Вы находитесь на странице: 1из 23

Author

International Baccalaureate
Theatre Arts

Extended Essay

Research Question:
Assess the ways that some modern directors might use Bertolt
Brecht's Verfremdungseffekte in 'Mother Courage and Her Children',
and compare them to Brecht's original idea.

Candidate session number


Word Count: 3995

Extended Essay
Theatre Arts

Author
Candidate Number

Abstract
The following essay will aim to address the research question:

Assess the ways that some modern directors might use Bertolt Brecht's
Verfremdungseffekte in 'Mother Courage and Her Children', and compare them
to Brecht's original idea.
This is achieved by analyzing the Verfremdungseffekte in his play: Mother
Courage and Her Children in a three different recent productions and comparing
that to Brechts own interpretations in reference to his notes and other sources.
The categories of Verfremdungseffekte that are analyzed in this essay are:
Staging, Acting, Language, and Scenes. The way that this research was
undertaken was by watching the three modern adaptations of the play, while
making notes per scene. Then, after researching Bertolt Brechts theatre theory
and examples of Verfremdungseffekte, they were categorized according to the
ones that were present in Mother Courage and Her Children. After categorizing
them, a table was made that compared the three modern adaptations to Brechts
original intention by Verfremdungseffekt. This table can be found in the
Appendices and were used throughout the essay as a reference and main notes.
After finding that there were differences and similarities in all the interpretations,
the conclusion was reached that all three theatre groups had used Bertolt
Brechts basic idea of Verfremdungseffekte and used them the way that Brecht
had expressed them to be used applied to theatre, but also added their own
interpretations and ideas while keeping in mind the guidelines of Epic theatre.
This is what made all three plays interesting to watch, as they performed the
same story and used some of the same Verfremdungseffekte.

Word Count: 260

Extended Essay
Theatre Arts

Author
Candidate Number

Contents
ABSTRACT

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

INTRODUCTION

BRECHTS ORIGINAL INTENTION


MODERN ADAPTATIONS
1. STAGING
2. ACTING
3. LANGUAGE
4. SCENES

7
7
8
10
12
13

CONCLUSION

15

REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

18

PRIMARY SOURCES

VIDEOS
PDFS
WEBSITES
BOOKS

18
18
18
18
18
18
18
19

APPENDICES

20

LIVE PERFORMANCE
INTERVIEW

SECONDARY SOURCES

Extended Essay
Theatre Arts

Author
Candidate Number

Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Ms. Rachael for guiding me through the process of writing
this essay and being my supervisor who helped me when I got stuck and put me
back on track again.
I am also very grateful to Ms. Ellie and Ms. Teresa for their support and
willingness to answer any questions I had.
Id also like to thank my parents for motivating me to continue writing and for
their understanding and in particular my mother, for always helping me out when
I got stuck and proof-reading my essay.
Some other people that I am very grateful for, are the Director and the cast of
Stichting BLUV, who let me take a close look at their staging elements and props
before the play began and were very enthusiastic to answer my questions after
their performance.
Thank you.

Extended Essay
Theatre Arts

Author
Candidate Number

Introduction
Bertolt Brecht was an important and well-known German theatre theorist and
playwright. His theatre theories changed the purpose and the meaning of theatre,
and this essay will investigate whether directors still apply his theories of Epic
Theatre and the use of Verfremdungseffekte like he intended it, and if it still has
the same impact on its audience, even if the issues and society itself has
changed. The play that will be focused on in this essay is Mother Courage and
her Children, and the Verfremdungeffekte used in this play have been
categorized under staging, acting, language, and scenes.
This investigation and its topic is significant because during Brechts time, his
type of theatre was very new and different from the rest. Brecht believed that
theatre shouldnt just serve as entertainment, but that it should wake people up
and make them think about relevant issues and society.
When describing Epic theatre, Brecht stated that:
the theatergoer in the epic theater says: I would never have thought that. You
can't do that. That's very strange, practically unbelievable. That has to stop. The
suffering of this or that person grips me because there is an escape for him.
That's great art nothing is self-evident. I am made to laugh about those who
cry, and cry about those who laugh. (Unwin, The Complete Brecht Toolkit)
Bertolt Brecht viewed theatre as a project that forces judgment, leads to social
action, and should change the world. To achieve this, he developed the
Verfremdungseffekt (V-effekt) or alienation effect (A-effect), which means to
make strange.
He described Verfremdungseffekt as being a way to:
to take from that incident or character what makes it obvious, familiar or
readily understandable, so as to create wonderment and curiosity."
("BERTOLT BRECHT: An Overview.")

