We watched a 3.5 hr play of Brecht, called Puntila/Matti in Stadsteatern 2 days ago, October 18 '09. As a part of the audience, the play seemed to challenge the society's vice - how in this case alcoholism, could be both the source and solution to a man's problem; and this of course can be related to any other vice in society such as drug addiction. Moreover, it did seem to challenge the women's status in society - submissive or challenging/controlling?
It was quite easy to observe the things they had done to portray Brecht's Verfremdungseffekt or alienation/distancing effect. In this particular play, they had used humour mainly with Puntila, the main character, to divert attention from his vice, alcoholism. Also for example, when one of the characters had the mic, giving a short speech, Puntila could be seen at the back doing very stupid things for example to again, divert attention away to the main person on stage. Moreover, there would also have random, humourous parts to perhaps cut off the serious-ness of the scene. Also, when during the engagement, which was a very serious scene in my opinion, there were also random speeches that were very irrelevant to what was going on the stage in the meantime such as the discussion about mushrooms.They also made use of the band who were playing the background music and placed them on a mini-stage with wheels so that they would be moved around the stage. Also, the use of songs almost in every scene for interval, and again distancing the audience from feeling empathetic towards the main character, Puntila.
Social Gest was portrayed well in this play as one could easily pick out which characters seemed to be more powerful or authoritative compared to those around him. The clothing as well, together with the personality of the characters made it obvious to the audience who had the most control or who was to be the center of attention.
The scenography used was piles of chunks of wood covering the entire background of the stage. It was very pragmatic, very practical and could easily be transformed into various shapes or structures to apply to every scene. It was very effective because of the use of interruption could be easily applied, such as the literal 'breaking into' the supposedly wooden wall of the house. Apart from this, the stage was also very open to the naked eye. There were no curtains used to cover scene and/or props transitions. One was able to visibly see what was going on the stage; especially because the 'crew' were part of the play and some were even main characters themselves.
It was quite easy to observe the things they had done to portray Brecht's Verfremdungseffekt or alienation/distancing effect. In this particular play, they had used humour mainly with Puntila, the main character, to divert attention from his vice, alcoholism. Also for example, when one of the characters had the mic, giving a short speech, Puntila could be seen at the back doing very stupid things for example to again, divert attention away to the main person on stage. Moreover, there would also have random, humourous parts to perhaps cut off the serious-ness of the scene. Also, when during the engagement, which was a very serious scene in my opinion, there were also random speeches that were very irrelevant to what was going on the stage in the meantime such as the discussion about mushrooms.They also made use of the band who were playing the background music and placed them on a mini-stage with wheels so that they would be moved around the stage. Also, the use of songs almost in every scene for interval, and again distancing the audience from feeling empathetic towards the main character, Puntila.
Social Gest was portrayed well in this play as one could easily pick out which characters seemed to be more powerful or authoritative compared to those around him. The clothing as well, together with the personality of the characters made it obvious to the audience who had the most control or who was to be the center of attention.
The scenography used was piles of chunks of wood covering the entire background of the stage. It was very pragmatic, very practical and could easily be transformed into various shapes or structures to apply to every scene. It was very effective because of the use of interruption could be easily applied, such as the literal 'breaking into' the supposedly wooden wall of the house. Apart from this, the stage was also very open to the naked eye. There were no curtains used to cover scene and/or props transitions. One was able to visibly see what was going on the stage; especially because the 'crew' were part of the play and some were even main characters themselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment