene 'Grief':
I read the red lines, and Fio read the black ones:

Are you sleeping?
I wake up early, but that's all right in the summer.
Eating?
Oh enough. Don't fuss.
I've never had someone die.
I'm sorry, I've nothing to say.
Nothing seems very interesting.
He must have meant everything to you.
Maybe. We'll see.

After reading the scene through, we needed to think of three different ideas how we could perform the piece. These are our ideas:

1- We created a really detailed couple who appeared to be form a soap opera. The couple are actually divorces, and the wife has begun a new relationship with another man. This made the husband incredibly jealous, so he murdered the wives new boyfriend. She doesn't know of this, and when the husband attempts to console her over his death, she is confused yet happy. He is trying to make her fall back in love with him.
We decided to try and portray this by being very melodramatic and over the top. However, this was very hard to portray as we only had a short scene, so showing all this information was rather difficult.

2- Next, we decided to look into the scene in a slightly different way. To do this, we decided that the characters were young children (around 7 or 8). They were discussing the death of an imaginary friend. They are in a playground on the swing set. This was easier to portray as we just had to physicalize and vocalise a child, which would show the story.

3- Our final idea was that the person in red was a psychiatrist and the other person was somebody mourning their brother. The mourner was 18, and the psychiatrist was around 60. This was easy to interpret, as we simply created a physiatrist office with the staging, and then had one person lying in the chair and the other standing and speaking to them. This was okay to perform as it became obvious where they were. However, the psychiatrists lines became rather vague. They say "I'm sorry, I've nothing to say", and this is very unprofessional for a psychiatrist. This is why we decided that perhaps the psychiatrist was older. He was tired and close to retirement, which is why he wasn't doing very well in his job.

Berkoff and the Glass menagerie.

During this lesson, we decided to take our previously studied practitioner and one of our possible texts. We took a particular scene from the play 'The Glass Menagerie' and attempted to make it Berkoffian in style. To do this, we broke off into pairs and edited our scenes. Me and Sam decided to do a scene where Amanda and Tom are eating dinner. The scene starts off with Amanda shouting at Tom for 'pushing' at his food with his fingers, and then descends into Tom retaliating and answering back towards Amanda. 

To make this more Berkoff in style, we choreographed the eating at the beginning of the scene, and used the technique of robotic movements- they ate as if they were robots. This was particularly effective as it was visually interesting, yet also portrayed how the pair had become like clockwork. 

Then Sam and I turned in sync towards the audience and performed certain lines towards them, in chorus. This is a mixture of Berkoff's techniques and was rather effective. Finally, we stood in sync and did a small choreographed section of movement. We made this unique as Sam was facing the audience, but I had my back to them, and turned away. I believe that this was effective as it showed how strained our relationship was. 

Berkoff.

During this lesson, we decided to continue looking at Berkoff as a practitioner. We took this short section form hie play Metamorphosis:
"I liked hanging from the ceiling. It was better than the floor- one breaths more freely- and i can swing and rock backwards and forwards, forwards and backwards- i feel so light, and i can see the hospital across the street- all i can see from the floor is a drab, grey sky- i so much wanted to see my mother- it's so long since i have seen her- perhaps i am too hideous ever to see her again."

During this scene, the main character has been turned into a bug, presumably a cockroach. To portray this, we had three people at the top of a stack of set blocks and three entwined underneath them. The people who were sat on the staging were grotesquely placed, and all sat in similar positions. The people below were balancing inside the set, also in a similar position. During the performance, the people wt the top of the set had high pitched voices, and those at the bottom had lower pitched voices. This is a Berkoffian technique as he focuses on using varied pitch to portray character. We also had small sections of physicalisation throughout the piece, for example, for the line 'I feel so light', the three at the bottom of the staging got out and did a light to portray the feeling of lightness. 

Overall, this incorporated with the range of pitches made the performance very effective as it was full of Berkoffian techniques. 

Love and information short film.

During this lesson, we watched a short film interpretation of the script- 'Love and Information'. The film was quite good, but it only included these scenes:

• Sleep
• Secret
• Affair
• Fired
• Terminal
• God's voice
• God
• Maths
• Flashback
• Rash
• Shrink
• Cold
• Decision
• Keys
• Wife
• Virtual

Were there any scenes that were particularly effective?

Overall, I think the most effective scene was 'Wife'. The scene is based around a couple, and the wife appears to be convincing the husband that she is still herself. He denies it and towards the end of the scene, she disappears and it shows us that all along, she was not real. I think this is effective as it leads us to think that the scene is an ordinary section of the play, however, it turns out that she is a figment of his imagination, and this leaves the audience shocked,and full of questions. It is never fully explained, so it gives the audience lots of questions to think about. 

Also, I think that the scene- 'Cold' was quite effective. I think this because it was a unique interpretation of the short scene (the scene simply consists of 'someone sneezes'). It is set at a funeral and we see a row of mourners, all dressed in black. One of these people attempts to block a sneeze and then eventually sneezes. I like this interpretation as it shows how unique this scene can be made for each performance. It also shows how the sneeze is utterly human and that it can happen at any time. 

Were there and scenes that were not particularly effective?

Overall, i believe the scene 'secret' was not very effective. The scene was set in a kitchen, with two friends. It ended with one of the friends telling the other a secret. The acting in this scene is rather lacking, and appears rather forced. The nature of the scene makes sense, however, the character whispers into the others ear, which is illogical as they are in an empty kitchen setting. It would make more sense for the line to be whispered if they were surrounding be people. Overall, this made the scene seem as if it wasn't thought through.

Absurdism.

During this lesson, we took a text from a play by the theatre company 'Frantic Assembly'. The scene we chose involved a woman sitting in a garden and recollecting all of her memories in this garden. It was an interesting text, but in order to develop it, we decided to change the genre, and make it absurdist in style. In order to do this, we had to take the piece and rewrite it, whilst including at least 30% of the original text. This is my edited monologue:

"This garden is the world.
The World is the garden.
Flowers, trees, potatoes, shed, grass, swings, bushes.
Everything that matters is here and happened here and was here and will be here and won't be here.
With Tom, my cousin? Who I kissed? Maybe
Does it count if it's your cousin? Second or first?
Did you know that if you cut the grass in the world, Stella McCrea vomits in the compost."

To perform it in an interesting way, my task was to change the way i spoke whilst performing. In order to do this, i had to speak frantically, as if i was unveiling a governmental secret. 
Overall, i believe that this was an effective task as it further looked into absurdism as a topic and also helped me to see how hugely different my reinterpretations can be, even if they only include 30% of the text.