Extended Essay

Author
Theatre Arts

Candidate Number

Through Verfremdungseffekte, the illusion of drama was broken, and the
audience kept getting reminded that they were in a theatre, watching a play, with
actors who are communicating ideas and situations. ("Bertolt Brecht Epic
Theatre.")
At first, his Epic theatre was critically acclaimed and maybe seen as shocking
and confronting, because it was unknown, but as time passed, his methods and
type of theatre became more popular. It was relevant and had a big impact on
how theatre was seen at the time. Nowadays however, theatre has changed and
most people know what to expect when they see Brechts plays and it may not
have the same impact on modern audiences. That is why the ways that
Verfremdungseffekte were used during Brechts time, might be different from how
they are carried out today by various directors.
This topic was chosen because I read Brechts play: Die Dreigroschenoper in
German class around the same time that we looked at the play: The Caucasian
Chalk circle in theatre class. Because of this, I learned a lot about him and his
Epic theatre, which I could use in both classes. I was very interested in Brechts
use of Verfremdungseffekte and wondered if his techniques were still used today.
My knowledge of the German language and German history is very useful and
will definitely help me during my research because I can look through his original
writings and dont have to rely on translations as well as having more sources to
look at and being able to understand the cultural background and also his
reasons behind writing the play Mother Courage and Her Children.

Extended Essay
Theatre Arts

Author
Candidate Number

Brechts Original Intention


According to Bertolt Brecht, what the production Mother Courage and Her
Children is primary meant to show:
That in wartime the big profits are not made by the little people. That war,
which is a continuation of business by other means, makes human virtues
fatal even to those who possess them. That no sacrifice is too great to
struggle against war. (Brecht, Bertolt, et al. Brecht on Performance:
Messingkauf and Modelbooks.)

Modern Adaptations
In this section, Brechts intentions will be compared with modern adaptations of
his production of Mother Courage and Her Children. There will be some
background information on the companies that performed the productions
analyzed, after which they will be evaluations on the Verfremdungseffekte used
and these are compared to the way that Bertolt Brecht used Verfremdungseffekte
in his production.
The modern Productions of Mother Courage and Her Children that will be
compared to Bertolt Brechts original intention are by the following companies:
Stichting BLUV, which is a Dutch Theatre Company who performed their
production in Dutch, in Winterswijk on an outside stage in 2015. (This was a live
performance);
AAS HS Theatre, which is the Anglo-American School of Moscow who
performed their production in English, in a Greek style theatre in 2012. (This was
a filmed production);
The Batumi Puppet and Youth Theatre (BPYT), which is a Georgian Theatre
Group and performed their production in 2012. (This was a filmed production).

Extended Essay

Author
Theatre Arts

Candidate Number

These productions will be examined for the Verfremdungseffekte that were
used and compared to the way that Bertolt Brecht used them, by dividing them in
four categories: staging, acting, language, and scenes. These four categories
can be found in detail in the Appendices.

