The Life and Works of Bertolt Brecht Essay -- Theatre Practitioner Dra

The Life and Works of Bertolt BrechtIn this essay I will turn over the life and works of Bertolt Brecht,the famous theatre practitioner who has had such a dramatic impact onour understanding of the theatre and acting. First of all I will givea biography of Brecht because it is important to know the backgroundof his life in order to understand the motives he had for writing andproducing plays in the way he did. We will see a direct correlation mingled with events in his life and the plays and techniques that hepropagated. I will then move to explore the methods and techniquesthat Brecht developed, looking at how they came about and whoinfluenced his work. I will look at Brechts theory of heroical theatre,tracing the beginnings of this style and looking at the influencesthat may have helped to form it. To get a clear view of what Epictheatre is like I will compare it to dramatic theatre, which Brechtdid himself, in regard to how the reference reacts to it. I willexamine Brechts the ory of utilize Montage and the effect that heintended to have on the audience. I will consider the origination ofVerfremdungseffekt and how this was not an original idea of Brechts entirely something that he identified with because it supported his ideas.Geste was the technique that Brecht wanted actors to use whenportraying a character, I will examine what geste is and what may haveinfluenced Brecht to use it. medicament for Brecht was a vital part oftheatre and I will look at what interested him about using music andthe role of music in his Epic theatre. I will consider Brechts ideasof what stage design should be like and how he viewed it as somethingseparate to the text and the music. Brecht was a political bring outr andafter reading the works of Karl Marx he wrote and produced didacticplays that reflected the philosophy of communism. Brecht wanted toinvolve the audience in the debates that he presented in the text andin this way the audience would learn about the arguments a nd be ableto come to an informed conclusion of what they thought. The plays thatdid this are called The Lehrstuck or Learning Plays and I willconsider how they were presented in order to involve the audience andget them to respond.Brecht was born in 1898 to a middle class family in the south ofGermany. In his teenage long time the First World War broke out and ... ... was soagainst. In the writings of Karl Marx he found a philosophy thatmirrored his and he began to write more vigorously to inspirepolitical change. His belief was that the oppressed poor people had tobe inspired to fight for political change and thereby adopt theirsuffering. These plays were written for a music festival and they tookplace on a very open stage, which allowed more audience involvement.Behind the stage there was a projection screen which displayed thetext and invited the audience to join in by singing along. Sometimesthere would be actors in the audience to lead the audience response.In this way Brecht hoped to involve the audience in the politicaldebates within the text.Throughout his life Brecht collaborated with other writers, musicians,directors and designers. His work was always an amalgamation ofefforts and yet he managed to claim it as his own. By the end of hislife he was a leading figure in theatre his productions had changedthe way people viewed theatre because of their progressive ideas anddetailed acting and design. Through exploring Brechts work I havelearnt more about the theatre, its origins and its potential.