Political Theatre Essay

Our play uses variety of styles, mainly Brecht’s epic theatre as our play depicts political message. Our play is structured as montage as it shows different stages of George’s life in a non-chronological order, we effectively did this

Throughout the entirety of Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, if one looks carefully, one can see many aspects of Marxist thought prevalent in the story. To effectively analyze a story through a Marxist critical lens, the reader needs to pay close attention to how characters of different classes interact with one another, especially in respect to class oppression and social inequity, particularly if the actions or words of a character talk of rebellion against the upper classes. “To Marxist critics, a society's economic base determines the interests and styles of its literature; it is this relationship between determining base and determined superstructure that is the main

Brecht’s focus is to alienate the audience, and does so effectively, such as his use of lighting, obscure flat white light. By doing so, his characters may be separate from the audience in that they could be un-relatable. This takes away from the association to the “we” and may make the audience dismiss the ideas behind it.

However, the experience of the spectators was different at this play. The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui was written to produce an experience known as the alienation effect. The alienation effect, in the words of Brecht himself, is “to make the spectator adopt an attitude of inquiry and criticism in his approach to the incident” (Brecht, 136). In other words, Brecht aimed to “separate” the viewer from the plot and sensation of the play in order to allow them to truly understand and analyze the message. In Arturo Ui, Brecht instigated the alienation effect in multiple ways, the first of which was introducing the play. An announcer at the beginning makes it clear to the audience what they are about to see and what the ending will be. The use of an actor within the play teaching Arturo Ui how to act and the theatricality of the words was meant to further alienate the audience. The cast and crew of the SMTD also

Brecht’s political theatre stems from his political views towards communism and the upper class society. Theatre that comments on political issues within society. Brecht began to have a dislike for the capitalist society he was brought up in and wanted more of an equal approach to the world and the people around him. With epic theatre, Brecht wanted it to be both didactic (able to teach others) and dialectic (able to create discussions and ideas). The audience at no time during an epic play can be seen to be in a trance or take what they see on stage for granted. Our performance is reflective of Brecht and his Epic and Political theatre as we address many political topics such as Marxism and the divides between classes and the corruption of the government. We have props such as protest signs and banners to communicate Brecht’s political theatre to the audience. In the first episode, Brown’s Boys, there is a scene where MPs choke and die after ignoring the recession and protesters emerge into the audience chanting that ‘politics is dead’ and ‘they don’t really care about us’ while holding banners saying, ‘politics is dead’ and ‘Gordon Clown’. This was done as it represented politics and the fact the seriousness of the situation was ignored; showing how quickly the issues with the recession spiralled out of control and became something that even the higher up in society were unable

Theatre is a complex art that attempts to weave stories of varying degrees of intricacies with the hope that feelings will be elicited from the audience. Samuel Beckett’s most famous work in the theatre world, however, is Waiting for Godot, the play in which, according to well-known Irish critic Vivian Mercier, “nothing happens, twice.” Beckett pioneered many different levels of groundbreaking and avant-garde theatre and had a large influence on the section of the modern idea of presentational theatre as opposed to the representational. His career seemingly marks the end of modernism in theatre and the creation of what is known as the “Theatre of the Absurd.”

Epic theatre literally means a piece of art derived from the ancient oral tradition, narrating the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures or the history of a nation so as to create a relationship with the audience by making the audience play a part in the act of critically analyzing the scenes being performed. Bertolt Brecht elaborates and says “The one tribute we can pay the audience is to treat them as thoroughly intelligent…” (Roland, 2010).

How Brecht achieves producing this state of consciousness is more subtle and elegant than the previous technique of having actors walk out with blatant placards to remind the audience that they are watching a play. One of the marks of Brecht’s epic theater is his alienation effect, or “a representation which allows [the audience] to recognize its subject, but at the same time makes it seem unfamiliar” (Brecht 1948, 8).

Brechts work is based on the concept that theatre is a means of political persuasion for the masses. He sees the theatre as a tool to manipulate the audience, and to influence their day-to-day living once that have thought about issues raised during the performance.

Brecht was not the sort of writer or director that wanted an exact portrayal from his actors of how he saw his characters. Nor did he expect the audience to take an exact interpretation from he actors. He wanted the audience to draw some sort of moral from the story that would arouse their sense of reason to affect their own

The actors started setting up the world before the play officially started. A couple minutes prior to 7:30 pm, the cast started appearing from the entrances and walking around embodying their characters. They were all committed to their parts and interacted with each other and sometimes the audience members as well. There were beggars asking for money, whores complaining about beggars, and fights breaking out in the isles. It was an interesting concept to have them interact with us and it was definitely a Brechtian technique. The actors continued using the idea of Brechtian theatre within the rest of the production as well. Several times, an actor would talk to the audience and acknowledge their presence as if they were also part of the world. Jonathan Jeremiah Peachum even asked the audience to clap and waited for them to do so. The production became interactive and invited the audience to be its own character. The commitment from all of the characters to really go for it and not hold back was another pleasing feature of the production. An example of this, is when Polly Peachum is lying on the floor in her wedding dress and is violent moving her body and arms. It was strange to see, but also an interesting technique to convey

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

The above example illustrates not only how the theatrical performance affects the audience, but also how the audience influences its dynamics, development and the characters within it. The actors feel a certain level of acceptance from the viewer, who demands a certain way of depicting the character. Theatre is not just entertainment, itís something much more than that ñ itís education. Theatre should always represent things, rather than

Shakespeare has a difficult task entertaining the rowdy Elizabethan audience, especially during the exposition of the play, which sets up the entire plot. The audience needs to be engaged and invested in the play, otherwise many of the Elizabethan audience would throw food and furniture on stage or vandalize the theatre in response. Shakespeare employs a variety of techniques throughout the exposition of the play in order to do this, by creating tension between characters, introducing scandalous plots and unresolved issues right at the beginning of the play leaving the audience waiting for an answer. This essay will explore Shakespeare’s techniques and methods of engaging his Elizabethan audience.

I will look at Brecht’s theory of Epic theatre, tracing the beginnings