brecht and his techniques

Why is Brecht so important?

Bertolt Brecht was a theatre practitioner .He wanted to make his audience think and famously said that theatre audiences at that time “hang up their brains with their hats in the cloakroom”.Brecht was against cathartic theatre.He wanted his audiences to remain objective and distant from emotional involvement so that they could make considered and rational judgements about any social comment or issues in his work which is why his technique useful for portraying political theatre.  this was referred to as epic theatre.

The ‘v’ effect

verfremdungseffekt. (the v effect) is a technique of alienating the audience whilst keeping their attention. it breaks the fourth wall ( the imaginary wall that keeps the audience spectators ) and makes they participants and engaged.

Narration

narration is used to remind audience they are watching a presentation of a story and not to become invested in the characters emotions but rather the message.

placards

placards are used to give extra information to the audience. they can give information about the characters or story and is again a way of breaking the forth wall

Song and dance

this is another way of reminding the audience they are watching  a play 

Montage

montage is a collection of short contained scence to tell a story in a quick and effective way

Gestus

is a clear character gesture or movement used by the actor that captures a moment or attitude rather than delving into emotion.Gestus is also gesture with social comment.