You're... Making Me... LEARN???

Once again, I invite you into that scary terrain of my personal life. This time to tell you that my second exam is coming up. Now, I've sat suffering the pains of Theatre Studies revision for several hours this week. Admittedly, probably not as much as some, but that doesn't mean that I don't know the pangs of pure pain it inflicts on your brain. So, for three main reasons, I am going to educate you unsophisticated people in basic theatre theory! Reason the first, lots of people don't actually know that there IS theory behind Theatre Studies. Secondly, it will help me to revise if I try and explain it to others and thirdly if I have to suffer it, so do you. I do realise that now that I've mentioned the word 'educate' I've lost about three quarters of my readership. It's ok. You don't have to learn anything if you don't want to, don't cry.

So, here are the three main practitioners in Theatre Studies 101:

Bertolt Brecht: German. Tried to motivate people into taking a stand against social and political injustice and changing the world around them. "Philosophers have explained the world, it is our job to change it. He does through reminding the audience (and the actors) that they are watching a play. He does not allow the audience to get too involved with the Characters emotions, because this would detract from the issues presented. However, this is not to say that Brecht's works are not engaging or entertaining, as they often make use of musical numbers and satirical comedy. If you see a Brecht play, you're usually guarenteed a night of entertainment and fun that will show you clearly the wrongs of society.

Brecht(ian) plays you might like to see:- The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui, Oh What a Lovely War, Our Country's Good

Constantine Stanislavsky: Russian. Attempted to make a play on the stage as close to being a slice of life as possible. Often associated with realist playwrites such as Chekhov and Ibson, Stanislavsky's techniques make the actors become the character, in a 'become the tree, be the tree style' drawing on their own emotions to make the character believable. Everything on the stage is made to be as realistic as possible, so that the audience can truely believe that they are watching a slice of life upon the stage and suspend their disbelief.

Stanislavsky method acting plays you might want to see:- The Cherry Orchard, The Seagull, Three Sisters

Antonin Artaud: French. Certified mentally insane. Heroin addict. See, this guy is the juicy one. This is the one with all the scandal and the stories! Unfortunately, the incredible ideas he had for the Theatre were practically impossible to apply. Artaud wanted to make people feel. Theatre should be like a 'plague' in his eyes. An experience that the audience have as one, being knocked down by the 'cruelty' of a play and then coming out of the theatre feeling stronger for the experience, like having a nasty cold and then your immune system being stronger for it. Artaudian theatre often concentrates on ritual and movement. Language plays a lesser role in this type of theatre, with visual effect taking the fore. He was crazy, was Artaud.
Artaudian plays you may want to see:- A Spurt of Blood, Cleansed, Hamletmachine (Although I highly recommend NOT seeing Hamletmachine, as it is, in my opinion a load of RUBBISH)

Anyway, there is a brief overview of Theatre Theory. It is by no stretch of the imagination complete, but just enough to show you how much thought goes into the making of a piece of theatre. It's not all pretentious prancing around a stage, you know. (Well, unless it's Hamletmachine.)

(Don't worry, I'll try to make the next blog more interesting. With cars and explosions and stuff. Seriously stop crying now.)