1. Staging
Bertolt Brechts intention was to stage the play in a cyclorama. He would have
a bare stage with minimalistic decoration and props, but everything should be
crucial and important while at the same time, provisional and capable of change.
Everything on and off stage should keep reminding the audience that theyre in a
theatre.
During the performance that Brecht directed with the Berliner ensemble, he
used different stage elements such as a half-high curtain on which a projection
was shown with the title and summary before each scene, he used white lights,
and many visible elements such as visible sources of light, musicians, stage
machinery, props and people changing costumes on stage as well as using
props for different purposes.
In the productions of Stichting BLUV, AAS HS Drama, and BPYT, many
elements were similar to Brechts intention. They didnt have many props, the
stage was very bare, the props were provisional of change, and everything
seemed important. They all used white lights and the musicians were visible and
on stage during songs.
One interesting difference was the staging of the play. Stichting BLUV staged
their production on an outside stage in the woods in a Greek theatre style, while
AAS HS Drama and BPYT both staged theirs inside.
Stichting BLUV and BPYT both didnt use any signs or projections with the
title or summary of each scene, but instead used a narrator, while AAS HS
Drama used a sign with projections on it on the right side of the stage, seen from
the audience. The use of signs by AAS HS Drama made it more visual, which
might have made it easier to follow. It also created a good distraction for the

Extended Essay

Author
Theatre Arts

Candidate Number

audience during scene changes and was a good way to keep the audience
focused while transitioning into the next scene.
Another difference was the visibility of elements. Stichting BLUV for example,
as well as having visible musicians, had visible spotlights, costumes, props,
cables, and visible changing of costumes in the background. This was partly
because it was an outside stage in the woods so there was no way to hide some
of these, but also because they followed Brechts intensions and used visibility of
production and staging elements as a Verfremdungseffekt. ("Interviewing the
Director and Cast of 'Stichting BLUV' after the Play: 'Moeder Courage En Haar
Kinderen'") It worked very well as an alienation effect and it constantly reminded
the audience that they were just watching a play. However, they also created
some realistic effects, for example when they used the woods around the
audience and made echoes during scene 3 when the catholic army starts
shooting and takes over the camp. This was at first a bit of a shock, because it
was very unexpected, but as well as waking the audience up, it also got us
thinking about our reactions.
AAS HS Drama had some visible scaffolding in the back, on which the actors
that werent in the scene, sat or stood and which were used as props in some
scenes such as the ladder and rooftop in scene 11. This looked weird and
distracted a little at first, but was very effective during the songs because the
singing came from all sides and from different levels.
Similarly, BPYT had visible people controlling the puppets they used and
visible changing of the wagon as a prop, into a different prop. This added to the
intended effect of making strange.
Each theatre group used the concept of Courages wagon differently. They all
used an actual wagon, but BPTY went a step further and made the wagon
expandable so it could also act as a market stand, a wall, or a different prop. This
kept it interesting for the audience and created an alienation effect.
They also used the stage efficiently in terms of levels. Stichting BLUV had
three levels: the wagon, the stage itself, and a small grass area in front of and
below it. This area was right in front of the first seats and was used very

Extended Essay

Author
Theatre Arts

Candidate Number

effectively during some songs because the actors could physically go nearer to
the audience, which drew the audience in and made them feel involved, before
suddenly alienating them again. This had an extra effect because the
performance was watched live, and not just on screen like the other productions.
AAS HS Drama had two to three levels on the scaffoldings, as well as on the
actual stage. There were always people on all the levels, even if they werent
actually in the scene. This acted as a constant reminder that this was not real,
but only a play.
BPYT had one level for actors, and a different level for the puppets. This was
mostly used as a way to separate songs and the actual scenes, but also to show
what was going on in the background, which was also the case in AAS HS
Dramas production.
This mostly follows the directions that Brecht intended the staging to, but after
incorporating the basic staging Verfremdungseffekte, each director added their
own elements to it, using their staging, levels, and props, and added a
uniqueness to it that made it different to other versions of the same play.

