Stanislavski and Bertolt Brecht

Stanislavski:
Stanislavski produced a System for actors to study and create a character, and
to make that character real to the audience. Stanislavskis System incorporates
exercises for the body, voice and mind and is based on his research, analysis and
practise as an actor and director. The System allows actors to follow a detailed
programme of work designed to lift their performances to a higher artistic plane
and it took him 30 years to develop.
Stanislavskis System has dominated acting training ever since its inception.
Many people interpret his ideas and beliefs in different ways but the one factor
that all Stanislavskis followers have agreed upon is that the actor should play
absolute truth of emotion and thought, and by doing this enact the physical
reality of the character. Stanislavski believed that actors should use their own
past experiences and memories to build a life for each character they play.
Actors must be prepared to draw on all aspects of their own experience.
Stanislavskis System is based on the belief that one can learn to act. As an
actor you start with yourself and the script, and then follow the process of
Stanislavskis System. This process involves analysing the script, asking the
Fundamental Questions, applying the actors skills (voice and movement),
drawing on life experience (muscular memory and emotional memory), using the
creative imagination, applying performance skills (developing circles of
attention) and finally, acting as a member of an ensemble.
Analysing the script involves breaking it up into units of action, which are
subdivisions of the text that contain one objective and are controlled by one
drive. The unit ends when the objective ends. They help create the through-line
for the character, which is the connection between all a characters objectives
and what drives a character towards the super-objective. By doing this you break
the text into manageable pieces and it helps the actor understand the logical
development of the play. You can go further and then break each unit into beats,
which are individual thoughts or moments that create rhythmic changes in the
unit. This helps to create dramatic tension.
The Fundamental Questions are; who am I, where am I, what surrounds me,
what are the given circumstances, what are my relationships, what is the
obstacle, what is the action, what is my super-objective and, what is my throughline of action? By answering these questions an actor will then have a detailed
and concise background and knowledge of their character in their mind.
Stanislavskis System is heavily based on drawing from ones self and human
emotions and experiences. It was very suitable for the genre of realism, however,
new genres were emerging and one of them was Epic Theatre.

Bertolt Brecht:
The Epic Theatre of Bertolt Brecht was a development from Expressionism. Epic
Theatre originated in Germany in the 1920s and sought to educate the audience
and inspire them to social action. Theatre was used as an instrument of social
change and an agent of equality. Brechts subject matter and storylines were
always drawn from the past to highlight the reality of the present. This approach
became known as historification.
Brecht believed that viewing the present situation by using material from the
past aided objectivity. Through Brechts technique of alienation, which involved
making the familiar seem strange, the audience were to become enlightened and
as a result, see the social issues that needed to be dealt with.
Epic Theatre was a mixture of realism and expressionism. Brecht used song,
dance and comedy to get his message across. To encompass his theories, Brecht
developed several acting techniques, all of which involve the performer being
aware of the audience and addressing them directly. Unlike Stanislavski, Brecht
believed the actor should remain distant from other actors physically and
emotionally, and should use somewhat robotic, mechanical movements. Brecht
proposed that actors swap roles in rehearsal in order not to become too attached
to their own characters. He wanted actors to remain objective about the ideas
that their characters represented.
Epic Theatre often seemed disconnected, included open ended montages of
scenes, was non-chronological and without restrictions of time, place or a formal
plot. Brechts techniques included; the verfremdungseffekt, which means to
make something strange, performing with an awareness of being watched,
looking at the floor and openly calculating movement on stage, separating voice
from movement, remaining uninvolved with other actors, speaking lines as if
quoting them from a speech, speaking stage directions aloud, changing roles
with other characters, changing costume on stage and using the opposite acting
style to what is appropriate (death as comical).
However, Brechts theories created a dilemma in theatre because if you want to
have an impact on an audience, you must engage with them emotionally.
Furthermore, audiences do not appreciate being lectured at and told how to
think.