Brecht

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Brechtian theatre is more of an idea than a technique. Brecht wanted to make theatre about messages and for the "audience to become socially active". Brechtian theatre was about the "double nature of life" and it was meant to make the audience get involved in the message and they were "not meant to sit comfortably and predict what happens", it was supposed to be exciting and different. In Brechtian theatre all the walls were taken away, the backstage crews wore their own clothes to further alienate the audience.

Brecht on Stage Part 1   Brecht on Stage Part 2   Brecht on Stage Part 3

Brecht's plays challenged the audience. The process of making a Brecht play is interesting as the actors start with the books. They don't learn their lines off by heart, they learn the points in the play where they were astonished. Brecht used the idea of alienation in his idea. As Karl Vavor, a director of the Bellino Ensemble, said in an interview alienation is when "the event on stage should be made remarkable and unusual". Alienation also means that the audience can see something that could be changed. The audience where aware that they were watching a play and not believing in a play, Brecht was not telling of real life. Brechtian Theatre was about wanting to change things. As Professor Hans Mayer said Brechtian theatre was the start of "the act of being a spectator". What is interesting about Brecht is that he did not believe that his manuscript was the finished product, he believed it to be the play as it was performed on stage. Brecht was fond of the saying "the proof is in the pudding". He thought "the proof of the pudding" was in the audience's response. In Brecht's first performance  of Mother Courage he was not satisfied with the critique's response  The audience felt sympathy and pity for Mother Courage. Brecht said that this was not right. Friedrich Wolf, a German writer, told Brecht that Mother Courage had not changed at the end of the play, she had not changed her mind. Brecht snapped at him and said that he was "not interested in the change of Mother Courage but that the spectators understand that Mother Courage was very wrong to not understand the circumstances of her way of life". This is what is called Dialectic thinking. Dialectic thinking is the art of arriving at the truth by the exchange of logical arguments. Brecht, just through how he staged the play, changed the attitudes of the audience towards it. In his early works, he liked sweet anarchy, he liked the immorality and he liked to play the role of the evil guy. Brecht did not direct Major Theatre, as he "hated normal theatre" as he wanted to "do whatever I want". Another thing that is interesting about Brecht is that he took suggestions from everyone, actors, assistants, lighting crew etc.

Brechtian Theatre is interesting as it is so different from anything else and it creates a different response in the audience.

A quote from Brecht:
"One forgets too easily the difference between a man and his image, and that there is none between the sound of his voice on the screen and in real life" - Bertolt Brecht

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National Theatre's modern production of Mother Courage

Brecht