2. Acting
Acting should be another Verfremdungseffekt according to Bertolt Brecht. He
thought that the way that the actors portrayed their characters could be used to
alienate the audience as well as the staging. He believed that actors shouldnt be
completely transformed into their character, but that there should be a critical
distance. One example of this is that he told Helene Weigel to play the character
Mother Courage in an angry way, showing the audience that even she as an
actor is mad at the character she is portraying and the decisions that her
character makes throughout the play.
Another acting Verfremdungseffekt was that actors would react to each other
and in this way, commented on the action. Courage, for example had a skeptical
reaction to the young man who came in to make a complaint in scene 4.

10

Extended Essay

Author
Theatre Arts

Candidate Number

Actors would also suddenly turn and directly speak to the audience in the
middle of their dialogs and most songs.
Furthermore, Brecht suggested using Masks and Puppetry as well as actors, or
used the same actors in different roles (multirolling) and used women to play
men and the other way around (gender swap) as a way to alienate the audience.
He thought costumes were essential and had to show signs of individuality and
social class, or the actors might be dressed in black to hide this and create an
alienation effect like that.
Stichting BLUV used many of these acting Verfremdungseffekte in the way
Brecht envisioned them. They had appropriate costumes according to their social
class and lifestyle, and they reacted to each others actions. Especially Kattrin did
this, since she couldnt speak and showed her emotions through her reactions.
Interestingly, this was the same in the other two productions of AAS HS Drama
and BPYT, which shows that this element was very clear and stayed relevant
even today.
Something that was also shared between the three companies was that
Courage and other characters addressed the audience a lot and most of the
songs were performed towards them. This was very noticeable especially in the
AAS HS Drama production, because the actress playing Courage would often
move to the front of the stage and use hand gestures to emphasize that she was
talking to the audience and not to a character in the play.
A distinctive way that Stichting BLUV alienated the audience after addressing
them was by moving to the bottom stage and has a physical movement
sequence very close to the audience. One example of this was when in the end
of scene 12, the soldiers sing a song and during one point, the whole cast came
down to level closest to the audience and stretched their arms out towards them,
which was a very powerful image and was meant to show that they wanted to get
closer to the audience and reach out to them. It looked like they were telling us to
take what we had experienced and seen and apply it to our lives, which is exactly
what Bertolt Brecht also wanted to achieve. The cast said later on in an interview,

11

Extended Essay

Author
Theatre Arts

Candidate Number

that they wanted to inspire people to live in peace and show them what war can
do to a person. ("Interviewing the Director and Cast of 'Stichting BLUV' after the
Play: 'Moeder Courage En Haar Kinderen'")
Another thing that was fascinating, was that AAS HS Drama was the only
production of the three, that used multi-rolling and gender-swap. This
Verfremdungseffekt wasnt used by the other productions, which raises the
question if this was intentional or if this might have been because of the numbers
of cast members and the small group of boys that joined it. It was curious though,
to see soldiers being played by girls and possibly, this also showed the modern
issues of gender equality and women becoming more present in the army and
other jobs, which are stereotypically male dominated jobs.

3. Language
Another way that Bertolt Brecht alienated the audience was through
language.
He told the actors to make physical and vocal contradictions and in his plays,
showed links between wealth and poverty, money and power, injustice and greed
and liked to show issues from a different perspective. An example of this is the
character Mother Courage as she constantly contradicts herself in word and
action. One instance is in scene 12, at the very end of the play, where she has
lost all her children in the war, but still goes back in an attempt to continue her
business.
Language could also be narration, used as an alternative or addition to the
signs or projections with the titles and summaries before each scene.
Narration was what Stichting BLUV and BPYT used instead of using a
projection, like AAS HS Drama did. They had a narrator who told the audience
what was going to happen in the scene. BPYT had their narrator wear a black tshirt, which was put on visibly, and then step to the middle of the stage so the
focus was on him or her, while Stichting BLUVs narrator was one of the

