Year 9 drama work this half term

This half term, the Year 9 drama students have been working hard getting to grips with their theatre practitioner study, Bertolt Brecht.   They’ve been discovering his unique style of theatre and applying some of Brecht’s techniques to their own work.   Techniques including narration, third person narration, re-ordering the scenes sequence into non chronological order and the use of placards have all been used creatively and imaginatively in their group devised pieces.   They’ve also been exploring what style of theatre Brecht came out of and why he created and developed this new style, that is still influencing theatre and film makers today.  They learnt that Brecht had said of theatre audiences that they ‘hang up their brains with their hats’ when they watch a piece of naturalistic theatre, whereas he wanted to challenge his audience and make them use their brains.  Think of a film or TV programme where a character speaks directly to the camera, well, that’s Brecht’s influence.