So have you ever heard about a dude called Bertolt Brecht? Probably not. He's a guy who, back in WW2, wrote political plays in order to say a huge '******** you' to the Nazis, basically. I'm currently learning about this dude at college, and we're doing a show on him next week which is why I thought i'd write this in order to refresh my memory and also just talk about a p cool dude tbh.
BUT! the super interesting thing about Brecht is that his type of theatre isn't the stuff we really see today - he wasn't all about the method acting, the emotional s**t, the getting the audience immersed - in fact he actively wanted to prevent the audience from being immersed.
Brecht figured that if he was going to get people watching his shows - he was going to make them leave the theatre thinking, and talking, and probably being like '******** the nazis' which was like, this dudes main goal.
The stuff he put in his plays include:
- Holding up signs that tell the audience whats happening, OR even saying "These guys are actors", in order to make sure the audience goes 'oh yeah, this is just a play"
- Breaking the fourth wall - literally addressing the audience. e.g. 'Hey so this is a play just so you know but this stuff is actually happening outside and we want you to talk about it or do something about it'
- A really huge German word AKA the 'alienation effect'. Or, 'distancing effect'. This stops the audience from actually being able to identify with anyone in the play because - you guessed it - no immersion.
So, this is a really simple explanation of who Brecht is and what he does and idk, I think it's pretty interesting! (Didn't wanna make it too complicated lmao, just wanted to share some cool facts. or. at least. facts my nerdy a** thinks are cool.)
 ScanlanShorthalt · Sat Feb 03, 2018 @ 01:26pm · 0 Comments |
