Performance evaluation

The final performance could have been better from my point of view, I believe that the structure of the piece was very good, but the more actor orientated things like pronunciation and projection of voice had been better in some of the rehearsals. 

In terms of my own personal performance, I believe that I rectified the problem that I ran into in rehearsals, I managed to stay in role and keep acting even when I wasn’t the main person on stage, I think that the ‘Baby Boy Band’ song went very well and we all got the synchronisation of the dance moves perfect.  But I felt that using baby voices could have given it that extra touch that would have alienated the audience to an even greater extent, but we would have needed more rehearsal time to create a baby voice that can still be understood in terms of pronunciation.

The lack of specific lighting added to the Brechtian feel of the play, and the very fact customer announcements happened on stage helped to alienate the audience this is because in a normal play at the theatre, sound effects (the xylophone) and god-like speech occurs off stage, but in this performance the audience could actually see the person who was speaking and playing the instrument in this manner.

 As we were all in the same room there was no trouble with the cues, however I felt that some of the lines in the performance were rushed and could have been slowed down a bit, this could have been just to do with nerves.

For the bit of the performance when the song (Price Tag) begins, in all the rehearsals I had got to the front of the stage differently, I felt that this was effective as it allowed me to not look robotic when getting to the front.

Overall I believe that although the final performance was a bit shaky at some points, it was still a success, and I have thoroughly enjoyed working on this text and applying Bertolt Brecht’s theatre techniques to it. 

Lesson 6

This was the last lesson before the performance and the first time we were rehearsing in the room of the actual performance, this meant we had a lot of technical issues to overcome, the staging was one, but we managed to sort that out fairly quickly as the room was shaped perfectly for what we wanted.

We were just fine-tuning the smaller parts of the play, for instance the changeovers from pairs of ‘Man’ and ‘Woman’.  We decided that the easiest way for this to become unnoticeable would be to divert the audience’s eyes, so we thought that having a ‘customer announcement’ at every changeover would help the play run more smoothly.  However the changing of the characters was still occurring on stage, which alienated the audience in a effective manner.

I spent some of the time in this lesson simply walking around the space and dodging the stage objects so I could gain a simple understanding of the space around me and were I could move freely.

The performance to the other Theatre classes was the smoothest performance that we had, I believe this was because they had been studying the same topic as us, so the understood what our performance was about.  There were little to no faults in this performance, one of which I noticed was that my fellow actors and I found it difficult to keep acing even when we weren’t the main ones on stage at the time, but as I recognised this, I managed to rectify it before the real performance. 

Political Protest Evaluation

 I felt that the final performance went very well, and I believe that the setting for the scene was perfect as it allowed us to move around and the audience could follow, I felt this was very effective because it kept the audience interested as they wanted to see what would happen.  We started our performance sitting on the reception desk in the canteen, the audience naturally stood directly in front of us, which is what we expected, as it allowed us to speak to them as we walked through them for the next part of the scene, I found that this was very effective in the final performance, because we did take into consideration that all the movement could put audience members off, but just speaking directly to them kept them interested.

The interview at the end of the scene could have looked too naturalistic and the audience would not have known if the performance had ended or not, and therefore we devised a non-naturalistic method that allowed us to shout while we were performing the interview, and that way the audience would not lose interest. 

Lesson 5

In this lesson we carried on choreographing for the ‘Baby Boy Band’ scene, this is because boy bands are always very well synchronised and we felt we needed to be like this for the performance to effectively alienate the audience.   The one change that took place was that previously to this lesson we had been using baby voices while singing the song, however as these had a negative effect on the pronunciation of words we decided that we would be better off just using normal voices.

The staging was fully decided in this lesson; the audience would sit in traverse around five tables that were the cash registers for the actresses that played the ‘Checkout girls.’  The isles would be in-between these tables.  It was also decided that the babies would start their performance under the tables, while pretending to be asleep, in the foetal position.  

Lesson 4

I spent most of this lesson with the other boys who were part of the baby boy band.  We were choreographing synchronised dance moves to the tune of ‘Price tag’ by Jessie J, we chose this song as although it is upbeat and happy, it has a lot to do with money and could be used to illustrate economic issues and help portray the subplots of the play.

Quite a few of the lyrics had bee changed to really show the plays plot, in a Brechtian way.

It seems like everybody's got a price
I wonder how they sleep at night
When the money comes first
And the baby comes second

The two lines that are highlighted blatantly show the ideas that the play is attempting to show as well.  They also illustrate that modern society has come to believe that babies are just another expense rather than a blessing.

We understood that Boy bands were always very synchronised, and that to achieve this we would have to put a lot of time and effort into our rehearsals.  We wanted each dance move to have a purpose or show something about the topic of the play.  We did think that the use of song and dance in the final performance would be a powerful way of showing the alienation effect, as the audience are not expecting to see Boys dressed as babies dancing around on stage.

Political Protest Research

I was in a group with Olaya, Marian and Chanelle.  We collectively decided that University fees would be our political topic, as it will definitely affect all of us in the next few years.

