Verbatim Theatre notes

"Verbatim theatre is a form of documentary theatre in which plays are constructed from the precise words spoken by people interviewed about a specific topic or event."

- it provides a voice for all kinds of people

- unique because writing a play from your imagination would be the result of YOUR recollection of someone else's life whereas VERBATIM THEATRE allows for the PERSPECTIVE of the subject to lead the direction

- famous verbatim practitioners: Anna Deavere Smith

- Examples: Black Watch 

Theatre of War NOTES

Theatre of War notes

-       Tony kuschner translation

-       Meryl streep

-       “ I was dismayed about not being able to speak out about who gets mowed under atrocities “

-       What are the things that attract us to things that destroy us

-       Man = man

-       Brecht discovers Marxism

-       These people live by the harm they do not by the good

-         They all in different ways profit from the war

-         mother courage denies swiss cheese

-       brecht = “slippery man”

-       wouldn’t explicitly state whether he is communist or not

-       brecht was exiled from Germany

-       after katrin was killed a soldier threw a tantrum like a baby

-       ^ audience would laugh

-       use god as an excuse to kill

brecht notes in general

1. coming out of role

2. narrator

3. reported speech

4. tableaux

5. flashbacks and non sequential time

6. placards

7. song and music is used or juxtaposition impact

8. epic theatre 

V-effect= alienation. distance from audience. 

- communist ideas

- Karl Marx influence

- Meyerhold influence 

Brecht's world of conflict and contradictions 

Gestus-definition 

- personal and social revelation

- physical embodiment of the relationship between people and society

ex.) Mother courage embodies a concept or idea Bercht is trying to tell people about 

Stanislavsky vs Brecht
dramatic vs epic theatre

epic theatre
- covers so many locations

Brecht video notes

Tony Kushner adaptation

- "war feeds her people better"
- "the weak are exterminated. They won't do any better during peace time."
- shocking how Courage didn't learn how terrible war was even after her daughter became disfigured
- "I better be getting back to business"

*last scene where mother courage says "I better be getting back to business" while pulling her own cart is sad and eerie.

- sculpture of the human soul in action
fiona shaw

five truths Bertolt Brecht style
- music is used as a juxtaposition
- happy music but very creepy message
- narrates her own actions
- repetition of song
"He is dead. Lady dead and gone."

Brecht on Stage
- dialectical theatre
- distance between actors and audience = alienation
- wanted to make audience remember that they were watching a play

Vsevolod Meyerhold
- kinaesthetic spectacle
- contemporary of stanislavski and chekov
- theatre should not mirror reality but transcend the everyday
- meyerhold and stanislavsky = releasing the actors emotional potential
- create a theatre for new era
- joined bolshevik revolution
- dance and physical movement = actors awareness of body
- means of expression through action
- biomechanics
- series of exercises that help the actor express emotion
- masks
- japanese influences
kabuki masks
- hated predictable
- explored grotesque

Eric Bentley
- worked with brecht
- brecht was communist
- brecht denied he was communist
- people got angry
- three penny opera
- what does three penny opera say to american society today?
mendacity of the capitalist system
- is it cynical about capitalist system? or just about human nature in general?
^ key question capitalists demanded of Brecht
- brecht = skeptic of mankind

Brecht Notes

Cumulative Bertolt Brecht notes

actors should come out of role

- narrator  

- reported speech

- frozen pictures/ tableaux 

- flashblack/non sequential time

- placards

- song/music used as contrast

- epic theatre

How is montage used?

Gestus-definition

Brecht vs. Stanislavsky

Helene Wigel

V-effect

- alienation

- detach from character 

- observe 

- message is key

(other people during this time)

-       Picasso

-       Stravinsky

-       Albert Einstein

-       Darwin

-       Freud

-       Marx

-       Industrialism

Meyerhold

-       L.paphova

o   Constructivism

-       Michael Chekov

o   Energy from the feet

-       conditioning (Pavlov)

-       biomechanics

-       focus on intention

-       realization

-       refusal of action

-       brecht was a student of Meyerhold

-       Meyerhold was a student of Stanislavsky

Mother Courage scenes 1-3 questions B

B. What do you think about the way characters behave? Should the soldiers take Eiliff? Why doesn't Swiss Cheese do something to help? Is Mother Courage foolish to fall for the soldier's trick or is she just trying her best to survive?

There are a lot of contradictions that are already present. It seems that many people are benefiting and thus relying on war. That in itself is already contradictory because war is not something that is conventionally sought for good. Also,  it is apparent that Mother Courage cares deeply about her children. However, when it comes to the part where Eiliff is lured into enlisting, it almost seems as if she finds it more important to profit in business than to protect her son. When push came to shove, Mother Courage rather spent that small moment trying to sell a belt than using all her power to protect one of her sons.

The soldiers should not take Eiliff by force. However, even though it is not exactly clear as to how or why he is, Eiliff appears to be somewhat interested too. Also, it is only my perspective that the soldiers should not have taken Eiliff. In the soldiers standpoint they are rightfully taking the boy because mother courage benefits from the war and should provide something in return to the war even if that means losing her son.

The characters all seem to be unaware of the morally incorrect beliefs they hold. It is also strange because in the world of the characters that "incorrect" belief is actually just normal an necessary for survival not only for mother courage but for everyone. I think Brecht does this in order to show the audience a reflection of themselves in the "real" world.