Quote about Brecht: "As an artist, Brecht was influenced by a diverse range of writers and practitioners including Chinese theatre and Karl Marx. The turmoil of the times through which Brecht lived gave him a strong political voice. The opposition he faced is testament to the fact that he had the courage to express his personal voice in the world of the theatre. He also had an original and inspired talent to bring out a dynamic theatrical style to express his views." - http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/guides/zwmvd2p/revision
Brecht believed that emotional connection could stunt the ability for the audience to make conscious, rational judgements about social and political issues; Brecht tried to avoid emotional attachment so that his audience could interpret messages in their own way. Therefore, Brecht didn't 'pigeon-hole' a message; he left his plays open to interpretation.
To begin the exploration of Brecht's epic theatre techniques, we were given the task of reporting on the 'dragons that have invaded London'. We were referred to as reporters and were asked to investigate the size, colour and intentions of the dragons. This task required the class to throw ourselves into the story and immediately adapt to the role of the reporter/eyewitness. Being the eyewitness made me think on my feet and use my imagination to create an interesting encounter. This was an effective exercise to begin the lesson as it required our focus and creativity immediately.
This task linked to Brecht's style of work, as epic theatre was renowned for reflecting on past events; the reporting involved 'past encounters' and recalling a memory. Brecht also explored fact-based storylines, which is also evident in this task.
Following this, we were split into groups and were asked to create a series of tableaux to summarise the invasion of the dragons, (in the form of a news article). We explored the use of levels with Matt standing in a sprinting stance and the rest of the group around him as the dragons. I used exaggerated facial expressions to convey an intimidating dragon; I opened my eyes wide and grabbed Matt's arm. The use of levels created humour as Matt was on a significantly higher level and was running from the small dragons, (the rest of the group). This created irony and humour as we interpreted the dragons as being small rather than large and intimidating. The following tableaux included 2 dragons in a restaurant and the dragons taking over the population. To create the restaurant, Demi and I sat on the floor and Matt held his arms over Demi to indicate that she was the dragon, (representing her wings). The rest of the group looked on with confused facial expressions, again creating a sense of humour. To convey the dragons taking over, Demi, Shameika and I piled on top of one another to represent how the humans have been killed. Lady Pearl and Matt stood on a higher level which was symbolic of the dragon's dominance. Overall, the use of tableaux enabled the exploration of levels and exaggerated physicality to create humour.
Being asked to bring a tableau to life, for a short period of 10 seconds, enabled us to use voice and movement to further enhance the narrative being portrayed. We began by dragging Matt across the stage and we all made a different noises to create a surreal humming/growling in the background. I experimented with my voice, using a high pitch to contrast with the lower-pitched noises being made by other group members. We then paused and collectively delivered the phrase, "we will take over" to create a sinister atmosphere. This atmosphere was reinforced by the fact we froze before the line delivery. Again, the use of tableaux represented Brecht's exploration of reflection on a past event. Additionally, Brechtian techniques were evident in this task, as the use of shared speech and interjection were used in epic theatre, to create a sense of urgency and share a narrative.
Overall, Brechtian (epic) theatre explored fact-based and reported speech. Brecht was also known for the use of plaque cards which were used to clearly indicate a place, atmosphere or time of day - creating captions for the tableaux mimicked this theatrical technique. Epic theatre is an innovative and reflective form of theatre and the tasks we explored gave us an insight into Brecht's techniques.
Brecht believed that emotional connection could stunt the ability for the audience to make conscious, rational judgements about social and political issues; Brecht tried to avoid emotional attachment so that his audience could interpret messages in their own way. Therefore, Brecht didn't 'pigeon-hole' a message; he left his plays open to interpretation.
To begin the exploration of Brecht's epic theatre techniques, we were given the task of reporting on the 'dragons that have invaded London'. We were referred to as reporters and were asked to investigate the size, colour and intentions of the dragons. This task required the class to throw ourselves into the story and immediately adapt to the role of the reporter/eyewitness. Being the eyewitness made me think on my feet and use my imagination to create an interesting encounter. This was an effective exercise to begin the lesson as it required our focus and creativity immediately.
This task linked to Brecht's style of work, as epic theatre was renowned for reflecting on past events; the reporting involved 'past encounters' and recalling a memory. Brecht also explored fact-based storylines, which is also evident in this task.
Following this, we were split into groups and were asked to create a series of tableaux to summarise the invasion of the dragons, (in the form of a news article). We explored the use of levels with Matt standing in a sprinting stance and the rest of the group around him as the dragons. I used exaggerated facial expressions to convey an intimidating dragon; I opened my eyes wide and grabbed Matt's arm. The use of levels created humour as Matt was on a significantly higher level and was running from the small dragons, (the rest of the group). This created irony and humour as we interpreted the dragons as being small rather than large and intimidating. The following tableaux included 2 dragons in a restaurant and the dragons taking over the population. To create the restaurant, Demi and I sat on the floor and Matt held his arms over Demi to indicate that she was the dragon, (representing her wings). The rest of the group looked on with confused facial expressions, again creating a sense of humour. To convey the dragons taking over, Demi, Shameika and I piled on top of one another to represent how the humans have been killed. Lady Pearl and Matt stood on a higher level which was symbolic of the dragon's dominance. Overall, the use of tableaux enabled the exploration of levels and exaggerated physicality to create humour.
Being asked to bring a tableau to life, for a short period of 10 seconds, enabled us to use voice and movement to further enhance the narrative being portrayed. We began by dragging Matt across the stage and we all made a different noises to create a surreal humming/growling in the background. I experimented with my voice, using a high pitch to contrast with the lower-pitched noises being made by other group members. We then paused and collectively delivered the phrase, "we will take over" to create a sinister atmosphere. This atmosphere was reinforced by the fact we froze before the line delivery. Again, the use of tableaux represented Brecht's exploration of reflection on a past event. Additionally, Brechtian techniques were evident in this task, as the use of shared speech and interjection were used in epic theatre, to create a sense of urgency and share a narrative.
Overall, Brechtian (epic) theatre explored fact-based and reported speech. Brecht was also known for the use of plaque cards which were used to clearly indicate a place, atmosphere or time of day - creating captions for the tableaux mimicked this theatrical technique. Epic theatre is an innovative and reflective form of theatre and the tasks we explored gave us an insight into Brecht's techniques.
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