We all decided that a way we could illustrate the amount it affects people could be in the form of an improvisation, however we also knew that we would have to capture that audiences attention somehow. So we began thinking of ways to grab a person’s attention in a few seconds.  From what we tried we actually found that the easiest way to achieve this, was also the simplest, by just shouting we could gain attention, then we could move on to the improvisation that contained the information.   

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-12880840

http://www.ucas.ac.uk/students/studentfinance/

Lesson 3

Rehearsal process

I found ‘The Price’ very interesting to work on, and even more fascinating to try and apply Brechtian techniques to.  This is because the play has very blatant subplots, and this by itself breaks the 4^th wall, which makes it even easier to use Brechts own techniques. 

One idea that came into practise that lesson was the reading out of stage directions, we thought that this would help to alienate the audience.  We also had the whole cast visible at all times which helped to reinforce the alienation technique.  We also briefly discussed Lighting techniques and decided that a useful way to perform it would be without any specific lighting.

In this lesson I was placed in a group that would be researching child benefit laws, we read through some articles to gain a greater understanding of the topic, before attempting to write a short scene with dialogue, illustrating the difficulties with the laws at the moment.  Other groups were completing different tasks, one of the groups were finding songs that had anything to do with money, and changing the lyrics so they could be used in the play.  Songs would also be used to alienate the audience.

In this lesson we were also placed into groups for casting, I was placed with four other males, and it was decided that we would become a Baby boy band.

Epic Theatre

http://www.usq.edu.au/artsworx/schoolresources/mothercourage/Brechtian%20Techniques#Epic_Theatre

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_theatre

Both these links effectively helped my understanding of 'Epic Theatre' as a whole, the first one even outlines the difference between 'Dramatic Theatre' and 'Epic Theatre'.

Brecht's Life 2

Bertolt Brecht was influenced by the writings of Karl Marx and devised his own techniques to allow him to express his ideas through these Marxist principles.

It was this interest in Marxism - and the idea that man and society could be intellectually ‘analysed’ - that led him to develop his new techniques. These techniques include the alienation effect (verfremdungseffekt), didacticism, breaking the fourth wall, gestus, narration and the use of song.  All these different techniques together create the Brechtian theory of Epic Theatre.

Bertolt Brecht's approach to the theatre was the most important alternative to the Stanislavsky style ‘realism’ acting and the “well-made play” construction that dominated playwriting.

Brecht believed that theatre should not appeal to the spectator's feelings - but to his reason. It should be ‘didactic’ and capable of provoking social change. In the Stanislavsky ‘Realist’ theatre of illusion the spectator identified with the characters on stage and become emotionally involved with them rather than think about their own life – but Brecht wanted to make the audience adopt a ‘critical’ attitude to what was happening on stage and his ‘alienation effect’ made use of anti-illusion techniques to remind the spectators that they were in a theatre, watching a copy of reality, and not reality itself.

One technique was flooding the stage with harsh lighting and leaving the stage lamps in the view of the audience; another technique was making use of minimal props and scenery; another was interrupting the action at vital moments (with songs) in order to drive home an important message and projecting explanatory captions onto a screen or using placards.  Brecht did not want realism from his actors - but an objective style of playing - to become detached observers.

Brecht's most important plays include The Life of Galileo, Mother Courage and Her Children and The Good Person of Szechwan.  These plays were written between 1937 and 1945 when he was living outside Germany because his communist sympathies made him an enemy of Hitler and the Nazi party.

In 1949, after the end of the WWII, Brecht was invited by the new East German government, to lead his own theatre troupe, the Berliner Ensemble.  It was through their productions of his plays that Brecht earned his reputation as one of the most important figures of contemporary theatre and his techniques have influenced the development of theatre in every western country during the 20th century.

Brecht's Life 1

BERTOLT BRECHT 1898 - 1956

Bertolt Brecht was born in the city of Augsburg, Germany in 1898; his home life was comfortable and middle-class. His mother was a devout Protestant and the Bible was a significant influence in his young life.  He was not a strong or healthy child and so at the start of World War I he avoided being sent into the army but served in a local military hospital where he witnessed terrible suffering and human misery.

Along with many others, he was unhappy with the political system in post-war Germany and became interested in the works of Karl Marx (1818-1883) and his ideas of socialism and communism. During this period he developed a strongly anti-bourgeois attitude that reflected his generation's disappointment in the values of the current German society that had been responsible for the war and for the turmoil that followed it.  At university, Brecht lost interest in his medical studies and turned towards drama and began writing his own plays dealing with political issues.

Brecht’s early career as a dramatist developed alongside the period of the Weimar Republic in Germany, when politics became more and more extreme between the left and the right.  When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, because Brecht was seen as a dangerous communist supporter, his works were publicly burned and he was forced to go into exile in Denmark to protect his family.  During the early years of World War II he continued to remain in Europe and moved to Sweden and then Finland - until 1941 when he went to the United States.

