The Influence of Chinese Acting on Brecht

"Alienation Effects in Chinese Acting" - By Bertolt Brecht

[From the book Theatre Theory Theatre edited by Daniel Gerould. You can look for the original essay in the library or ask Natalia for it.]

• "The following is intended to refer briefly to the use of the alienation effect in traditional Chinese acting. This method was most recently used in Germany for plays of a non-aristotelian (not dependant on empathy) type as part of the attempts being made to evolve an epic theatre. The efforts in question were directed to playing such a way that the audience was hindered from simply identifying itself with the characters in the play. Acceptance or rejection of their actions and utterances was meant to take place on a conscious plane, instead of, hitherto, in the audience's subconscious" (454).
• "This effort to make the incidents represented appear strange to the public can be seen in a primitive form in the theatrical and pictorial displays at the old popular fairs. The way the clowns speak and the way the panoramas are painted both embody an act of alienation. The method of painting used to reproduce the picture of "Charles the Bold's flight after the Battle of Murten," as shown at many German fairs, is certainly mediocre; yet the act of alienation which is achieved here (not by the original) is in no wise due to the mediocrity of the copyist. The fleeing commander, his horse, his retinue and the landscape are all quite consciously painted in such a way as to create the impression of an abnormal event, an astonishing disaster" (454).
• "It is well known that the Chinese theatre uses a lot of symbols. Thus a general will carry little pennants on his shoulder, corresponding to the number of regiments under his command. Poverty is shown by patching the silken costumes with irregular shapes of different colors, likewise silken, to indicate that they have been mended. Characters are distinguished by particular masks, i.e. simply by painting. Certain gestures of the two hands signify the forcible opening of a door, etc. The stage itself remains the same, but articles of furniture are carried in during the action. All this has long been known, and cannot very well be exported`` (454).
• "Above all, the Chinese artist never acts as if there were a fourth wall besides the three surrounding him. He expresses his awareness of being watched" (45).
• "The audience can no longer have the illusion of being the unseen spectator at an event which is really taking place. A whole elaborate European stage technique, which helps to conceal the fact that the scenes are so arranged that the audience can view them in the easiest way, is thereby made unnecessary. The actors openly choose those positions which will best show them off to the audience, just as if they were acrobats. A further means is that the artist observes himself. Thus if he is representing a cloud, perhaps, showing its unexpected appearance, its soft and strong growth, its rapid yet gradual transformation, he will occasionally look at the audience as if to say: isn`t it just like that? At the same time he also observes his own arms and legs, adducing them, resting them and perhaps finally approving them. An obvious glance at the floor, so as to judge the space available to him for his act, does not strike him as liable to break the illusion. In this way, the artist separates mime (showing observation) from gesture (showing a cloud), but without detracting from the latte, since the body`s attitude is reflected in the face and is wholly responsible for its expression" (455).
• “The Chinese artist`s performance often strikes the Western actor as cold. That does not mean that the Chinese theatre rejects all representation of feelings. The performer portrays incidents of utmost passion, but without his delivery becoming heated [...] this complete conversion operation is extremely exhausting. Stanislavsky puts forward a series of means - a complete system - by which what he calls creative mood can repeatedly be manufactured afresh at every performance [...] these problems are unknown for the Chinese performer, for he rejects complete conversion. He limits himself from the start to simply quoting the character played” (456).
• “For the actor it is difficult and taxing to conjure up particular inner moods or emotions night after night; it is simpler to exhibit the other signs which accompany these emotions and identify them. The alienation effect intervenes, not in the form of absence of emotion, but in the form of emotions which need not correspond to those of the character portrayed. When we speak of exhibiting the outer signs of emotion we do not mean such an exhibition and such a choice of signs that the emotional transference does in fact take place because the actor has managed to infect himself with the emotions portrayed, by exhibiting the outer signs; thus, by letting his voice rise, holding his breath and tightening his neck muscles so that the blood shoots to his head, the actor can easily conjure up a rage. In such a case of course the effect does not occur. But it does occur if the actor at a particular point unexpectedly shows a completely white face, which he has produced mechanically by holding his face in his hands with some white make-up on them. If the actor at the same time displays an apparently composed character, then his terror at this point (as a result of this message, or that discovery) will give rise to the alienation effect” (457).
• “The alienation effect was achieved in the German epic theatre not only by the actor, but also by the music (choruses, songs) and the setting (placards, film etc). It was principally designed to historicize the incidents portrayed. By this is meant the following: The bourgeois theatre emphasized the timelessness of its objects. Its represenation of people is bound by the alleged eternally human. Its story is arranged in such a way as to create universal situations that allow Man to express himself: man of every period and color” (459).

- Natalia