WJEC/Eduqas GCSE Drama: Revision Guide

Office worker watching from window Police officer Motorcyclist How did Brecht use technical theatre aspects? Different places and the passing of time were shown with placards. Stage • Bare and basic. • Technical equipment or scene changes are in full view of the audience. • Single pieces of furniture stand in for entire locations. Lighting • Stage flooded with bright white light. • No changes for the time of day or seasons. Costume • Bare and basic. • Single pieces of costume represent an entire character. Unlike Stanislavski’s naturalism, Brecht’s plays do not call for realistic time-of-day lighting states and realistic sets. Consider what single prop or simple lighting state you might use in your play. TIP Consider what item of clothing best sums up each character in the scene your group is working on. TIP Brechtian theatre There has been a road accident and you are all passers-by who witnessed what happened. Tell the following stories about it: • What happened to someone who was there. • Describe everything you saw – using the other actors to create all the characters, sounds and images you say you remember. • Include gestures, narration, reported speech, dialogue and simple elements of costume to create the scene. The characters might include: To Brecht, the most important thing for making the scene successful is for the actors to demonstrate what occurred, recreating it with their bodies, voices and facial expressions to show, not tell, what happened. Try the same exercise again, but instead of a road accident invent a scene where the actors all witness something and demonstrate it to the audience. It could be: • a rock concert • a stray dog running into a school playground. EXERCISE 3.10 The point is that the demonstrator acts the behaviour of the driver or victim or both in such a way that the bystanders are able to form an opinion about the accident. Brecht, Brecht on Theatre , page 204 This is a theatre activity invented by Brecht. It can be done in pairs, small groups, or as a whole class. 56 part 1 DEVISING THEATRE