Gestus exercises
We created three freeze frames, the first and last one was seeing a group of soldiers at the end of a war. The middle one was when they saw a dead body and we could decide how they reacted. The freeze frames revealed the soldiers attitude to the end of the war and to the dead body. They allowed the audience to think 'Did the soldiers win or loose?' and 'what was the relationship they had with the dead man, was he a friend or enemy?' The exercise made me understand why gestus is used, which is because they are an expression of social attitudes, mostly highlighted through a freeze frame, slow motion or highlighted in a different way, like music or lighting. The change of pace during this this expression of attitude is important, because it make the audience re examine what they are looking at.
Spas- fun
Spas is the fun element of gestus. Brecht has a sense of play in his performance to make them more interesting and engaging. By having a sense of play, he is saying that within all the serious stuff, he wants there to be comedy. He wanted the actors and audience to enjoy themselves, otherwise it would become really dull, covering such serous subject matters.
Spas is the fun element of gestus. Brecht has a sense of play in his performance to make them more interesting and engaging. By having a sense of play, he is saying that within all the serious stuff, he wants there to be comedy. He wanted the actors and audience to enjoy themselves, otherwise it would become really dull, covering such serous subject matters.
The snobs exercise
The snob exercise was used to demonstrate how and why Brecht uses play in his performances. In the exercise we got into groups of about five, with one person being the high status character, and the others being their loyal servants. The character of high status would walk around the room, making it clear what the wanted from their servants through gestus, not words. This exercise was fun because the servants had to do things for the other person that they wouldn't normally do and they were being asked to do amusing things, like fan their master or give them a massage. The person in charge could play with what they wanted. In this exercise we were still able to make a political comment, but we used spas to add entertainment.
This helped me understand how a comment on society or an individual, can still be translated to the audience, but with the actors having a sense of play, it will add another dimension to the performance and make sure that they don't turn their attention away because of the serious theme.
The snob exercise was used to demonstrate how and why Brecht uses play in his performances. In the exercise we got into groups of about five, with one person being the high status character, and the others being their loyal servants. The character of high status would walk around the room, making it clear what the wanted from their servants through gestus, not words. This exercise was fun because the servants had to do things for the other person that they wouldn't normally do and they were being asked to do amusing things, like fan their master or give them a massage. The person in charge could play with what they wanted. In this exercise we were still able to make a political comment, but we used spas to add entertainment. This helped me understand how a comment on society or an individual, can still be translated to the audience, but with the actors having a sense of play, it will add another dimension to the performance and make sure that they don't turn their attention away because of the serious theme.
Signs to alienate the audience
In Bercht's plays, there is usually a sign at the beginning of the scene telling the audience what is about to happen. This takes away the suspense, making sure the audience don't get involved in the unfolding drama. Once they find out what is about to happen, they will look more closely at HOW it happens. The signs are another reminder that all the audience are watching is a made up piece of performance and the main reason they are watching it, is to find out the consequences of the actions and question those actions.
In Bercht's plays, there is usually a sign at the beginning of the scene telling the audience what is about to happen. This takes away the suspense, making sure the audience don't get involved in the unfolding drama. Once they find out what is about to happen, they will look more closely at HOW it happens. The signs are another reminder that all the audience are watching is a made up piece of performance and the main reason they are watching it, is to find out the consequences of the actions and question those actions. 
No comments:
Post a Comment