a STANISLAVSKI Stanislavski’s Style of Theatre 3 Stanislavski’s Rehearsal Techniques 4 Frequently Asked Questions 5 Student Essay: Preparing An Actor 6

b BRECHT Brecht’s Style of Theatre 7 Brecht’s Rehearsal Strategies 8 Frequently Asked Questions 9 Understanding Brecht’s Marxist Influences 10 A Comparison of Brecht and Stanislavski 11

c MEYERHOLD Key Facts About Meyerhold 12 An Essay on Meyerhold 13 Using Meyerhold’s Practical Exercises 14

d ARTAUD Artaud’s Style of Theatre 15 Artaud’s Beliefs and Influences 16 Typical Conventions Used by Artaud 17 Artaud’s Work With Actors 18 A Comparison of Brecht and Artaud 19

e. BOAL Understanding Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed 20 Understanding Boal’s Forum Theatre 21 Political Theatre: Comparing Brecht and Boal 22

f. CRAIG Understanding Edward Gordon Craig 23 How to Use Craig’s Ideas When Deciding Upon Your Own Set Designs 24 Student Essay: Craig’s Main Theories 25

g. ARISTOTLE Understanding Aristotle 26

h. REVISION SUMMARY A Comparison of Truth on Stage 27 A Summary of all the Practitioners 28

Influential practitioners

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Influential Practitioners

brecht

Understanding Brecht’s Marxist Influences DID BRECHT HAVE MARXIST VIEWS? Yes, from early on in his career, Brecht was completely against what is called the ‘bourgeois’ society. This is a term, used by Marxists, when referring to the ruling, upper, rich classes. Very often his plays showed his dislike towards the bourgeois and admiration towards the proletariat (the Marxist term for the working class).

DID BRECHT CARRY OUT RESEARCH INTO MARXISM? Yes, Brecht carried out much study and investigation into Marxist theories and it is clear that this influenced his writing. He was also friends with many Marxist believers.

WHICH PLAYS SHOW HIS POLITICAL MESSAGES? Most of his plays contain political messages. For example: In Threepenny Opera, Brecht is keen to explore how people relate to each other in society. In Mother Courage, Brecht depicts a story of tradespeople and how they live.

WHAT DEVICES DID BRECHT USE TO CONVEY HIS POLITICAL MESSAGES? Because Brecht was trying to make a political point, he relied upon theatrical techniques to help convey his messages: The Verfremdungseffect This was used by Brecht to induce a distance between spectator and actor. Brecht did not want his audience to empathise with the characters, because this would lose the political meanings, rather he wanted his audience to adopt a critical attitude. Through his Marxist messages, Brecht wanted to expose messages about society, and the Verfrendungseffect helped him to do this. Gests Another way in which Brecht hoped to display his Marxist messages was to use what he called ‘gests’. This meant using gestures, movements, tableaux and often a series or montage of images, which his audience had to watch and critically evaluate the images in front of them and start to question the society they were watching and living in.

WHY DID BRECHT USE POLITICS IN HIS PLAYS? Brecht wanted his theatre to challenge the dominant bourgeois theatre of the time. He wanted theatre to be a chance where audiences could watch a play about society and then critically evaluate the world they live in.

DID POLITICS INFLUENCE HIS ROLE AS A DIRECTOR? Yes, the way in which Brecht worked on his productions also revealed his political beliefs. He believed very much that all people involved in a theatre were a team, and his plays were produced in a cooperative manner. Everybody was always encouraged to share their views and ideas, and Brecht wanted to move away from the idea that only one person in the group was responsible for the ideas. This is exactly how Brecht wanted society to behave.

WHAT ARE THE LEHRSTUCK PLAYS AND ARE THESE POLITICAL? To further portray his political beliefs, Brecht also developed a new type of theatre which he called Lehrstuck (learning play). Brecht envisaged that this is how theatre in the future would be. The learning plays were possibly Brecht’s most political plays. In his learning play The Measures Taken, Brecht presents a story about revolution. Such plays often instigated much debate amongst his audiences-exactly what Brecht wanted to achieve. Brecht wanted his learning plays to be presented in schools or workplaces and he encouraged his audiences to interact with the actors-even alter the plays as they watched.

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Influential Practitioners

brecht and stanislavski

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A COMPARISON OF BRECHT AND STANISLAVSKI

Brecht

Stanislavski

The relationship between

actor and audience

Brecht wanted to avoid his audience empathising with the characters on stage. He often kept the house lights on throughout a performance, to distance the spectators away from the action.

Stanislavski almost wanted to hypnotise his audience into being swept along by characters’ emotions. Stanislavski used authentic, believable looking sets to help promote this further.

Messages conveyed

Brecht did not want a passive audience. He wanted his audience to adopt critical viewpoints about what they saw on the stage.

Stanislavski wanted to present an image of life on stage and speak on its behalf, his audiences did not have to question what they saw.

Portrayal of reality

Using the A Effect, Brecht wanted his audience to review the reality in front of them, to adopt an attitude of inquiry. He would use placards and narrators to demonstrate the social message was more important than the characters.

Stanislavski wanted his spectators to believe the events on stage. They did not have to challenge them.

Purpose of drama

Brecht viewed theatre as a force for change. He wanted his audiences to watch plays and think about the subject matter. He also wanted theatre to politically educate the masses.

Stanislavski wanted to entertain his audience by encouraging emotional involvement with the drama they were watching. He also saw the theatre as a chance to instil morals within his audience, particularly by raising sensitivity.

Their style of theatre

Brecht was a famous opponent of naturalism-he wanted to distance the audience from his theatre, so that they could adopt a critical viewpoint of the drama.

Stanislavski was a keen advocate of naturalism. He wanted the audience to believe in the drama they were watching. It had to life-like.

Working with actors

Brecht strongly encouraged his actors to maintain a distance between themselves and their characters. Brecht was not as interested in humans as individuals, he was more interested in humans as a society.

Stanislavski strongly advocated that his actors research into their character’s inner-lives, drawing upon their own past experiences.