Gestus, Spass, Montage and 'The Most Horrific'

In today's lesson we started off with another Brechtian exercise called 'Snobs and Servants'. This involved a technique called 'Gestus' This was a very good game to play because it helped with my improvisation skills, it helped me think on my feet and be aware of your surroundings. This exercise is good for me as an actor because it kept me thinking about status and roles in a scene, it allowed these two factors to remain constant and stable as well. The fact that when you were a servant you subconsciously knew that any obstacle could have been thrown at you at any time it truly helped with my on the spot skills because I would be prepared to do any task.

Next we continued work on characterization and archetypes. We began with an exercise called 'Montage'. We were told to turn into, a mother, a mad man and a killer. Then we had to create stories but the three archetypes were actually the same person. This exercise was good for story telling and coming up with ideas for a characters story as well. On the other hand, I don't think that this exercise was too useful when thinking it is political term because I feel it didn't really show a political essence although it was Brechtian so I can see how it is in fact useful in a way. 

Finally, we looked at our chosen play, which is 'The Most Horrific' by the prolific political playwright, Vivienne Franmann. The play is very contemporary, containing modern political topics such as the, 'Bring Back Our Girls' campaign and the 'Guantanamo Bay Force Feedings'. The characters in the play are unamed, they are just A,B,C and D. This is a very Brechtian method called the 'V effect'. Not giving the characters names, distances them  from the audience because it doesn't trigger a relationship with them. In my opinion, this is a very good way for the audience to understand what the play is really about and not be distracted by any characters they have formed a relationship about. In a political theatre view, this is perfect for a political message to be portrayed because the politics is the only thing the audience will be thinking about throughout the piece.

Franzmann uses guilt as a device in the play to make people open their eyes to the truth in society. She understands that guilt is a brilliant way for someone to re-think/ re-evaluate what is really important and what are the priorities in life. A celeb or hundreds of girls being kidnapped by terrorists?

In my opinion, the play is very important for society, especially my generation. My age group are divulged in materialistic things and are not awake to things going on in the world. I feel that the previous generation have let us down and we need to change how we live as humans. The play reflects on the depressing fact that a human life is deemed less important than a photo on social media or a celebrity with a ridiculous tattoo on an even more ridiculous body part. I feel plays like this are important because it gives a lot of people hope that there are still people out there who want to help other people's causes.