Hedda directing

During this lesson, I directed Millie and James in a particular scene in Hedda Gabler. This scene is based around Tesman and Hedda. Tesman is speaking to Hedda and is oblivious as to how angry she appears. She is ignoring him and is speaking very short and curtly when she does speak to him. She gets increasingly aggravated and speaks about her pistols, which makes Tesman nervous and anxious. 

To make this scene unusual and interesting, we took the piece and decided to make it more modern. Also, we decided to take the piece and change the practitioner to a more absurd style. 
First of all, we played with the idea that Hedda is trapped, and that Tesman is constantly annoying and aggravating her. To do this, we had Hedda sat on a chair and had Tesman circling around her. To make his character as absurd and annoying as possible, we decided that James should be clowning around her. He created huge arm gestures and danced around her. 

Then, we decided to play with the proximity of the characters. To portray the idea that Tesman was constricting Hedda, we created an imaginary box around Hedda and told James that he had to do the same, but not leave the box. This was interesting, as it showed us how Tesman was suffocating Hedda. It created a far different interpretation of the piece as it added a further level in Tesmans annoyance. It fully portrayed the idea that Tesman was frustrating and generally annoying to Hedda. It allowed us to feel more sympathetic for Hedda and less towards Tesman. 

However, we still felt that our interpretation was rather lacking, so we decided to make it more absurd and unusual. To do this, we played with different levels and set- we decided to have Hedda sat on a chair and have Tesman underneath the chair with his head craning up. This primarily showed us the power imbalance between the characters. Although it may appear that Tesman has the control over the situation, the set shows us that Hedda has him 'wrapped around her little finger'. James continued with the absurd ideas and held onto a rum bottle and a spoon which added to his annoying characteristics. Moreover, James was very exaggerated and absurd, and made his voice very exaggerated and annoying. However, Millie was normal and was rather tired of him. This showed the relationship between Hedda and Tesman and how strained it is. 

Overall, this was a very effective activity as it showed us how we could direct Hedda Gabler in our exam. It also showed us how we could reinterpret the script and really specialize the piece. 

Love and information- Cold

During this lesson, we decided to look at one of the 'random' scenes in Love and Information. The scene we decided to look at was called 'Cold'. The scene consists solely of the line someone sneezes. Firstly, we broke off into pairs and thought of ideas why the scene was effective, and why it was not. Here are some of our ideas:
Effective:

• Everybody sneezes, so naturally, this is a very relate able scene. Everyone can understand it, and relate to it. 
• It can be used to break up the longer scenes, or can be used to mask a short scene change. 

Not effective:

• The scene is very short, so may actually be forgettable. If people forget that it existed, what is the point in including it at all?

Finally, then we took this scene in our pairs and decided to think of five situations where a person may sneeze. Me and James decided that rather than going for a normal, perhaps overused idea of- a doctors office etc- we were going to do this in a more humorous way. TO do this, we came up with a list of objects that people could be allergic to (grass, pets, etc). Then we thought of things that people are not allergic to (houses, air, boys). To start off with, we listed a few things that made me sneeze. This items started off normally, and i sneezed when James said there was a dog, etc. However, as the scene progressed, i began sneezing at items that were less understandable- houses, people. This was rather funny as it showed us how the scene can be used to create comic relief and a break in the more dark scenes. 

Berkoff

Berkoff focuses on straying from the norm- he puts emphasis on non-naturalistic style. His pieces of theatre are not meant to be realistic or naturalistic, and his plays focuses on the physicality of the characters in the plays. Berkoff's work is otherwise known as 'Total Theatre' and he uses many conventions to create a performance that lacks naturalism, yet is full of interesting physical theatre and mime sections. Berkoff believes that an actor should use the entirety of their body to portray a character, and he also uses several other techniques to do so. For example, although he believes in externalization, he also thinks that an actors voice should be exaggerated and used to enhance the piece. Other techniques he uses include:

• Massive extension of limbs and huge physicality of a character. 
• Exaggerated facial expressions. 
• Episodic structure. 

Throughout this lesson, we decided to use Berkoff's techniques to make a short piece in the style of Total Theatre. To do this, we all gave ideas on what we did in the morning to get ready for school. Our ideas were:

• Getting out of bed.
• Eating breakfast.
• Brushing our teeth.
• Getting dressed.
• Packing and picking up our bag. 
• Running for the bus. 

We did all of these movements in a seemingly ordinary way. However, then we decided to make them really Berkoff. To do this, we did everything hugely exaggerated, and in slow motion. For example, instead of only brushing our teeth, we basically brushed our whole faces and had our mouths hugely widely open.
Also, to add another Berkoff twist, we decided to take our movements and do them backwards. Instead of waking up first, we ran for the bus. Moreover, we did this as a chorus and all moved at the same time. We lined up in a 'V' formation and all acted at the same time. Finally, to make the piece more interesting, we added some music in. The music was upbeat and a rather funny twist to our performance. 

Absurdism, lesson two

Next, we took a new script- Luckys' monologue from 'Waiting for Godot' and read through this scene. Basically, this scene is a large monologue of gibberish. The speaker, Lucky, speaks as if he knows what he is saying but in reading it, it is a large string of gibberish. 
With this script, we decided to interpret who we felt Lucky is. Some people in the class felt as if Lucky was a deflecting politician. He speaks like a politician who cannot answer a question, so fills his speech with fillers and questions. Because of this view, some people felt as if the play was a satirical humorous play that comically mocked politicians. 

However, i believe that the character was actually crazy and had lost his hold on the world around him. He speaks as if he what he is saying makes complete sense, and because of this, i believed that Lucky is actually speaking gibberish. 
Then, with our interpretations, we began to do some 'clowning'. This means hugely exaggerating the character and their movements. To do this, i traveled around the room and changed my pace regularly. I also gesticulated wildly and even hit myself in the head lots. I stumbled around the room, spinning and mumbling. 

Finally, we joined a group with people who had the same interpretation of the character. We joined a group of four who all believed that Lucky was mentally unstable. Then we decided upon a way to perform the piece as a group. We decided that perhaps Lucky had split personalities and was experiencing a break in reality. To show this, we decided to give each person in our group a particular 'genre' of insanity. I was psychotically crazy, James was dangerously crazy, Chloe was sad and Fiona was calm. 

To perform the piece, we created an interesting set that incorporated the absurdist ideas. It had three levels and Fiona sat on the top, i sat in the middle and James sat at the bottom. Chloe sat outside the structure. We each selected a few lines that we felt represented our emotion and performed them in order. I began and whipped around crazily, as if i was trapped in a cage, then Fiona read her lines. However, she remained still and in a place of 'zen', even though i was shaking the box. Then James read his lines shaking and struggling in his makeshift straight jacket. Finally, Chloe read her lines in the corner and when she was finished, we all stopped our movements and ended the scene. 