12

Extended Essay

Author
Theatre Arts

Candidate Number

musicians on the side stage and didnt move throughout the whole play. The
difference between using a narrator and signs or projections was that the
audience had to listen more carefully to what was said and could miss out more
easily on important details, while a sign could be read twice if necessary.
The use of contradictions was one of the biggest Verfremdungseffekte used
in all the productions seen. There were many, spread throughout the entire play
in action, language, and the characters portrayed. Although most of these
contradictions were the same in all productions, there were some differences. In
the production of BPYT, they also had a special contradiction when they walked
around the stage with the wagon and put a red cross on it for a while, which
makes the wagon seem like a hospital, before taking it off in scene 5, when there
is need for linen and wounded people need to be treated. In this scene, Mother
Courage refuses to hand out her linen and only gives in when Kattrin threatens
her.
An example of contradiction seen in all the productions is in scene 11, where
Kattrin climbs the roof to warn the city for the attack, while the peasants are just
sitting there, praying and doing nothing. This confronts the audience and makes
them think about what they would do in such a situation, as the tension grows
until Kattrin is shot, but the city is saved. They question themselves and start
thinking about situations in which they could do something instead of just sitting
there, waiting for someone else to interfere.
Something extraordinary in the BPYT production was that even though they
performed it in a different language, there were parts where German songs were
played. For their audiences, this would be a different language and would
alienate them, while it also hints back to Germany, where the play originally
came from and was performed.

4. Scenes
In addition to Verfremdungseffekte in Staging, Acting and Language, Bertolt
Brecht had other ideas for Verfremdungseffekte, which didnt fit in those three

13

Extended Essay

Author
Theatre Arts

Candidate Number

categories. One of these is that there are scenes in which two events occur
simultaneously. Some examples of this are in scenes 2, where Mother Courage
is talking to the cook on one side, and Eilif is getting praised for his braveness,
on the other. These simultaneous events occur in scenes 3, 10, and 11.
Bertolt Brecht thought it was important to keep people awake and alert to
make sure they would understand what was going on at all times, so he also
used music as a Verfremdungseffekt. Some songs werent sung, but talked with
the purpose that the audience had to link voices with the melody themselves and
in the process, listen more intently to the text. One other thing the Brecht did to
keep the audience alert, was to lower a musical emblem whenever music started,
to indicate that this wasnt part of the scene anymore, but a separate element,
meant to add context or background.
The fascinating thing about the music in the three productions was, that they
all used different ways to perform the songs. Stichting BLUV had beautiful
singing and melodic music in the background except during one song, which
Mother Courage sang herself and sounded a little screechy, while the other two:
AAS HS Drama and BPYT used similar techniques to each other, which was
opposite from Stichting BLUVs music.
In both of these productions, the actors didnt really sing the songs, but half
spoke them and half sang them. It didnt sound nice or at all pleasing to the ear
as it changed from one verse being sung by one person one way to the verse
being sung by the chorus in a totally different way. BPYT even had a part where
5 apparently random cast-members with instruments came on stage, making
different out-of-tune sounds with their instruments. This shows that they both
followed Brechts theory that it shouldnt just sound nice.

14

Extended Essay
Theatre Arts

Author
Candidate Number

Conclusion
After comparing the three modern adaptations to Bertolt Brechts intentions and
his use of Verfremdungseffekte, one can deduce that even though theatre has
changed, Bertolt Brechts theatre theories are still being applied. Even though
this hypothesis was only tested with 3 different directors on whether, and how
they used Brechts ideas, this investigation shows that these modern directors
still use Epic theatre and Verfremdungseffekte in staging, acting, language and
other ways, to confront audiences and address issues.
Brechts theory consists mainly of guidelines on how to use certain elements to
achieve the Epic theatre such as the use of Verfremdungseffekte. This is shown
in the way that the modern directors of the three companies analyzed have
interpreted the play. They used the basic concept of Brechts
Verfremdungseffekte, but adapted it to fit todays style of theatre and audiences,
and added their own ideas to it. Brechts methods and concepts are a great way
still today, to make people think differently, feel confronted and get encouraged
to change the world and the society we live in. Modern audiences are still
captivated by the use of alienation effects and it they never get tired of seeing his
theories on stage.
All three modern theatre groups have used Verfremdungseffekte in staging,
acting, language and scenes that correspond to the way Bertolt Brecht intended
them, but also added and changed parts of the play to suite their directorial
intentions.
One example that can be used to back this up is the way that BPYT used
Verfremdungseffekte in staging where they used Brechts guidelines of having
one prop (in this case the wagon) change into different other props, making use
of white lights, and visible changing of costumes on stage. They didnt however,
use his idea of visible stage machinery or signs and projection before every
scene.

