breif notes on Brecht

Brecht is a practitioner born in Germany in 1898 who had original ideas about the purpose of performance, and how theatre should be performed.

Brecht did not want his actors to follow the style of naturalistic theatre, he did not believe that actors should become their characters, and should not get emotionally attached but should identify with their characters through specifically chosen gestus. The actors movements were not meant to present messages and meanings in a stylised way.

The idea of Brecht's theatre required whats known as the 'V effect'. This theory is that the audience is aware the whole time that they are in a theatre and that everything is just acting (the house lights were often left on). This is to distance the audience  and make them critical observers, to question what is happening and for them to learn something from the performance instead for just entertainment.