Lesson 1

Narration - Why did Brecht use it?
Throughout Brecht's work he uses narration. This could be in 5 main forms:
1.) A separate narrator
2.) An actor stepping out of character
3.) An actor speaking in 3rd person
4.) Singing narration
5.) Written narration (plaque cards, projection)

Brecht wanted to come away from naturslim whilst still dealing with real life situations and economic/politcal issues. The narration opened up the opportunity to remind the audience that what they were watching on stage was not  in fact reality but a warped view and brought the shows back down to earth in some way as it allowed the audience to step outside the situation. 

Brecht did this to futhur insure that the audience weren't emotionally connect to the characters but instead constantly debating and challenging themselves.

Gestus 
Gestus is where you use your body to suggest emotions/messages and express yourself in appose to just using facial expressions. Brecht wanted to show how a persons circumstances/upbringing could have an effect on the way they move and wanted to break conventions of that era which hadn't really began to play with the way you can move your body as a better tool in theatre.

Gestus are gestures you make to indicate a message so when my group created two opposing images of politicians we created 1 image of the politician looking proud at a podium and other mp's cheering and looking pleased, the another where the politician was giving money to one homeless person but holding up his middle finger too others on the street as the camera only filmed the one he was giving money two.

These two simple gestures told a whole heap of messages for example the second image was indicating that politicians only act like they care in front of the camera but behind the scene they couldn't care less, it also asked questions about the governments personal attitudes and policies on the homeless.

I like the technique gestures as it allows you to be create with your body but at the same time be simplistic which allows the observer to think for themselves.


The Message
Brechtian theatre is all about the message it is conveying. Brecht always wanted to have a strong political or social statement behind his work that provoked the audience to have an internal conflict with themselves on an issue or situation. 

In his work , Brecht explored themes related to war, ownership, sacrifice, the notion of justice and the theme of the inequalities produced by 'superior' people in power over the 'inferior' lower class. He challenged society's opinion of the oppressed. Brecht tried to teach his audiences not to accept the world as they found it. he also tried to teach his actor the same thing.

"... above all s/he [actor of Brechtian theatre] must be aware of the theme with which the play is concerned."