In the US he continued to oppose Hitler and the Nazis until their defeat in 1945.  However, following the war, a communist scare swept the US and Brecht was a well-known communist sympathiser.  In October 1947 he was forced to appear before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, even though he was not an official member of the American communist party. Brecht left the United States the very next day.

He soon travelled to East Berlin, now under the control of Joseph Stalin and the USSR and in 1949 set up the Berliner Ensemble with full support from the communist government.  His play Mother Courage and Her Children was the Berliner Ensemble's inaugural production. Brecht died of a heart attack in August 1956.

Initial response to 'The Price'

I found the ideas in this drama by Lena Kitsopoulou very surreal and challenging. I believe that it will be great fun to work with this text, and to develop and use Brechtian techniques within the play.  I think the play is cleverly written, topical and portrays society’s materialism in a very unique and disturbing way.  The core idea of the play (buying a baby from a supermarket) can be seen as critical of the superficiality of consumerism.

The theme could be very literal, meaning buying a baby in a supermarket; if this is the case then play deals with very modern ideas about the changing role of families.  Alternatively, it could be subtly showing that the cost of a raising a baby comes with the external expenses; nappies, food, and formula and concerns the difficult decisions to be made before starting a family.  If this is the case then it reflects the current economic climate in Europe, and as the currency discussed is Drachmas (former Greek currency) I believe it is reflecting the recent economic depression in Greece. 

I enjoyed reading the play, and found that its morality is displayed very superficially, similar to the work of Bertolt Brecht.  The opening line is delivered by the character ‘MAN’, which I believe reflects an imagined social hierarchy.  The whole play reveals some very disturbing topics to the audience and I believe the playwright portrayed these topics perfectly; not loading too much guilt on to the audience’s conscience but provoking them to consider some unpleasant aspects of contemporary society.

Lesson 2

During this lesson we learnt about Brechtian characterisation; to understand this, we performed an exercise in which we were given a character name that contained an adjective.  We then had to create a physical posture and voice that would suit this character.  My character name was Ted Tedious (a pub landlord).

I found this exercise very useful, as it allowed me to actually involve myself in Brechtian characterisation techniques and this enabled me to understand how to perform these techniques, and why they are vital for a young actor to master. I also gained an insight into what Brecht was trying to achieve through his development and use of stereotypical characters.

From this exercise I have understood that Brectian characters are two-dimensional and deliberately try to alienate the audience from the drama. They achieve this because they prevent the audience from connecting to intimate character traits by creating emotional detachment.

Bertolt Brecht used very specific names for characters to give clues about their class, personality and occupation.  The name and physicality help the audience to define the characters and gives them direct information without depending on the dialogue.

BRECTIAN TECHNIQUE: GESTUS

Definition – A combination of gesture and attitude.

www.kentaylor.co.uk/die/drama_UK/Brecht/Gestus_Workshop.doc

Brecht Workshop

Brecht was famous for a particular style of acting called GESTUS. The combination of gesture and facial expression and body language is deliberately used to create meaning and communicate a message to the audience. The actor carefully uses GESTUS to provoke debate and educate the audience.

An example of Gestus - e.g. A solider walking across the stage does not have much meaning, fill the stage with dead bodies and make the soldiers walk over them looking ahead and the meaning becomes much more powerful – uncaring soldiers / soldiers deadened to the horror of war (etc).

Gestus can include the whole picture that these gestures make.

Gestus is a really important tool in the actor’s repertoire as it allows them to portray a character with great precision and intimacy; in a way it is ironic that Brecht developed this technique because he believed in creating two-dimensional characters to alienate his audience.  Gestus lets the audience know a characters feelings through their on-stage gestures, this means that gestus can only occur with an actor reacting to other objects or people on stage.

Lesson 1

Exercise Evaluation

Moody Objects

The class walked around the room in a normal manner until the teacher called out a number.  When this was called we had to get into groups of this number.  Then the teacher would call out an object and an emotion.  For example ‘5’ and ‘an angry motorbike.’  Through facial expressions and physicality we had to create this object and try and portray the emotion as well.  This exercise helps to develop something that Brecht believed strongly in.  He believed that the audience shouldn’t get to involved in the play, and they should at all times remember that they are watching a play.  I found this exercise very interesting, and I believe it helped further my knowledge of Brecht’s dramatic ideologies.  It helped me to grasp the ideas of ‘Verfremdungseffekt’ and I started to understand why he wanted there to be specific moments of alienation, I believe that it is used almost as a reality check.  This is because if people go to the theatre they normally go to escape the normal world, however Brecht had very strong political ideologies, and he wanted people to never lose sight of the truth.

Exercise Evaluation

Daily tasks

I found this exercise very interesting, as I believe it allows an actor to explore the amount of information needed for a play to capture an audiences mind.  This exercise consisted of miming daily tasks, as simple as making a sandwich, and performs this to the audience.  The first time we did this with narration, and then performed it again with no narration.  From what I observed when it is silent the audience question it, however if it is narrated the audience find the plot simple to understand.  This lesson also taught us that Brecht wanted the plot to be understood by everyone, and therefore the Brechtian choice would have been to narrate.