Theatre Workshop

Working on our play, "The Price"

In Theatre Workshop today, we  mainly focused on getting our play blocked. We gave out the parts and set about either learning lines or our songs. As I am a checkout girl, I had to learn the "Money, Money, Money" song, where they have changed the lyrics to make them relevant to the play. Other groups worked on their songs whilst we choreographed what we would do during the song.

We discussed what made our piece Brechtian and came up with these reasons:

1. We are reading the stage directions out loud to the audience.
2. The name of the man and the woman in the play are quite abstract.
3. The fact that we are singing songs, is a version of the "v-effect" as it alienates the audience by speaking our exact emotions.
4. By giving receipts to the audience, every time they move or touch their hair, this breaks the fourth wall and reminds the audience that they are still watching a piece of theatre.
5. Using bright lights - by keeping the audience lit up, it wont allow them to relax, therefore involving them more in the piece of theatre.
6. Our Characters: the physicality and voice of our characters helps them to be portrayed in a very two-dimensional way, which portrays clearly who they are. We can do this by stereotyping our characters and making them really bold and over the top.