This section was very effective as we used only around 30% of the scene we were given, which is roughly how much we would use in our exam piece. 

Absurdism.

Throughout the beginning of this double lesson, we read a section of a Swedish play. This play revolved around a married couple who were arguing about their child- the mother believed that her child had been snatched and replaced by a changeling child, but the father was skeptical. Overall, this section had a very somber, serious feel that wasn't humorous at all. 
However, to make this scene absurd, we had to change the context to the piece. To do so, me and James decided to play the piece as if we had just slept together. This hugely changed the feel of the scene as it made it slower, and calmer than before. We both exaggerated our emotions and it hugely changed the subtext of the scene. It made the couple look as if they were still in love and were not really arguing and changed how the audience felt towards them.

Moreover, to make this even more exaggerated and absurd, we did the piece with masks. This changed the feel of the piece as the couple had the same facial expression throughout the scene. Although it took a while to get used to, I enjoyed using the masks as they created a very interesting, humorous piece. Overall, this was very absurd as it changed the subtext of the piece hugely, it was unusual as the audience could hear how serious the conversation was, yet were shown a more laid-back conversation.  

Finally, to make his scene even more absurd, we decided to take an ordinary object and act as if it was something else. To do this, we took a large beanbag and carried it around as if it was the baby we were talking about. This was very humorous as the audience could clearly tell that it was a beanbag, yet we were fawning over it as if it was a child. Also, the huge size of the beanbag was rather comical as it was ten times as big as a normal baby, so the way we struggled with carrying it was funny. 

Love and information.

Themes:
Due to the unusual nature of the play, there are many underlying themes throughout the play. Examples of such are:

• Religion
• Moral dilemmas
• Modern day life
• Depression
• Love

Caryl Churchill's intentions:
Throughout the play, it becomes increasingly obvious that Caryl Churchill simply wishes to portray an account of the modern world we live in. I believe that she wished to make a fast- paced, unusual play that shows the changing modern world that we live in. To do so, She takes a mixture of scenes, some very relate able and ordinary, and some more unusual. She mashes up everything that makes us human in our modern world- family, Facebook, email, friends, religion and uses these topics to portray how chaotic yet exciting the world it nowadays. Throughout the play, she never expresses how she feels about the world- she never states if she dislikes or likes it, yet simply creates short snapshots of those who have such opinions.We see the lives of many seemingly ordinary people and observe how the themes of the play effect them as people. 
How successful is the play:
Overall, I think that the play is largely successful. This is because the short scenes portray how short life is. Each piece has a deeper meaning and affects the whole play and each scene, no matter how short, has an impact upon the audience. Because of this, I believe that this play is successful in making the audience think about their lives and how each scenario would play out if it happened to them.
Also, the characters are not developed throughout their small scenes. This is usually ineffective, however, in this case, it allows the audience to simply think of the meaning in each fast-paced scene. Rather than becoming absorbed in the characters emotions, they simply observe the actions and focus upon what each piece means.

On the other hand, the play may leave the audience with questions, but this may not be a good thing. They may be confused about the fast paced nature of the play and may have misunderstood the intentions of the short scenes. Moreover, due to the length of the scenes, the audience are not able to feel attached to the characters portrayed. This may be effective in a Brechtian way, as they simply observed the action rather than becoming immersed in the play. However, they may not feel any sympathy and may feel almost bored at the end.
Key evets in 2012:
There were several key events that occurred in 2012:

• The Queens diamond jubilee, celebrating the 60th anniversary of the queens reign. This sparked celebrations throughout the year in the UK and the citizens celebrated their pride of being British. 
• The London 2012 Olympics. The top three medal winning countries were- the USA, China and Britain.
•  Barack Obama was re-elected as president in the USA.
• Many believed that the world was supposed to end in 2012, as the Mayan calendar mysteriously stopped on December the 21st. The idea that the world would end erupted and was a much discussed topic throughout the media. Luckily, the world did not end.
• Hurricane Sandy moved over the USA and nearly 300 people were killed. This resulted in over 50 billion dollars damage.

Paper birds.

Our stimulus:
Another Place.
Based on Crosby beach, Antony Gormley created these cast iron sculptures. Another Place consists of 100 sculptures, spread out across the beach. They appear almost ghost-like and sink into the sand.

Throughout the day, we completed several exercises and techniques. We worked on them separately but at the end of the day, they built together to make one whole performance.

Collective movements:
After doing several warm-ups and games, we were asked to get into pairs and face each other. We then had to create fluid movements, however, we both had to do the same movements, without discussing them beforehand. Primarily, it appeared as if we were in front of a mirror, as we made the movements as in sync as possible. This was quite difficult as we were not allowed to talk to each other yet, we had to remain as in sync as possible. After perfecting this, we were then told to continue in our pairs but to move across the room together in a similar way- we had to move in sync but without talking. This was particularly hard as we needed to make it look as if both of us were leading the walk, rather than having one particular leader.
Next, we were asked to form into a larger group of four by merging into another pair. In our fours, we had to continue walking as a group. When someone new got to the front of the group, they lead the movements. After looking at our stimulus, we added in speech and lines to our movements:

Firstly, we had to look into our stimulus and simply state what the picture showed. An example of this is, 'The sky is dark'. We went round the group in our fluid movements and as soon as a line was said by someone in the group, the next person took the lead in the movement, fought to the front and then spoke their line. This continued until everyone had stated a line simply saying what he picture showed. After this, we did the same but rather than saying what we saw, we said what we thought it was about.

Physical interpretation of the picture:
Our next exercise was to physically portray the picture as an image. To do this, my group decided to portray each piece of the picture separately. As we came on, we held hands and formed a large circle, thrashing and spinning, as if we were the ocean. Then we broke apart and stood facing the audience, staggered, as if we were the statues. We incorporated levels and proximity as Millie stayed at the front, on her knees and the rest of us stayed behind and stood still in slightly staggered positions. Then, to portray t he sky, we picked up Millie and raised her above our heads, then we laid her down, to represent the sand. The back three remained standing as if we were statues. Chloe began to shake slowly and tremors went all around her. Once the tremors got wilder, she reached out and grabbed my shoulder, which spread the tremors into me. She then grabbed Fiona and we all held hands again and became the sea yet again. We finally grabbed Millie and dragged her into the sea formation. Finally, we then all stood up and formed a line, pulling against each other as if we were having a tug of war. We then broke apart and ran off stage.

