Brecht, Bertolt. Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic. Hill & Wang New York, 1996. Brecht argues that the ultimate purpose of play is to induce pleasure and to entertain, and that--because of this purpose--play needs no justification. Plays should not be simply copied from or seen through older performances, but need to develop on their own to better relate to a new audience. Through the use of alienation which aims to make the familiar unfamiliar, play and theatre can be seen under a new perspective, and the actor can feel more free to perform under a new guise. The alienation effect creates a temporary state and identity for the actor that allows him or her to explore social boundaries. By basically putting on a mask, the performer …show more content…
However, for Pinter, there is no real sense of taboo when the scene is being performed. Thus, the taboo is a social construct that can be manipulated. The question lies in how it can be manipulated. Metamorphoses. By Mary Zimmerman. Dir. Chris Herold. Zellerbach Playhouse, Berkeley. 22 Oct. 2017. Performance. Director Chris Herold retells the stories from Ovid in UC Berkeley’s TDPS’s production of Metamorphoses. A large square pool is the main design of the stage, and the pool is used throughout the stories in order to emphasize certain ideas and embody a sense of metamorphoses. The cast members each played different roles and represent a variety of things ranging from emotions like hunger to beings like gods, birds, and trees. Because some actors perform multiple characters, the actors are essentially given multiple identities. These identities are each part of unique societies which might interfere with the actual sense of society the real actor normally feels. The changing roles also play into the alienation effect through the constant dissociation the actors employ with their characters. Munoz, Nikki. “TDPS Delivers Visually Stunning, Captivating Rendition of
Conflict- This can be seen as one of the conflicts that A.J has with the world. His negative impression on society gives him a feeling discrimination due to his belonging in a minority group. Bearing this negativity view, it causes A.J’s isolation from society because he blocks out the discrimination and assumptions focused on him thus blocking him
Society often pressures individuals within it to conform to different ideals and norms. This stems from the fact that individuals in a society are expected to act in a certain way. If a person or group of people do not satisfy society’s expectations, they are looked down upon by others. This can lead to individuals isolating themselves from others, or being isolated from others, because they are considered as outcasts. The emotional turmoil that can result from this, as well as the internal conflict of whether or not to conform, can transform an individual into a completely different person. This transformation can either be beneficial or harmful to the individual as well as those around them. The individual can become an improved version of himself or herself but conversely, they can become violent, rebellious and destructive. The novels Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk and A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess both explore the negative effects experienced by individuals living within the confines of society’s narrow-mindedness. In A Clockwork Orange, protagonist Alex was the leader of a small group of teenage criminals. He did not have a healthy relationship with either one of his parents or with others around him. Instead he spent most of his time alone during the day and at night roamed the streets in search of victims he could mug or rape. In Fight Club the unnamed protagonist was an outcast in his community. He chose to distance and isolate himself from others and as a result had no friends, with the exception of Tyler Durden and Marla Singer. Due to his isolation, he often participated in nightly fights that took place in Fight Club so that he could relieve his anxiety and stress. In this way, Alex and the unnamed protagoni...
These plays are presented as slightly distorted mirrors of reality, so by having audiences invest themselves so deeply in the understanding of the literature, they are likely to gain a greater understanding of themselves and the worlds they live in. By pushing the imaginative burden onto the audience, Shakespeare is able to make commentary on human nature and human history without being held responsible for its implications. Because the audience is encouraged to fully embrace their role in the production, any commentary and critique is aimed towards themselves and their inability to effectively understand, resulting in an increased appreciation for Shakespeare himself, and the complexity of literature as an art
It is difficult to imagine a play which is completely successful in portraying drama as Bertolt Brecht envisioned it to be. For many years before and since Brecht proposed his theory of “Epic Theatre”, writers, directors and actors have been focused on the vitality of entertaining the audience, and creating characters with which the spectator can empathize. ‘Epic Theatre’ believes that the actor-spectator relationship should be one of distinct separation, and that the spectator should learn from the actor rather than relate to him. Two contemporary plays that have been written in the last thirty years which examine and work with Brechtian ideals are ‘Fanshen’ by David Hare, and ‘The Laramie Project’ by Moises Kaufman. The question to be examined is whether either of these two plays are entirely successful in achieving what was later called, ‘The Alienation Effect”.
Bertolt Brecht was a German playwright, theatre critic, and director. He created and developed epic theatre with the belief that theatre is not solely for entertainment but also tools for politics and social activism. Previous theatre performances offered a form of escapism. The audience would become emotionally invested in the performance. In contrast to the suspension of disbelief, Brecht never wanted the audience to fall into the performance. He wanted the audience to make judgments on the argument dealt in the play. The aim of epic theatre is to detach the audience from any emotional connection in order for them to critically review the story. The ultimate goal of this theatre is creating awareness of social surroundings and encouraging the audience to take initiative on changing the society.
