EVALUATION

Between the two performances, in my opinion, our first performance was received in a much more livelier and energised light. Reasons for this are quite simple, (1) there was a large generation gap between the two audiences, (2) out first audience are familiar with theatre where as an older audience is less familiar. Because of the reaction we received from our first audience I was reluctant to think that the second audience who were much older would have the same reaction, but saying that I still went into the performance and in my opinion I put in full energy and worked well with the cast I was performing with.

In the performances we used Brechtian techniques to show characters and scene changes. One example was the use of laminated cards that we put around our neck, by doing this it changed the the character portrayal of the performance because when we didn’t have the cards on we were ourselves but when put the cards around our necks we became that character. Showing reality and imagination at different times is a very interesting part of Brecht’s work, it draws the audience away and just at the right moment it brings them back into the performance we created, by seeing the worlds merge and mix it is possible to get the message across with so much clarity than using a style like naturalism or realism. Singing was also used in our production, which is also an attribute that Brecht used. Our cast sung a parody of a Blondie song called ‘Call Me’; we altered the lyrics so they fitted our piece. The song was purely there for comedy reasons, which leads me on to my next point: the way Brechtian theatre works is it uses entertainment then the act of change so it entertains the audience with songs and magnificent performances but the back drop is to get people to think differently about the times in which they live in, so by our cast singing it was almost buttering the audience up before we hit them with some rather life changing proposals.

In my opinion the performance I gave went well especially when I played Margret Thatcher because I looked at videos of her on Youtube and listened to recordings of her, obviously because I’m a man I could not exactly present her physicality because, well, I’m a man, but I mainly used my voice and from that I formed some type of physicality which matched my voice and the card I was wearing. To improve my performance as Margret Thatcher I felt I could have done some more research into the time when she fell into Alzheimer’s, we could have possible added something with her husband if we had a longer slot for our ensemble piece.

A group that stuck out to me was Paris’s ensemble because they used comedy as a weapon of change by getting the audience to look at horrible events in a more light hearted way as to emphasise the seriousness of the message. At the start of this term we had to answer the question ‘Is all theatre political?’ and I am still sticking to my same answer: yes. Yes, all theatre is political because I believe that politics is in every aspect of our life, so if there is some form of message getting put across that will affect the persons thought process which will then result in the person possibly behaving differently in society makes all theatre political.  

POLITICAL PROTEST EVALUATION

In our protest we were arguing against political correctness and saying that it's a violation of freedom off speech. In the performance I and Zach were the government Holly, Finn and Sarah were the public,  me and Zach were over powering them with political correctness. We had placards around mine and Zach’s neck and Holly, Finn and Sarah had white masks to hide their identity. We selected the protest because it is a complicated matter and a subject that has many different viewpoints. We went on the internet to gather information and found many articles and different views from the right and left wing. In my personal opinion I don’t agree with the argument that we were protesting against but on some level I do because it is that obstruction of freedom of speech, but there are some areas that do need to be stopped like racism and sexism. I had more of a passion on the other side of our argument but I went along with it and I found it educational and interesting. I thought it was successful in some areas but in the others I thought there could be more work, also when we had to repeat it I was getting bored of doing it so I can only imagine what it was like for the audience. The most effective point in the protest, in my opinion was when me and Zach talked into Holly’s, Finn’s and Sarah’s ears and saying things like, ‘we control you’, ‘there’s no such thing as democracy’. I felt this was the most effective because it showed what the government do sometimes and how they can manipulate the public. The audience were quit confused most of the time but I like the messaged got across in the end. I would have a mixed argument and not have the protest biased; also I would make our costumes better and fancier.

The starting song!

Vote me

Blondie:

Hope you've ticked the right box for me,

I hope you've ticked it right.

I will save the country and i'm definitely prepared to fight.

You should vote me in, you should have me for PM!

Blondie and ensemble:

Vote me (vote her) on the card

Vote me, vote her, any, anytime

Vote me (vote her UK!

You can vote her any day or night 

Vote her!

