One of our tasks was to pair up and do some off text improvisation from the playwright Neil Labute and his play we're studying In the Beginning. We focused on Brecht's theory of prioritising actions and gestures over emotions when saying our lines. I found this particularly hard to grasp to begin with, I won't lie. I think this was purely because I've been taught and trained with act with emotion for so long now it was difficult to push this habit aside and try something new. When I perform, I have a habit of getting emotionally attached to my character and I tell the story with my facial expressions as opposed to hand gestures... which isn't Brecht like at all!
We then added singing to our scenes. We had to be sure not to make this seem entertaining or funny as the singing is used purely for commentary. It informs the audience what is going on in detail as sometimes it's not entirely comprehensible. They narrate with their voices which does give some entertainment but not for the wrong reasons.
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