Elderly people caricatures:
Next, we needed to create four different short caricatures of stereotypical old people. These had to be exaggerated and very stereotypical. We created four phrases that we felt were stereotypical of the older generation and then had to add a movement to each phrase. For example, we said "oh, my back" and then struggled to sit back down whilst clutching our backs in mock pain. We then took all of our movements and blended them so they morphed into each one.

Facts and figures:
Each person in our group took a piece of paper that had either a story, facts or a definition on it. This section of our exercises was based upon loneliness and each piece was based upon loneliness. We then took the pieces and began to read. Each person would read a section, and then the next person would interrupt the first and steadily, each person would interrupt and overlap and it became almost a fight to be the one talking. In our group, Chloe started by reading a definition of loneliness and then stopped once we began to interrupt each other. At the end of our piece, we began to interrupt but instead of stopping when another person read their piece, we continued and created an overlapping sequence where we all spoke at once. This ended like it began, with Chloe reading out her definition of loneliness. When she had reached the end of her definition, we all fell silent.

Chair duet:
To create a chair duet, we split into pairs and created five different movements focusing on the chair. Each movement was revolving around trying to get the person off of the chair. However, the person on the char was 'attached' to the chair by an invisible string that connected to her back. Because of this string, when she was pulled off the chair, she sprung straight back to her original place. After performing the five attempts to drag the person off the chair, the section started again and became far more violent and the piece sped up. The section started almost caring and slow, however, it became far more violent and aggressive towards the person in the chair.

Final Piece:
Finally, to draw everything together, we had to merge all of the exercises together to make a dynamic final piece. Overall, we felt that our physical interpretation was strong and was a good place to begin our piece. Because of this, we began with our interpretation and built in each piece. To include all of our pieces, we changed our interpretation slightly.
It began the same as before, but before we lifted Millie, we did our facts and figures section on loneliness. We overlapped and finished our facts and figures piece and then ended this section by raising Millie into the air and lowering her like the sand. Next, to include the chair duet, we dragged Millie up and onto a chair rather than leaving the stage. Chloe and Millie then did their chair duet, aided by me and Fiona. Finally, we then pushed Millie off of the chair and continued from the end of our original interpretation (we created tremors and dragged Millie off stage).

In conclusion:
Overall, I believe that this workshop was rather helpful towards our devising process. It has given me ideas about how to structure our division process. The workshop as a whole was quite helpful as it showed me how we could create small pieces and then merge them together to create a dynamic performance.
However, I believe that on their own, each exercise was a little repetitive. Many of the things we did in the workshop we had done before. For example, we looked very closely at chair duets at the beginning of our devising in year ten and the workshop gave us no more information about them than we previously knew.
Moreover, I believe it would have been more beneficial to focus on particular sections more. Rather than stuffing as much information in as we could, we could have focused more on specific parts and created shorter, yet more interesting performances.

The Glass Menagerie.

Characters:

Amanda Wingfield:
Mother of two, Amanda is a harsh woman who was abandoned by her husband. She wishes for the comforts that she had in her youth and wishes for her children to be able to share such comfort. However, she has such a devotion to her children that in some areas, she appears harsh and almost hateful towards them. She believes she is doing everything for them, but a lot goes wrong.  

Tom Wingfield:
Amanda Wingfield's youngest child, Tom is the younger brother to Laura. In order to support his family, Tom works at a shoe warehouse but is underwhelmed by his job and secretly wishes to become a poet. However, he struggles to write as he is sleep deprived. Although he is sleep deprived, he excuses himself from the family nightly and goes to the 'movies' (he actually goes to local bars). He feels obligated and helps his family get by, but he longs to leave his family home.

Laura Wingfield:
Laura is the oldest sibling in the family. She is Toms older sister. A bout of polio that she had as a child has left her with a limp, and she fragile mentally. Because of this fragility, Lara has isolated herself from the outside world and has created a world of her own- symbolised by the glass figurines that she collects. The glass unicorn represents Laura as she is unique yet fragile.

Jim O'Connor:
Jim used to go to high school with Tom and Laura, he was popular and athletic throughout his days at the high school. After his schooling years, Jim's life has been less kind to him. He is working at the same shoe workshop to Tom and hopes to work up the ranks and get a good livelihood again. He is engaged to a childhood sweetheart.

Mr. Wingfield:
Mr Wingfield is Laura and Jim's absent father. He does not appear onstage at any moment but is mentioned frequently and his picture is presented in the family's living room. He is presumed to have 'fallen in love with long distance' and left the family 16 years before the play.

The Glass Menagerie

In this lesson, we were given an extract from a play called 'The glass menagerie' by Tennessee Williams. This is one of our potential pre-1949 plays that we needed to study. To do so, we were given a scene in groups and asked to perform it how we primarily interpreted it. My group read the chosen scene (a scene between a mother, her daughter and her daughters gentlemen caller) and we interpreted it as naturalistic. Because of this, we originally performed this in a natural way and simply set the stage for a proscenium arch and performed the lines naturally.

I believe that this interpretation of the play is effective as it fully portrays the characters intentions and their emotions. It effectively shows the audience the scene and fully outlines the intentions of the play. However, in a second run-through, my group realised that there could be a potential different way of performing this scene.

Because of this, we then needed to perform it in a more Brechtian way.  
To do this, we took the same scene and added more alienating techniques to it. We kept the voice and structure the same but hugely changed the rest:
Rather than performing on stage as usual, we decided to begin the scene in the audience itself. Whilst being seated in the audience, we said our lines outwards towards the stage. Also, Sam stood behind the audience and knocked on the back of chairs as if he was knocking on the door. Midway into the scene, when Sam is finally let in, we went onto the stage and set out the chairs in our original position. We did this while speaking our lines and then finished onstage. This alienated the audience as they were confronted with a sparse stage and then suddenly heard the voices come from within the audience. This is a very Brechtian technique and fully ensured that the audience knows that they are watching a play, not real life.

Overall, I prefer this interpretation. I believe that it was more effective and was very intriguing for the audience. I preferred performing this way as well as it was unusual and it was fun to act in the audience.

Love and information, staging.





At the beginning of this lesson, we read through Act two of Love and information as a class. This act consists of a few scenes that had two or three characters each. Afterwards, we then had to choose a scene in our groups of two or three (I was in a group of three). Our group chose the scene 'grass'. This scene was based around two/three characters: one who has 'grassed' up his friend after they did a crime, and the other character(s) are finding out what he did.
 

In order to challenge ourselves, we then created a performance for four different kinds of staging. We created an interesting set with the staging- we used the stage to create an abstract set. It built up from the ground and had several levels which represented the parts of the house and the emotions of each character.

