My understanding of the convention of Verfremdungseffekt is that it is ‘making strange’ and distancing one’s self from the piece of theatre. It involves presenting an idea objectively and critically rather than using, for example realistic acting to do so. Brecht once said when speaking of the Verfremdungseffekt that it, “Prevents the audience from losing itself passively and completely in the character created by the actor, and which consequently leads the audience to be a consciously critical observer."I believe it definitely has the ability to affect an audience as they are being included in the performance (actors are encouraged to break the fourth wall) and they witness the portrayal of an idea like no other. Because of the nature of Brechtian theatre audience members are invited to get involved in the piece (both literally and metaphorically) and it is the hope that this type of theatre will prompt political change or at least provide a lingering thought.
Although there are many differences between Dramatic and Epic Theatre, I believe that the fundamental difference is the audience of a piece of Dramatic Theatre are sharing in the moment with the actors. For example in a realistic portrayal of a character the hope is that the audience may feel empathetic/sympathetic because they are caught up in the characters emotions. With Epic Theatre however, the audience are separate to the narrative onstage and thus less attention is placed on realistic acting, but instead the use of gestus. I found some of the most effective elements of Brechtian Theatre were the inclusion of a narrator. This most definitely created distance between the actors and the issue which they were presenting. I also found the inclusion of song to be very impactful as it usually came from nowhere, giving the audience a complete surprise and finishing with them very shocked and slightly intrigued.
During the devising process our group struggled a lot because we did not feel as though the issue that the class was presenting was clearly showing through in our work. We also hit many ‘mental blocks’ because we were unsure as to which direction our piece should take. In the end Mr Brown was extremely helpful and offered the suggestion of letting the audience decide what ending they would feel most comfortable with. This in the end became one of our favourite parts of our scene because it really included the audience but also had a slight element of risk as we were breaking the fourth wall with an unknown and unpredictable audience. When we finally overcame our mental block and showed our scene to a person removed from it we made a lot of progress as we were so connected to it that we lost sight of its ability to affect outsiders. We also found it fun and impactful to have both Hannah and I playing the typical blonde American bimbos while Angus and Sian were very kiwi ‘skuxxes.’ This use of gestus was very strange but also strangely identifiable with, for the audience.
As a group our intention to prompt change within our audience was questionable because of the lack lustre response they gave us. This could have been for a multitude of reasons especially the fact that we were invading their personal space and were really quite intimidating. I think that as a class we chose a very difficult topic to have as our umbrella for our scenes and this meant that coming up with something potent and original was challenging. My other group members really disliked our scene from the beginning and stated that if we were beginning again they would do a completely different scene. I however see some merits of our devised piece and I was determined to make it work during rehearsals. Overall, it was very interesting and a good learning curve for all of us as we had never performed to such an unresponsive and 'closed' audience. This is a horrible thing to experience, but definitely something that all good actors will come across in their lifetime.
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