Caucasion chalk circle, metamorphosis and twlth night scripted coursework

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SCRIPTED COURSEWORK…METAMORPHOSIS


A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SCENES FROM


A CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE- BERTOLT BRECHT


METAMPORPHOSIS- STEVEN BERKOFF


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TWELTH NIGHT- SHAKESPEARE


Caucasian chalk circle is a play written by Bertolt Brecht in 144. As a class we went to see an A-level production of Caucasian chalk Circle which introduced to us the theme of metamorphosising. Caucasian Chalk Circle featured a metamorphosis of the entire cast from Russian kolchos into the stereotypical fairy like characters of the chalk circle tale. The opening scene involves the discussion of the resolving of the problem of how to constructively divide the post-Nazi destroyed Caucasian landscape. The performers are first clothed in black simple clothing, their faces incomprehensible, their voices stern and serious. The characters are now toying with the idea that their land is


“Not like a cap, not in our country comrade”


The entrance of the singer Arkade Cheide underlines the differentiation in to ancient ale of the chalk circle which they announce


“Has some bearing on our problem.”


The performers demonstrate with emphasism that the production as a whole will be a typical Brechtian Lehrstuck- learning play by transformation on stage from old characters in to new. The singer next announces that he has with him


“The old masks”


Which translates literally to theatrical make-up and here the cast divides in to two social groups.


The first group represents the feudal aristocrats who express grotesque faces and unusual mannerisms. They display one extreme of society. Their costumes consist of the black original clothing this time lined with golden material representing their wealth and hierarchy. The other extreme is represented within the other group who wear hessian rags with scrubbed clean faces. This is where we find Grusha, Simon, the servants and the soldiers. These simple but significant, contrasting costumes combined with expressions, mannerisms and vocal attributes leave the audience with a clear decision on the political messages present.


The audiences view on the metamorphosis was portrayed on stage reminding the audience again of the fairytale nature of the chalk circle - the unbandoned baby, the escape, the romance, the judgement, the happy ending. The story we watched is still a parable, which we must not forget, and is rooted in the reality of the time and place Brecht wrote the play for- post war.


The metamorphosis that takes place on stage involves the audiences forcing them to make an opinion on the concluding outcome of he story. Brecht’s design deliberately included audience participation subconsciously and literally. The common opinions that are made combine the hierarchy assumptions and the fact that rights are more appreciated and rewarding when they are earned rather then inherited.


Now the first scene is well under way we notice a more personalized metamorphosis focusing on Grusha- a simplistic and naive character. When we first see her she is the picture of rural simplicity, she runs in to an encounter with a soldier- a situation she isn’t normally faced with. A soldier toys with her with suggestive comments and innuendoes that Grusha doesn’t understand (implicated by stage directions).


“I’d like to see that goose”


Talking to Grusha who is carrying a goose in her arms- she doesn’t understand.


The soldiers reply informs Grusha that she is very different to all the other women this soldier has met- she is straightforward and honest.


Here Grusha sometimes addresses the audience directly using rhetorical questions to portray her thoughts about worldly insight that she lacks at present but later gains it at the end of her metamorphosis.


One Brechtian belief is that actions are not decided by psychological factors but social ones. This belief dramatically shapes Grusha in this scene. Several events now take place, which rush the proposal of Grusha and Simon. The language used here is simplistic reflecting on their clothes; voices and expressions as Simon must flee. Here the pressure really starts applying and straightforward, to the point lines from other characters add the pressure.


“Bring the child”


“Don’t stand around”


“Make haste”


The movement comes to a halt with only Grusha left on stage holding the baby. No words are spoken reintroducing Brecht’s alienation technique. Only facial expression tells the audience of Grusha’s feelings. The singer is left to take over the commentary.


“Terrible is the decision to do good”


This production has always been shown this way through the use of alienation making the characters talk directly to the audience. The singer having the final word is significant so that we can link the parable to the Kolchos situation.


“That what there is shall belong to those who are good for it”


Although we found out some information by reading about Brecht’s Epic theatre it was the watching of the theatre that provided us with most of the inspiration for our next piece. When watching the performance of the governor’s wife we noticed that the actor had tried to embody very extreme mannerisms form the aristocracy; this is where the political issues came across. These issues almost came across as cartoon characteristics delivering savage and satirical images.


Natella used a very grotesque facial expression and stood on points as seen in ballet. Her face was elongated and her teeth bucked and jerking forward. He face was scrunched but her eyebrows raised stretching her face. Her height was gained by standing on her points and walking in an upright jerky manner, flicking each foot up as it left the ground. Her height meant she could look down at the other social group emphasizing her hierarchy. Her voice was high pitched but strong and annoying to listen to. She spoke very slowly with a strong English accent. It was these extreme physical abilities that made the key link to the inhumane features present in our next play.