Primarily, we performed it with what seemed the 'easiest' stage arrangement- Proscenium arch. Originally this was not too difficult, we simply projected our lines straight out to the audience.

Next, we performed it 'in the round'. As our performance took quite a dramatic change in direction, this was difficult to portray. However, as we got further in the scene we felt that it was actually more beneficial to do the scene in this way, it was easier to portray movements and naturalism.

Thrust was similar to 'in the round' as it allowed that extra movement, but had more stability- we only had three sides of audience to perform towards, so it was easier to create a believable performance that was understandable from all angles. 

Finally, we found it most difficult to perform in the traverse setting. This is because it was difficult to keep our movements fluid- if we stayed facing one way for too long, the other side would be lacking in input.

Overall, I believe that the play, and this scene in particular, should be performed ' in the round'. I believe this as it allowed for more dynamic movements, yet still keeps the plays naturalistic outlook. The stage allowed for a more dynamic and interesting interpretation of this scene and truly represented the plays intentions.

Frantic Assembly

Lead by co-founder and director, Scott Graham, Frantic Assembly is an internationally renowned theatre company. They focus on hard-hitting, emotional plays that affect everyone alike. They have toured extensively across Britain and have also worked in 40 countries. They have internationally collaborated with some of today’s most inspiring, popular artists. For example, they have collaborated with writers such as Simon Stephens, Andrew Bovell and Mark Ravenhill. Their distinctive approach has influenced modern theatre-making and has inspired many writers to embrace new processes. They have won many awards and excel at inspiring writers and young dancers alike.

Founded in 1994, Frantic Assembly was created by Scott Graaham, Steven Hoggett and Vicki Middleton:

 "We were three students at Swansea University. We were suddenly inspired and then encouraged to form our own theatre company. This reckless and terrifying leap was the best thing we ever did. We were English Literature and Geography graduates and as such we were untrained in any aspect of theatre or dance but we were willing to learn and devoured any opportunity that came our way. As soon as we learned something we tried to teach it and pass it on. This simple starting point of encouragement, learning and training has been at the heart of the company ever since."  Scott Graham, Co-Founder & Artistic Director

Examples of their work: 

The curious incident of the dog in the night-time.

The curious incident of the dog in the night-time is a National Theatre production that was based on the novel of the same name by Mark Haddon. Frantic Assembly are the movement directors of this acclaimed production. Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett have collaborated to produce breath-taking, dynamic choreography. Winner of 7 Oliver Awards and 5 Tony Awards (including Best Play), this amazing adaptation is innovative and exciting for the whole family.

Based inside of Christopher Boone’s unique world, The curious incident of the dog in the night-time shows a unique look into the world of a teenager with Asperger’s (or as Mark Haddon prefers to say- behavioural problems). It is based upon Christopher’s teacher reading the book Christopher wrote whilst attempting to solve the mystery of a dog brutally murdered in a neighbours garden. They decide to stage the book as a play. The show uses this idea to break the fourth wall cleverly and believably. Christopher’s curiosity leads the audience to follow him on a journey to search for his mother in London. Stunning visuals from Frantic Assembly are used to naturally portray the hustle and bustle of the large city and show how overwhelming large cities are for Christopher.

“My recurring thought now is how much creating this show has changed my own creative process for ever. We all went way beyond our comfort zones and took huge risks. I found inspiration and solace in the honesty and bravery of the collaborators. We just had to be honest and brave and now I feel that is the only way to make work. Don’t hide behind the things you know! Be bold and set out to do something you have never done before! In fact, be more like Christopher!” Scott Graham

DV8

DV8 are arguably one of the main practitioners of physical theatre in a ‘full’ theatrical, art form. Formed in 1986, DV8 are a British theatre company who wish to address modern issues and human relationships through movement. They believe in unlocking the dramatic potential that is hidden in movement. Led by Lloyd Newson, DV8 originally formed by an independent group of dancers who had become annoyed with the preconceptions that tie along with most forms of dance. They believed that the direction of dance was not progressing successfully to accommodate modern issues. Because of this belief, this collective of dancers searched for a better mode to portray the emotion and passion rife in dance whilst communicating ground-breaking ideas and politics. Since then, Newson has won 55 national and international awards for his film and stage work. Across their 18 stage productions, DV8 has toured internationally across 86 cities in 34 countries.

Examples:

To be straight with you:          
 Based entirely of verbatim from 85 interviews, ‘To be straight with you’ is a dynamic piece of theatre that focuses on many of the unsaid issues that tie in with being gay in a modern Britain. ‘To be straight with you’ is a particularly innovative and ground-breaking play as it not only focuses on many of the largely growing issues in our society, but it does such a thing in a new, innovative way- through verbatim. Verbatim means something that is presented in exactly the same words as they were used originally. DV8 cleverly uses verbatim to hugely enhance their performance in many ways. For example: this particular use of verbatim fully informs the general public how many other citizens are being treated daily. It opens their eyes to the reality that they have chosen to ignore in the past. 

Furthermore, it allows the audience to believe the play fully, as it is all said by people in their communities and areas.

The play draws from the fact that homosexuality is still criminalised in 85 countries, and that, in seven of these countries, the death penalty still exists for consensual sexual acts between two adults of the same gender. However, the most shocking part of the play is the fact that many of the stories originate from a secular Britain.

 “DV8…have always been well ahead of the game. Now, just at a point when others are catching up, Newson reinvents the rules with this. To Be Straight With You is a hard hitting and passionate 80 minutes that expresses what is often left unsaid…you will not be able to resist this brave, life-affirming show.” The Guardian

Can we talk about this?

Premiering in August 2011, ‘Can we talk about this’ deals with many important, yet unspoken, topics. It focuses on freedom of speech, censorship and Islam. Lloyd Newson is clear in his intentions for the piece of theatre: to suggest that the multicultural policies in Britain today have inadvertently encouraged and bred separatism and that people are worried about questioning and openly criticising militant Islam. 

Focusing on many true stories, the group has produced a visually stimulating performance which is informative without censorship. After ‘To be straight with you’ received such positive feedback, Newson has continued in the usage of verbatim to cleverly inform the audience. Similarly to their previous play, ‘Can we talk about this’ cleverly combines stunning visual pieces with dialect to portray meaningful stories.

The show begins in 1985 and portrays a timeline of Islam’s low-points up until a modern day world. It uses the verbatim interviews not only to show how other religions feel censorship towards Islamic conversations, but how Muslims themselves feel censored about particular issues.

