Week Two

We started to work on our individual pieces today. But firstly, we discussed our previous research topics and our song choices which led into a discussion  about Brecht's idea of Epic Theatre and its use. The idea of using music throughout a piece is very Brechtian as it is used to create a conflict between the music chose and the content of the scene. 

 I am in a group with Danny, Ellesse, Eleanor and Maya. Each group had to take a story from the news and use that to inspire our piece. We choice the article about the EDL leader, Tommy Robinson, spending a year with a Muslim called Mo Ansar http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01kgnrs andhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24729175This stimulated our piece.

http://www.englishdefenceleague.org/ --- this is a direct link to the EDL's website.

This is an image of Tommy and Mo during the filming of the documentary.

We decided to base it on Hitler and all the different groups he discriminated against. We chose Hitler because the topic for this term is Do we get more Right Wing in hard times? And we felt this historical figure fitted that topic perfectly. Brecht also was not a supporter of right winged extremists and not a supporter of Hitler. In 1945 his series of short plays and poems (Fear and Loathing under the Third Reich, 1945) showed his hatred of Nazi Germany.  We started brain storming and thought that it would be really impactful if we had Hitler going on blind dates with a gay person, a black person, a disabled person and Anne Frank as these represent the groups he discriminated against. In the spirit of our inspiration, we thought at the end Hitler would chose to go on a date with Anne Frank, or go to her house. As Brecht believed the actor should demonstrate the character and to not become it, we didn’t give the minor characters names. To apply the alienation effect, I will play the black person, Ellesse will play Anne Frank, Eleanor will play the disabled person and Maya will represent the homosexual character.

Our initial idea was to have Hitler in a coffee shop, going on blind dates with the people listed above. To apply more Brechtian techniques to our piece, we thought we'd have one person in our group sit in the audience and a=start shouting racial and offensive abuse throughout our scene, but then they would get up, put on their costume and become one of the characters. Brecht used interruptions and awkward silences to alienate his audience and make them feel unsettled, again reminding them they are seeing a play and the stage is just a stage.