15

Extended Essay

Author
Theatre Arts

Candidate Number

Another example of this is Stichting BLUV, who on the one hand used acting
Verfremdungseffekte like addressing the audience the way Brecht had done. Yet
on the other hand, didnt use any masks, puppets, or gender-swap.
The third example is with AAS HS Drama and how they used language as
Verfremdungseffekt. They used signs and projections before each scene, and
had many contradicting features throughout the play, matching Brechts ideas.
However, unlike the other two productions, they didnt use vocal narration.
The reason why it might also still be popular is because most issues it raised
are still relevant today. Even though the context might be different and theatre
itself has also changed, the problems that are addressed are problems that are
still relevant especially in Mother Courage and Her Children, which is about war.
This is something that we can all learn from. The Stichting BLUV cast confirmed
this by saying that the play is all about how people become opportunistic during
war and become very selfish as they try to get the most out of it for themselves
while others are suffering. ("Interviewing the Director and Cast of 'Stichting BLUV'
after the Play: 'Moeder Courage En Haar Kinderen'")
For this investigation, the method that was used to analyze the productions and
compare them to Brechts original intentions, proved to be very effective. The
difficulty in the beginning came with the play that would be analyzed. In Laos,
there were no live performances of any of Brechts plays, so these would have to
be watched during the summer or online. Brechts plays are under strict copyright
laws, so it was hard to find videos of performances. This is why only three
performances were analyzed, because these were the only ones that were found
online after extensive research, or could be watched live.
After having categorized the different Verfremdungseffekte found through
research, a table was made with the three different productions and Brechts
ideas in the columns and the ways that they used specific subcategories of
Verfremdungseffekte, in the rows (see Appendices). This made it very easy to
compare the different productions and helped organize and structure how it was
going to be written in the final essay. It also helped find out which

16

Extended Essay

Author
Theatre Arts

Candidate Number

Verfremdungseffekte werent used at all or only used by Brecht and one other
company, for example puppetry and masks were only used by Brecht and BPYT.
There were flaws however, in this method. This was that some of the
Verfremdungseffekte had to be recollected from memory especially for the
Stichting BLUV production, because the notes taken during the play, werent
sufficient and not all Verfremdungseffekte used had been documented. This
could have resulted in some false recollections. For the other productions, videos
could be watched again and extra notes could be made where necessary.

17

Extended Essay
Theatre Arts

Author
Candidate Number

References and Bibliography


Primary Sources
Live Performance

Moeder Courage En Haar Kinderen. Dir. Harold Schraven. By Bertolt


Brecht. Openlucht Theater, Winterswijk. 4 July 2015. Performance.

Interview

"Interviewing the Director and Cast of 'Stichting BLUV' after the Play:
'Moeder Courage En Haar Kinderen'" Interview by author. July 4, 2015.

Secondary Sources
Videos

HS Theatre Presents: Mother Courage by Bertolt Brecht. By Bertolt


Brecht. Perf. Maria Baidoukov, Robert Sarty, David Mekibel, Ece Sercan.
Vimeo. Vimeo, 2012. Web. 18 Aug. 2015.

Mother Courage and Her Children - Directed by Zurab Tsintsadze. Dir.


Zurab Tsintsadze. By Bertolt Brecht. Perf. Nino Davitashvili, Mindia
Chokharadze, Vano Maghlakelidze, Meri Diasamidze. Vimeo. Vimeo,
2012. Web. 18 Aug. 2015.