"A brilliant piece of theatre. In tackling the subject of multiculturalism, it crosses the boundaries of dance, documentary drama and sound. It sits somewhere in its own space... a rare experience…..extraordinary"

The Sydney Morning Herald

Physical theatre research

The Oxford dictionary definition of physical theatre is ‘A form of theatre which emphasizes the use of physical movement, as in dance and mime, for expression.’ Although simply put, this definition is correct for most performances in the style of physical theatre. Commonly, pieces of theatre in this genre usually place more emphasis on movement rather than dialogue. However, there are a huge number of variations in this particular genre. The style itself covers a broad range of work and because of this, there are many different styles of physical theatre itself. Essentially, at its simplest, physical theatre is anything that puts the human body in the middle of the storytelling process. As a result of this, physical theatre is usually abstract in nature and uses movements in a stylised yet representational way. The expression of ideas and concepts are choreographed in a physical way, so many performers have little or no dialogue at all. 

Techniques:

Physical theatre cleverly adapts performances so that they are rife with innovative, interesting visuals. However, many earlier plays in this genre show us that relying solely on such visuals may create an exciting, yet confusing production. Because of this, it is important to create an interesting play, which has some informative dialect. For example, it is almost impossible to say that someone is a sister or a family member through dance, so some dialogue is needed.  This is where many of the techniques used in physical theatre come in. These techniques focus on how to use your body to create a story that can be easily viewed by the audience.

Mime:

Mime is commonly used in physical theatre. It is the technique of suggesting action, character or emotions without using words. It can also be used in physical theatre to mime props or even pieces of set. For example, mime could be used to recreate the motion of a car or a bus. Mime originated from early ancient Greece but is in no way dated or boring. Many imagine mime as French street performers doing a stereotypical ‘imaginary box’ sequence. However, when used in physical theatre, mime is visually stunning and is the basis of many amazing sequences of dance and performances.

Status:

Portraying a person’s status using physical theatre can add to a performance in ways that simply using dialogue cannot.  Rather than adding titles or names to a character which imply status, many performances in this genre choose to use different levels, distance or strength to portray a natural hierarchy within the characters. Mixed with dialogue, this technique is used in many physical theatre productions as it is simplistic but clearly shows the audience the change in status throughout the play.

Gesture:
To portray information through movement is the basis of physical theatre. Because of this, gesture is naturally a technique widely used in productions. It can be subtle but can still produce emotional impact, or it can be a movement that defines a character. Even subtle gestures add to the emotion and depth of the play. For example, if a character was to shy away from another, the audience would automatically assume that something had happened to create this fear, even if we haven’t directly seen this altercation.

Proximity:

Proximity means how close the actors are on the stage. Similarly to gesture, this can be used subtly to create a powerful impact upon the audience. For example, literal closeness can portray emotional closeness between characters. This is an effective way to show backstory without having to literally show the characters past.

Stance:

Stance is associated with strength and power and the body can radiate authority with a simple change in posture. Similarly, the body can radiate a huge range of emotion and status through the stance and posture of a character.

Movement:

Although it seems obvious, all movements in physical theatre must be precisely rehearsed. A particular lift or sequence may rely on a small movement, so all movements must be carefully rehearsed.

Not moving:

If the stage is full of characters moving, immobility can have a huge effect upon the play.

Mask work:

Many performances in this genre choose to have scenes or plays that focus on using masks to add emphasis on vocals or movements. Because of this, many groups choose to rehearse with the use of mask work, even if they do not incorporate it into their final performance. It is largely used in performance because it makes actors think thoroughly about how the facial features largely produce emotion. This aids the movements and vocalisation of a character as it allows the actors to focus upon how these aspects of acting.

Dance work:

Because of its nature, many people link physical theatre to dance. However, many movements and sequences do not include dance as such. Many lifts and movements are naturally connected to more traditional forms of dance, but a large part of such performance do not connect with dance and may be stand-alone movements, created specifically for the performance. On the other hand, many companies choose to embrace this connection and produce beautiful sequences of dance within their performances.

Motif:

Motif is the repeated use of a movement throughout the play. This has meaning for the story and helps to remind us the central theme of the work. In more traditional theatrical performances, motif can be a repeated sound or line. 

Brecht research

Background:

Born in 1898, Bertolt Brecht originated in a small German town called Augsburg, where he spent his childhood years. Married in 1897, his parents were of differing religions (his father was a Catholic and his mother was a Protestant) however still decided to get a young Brecht baptised. Brecht was their first son and was baptised as Eugen Bertolt Friedrich Brecht. Later in 1900, they had another child, Brecht’s brother, Walter.

Health issues:

As a child, Brecht was regularly ill and struggled with health issues. He had a congenital heart condition and a facial tic. Because of this, he was sent to a sanatorium in order to calm himself down. Although this was beneficial for his health, at the age of twelve, Brecht had a heart attack. He soon recovered and continued with his education.

Education:

At the age of six, Brecht attended a Protestant-run elementary school. After he completed this school, he then attended a private school where he was educated in Humanities and Latin. This part of his life had large significance to his later pieces of work. This is because, at this young age he was introduced to the German translation of the Bible. Many references and quotes from this text can be found throughout Brecht’s work, particularly in pieces such as- ‘Mother Courage and Her Children’. During his time at school, he began writing many pieces and ended up co-founding and editing a school magazine. By his mid teenage years, Brecht was writing for a local newspaper and had written the first of his many plays- aptly named ‘The Bible’. Although he excelled at school, at age eighteen, he was nearly expelled for disagreeing about it being mandatory to defend his country at war. After this, he left school at nineteen and had begun doing clerical work for the war that he disagreed with. However, he was forced to stop this work due to health problems.

Due to this, in 1917, Brecht returned to his education and attended a University in Munich, where he studied medicine. However, the war had had life-long effects on Brecht. Because of this, he decided to dedicate a larger part of his life to theatre and play writing. Throughout 1921, he took many trips to Berlin and attended many rehearsals of popular plays and productions. Throughout 1922, his play ‘Drums in the Night’ premiered in Munich and then later, in Berlin. As a result Brecht earnt his first award for his work- he received the prestigious Kleist prize for young dramatists.

Brecht’s plays and writings hugely show the influence of Brecht’s later studies. In the remaining years of his life, he studied many different kinds of theatre. He focused on Chinese, Japanese and Indian theatre. Also, he showed a great interest towards Shakespeare’s work and other Elizabethan plays. Furthermore, he found large inspiration in Greek playwrights and German dramatists.

