Gestus

The definition of Gestus is: It carries the sense of a combination of physical gesture and "gist" or attitude. It is a means by which "an attitude or single aspect of an attitude" is revealed, insofar as it is "expressible in words or actions." 

Gestus is an acting technique developed by Brecht. In basic terms it is when you "embody an attitude" using physical movements. We have explored Gestus through some exercises in class. The following two exercises helped me to understand clearly what Gestus is and how you can explore it.

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We created paired still images "to show characters", like Romeo and Juliet, Cat and Mouse, Sweet and Sour, War and Peace, Rich and Poor. The character still image that I found was the most intriguing was Rich and Poor. Why? Because everyone did the same image, the poor crouching on the floor and the rich standing looking down, snobbishly, on the poor. Everyone did this as this is the stereotypical look of Rich and Poor. We have been bought up to think of Rich and Poor to look like this, through the media, film or books. Making the image like this also makes it clearer to an onlooker who is who and what is going on in the image. This exercise demonstrates Gestus because it clearly links physical action and an attitude, as when we were Rich and Poor we immediately thought that when someone is Rich they look down on the poor as the Poor are less worthy, and so we showed this action by emphasising the Rich as higher up.

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Moving on, an actor walked onto the stage, stopped and walked off again in the role of a soldier. It was clear that he was a soldier from his rigid body language. We associate rigid body language with soldiers as that is the image we have been 'fed', again, through the media, films and books. We see soldiers marching or standing in line to attention all the time as this is the most 'family friendly' image we can see. When I first saw the 'soldier' I did not feel any emotion towards him as the soldier in front of us had no background, no family, no anything, it was just a blank canvas that looked like a soldier. Yet when seven dead bodies where added in, and the soldier appeared again but this time reacted to the bodies, I felt an emotion towards him as I had been given a reason to. He was prodding and poking them which made me feel anger and, almost, fear as I felt he was not respecting these bodies which, in turn, suggested that he had something to do with their deaths which was frightening. This demonstrated Gestus as by just prodding the dead bodies, which suggests an uncaring attitude, the audience felt hatred and fear. 

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Gesture + Attitude = Gestus. This is, basically, a kind of formula for Gestus and what it contains. It contains linking your gesture, or you body movements/language, with your attitude, or how you are supposed to act/feel. I like this technique as it is clear and easy to follow and the result is intriguing and I find it different and exciting.