Rehearsal Process and Research (Week two)

Thursday 5th March

In this session, we looked at Bertolt Brecht as the style of the play is influenced by him.

Bertolt Brecht was a German playwright and theatre director of the 20th century who focused his work around politics and deep, meaningful events that took place in history. Bertolt Brecht was born in 1898 and passed away in 1956. During this time, two wars took place. Brecht was heavily influenced by these wars and the events that happened at this time and wrote a play called 'The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui'. This play is about Hitler (Arturo Ui) trying to take over specific countries. However, in this play, Brecht wrote that Arturo Ui wanted to take over a vegetable business and was willing to kill people to do so. This play is an excellent example of Brecht being influenced by politics and historical events.



Brecht's style was called 'epic theatre'. This means that all his work was on an epic scale with very 'hard hitting' subjects. Brecht also 'broke down the fourth wall' in his work. This means he broke the contrast between audience and the stage, interacting with them and referring to them in his work. He also made political and educational plays entertaining with music and comedy. Brecht also used a term called Verfremdungseffekt. This means breaking the illusion that the piece of theatre the audience is watching is real. For example, showing costume changes on stage.

Brecht was influenced by Shakespeare and Elizabethan theatre which is why a lot of his work includes conflict and 'hard hitting' subjects.

In this session we also looked at Gestus. This is the way your physicality, costume, facial expression, attitude and use of space combine to show the audience the kind of character you are. This way is very obvious to the audience the character they are playing and is not subtle at all. It is very clear who they are.

In this performance, I need to think about my Gestus and how I can make it clear to the audience what character I am. For example, Niobe is an older woman who has had a difficult past. To show this I would wear a shawl or a head scarf and I would keep my body language very closed . My facial expressions would never be happy as she has never had a reason to be happy and my use of space would always be isolated from everyone else except Philomele as I am her servant; although I would keep my distance until I am needed.

Friday 6th March

In this session, we blocked scenes 7 - 11. The main event that happens hear is the journey to Thrace. Philomele is falling for the Captain and Tereus has fallen for Philomele. Niobe can see what is going to happen. The male chorus can also see what is going to happen in the future; this is very clear to the audience when the male chorus are speaking.

Page 304 - Queen - Listen to the chorus, the playwright always speaks through the chorus.

This is basically giving the audience the instructions to listen to what the chorus is saying as they are telling the story of what is happening and what is going to happen.

Page 323

Tereus lies to Philomele about Procne's death. This shows the darkness that is in Tereus as he makes her feel like it was all her fault and that if she had stayed where she was she wouldn't have died. Tereus does this to get close to Philomele but it drives her in the opposite direction as Procne was the only person she was close to.

This part of the play is crucial as it is where we start to see the mental violence that Tereus is capable of as he is able to tell this lie so easily and put the guilt on her without feeling any regret.