PDFs

"BERTOLT BRECHT: An Overview." (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 20 May 2015.


<https://academic.evergreen.edu/curricular/ppandp/PDFs/Brechta%20brief%20overview.pdf>.

Websites

"Bertolt Brecht Epic Theatre." Bertolt Brecht Epic Theatre. N.p., n.d. Web.
18 Aug. 2015. <http://www.slideshare.net/SalvatoreGiovanniSorce/bertoltbrecht-epic-theatre-14203501?next_slideshow=1>.

18

Extended Essay

Author
Theatre Arts

Candidate Number

"Epic Theatre of Brecht." Epic Theatre of Brecht. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 May
2015.
<http://www.cs.brandeis.edu/~jamesf/goodwoman/brecht_epic_theater.ht
ml>.

"Episches Theater." Hajer.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 May 2015.


<http://hajer.com/unterricht/deutsch/gattungen/drama/episches_theater.ht
m>.

Cash, Justin. "Epic Theatre Conventions." The Drama Teacher. N.p., 17


Mar. 2014. Web. 20 May 2015. <http://www.thedramateacher.com/epictheatre-conventions/>.

Books

Brecht, Bertolt, et al. Brecht on Theatre. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

Brecht, Bertolt, et al. Brecht on Performance: Messingkauf and


Modelbooks. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

Unwin, Stephen. The Complete Brecht Toolkit. 2 (ebook Edition) ed.


London: Nick Hern, 2014. EBL Library. Web. 20 May 2015.

Unwin, Stephen. A Guide To The Plays Of Bertolt Brecht. London:


Bloomsbury, 2015. EBL Library. Web.

Willett, John. The Theatre of Bertolt Brecht: A Study from Eight Aspects.
London: Methuen, 1959. Questia School. Web. 18 Aug. 2015.

Images
Stichting BLUV cast of Moeder Courage. Digital image. Moedercourage.nl.
N.p., 2015. Web. 18 Aug. 2015.

19

Extended Essay
Theatre Arts

Author
Candidate Number

Appendices
This table of notes on pages 21-23 was used to compare the
Verfremdungseffekte used in the three different productions by category. The
highlighted notes are the elements in the production that were similar to what
Bertolt Brecht originally intended. Some of the original subcategories made, were
not used in this essay for different reasons, and have therefore been crossed out.
These are the categories and subcategories:
1.

2.

3.

4.

20

Staging
1.1. Construction
1.2. Design
1.3. Lights
1.4. Projection & Signs
1.5. Visible Stage Machinery
1.6. Visible changing of costumes/ props/
stage
1.7. Props have different uses
1.8. Summary in the beginning of each
scene
Acting
2.1. The distance of the actor to their
character
2.2. Costumes
2.3. Gestus
2.4. Haltung
2.5. Reaction of other actors
2.6. Use of Masks and/ or Puppets
2.7. Acting towards the audience
2.8. Selfintroduction of the actors
2.9. Acting in third person
2.10. Cast (mulirolling, genderswapetc.)
Language
3.1. Vocal and Physical contradictions
3.2. Quoting and Lecturing
3.3. Gestische Sprache
3.4. Change between language levels
3.5. Changing of well-known quotes and/ or
sayings
3.6. Introducing and Narrator
3.7. Song texts
3.8. Implementing a Fable/ Didacticism
Other (later changed to Scenes)
4.1. The Order of the Scenes
4.2. Double Scenes/ Two scenes
happening at the same time
4.3. Historicizing of drama
4.4. Elements of Illusion
4.5. Arrangement
4.6. Realistic Details
4.7. -- (Not translatable)
4.8. Music as a way to shock
4.9. -- (Not translatable)
4.10. References to the Author (Bertolt
Brecht)

Extended Essay
Theatre Arts

22

Author
Candidate Number

Extended Essay
Theatre Arts

23

Author
Candidate Number

Вам также может понравиться