In the modern period a common topic used amongst the arts was alienation. The notion of feeling distant from others or an activity to which one should be part of or be involved in was reflected in many pieces during the modern period. Two pieces that were fascinating to me, because of the way they utilized alienation as a part of their visual and literary arts, were “The Scream,” by Edvard Munch and “The Metamorphosis,” by Franz Kafka. Munch and Kafka both used forms of formal elements to get the emotional crisis they felt through to the viewer.
The theme of alienation has been depicted by two different characters in a resembling series of events. The two protagonists were alienated by their peers, inflicting negative consequences they must undergo. Both characters are finally pushed to alienating themselves rather than being alienated. In conclusion, the struggles both characters undergo are practically identical to one another. They have experienced alienation in such similar ways that you must ask yourself: are all those who suffer from alienation alike in more ways than one?
Hamlet makes extensive use of the idea of theatrical performance; from revealing characters to not be what they seem - as they act to be - to Hamlet’s play The Mousetrap and his instruction of acting to the players. The extensive use of the stage in the stage directions, as well as numerous monologues and asides, have Hamlet itself acting as a literary device for the motif of theatrical performance.
During the Splendid adaptation, it was clear that they mainly focused on style, using a Brecht as an influence. At the beginning of the performance, the audience was greeted
Alienation is important because it is the result of capitalism. In capitalist society the capitalist class benefits most; for an example; those who own and control the means of production receive a disproportionate share of wealth, power, privileges and status. In the movie, everything is owned by the Lord Bussines and he is the one who controls all the coffee shops, stocks, media, surveillance cameras, etc. The president is making a profit from every business while the citizens work hard to and follow the President's instructions. The film deals directly with the idea of Marx's theory of Alienation, the people living in this society are given instructions and are expected to follow those only excluding any room for independent thought and creativity. The movie shows that the citizens are expected to only make decisions and do things based on leadership expectations, and never to do anything by their own choice or imagination. For an example, in the movie when Emmet leaves the city he says “what am I supposed to do without any instruction”. His whole life he was taught to follow the instructions but when he had nothing to follow he was lost and confused. Because he had no instructions to follow he was able to show his creativity in unique ways. When Emmet finds out that he is not the “Special one” that no one is he
Brechtian Alienation reverses this effect. Brecht wanted his audience members to be critical of what they saw, remind them that the play is not a reflection of their world. He creates a paradox. He aimed to remove emotion, specifically empathy, from the production and distance the audience from the players. He wanted actors to disassociate themselves from their role, quite the opposite of method acting. Brechtian Alienation is the constant reminder to all involved that they are participating in a play and not acting within their own reality.
This attachment can develop into a blessing or a monster. When performers take on heavy or intense roles, it can begin to affect their emotions off the stage and out of the rehearsal rooms. Many performers struggle with separating their roles from real life. Without this separation, performers can become depressed, angry, and even somewhat evil, depending on what roles they take on. A common, yet exaggerated example of a role overtaking someone to the point of emotional monstrosity is the found in the film The Black Swan. In this film, the prima ballerina begins to become an evil monster because of her role as the black swan. She began to transform into an evil, regretless person. Although fictional, this movie revealed the dark side of taking on dark roles and how they can in turn, make the performer monstrous (Black). Some may say that these effects are signs of dedicated and talented performers, however, these side effects can be signs of greater mental monstrosities or issues. Related to this inability to detach from their roles, performers can begin to have fantasy proneness and dissociation tendencies. Disassociation is defined as “a failure to integrate information and experiences in normally associated ways,” which stated by Paula Thomson, “Can be traced back to Greek muses” (Thomson 73). These issues have been around
In conclusion, within Hamlet, meta-theatre provides space for the “moving parts”, or the ‘actor’, necessary to the drama (Flaherty 17). Meta-theatre develops this space of play by provoking acceptance of the unique nature of each performance of the play (Flaherty 17). Meta-theatricality is a device in which a play may comment on itself, attracting awareness to the true circumstances of its own production, such as the audience or the reality that the actors are in fact actors (Dixon 1). Meta-theatrical moments in Hamlet contribute to the play’s elaborate dialogue of play by calling upon the many, and interrelated meanings of the word ‘play’.
The survival of theatre lies in the very nature of humankind: its inner voyeuristic drive. The desire to watch other people dealing with their conflicts and fates challenges as well as reinforces values and the morality of society. The theatre provides an exciting opportunity to watch stories and situations as if they were real life, showing us the truth of our nature.
The ideas of Bertolt Brecht (1898-1965) changed the theatre in many ways. Brecht along with Erwin Piscator developed the style of Epic theatre style contrasting to previous accepted styles. Presentational in form, Epic theatre is a vehicle for social comment through techniques such as: alienation, historification, eclectic influences (highly Asian), constructivism in scenery, disjointed and illogical scene placement, ordinary clothing and lighting, the use of music to detach the audience from emotion, placards and signs and projected images. Didactic in nature Brecht’s works aim to challenge the audience to assess socially accepted norms and educate them to injustices often overlooked by the public. The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Brecht, 1944) written during the time of Nazi Germany occupation has a clearly political and social focus.