Download Task One – Research into Techniques `Theatre Of

Jordan Cooper
Task One – Research into Techniques
‘Theatre Of Cruelty’
A theory created by playwright, actor and theorist, Antonin Artaud who was
influenced by Surrealism having once been a member of this movement. He
believed that theatre should set to awaken the haunting dream images of our
minds. The techniques would involve disturbing the audience through
techniques such as movement, which often created violent and uneasy images
on stage. Often dance and movement was used instead of the spoken word.
Space and the actor and audience’s relationship was a key element that Artaud
explored. The relationship between the two was very intimate so often the
actors would perform around the audience who would be sat in the centre.
This would make the audience feel exposed and uncomfortable. There was an
emphasis on light and sound during the performances. It is said that the
audience’s sense were ‘assaulted’ with movement and light ‘hence the cruelty’.
The light was often used to ‘hypnotise’ its audience to add to the sense of the
unknown and disorientation.
Artaud only managed to create one piece of drama using his technique, but
many modern groups have adapted this technique to use within their shows.
In 2011, a group of geography and sociology professors used the technique to
explore the struggle of deforestation. These professors “…suggest that theater,
more generally, provides structure for cruel performance, and that violent
land conflict, together with forest destruction, constitutes a predictable
tragedy of theatrical events. In other words, violent land conflict in Amazonia,
with all its terrible implication for people and environment, can be grasped as
a theatrical structure with philosophic and material consequences for mind
and body.”
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_of_Cruelty#Modern_activist_application)
I find that this technique does seem to some extent quite torturous but I think
its main purpose is to release the emotions of the audience to help them to
connect to the performance whilst experiences catharsis and feeling empathy
towards the actors.
To put this theory into practice, I would create an exercise that would make
my class feel uncomfortable. I would ask them to sit in a space, alone so they
had no company. I’d turn the lights off and ask individuals to walk around the
space making noises and invading the class’ personal space. Undoubtedly, this
would make everyone feel very uneasy.
The Meisner Technique
This technique was formed by the American practitioner, Sanford Meisner to
help develop the actor externally often through repetition. The main focus
with this technique is on the other actor and not on your personal internal
thoughts. Meisner wanted the actor to live in the moment and to learn what it
means to respond truthfully to a given moment based on how your partner
responds to you. The technique relies on repetition and helps the actor to
make a scene more believable because it allows them to get into character.
Famous actors such as Sandra Bullock, James Franco and Tom cruise use this
technique, proving the technique has benefits and works for even the highly
experienced actors. The benefits of this technique appear to be that it teaches
an actor to relate to a character their playing from the heart, not just purely
from the lines they are saying.
An exercise idea:
-
-
Two actors face each other and try and place their attention on each
other
Lines are spoken:
ACTOR 1: You’re calming yourself
ACTOR 2: I’m calming myself
ACTOR 1: You’re calming yourself.
ACTOR 2: I’m calming myself.
ACTOR 1: You’re calming yourself.
This will improve the actors improvisation skills and the ability to
respond in the moment
Stanislavski – ‘The Magic If’
‘The Magic If’ was developed and used by Constantin Stanislavski as part of
his ‘system’, which involved many techniques. Stanislavski believed that the
truth that appeared onstage was different to that in real life but should be so
believable that the audience believed the action to be true. Therefore, he
created this technique to achieve this. The technique involves the actor asking
questions of their character and situation such as, ‘what would I do IF I found
myself in this circumstance?’ This allows the actor to use their personal
feelings and answers but through their characters actions resulting in a
performance that would be more believable and truthful.
To put this into practice, I would give my class a situation each and a
character. I would ask two characters to enter the situation, which would be a
‘scene’ and ask them to act it out through improvisation. I would then stop the
scene and ask them how they, personally, would respond to it. After asking
questions, I would then ask the two characters to take part in the scene again
having thought through their actions and feelings.
Brecht – ‘Verfremdungseffekt’
This technique created by Bertolt Brecht sounds very complex when in fact it
has a very simple meaning. The technique simply means alienating the
audience from the action happening on stage. Brecht was against cathartic
theatre because he believed that if the audience become emotional attached to
what they are watching, they will lose the ability to think and judge. He
wanted the audience to feel distanced so that they could sit and think and
make rational judgments about the social issues Brecht involved in his work.
The technique mainly involved breaking the ‘fourth wall’. This could be
achieved through narration. A narrator would remind the audience
throughout that what they are watching is just a story and would sometimes
tell us what is about to happen to prepare us mentally so that we don’t become
emotionally attached. Secondly, a character may sometimes come out of
role and explain his feelings before entering the scene. Stage directions
were spoken which forced the audience to study the actions of the character
with an objective in mind. Direct address and placards were also used to
break that wall.
The positives that come out of this technique are that, often Brecht wrote
about political issues, which at the time were very current to the audience.
Brecht has the ability to force the audience to think about their views on the
situation because he was pulling them away from the emotions and would not
allow them to feel attached.
To explore this technique, I would ask the class to think of a classic story such
as ‘Romeo and Juliet’. I would give them 15 minutes to devise a piece of
theatre based on this plot but in the style of Brecht whilst involving at least
three of the different techniques used to create the Verfremdungseffekt.