Mothers and Office workers:

Free nappies and seats on trains

Uni students and old people:

Cut fees for us all, better streets and better schools, she will do it all!

All: 

More benefits for Shaz...

Young boys:

Her tits on TV for us...

All: 

Vote me (vote her) on the card 

Vote me, vote her, any, anytime

Vote me (vote her) UK!

You can vote me any day or night

Vote her!

The difference between Dramatic Theatre and Epic Theatre

Dramatic Theatre	Epic Theatre
Plot	Narrative
Implicates the spectator in a stage situation	Turns the spectator into an observer
Wears down his capacity for action	Arouses his capacity for action
Provides him with sensations	Forces him to take decisions
Experience	Picture of the world
The spectator is involved in something	He is made to face something
Suggestion	Argument
Instinctive feelings are preserved	Brought to the point of recognition
The spectator is in the thick of it, shares the experience	The spectator stands outside, studies
The human being is taken for granted	The human being is the object of the enquiry
He is unalterable	He is alterable and able to alter
Eyes on the finish	Eyes on the course
One scene makes another	Each scene for itself
Growth	Montage
Linear development	In curves
Evolutionary determinism	Jumps
Man as a fixed point	Man as a process
Thought determines being	Social being determines thought
Feeling	Reason

ROUGH IDEA OF SCRIPT 

I'm playing Margaret Thatcher. [I will be wearing a blue dressy suit thing and a wig that looks like hers]
Sarah, Zach, Finn and Holly are playing the miners and nurses and IRA terrorists.

It will start off with Sarah, Zach, Finn and Holly all standing in a line facing the audience, I will be behind them kneeling on the floor, Zach will begin with:

Zach. The Conservative Party have just won the 1975 election and Mrs Thatcher is going to give her speech.

They all start to chant:

All. Vote Thatcher.

They then begin to lower and I begin to rise slowly as they reach the floor they turn to face me, once I am up I read the speech Thatcher read out when she was elected. [Which is:]

Thatcher: To me it's like a dream that the next name in the line Harold Macmillan, Alec Douglas-Home and Edward Heath is Margaret Thatcher. Each has brought his own style of leadership and stamp of greatness to the task. I shall take on the work with humility and dedication. I'd like to say “Thank you" for the trust and confidence my supporters have placed in me, and a special thank you to Airey Neave and Bill Shelton and our splendid helpers for their all-out effort on my behalf.

It is important to me that this prize has been won in open electoral contest with four other potential leaders. I know that they'll be disappointed, but I hope that we shall soon be back working together as colleagues for the things in which we believe.

There is much to do and I hope you will allow me time to do it thoughtfully and well.

Finally, I would like to pay tribute to the Chief Whip and his staff and to Robert Carr for carrying on so magnificently during this period of uncertainty.

After I say this, then I go back on to my knees very slowly and Sarah, Zach, Finn and Holly rise very slowly with their back facing the audience. They then begin one after another turning around once the other person has said there political view of Thatcher.  [Sorry but i can't remember what they say but i will find out]

Just before they finish I rise and once they have finished they mimic mining with a pickaxe, then i come around the right side of them and say this:

Thatcher. STOP...miners you shall mine no more, I cannot condemn it, but it must be done. [I then dance around them doing a remix of 'Money, Money, Money' my one goes like:] 'Miners, miners, miners. Must be funny, when I shut you down.'

I then go back into the same place I was before but Sarah, Zach, Finn and Holly start to walk around me protesting and shouting the words:

All. Down with Thatcher! [Over and over again]

When they have gone round once they one by one stop facing the audience and say something that is condemning Thatcher’s ways. 

Once it is Holly's turn she says:

Holly. I have no choice i have to go back to work.

Then the rest of them chant: 

All apart from Holly. Scab! Scab! Scab!

Then I stand up slowly and begin my speech about the IRA, as this is happening Finn and Zach are lying on the floor next to me and Holly and Sarah are the nurses treating them. [My speech will be related to the subject of the hunger strikes of 1981]

As I finish the speech Holly and Sarah start to interact with me and by calling me a murderer and they start to shout at me after a little bit of this i then lower myself onto my knees, Sarah and Holly get up and go to the front of the stage and they act out that they've got milk.

