Component 3 Section C: Brecht
Music:
● Interrupt and explaining forthcoming action
● Detached acting that ward off audience identification
● Juxtaposes the narrative and themes of the play
● Wanted the audience to think critically and objectively NOT emotionally
● He employed them as important and independent device. The songs
employed by the dramatist to interrupt the acting which can be called
„verfremdungseffekt‟ or alienation or in short A –effect”
● He neither used the songs as discharge of emotions nor any psychological
state but either to focus on the theme of the play or to comment upon
incidents; either past or anticipates the future incidents
● Music is used to interrupt the action. By the interruption the audience will be
able to obtain time to judge and form their opinions regarding the episodes
presented to them
● Music becomes a kind of punctuation, an interlining of the words, a well aimed
comment giving the GIST of action or the text.
● Music and song used to express the play’s themes independent of the main
spoken text in the play (in parable scenes)
● Music was used to neutralise emotion, rather than intensify it (opposite to a
modern-day musical)
Costume and Makeup:
● Costume was not individually identifiable eg. the farmer’s costume
represented ‘a (typical) farmer’
, ● Costume was sometimes incomplete and fragmentary eg. tie and briefcase for
the businessman
● Costume often denoted the character’s role or function in society (plus
wealth/class)
● Some makeup and mask use, but non-realistic and ‘theatrical’ eg. grotesque
and/or caricatured
● Makeup and costume used to depict a character’s social role in the play, not
that of his/her everyday appearance
Set Design
● Sets were sometimes non-existent or fragmentary (either partial sets or one
object representing many of the same)
● At other times sets were industrial eg. ramps, treadmills (influence of
Meyerhold’s constructivist set design)
● Signs/placards used to show audience a range of information
● Screen projection used to reinforce play’s theme/s (to garner an intellectual
response, not emotional)
Lighting:
● Open white light only (as colour would generate an emotional response from
the audience)
● If the house lights were left on during a performance, open white light also
allowed for the spectators and performers to share a single same-lit space
Music:
● Interrupt and explaining forthcoming action
● Detached acting that ward off audience identification
● Juxtaposes the narrative and themes of the play
● Wanted the audience to think critically and objectively NOT emotionally
● He employed them as important and independent device. The songs
employed by the dramatist to interrupt the acting which can be called
„verfremdungseffekt‟ or alienation or in short A –effect”
● He neither used the songs as discharge of emotions nor any psychological
state but either to focus on the theme of the play or to comment upon
incidents; either past or anticipates the future incidents
● Music is used to interrupt the action. By the interruption the audience will be
able to obtain time to judge and form their opinions regarding the episodes
presented to them
● Music becomes a kind of punctuation, an interlining of the words, a well aimed
comment giving the GIST of action or the text.
● Music and song used to express the play’s themes independent of the main
spoken text in the play (in parable scenes)
● Music was used to neutralise emotion, rather than intensify it (opposite to a
modern-day musical)
Costume and Makeup:
● Costume was not individually identifiable eg. the farmer’s costume
represented ‘a (typical) farmer’
, ● Costume was sometimes incomplete and fragmentary eg. tie and briefcase for
the businessman
● Costume often denoted the character’s role or function in society (plus
wealth/class)
● Some makeup and mask use, but non-realistic and ‘theatrical’ eg. grotesque
and/or caricatured
● Makeup and costume used to depict a character’s social role in the play, not
that of his/her everyday appearance
Set Design
● Sets were sometimes non-existent or fragmentary (either partial sets or one
object representing many of the same)
● At other times sets were industrial eg. ramps, treadmills (influence of
Meyerhold’s constructivist set design)
● Signs/placards used to show audience a range of information
● Screen projection used to reinforce play’s theme/s (to garner an intellectual
response, not emotional)
Lighting:
● Open white light only (as colour would generate an emotional response from
the audience)
● If the house lights were left on during a performance, open white light also
allowed for the spectators and performers to share a single same-lit space
