Bertolt Brecht, Expressionist.
To Brecht, realism and the styles of acting that had developed in response to Stanislavski's System and the Method seemed dull and bourgeois. Influenced by the new expressionist drama, with its cinematic style, which incorporated larger-than-life sets and elaborate and symbolic lighting, he saw theatre as a powerful political force, capable both of entertaining and of changing society for the better. He felt that audiences should learn to be emotionally uninvolved: If the spectator watched objectively, he or she could then think objectively. This new view of the purpose of theatre came to be known as Epic Theatre, and was characterised by an acting style called the verfrumdungs effekt (distancing or making strange) This affected acting in the following ways;
- A return to the idea of the actor as the presenter. Emotions are externalised; actors frequently comment on their characters or on the action. The actor may also function as a narrator, addressing the spectators directly. This is the crux of the Verfrumdungs effekt, drawing on techniques from classical and medieval theatre;
- Replacement of the question'How do i feel?' by 'Have i ever seen it?';
- Elimination of the fourth wall: actors do not try to re-create reality;
The use of various techniques to maintain freshness and objectivity in characterisation, including swapping roles in rehearsals, rehearsing in dialects or accents, and speaking parts in the third person, using the 'he said', or 'she said'.
In addition, Brecht also strove to establish the formation of a close-knit company in which all actors had creative input, and rejected type casting and the star system.
- A return to the idea of the actor as the presenter. Emotions are externalised; actors frequently comment on their characters or on the action. The actor may also function as a narrator, addressing the spectators directly. This is the crux of the Verfrumdungs effekt, drawing on techniques from classical and medieval theatre;
- Replacement of the question'How do i feel?' by 'Have i ever seen it?';
- Elimination of the fourth wall: actors do not try to re-create reality;
The use of various techniques to maintain freshness and objectivity in characterisation, including swapping roles in rehearsals, rehearsing in dialects or accents, and speaking parts in the third person, using the 'he said', or 'she said'.
In addition, Brecht also strove to establish the formation of a close-knit company in which all actors had creative input, and rejected type casting and the star system.
(Mackey, S (1997) Practical Theatre - A Post 16 Approach, England: Stanley Thornes LTD)