Relationships:

Brecht’s sexual relationships with others has fascinated historians and playwrights alike. During his adulthood, he was thought to have had no less than three mistresses at any time. By the age of sixteen, Brecht began to frequently visit a brothel in order to broaden his experiences. After this age, he supposedly began to pursue eight different girls simultaneously. One of these girls was Paula Banholzer, who was the mother of his illegitimate child in 1919. He was known to have experimented with homosexuality and he had stated in his diary the need for both male and female companions.

During 1922, Brecht entered his first fully committed relationship- he married opera singer Marianne Zoff. They had a secure, happy marriage primarily and a year later, their daughter Hanne was born. However, throughout her early years, Brecht had several affairs and spent little time with his wife or daughter. His love of theatre drove him to move to Berlin where he met Helene Weigel- a communist actress. Because of his many affairs with this woman, Marianne moved away from Brecht and began to live with her parents. She stopped corresponding with Brecht completely. At the age of twenty-six, he fathered his second illegitimate son with Weigel. Their child was named Stefan. Because of their relationship and child, Brecht divorced Marianne in order to marry Weigel in 1929.

During 1930, Helene Weigel gave birth to their daughter- Barbara. However, although they had two children, Brecht was definitely not monogamous. There were many more woman in his life and they were largely important for his later pieces of writing. Many of his mistresses even wrote pieces in several of his plays. Weigel was largely tolerant towards his affairs, even when he had a third illegitimate child in 1944. Although Brecht appeared content in his home in Berlin, he was forced to move Zurich in 1933 with his family. He later had to move around the world in order to escape the Nazi rule over Germany.

Brecht’s final moments:

In August 14, 1956, Brecht died of a heart attack. He provided some rather unusual instructions for his dead body: he wished that a stiletto would be placed in his heart and that he would be buried in a steel coffin in order to keep away worms.

 

Epic Theatre:

Primarily, Brecht experimented with many techniques, such as: Dadaism (A movement that originated during World War 1, where artists showed their disgust about propaganda being spread. Disturbing images were displayed to show this disgust) and expressionism. But he soon begun to develop a unique style that was tailored for his own vision. He hated particular dramas where the audience was made to sympathise with the hero and not analyse his flaws thoroughly enough. He believed that this was a waste of audience. He believed that when the audience was forced to feel, they did not think adequately about what was truly going on in the play. He famously stated that the naturalistic natures of such plays made the audiences “Hang up their brains with their hats in the cloakroom”.

In naturalistic plays or dramatic theatre, the audience is allowed to forget their lives and simply care more about the characters on stage rather than any deeper meaning behind the play. When an audience shows great emotion for a character it’s called catharsis. Personally, Brecht despised catharsis theatre. Due to such emotional investment from the audience, he believed that they lost their ability to judge objectively and to think about the play in front of them.  His belief was that audiences should remain distant from the emotional attachments that the play presented them with, so they could make rational judgements about the issues presented in his work.

To create this feel within the audience, Brecht used many theatrical techniques throughout his productions. These were used to remind the audience that they were really only observers upon the drama, and were not a part of it. His depiction of theatre was called Epic Theatre.

Epic theatre was so different to dramatic theatre in many ways. Dramatic theatre has a strict plot, at the theatre, the story is laid out for us from beginning to end, where all the issues are resolved. However, epic theatre has little of this tidiness. It finishes leaving stories unresolved and questions unanswered. This leaved the audience full of questions and queries about the issue addressed in the play. Usually, epic theatre was an inspiration to the audience. Brecht believed that dramatic theatre was just entertainment and thought that it only emotionally effected the viewers and remained with them only for their time in the theatre.

Techniques:

Alienation:

Brecht’s most well-known and most used dramatic technique was the technique of alienation towards the audience. Brechtian theatre uses alienation in many ways. He uses alienation to simply get the deeper message across to the audience, without getting them invested in any unnecessary, distracting emotional ties. Epic theatre commonly breaks the fourth wall to make the play more interactive towards the audience. This makes them active members rather than just observers, this ultimately makes them think more, which is Brecht’s final aim. There are many different techniques which are used within alienation to create a wider thinking audience. For example:

Coming out of character:

Usually a technique shunned by many other practitioners, coming out of character means simply saying or doing something that your character would not. You may revert back to your own personal traits, or simply forget lines. However, Brecht uses this technique skilfully. He uses the character break to remind the audience of the theatrical manner of his plays. This reminds them that they are not watching real life and are simply watching a production. For example, midway through a scene, an actor may break character to remark upon his characters feeling or intentions. This is beneficial towards Brecht’s Epic Theatre as it still portrays these emotions and interactions successfully to the audience, yet it still reminds them that it is not real.

Narration:

Similarly to breaking character, narration is used to remind the audience that they are simply watching a presentation of the story, rather than being part of the story themselves. Plays without such narration make it easier for the audience to feel closer and more connected with the story and its characters. This may appear beneficial, but remember that Brecht wishes for a more intellectual view after the play, not an emotional one. Sometimes, many plays will narrate at the beginning and may even tell the audience what is going to happen (although not necessarily alienation, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet narrated the ending of the play before the characters are even introduced). This is an interesting way of making sure that the audience doesn’t get emotionally involved with the story and the characters- as we already know the outcome of the play.

Placards:

A placard is an additional prop that is presented onstage. It is a piece of written information for the audience to read themselves. They could be as simple as holding up a banner or a card. In more modern plays, PowerPoint or Microsoft presentations can also be used to the same effect. The information on the placard is usually informative and tells the audience something they didn’t know. The information must also deepen our understanding upon the play and its characters. For example, the musical ‘Miss Saigon’ used a slideshow to effectively demonstrate the loss of lives in the Vietnam War. This was effective as it primarily introduced many unseen themes that run throughout the play. It did not simply comment upon the war itself, but deepened our understanding of how the War killed thousands and of the social and political issues that came with war.

Furthermore, if a placard was being used to let the audience further interpret a character, it must not simply say what they are feeling. Their feelings would be shown from the acting and a placard stating how they were feeling would tell the audience something that they already knew. Instead, placards are used effectively to portray a character when they tell the audience otherwise unknown pieces of information about the character. This may be the cause of their emotion or some information to help the audience form a more informed viewpoint about the characters.

Speaking the stage directions aloud:

This particular technique was used more in rehearsals rather than in actual plays. It was frequently used in rehearsals to remind the actors that they must distance themselves from their character. It reminded both the audience and the actors that they are simply watching/creating a play. This helps to make the audience further analyse the actions of a character in a more objective detail.

Direct address:

Direct address is where an actor speaks directly to a person in the audience. This is a common break of the fourth wall and is used in many styles of theatre as it can provide a more comical side of a play. This technique can be used to make the audience feel closer to the characters and action. However, naturalistic plays would usually never use fourth wall breaks.

