Hey guys, I know extension 2 is over and I'm a little slow on here but oh well. Someone said Brecht "distanced" the audience. This is right but not in a literal sense. They didn't have binoculars to watch the play but rather certain techniques he employed reminded the audience that they were in the theatre watching actors not a re-enactment of reality. This means they were "distanced"/ sat back and thought about the themes and ideas of the play.
Sounds really wanky but I've found the process of writing the script has been more inspiring than the actual finished product. I wrote a stage play which is a hybridisation of Absurdist theatre and Epic theatre. Basically Epic theatre techniques to achieve didacticism but with nihilistic absurdist ideology- the moral is that one creates their own reality so ditch the ties to meta-narratives that inform your every move. Live happily and freely from oppresive constraints. It also parodies motivational speakers, in particular Anthony Robbins, suggesting that if worst comes to worst ( you become addicted to drugs, a prostitute, raped by a goat and kicked out of home) smile, because you have all the specifications of a motivational speaker thus making you eligble to write shit books and charge exhorbitant prices for them.
If anyone is interested in having a read, especially year 11 kids who are considering script writing my email is
grant_blake@hotmail.com
Just a warning: i was told not to do absurdism because it is over done. This particular man who spoke at the E2 convention in the city, said the only absurdist play for e2 that was any good was a hybridisation of absurdism and greek theatre with masks and a chorus and all that. So try and mix it up with something original.
Also many people say becareful when doing a postmodern text. You can't be too whingey and blame everything on postmodernists, although it is a good outlet sometimes- fucking Sartre!
:wave:
