Mr. Chapman asked the class their opinion of his casting the lawyers as caricatures with curled handlebar moustaches speaking in some strange accents which make them appear somewhat silly. Mr. Chapman wondered if it would be distracting for comical professional men to be on with Grusha, who is kind, serious and very human.
Frau Wagner gave the best advice – refer back to Brecht’s text. How the lines are given in the actual text of the play should be the best way to present them.
Mr. Chapman was very concerned about the use of accents in general for his production. It seems that many of the actors had been assuming various types of accents to deliver their lines. Some used Chinese, Russian, British and even some odd undistinguished accents. He felt that perhaps it would be better to lose the accents altogether and speak the lines naturally. (‘Naturally’ meaning a southern accent, which would sound natural to the actors and the UALR audience.) I tend to agree and I think that Brecht would too.
When the BBC interviewed Helene Weigel during a special on Brecht, she made the statement:
“Brecht didn’t want the actors with their parts rehearsed to rehearsals. We started with books, and a long time with books in our hands not learning our parts by heart. And he begged us, please be careful, remember every point where you in reading was astonished at what you read, and this same point, this was Brecht’s opinion, the audience will be astonished.”
Here is a link to that interview, and Weigel’s quote begins about 1:45 (one minute 45 seconds) into the clip:
This “astonishment” that an actor might feel at certain points of a play on the first reading would, in my opinion, be in a natural voice.
German Language for the Theatre Student
One thought continues to occur to me; many of the theatre students could profit by taking German language courses. I come to this conclusion by the way many of them are open to German words and expressions, and have been incorporating the German words that they hear in class into their everyday speech (zB. der Verfremdungseffekt). The theatre department could be a place that is ripe for German language student recruitment.
I agree with you on the German language class. However, if I am not mistaken, Theater students do not have a language requirement!!
ReplyDeleteI know the interview you mentioned. Didn't we watch that last semester? It it to the point and exactly what Brecht would have wanted – in my humble opinion...
We will be on NPR on Sunday morning as far as I know. Check it out. I have no idea what she did with the 30 min. interview we gave her.
Bummer! I wanted to hear you on NPR, but I was up most of the night with a sick dog and overslept. I did not wake up until 13:30 Sunday. I hope that your talk on NPR went good.
ReplyDeleteThe UALR Handbook states:
ReplyDeleteMajor/Minor in Theatre Arts All majors in the BA in Theatre Arts must complete the Core Requirements (44 hours)1 and Second Language Proficiency. (See: Second Language Requirement.)
Second Language Requirement BA Students seeking a BA degree are required to complete a 2000-level second language course or demonstrate equivalent proficiency as measured by a competency test. Languages which may be used to meet the second language requirement include French, German, Spanish, American Sign Language, and other languages as approved and arranged through the Division of International and Second Language Studies.