I then rise slowly and then morph into a beast and I take their milk and they go to the floor slowly then I end with the song 'Milky, milky, milky. Must be funny, when I take your milk.' 
[This is just a draft we will be changing it don't worry]

My response to Blondie 

The play speaks so much truth it truly shows what people are like, they expect and when they don't get they just blame the man or women in charge. Obviously the man or women in charge was the one that agreed for it to happen but because people are lazy and don't bother they just let things happen. So the real people that let things happen are me and you because we don't stand up and make change happen. It's like what 'V' said in V for Vendetta:

A lot Britain just takes and takes just wanting more and more but if we just stopped and thought of what we do have we have, a home, a family, a life with some freedom, but the sad thing is mankind is condemned to take things for granted weather it is with our love ones or with just life in general, when does anyone just stop in the middle of the street and say thank you to the world or to god for what they have, not what they don't have. B really did justify what she was saying and made her insanity sanity just by saying if we didn't take so much then none of this would have happened, but sometimes horrible events have to take place before our eye's open. 

Another big part of this play is people never looking on the inside of people only on the outside, how they only need to look really cool or kiss a baby and there the nicest person in the world because they do things that everyone does everyday. But who knows today we might be loving David Cameron for looking after the poor but then he could decide to slaughter us all. Because we look only on the outside of people's mental dimensions which is inevitably the physical dimensions of their person, we experience something called will full blindness which means we see what we want to see. 

This is a very good lecture on our mental and physical dimensions that we perceive as ourselves:

I also felt that the characters A and C were the same people just different sides of them, so A is always hating the politician because of something but then C comes in and then we love the politician for something. It is just an ongoing cycle all around the world. 

 

EXERCISES AND GAMES

GESTUS:

Task 1 - Because I was labeled B for this task I had to go to the other end of the class room and tell a nursery rhyme to my partner, A, this task was harder than I thought because there was a very high demand to shout, you had really try and tell the story, straining myself to try and get my partner to hear me. Once I was allowed to use my body I felt a bit stupid and childish but I have a feeling that is Epic theatre. The reason I felt this way was because trying to shout the nursery rhyme and do a interpreted dance to describe it was quite a tricky task to do because you had to get the moves right and not just mess about. Being able to use my body to tell the story as well as my voice helped a lot because I was able to get in the mood of the song but also it helped me to understand what I am telling my partner.

Task 2: With the still image of Rich and Poor, everyone did the same image, one person got on the floor and begged and one was standing snobbishly. The reason for this is because we took the image of a stereotypical ideology of what is means to be rich and what it means to be poor but the ironic thing is not every rich and poor person in the world is like this sometimes they are quite alike. These actions demonstrate Gestus really well because, my interpretation of Gestus is the actions that you have chosen for your character on stage are sociological dimensions not metaphysical or subconscious dimensions, they will make people think and open there eyes about something rather than making them feel the emotion on stage.  

Task 3: We knew the actor was a soldier because of the way he walked it was very controlled and looked like it had been perfected and done countless times. Also we knew the actor was a soldier because we have been pumped the image of soldiers walking like that in the newspapers, movies and video games so it has sort of become a symbol. I thought the character was quite emotional out of contact so I felt that he could not have a emotional conversation with someone and be considerate at the same time. When the dead bodies were in the scene it gave it a more darker tone and made the actor have an instant disliking characteristic to him because of the way he treated the dead bodies, He just nudged them by his foot as if he didn't have a care in the world for them. I felt it demonstrated Gestus very well because it was the stereotypical ideology of a soldier that we all could relate to.

Task 4: My groups the war the maker for heroes image was me and Zach putting up a flag, with Molly and Sarah saluting and Finn taking a picture. We chose to do this image because it showed the soldiers at home at some type of memorial for the soldiers and showed were they are awarded for there bravery. I felt that this image we chose was gestus because it was showing what usually happens with soldiers when they are home. My groups war the taker of lives image was me holding up a gun and the rest of my group up against the the wall with there hands up on there heads. We chose this image because it was probably the most shocking one we could have down. Our image was gestus because everyone around the world has seen the iconic image of people up against the wall weather is was in a movie or in a video game everyone has seen it so that makes it stereotypical.

EXAGGERATION 

The key characteristics of the actors doing the performance was were very stereotypical they were really pushing the boundaries of the characters by becoming more and more like the stereotype. Both of the characters were of the opposite ends of the spectrum they really were different mind sets, both of the characters. The character swapping was really interesting to watch because it was very funny how you had two completely different people swapping characters, so you had the voice difference and the physicality difference then you had the actors carrying on from where the other actor left off, that was very funny because some times the parts the actors added are used through out the performance. This exercise was very good to explore Brechtian theatre because it was really disconnecting the actors from the audience so it reminded you that you are watching a performance.

Narration

My group interpreted Cinderella, we chose to have a narrator the whole way through the piece. First the narrator introduced our characters then I step out of character and narrated were I was going next which was the letter box, me and Zach were invited to the ball and Cinderella had to stay home then the fairy godmother came and Cinderella went to the ball but her slipper fell off. Before Cinderella lost her slipper I sang the song 'Don't Stop Me Now' but I did it my own version. We chose to do it like this because we felt it would be very funny to watch and act out which it was. I think Brecht did narration because he wanted to not only remind the audience that there at a performance but also that they are there to have fun and look at real issues but laugh at them and think hang on a minute this is wrong and something has to change.

VERFREMDUNGSEFFEKT

This activity helped me to understand the 'V' effect because it showed that not everything has to be truly emotional, to be powerful it can have the 'V' effect in it and still be as strong and eye opening. I think Brecht use this because it would fit right in with his theory, you are watching a performance so the actors will distance from the real emotion but draw you in on the sociological meaning. One of the main reason he wanted to distance the audience is because he wanted to prove the point that you don't have to be a heart felt emotional wreck on stage to change people's views and opinions. You have to get back into character very quickly for the scene to go on or you could say your stage directions in the same tone your character is in but then you have lost your momentum, so you have to keep up the energy the whole way through. I understand that Epic theatre is like an egg that is not boiled, it is very deceiving and confusing but when you get into it and once you made a foul of yourself for a little bit you understand it. I think that his theory and methods are very interesting and exciting to explore, I am looking forward to work with the script we have been given. I think it goes hand in hand Brechtian theatre  because he does not complicate things into some emotional mess he tells you it how it is but it mite have a bit of a muck about in the process with the hole singing thing and the narration, but political theatre and Berechtian theatre get to the point and open your eyes to a sociological issue.

A little back ground of Brecht and his work.

Because this video didn't talk about the relationship with the audience and the actors, here is my little added part. There is a distance between the audience and the actors, because of Brecht's views on theatre he wanted to show that theatre is a place for you to see something that is a real problem but on stage. So Brecht might get the actors to have some type of task to perform, while acting, like saying their own stage directions as well as their dialogue, this would distance the audience because it would disconnect the the emotion from what the actor's are saying. 

Is all Theatre Political?

In my opinion, yes, all theatre is political because it can speak to all walks of life what ever age or mind set and it can effect them on many different levels. For example if I am watching a piece of theatre that is about Islamic Extremism then the piece will probably change the way I perceive the world, at the time I am watching it because, it will make me think of what is right and what is wrong.

But saying that all forms of theatre are political is not always true in some areas, because if you are going to a pantomime that has no relevance to everyday life then the piece of theatre will probably not effect you as much as a piece of theatre about Islamic Extremism. The pantomime is mainly staged to entertain, not saying that a political piece is not to entertain, but the there is either a strong visible message or a hidden message that is within a piece of political theatre.

I also feel that the reason for a piece of theatre being political is because of the audience, the reason for this is because the audience have to make the decision to interpret the production as political or that it effects them a great deal. Sometimes this decision can be made by someone just by a conversation about the piece or it could be made unconscious, without the audience knowing that they have made the decision.