All of these techniques are included in the wider theatre technique of Alienation. This is because they simply alienate the audience. The audience would most likely not expect any such techniques to occur, so feel confused and bemused towards the nature of the play. Although many playwrights portray confusion from the audience as a bad thing, Brecht uses this confusion to make the audience think about what is going on throughout the play.

Brechtian staging:

Multi-roling:

Multi-roling is where an actor plays more than one different characters onstage. The different characters may be shown in the way the actor moves and acts for each character. They could lower their voice, change their body language and gesticulate differently. A costume change may also be used to present the change of character easily. However, it must still be prominent that the same actor is playing multiple characters. Because of this costume change must be to a minimum and perhaps one or two significant garments change, but no more as this may obscure the view of the actor. The audience can clearly see that an actor has taken on more than one role which makes them more aware that they are watching a presentation of events.

Split-role:

This is nearly the opposite of multi-roling. Split-roling is where more than one actor plays the same character. For example, the main character may have a few actors who rotate their roles after each scene. This effectively inhibits the audience from getting an emotional bond with this character as they are only being represented by actors and are not real people. It stops emotional attachment upon characters which further allows the audience to truly think about the plays meaning itself, rather than being caught up with emotional views.  

Minimal costume/set/props:

Due to the nature of Brechtian theatre, set, costume and props are all kept simplistic and representational. A more interesting, elaborate costume or set may create a more natural feel and may lose the sense of theatre rather than real life. A more empty stage still shows the audience that they are simply being presented events rather than watching television. Although Brecht did not commonly use complex props, there have been examples of some props becoming a ‘member of the family’. These props may be more important than some of the characters in his plays. Such a complex prop would simply be used for authenticity. 

Lighting:

Brecht believed in keeping the lighting as simple as the set. He did not want the lighting effects to overshadow the true meaning of the play. Usually, he commonly used harsh light as he thought it “Illuminates the truth”. He wanted every part of the production to be seen and often, the audience will see the production personnel in action on the stage rather than hidden. This is unusual as most production crews stay unseen to make sure the illusion of naturalism remains intact. Brecht however, thought that if the audience viewed the crews, it would further cement the belief that they were being shown a production rather than being invested in one.

Symbolic props:

There are many examples of props being used in various ways. Similarly to multi-roling, re-using props for different items shows the audience that this is simply a production. A suitcase may become a table or a podium etc. This further shows the audience that they are being presented with events.

Other Brechtian devices:

Song and Dance:

This is a more unusual technique employed by Brecht. However, it is an effective way of alienating the audience. It fully shows the audience that they are watching theatre as such a song and dance would not seem natural in any way. Commonly in Brechtian theatre, the lyrics juxtapose the style of the music itself. The lyrics could be dark and have a more sinister tone to them. However, the music itself may be upbeat and happy. This is effective as it further distances the audience form the characters. A very famous line from his work is “Who is the bigger criminal: he who robs a bank or he who founds one?”. This line would have been sung over a more upbeat arrangement of music. This encourages the audience to listen carefully and truly understand the meaning of the song and dance piece.

Montage:

In the modern era, montage is a phrase that is more readily associated with cinema than theatre. However, in the past, montage was more related to theatre and film together. Brecht consciously borrowed the idea of such montage from silent movies. Many of Brecht’s plays were influenced by montage and used this technique in several areas. Similarly to a cinematic montage, a theatrical montage is a series of small, self-contained scenes that have been immediately grouped one after another. They commonly use juxtaposition to further highlight the issues with clarity and understanding. They are similarly used as montages in films nowadays, they can also allow for the audience to focus on more minute details in the play.

Brecht was largely influenced by a film director- ‘Sergei Eisenstein’. This director had many classic examples of montage in film, however, Brecht was most interested in the ‘Odessa Steps’ sequence in Eisenstein’s famous 1925 film, ‘Battleship Potemkin’. This famous sequence depicted a runaway baby carriage hurtling down a steep set of stairs. Eisenstein effectively uses montage to create a suspenseful atmosphere.

Spass and Gestus:

Spass:

‘Spass’ is a German word which literally translates into English as ‘fun’. Brecht’s ultimate goal was to make his audiences to think more thoroughly. He later realised that laughter also evoked thought throughout theatre. Because of this, Brecht created a new technique called ‘Spass’- the use of comedy to create further interest and thought from the audience. Although a lot of his performances had a rather dark tone and topic, Brecht realised that comedy was an effective way of engaging the audience and forcing them to think about the issues arisen in the plays. According to his theory, even dark and meaningful theatre could benefit from moments of comedy.

Furthermore, Spass was also an effective way to break the tension in more serious scenes. As tension rises in plays, the audience naturally feels more attached to the characters and the story. However, Brechtian theatre dictates that the audience should not feel attached to the characters as it would draw away from the plays main themes. Because of this, Brecht needed to find an effective way of breaking the tension to stop the audience from following the story closely. Spass turned out to be an excellent way to do so. It may be in the form of a comical song, physical comedy, slapstick or even a stand-up routine. Because of the comedic nature, Spass may appear rather silly to the audience. However, it often makes a strong comment upon the social issue that it is based upon. For example, Spass may use black comedy to make the audience laugh at many serious topics. This is very effective as the audience will laugh because of the comedic nature, then they will question why they laughed. This will create controversy which will further make the audience think deeply about the issues brought up in the play.

Gestus:

Another Brechtian technique that is commonly used in Brechtian theatre is ‘Gestus’. This is a clear character movement or gesture that simply captures the moment or attitude rather than delving into emotion. According to Gestus, every single motion and gesture was important. To focus upon this idea, Brecht and his cast closely studied photographs of his plays to ensure that each movement was effective and clear. They wanted to make sure that each gesture was so clear that the audience could understand the story by the gestures alone.

Because of the abstract nature of his plays, Brecht did not want his actors to become a character onstage. Instead, he wished for them to simply portray them as a type of person, rather than a specific person. His characters in the plays are largely stereotypically representative of all real life people. For example, a corrupt boss who smokes a cigar whilst his workers starve represents all bosses who benefit through the exploitation of others. Because of this, Brecht commonly refers to his characters by standard name, such as- ‘The Boy’ or ‘The Doctor’. The audience will interpret the character through their social role. This aids them to understand the character instead of feel an emotional attachment towards them. Because of this, it is far easier for the audience to judge the character rather than empathising with them.

Gestus is not just focusing on the gesture itself, but the social connotation of such a gesture. For example, a soldier marching and saluting across the stage is simply a gesture. However, if he was doing so while marching across a stage strewn with dead bodies, it would be a Gestus as a comment upon what kind of person he represents.