Steven Berkoff wrote the play of Metamorphosis in 16. He introduced Total theatre an extension on to Brecht’s Epic theatre. Here Berkoff took the extreme physical theatre and where the audience is expected to engorge themselves in total imagination.


Whereas Brecht focused on social events and how they shaped the characters Berkoff looked at using the abstract and the physical to symbolise the psychological.


To explore Berkoffs theories and thoughts we revolved our explorations on exercises that extended our physical abilities and distorted our body shapes. We altered our focuses from head to chin, from back to chest and from bottom to hips. Using the soundtrack from American Beauty, providing us with a suitable metamorphosis introduction, we gradually distorted in to our new shapes and expressions. We were then in to the position to audition the parts of the Samsa family. In groups of four we made our way o centre stage forming a family tableau picture frame ready to utter the word “cheese”. Going by the casting theme Berkoff used, as a class we decided on the character that suited the person’s movements and expressions. The directions from Berkoffs play was psychological not factual i.e.


“Leaves a sad heart and angst”


Once everybody’s character was decided on we were in the position to extend our physical attributes even further adjusting to any other suggestions. We could then reform our tableaux’s rearranging characters into places where they fitted in best. This showed some character insight e.g. the shy mother at the back hiding behind the dominant father.


The next crucial stage in the play is the dramatic metamorphosis made by Gregor form man to insect. This is an exaggeration of the inhumane ways Gregor is treated. Berkoff wanted the rest of the family to reflect Gregor’s bug movement.


“They as a group become the dung beetle in reality”


To do this study of real life insects, bugs and spiders was carried out in order to look at leg movement and body shape. Spiders and beetles were taken I to the class in order to do this. The family recreation of the bug movement was founded like this and after continual experiments this idea for the prologue became rooted. The movements were synchronized with one family member in front of each other making up the set of various limbs. Their voices also synchronized but in their different voices.


The script showed each character saying their lines over the top of each other’s but in practice our group experimented with different ways of using the lines. In the end we had the lines read out once and then in crescendo the lines were repeated. At the climax Gregor, the character I played, ended up lying in a muddled heap on the floor. The power from the voices in a way pushed Gregor down the steps on to the floor. Gregor now speaks for the first time, a significant moment. Speaking directly to the audience Gregor asks


“What has happened to me?”


This line of only 5 words sets the scene for the rest of the performance physically demonstrating the out casting of Gregor and the dehumanization he is put through. The abstract voice, the strange mannerisms and the physical attributes added to the sound and lighting effects really reflect on Berkoffs Total theatre demonstrated through his play. As we continued to compare and look at Metamorphosis against Caucasian chalk circle we began to notice the strong contrasts in language. In Caucasian Chalk Circle we see the different characters speaking according to their group but after continual study we noticed that in Metamorphosis we see rhythmic patterns and cryptic language within speeches. In many cases this rhythmic, repetitive language provided us to include actions or mime sometimes between each word. E.g.


GRETA “Gregor”


MR.SAMSA “Cash”


GRETA “Gregor”


MR.SAMSA “Shoes”


GRETA “Gregor”


MR.SAMSA “Cigars”


At this moment we placed the family members in a triangle with Greta at a higher level. As she called out Gregor he would start running up the stairs only to be interrupted by his father calling him to collect something as the demands went on Gregor started to get tired and the music slowed down and so did the flashing lights. This we did to get the sense of time across. The demands sped up again and soon they were overlapping and getting increasingly louder, at the same time the family was getting closer to Gregor circling him and then moving round him repeatedly chanting their demands. Finally Gregor screams out a cry of plead, the lights drop and the music comes to an abrupt halt. I think this really emphasised the ups and downs Gregor’s life held and the reliability on Gregor’s shoulders. Other moments too used this method where we attempted to comply with Berkoff’s stage directions for the family to become


“Like animated marionettes”


During the end speeches made by Gregor we see Berkoff draw insight in to the horror present whereas Brecht used alienation. During his last speech Gregor was placed in a cage, this sucked all the humanity left in Gregor for his last goodbye to his family.


In our group we thought the staging was very important and so we spent a lot of time experimenting with different staging methods and chose the one that made the clear divide between Gregor and his family. Our staging was quite simple. We had a tier central piece. On stage left was a cube with the cage inside it. This gave an enclosed, lonely feeling. The staging then divided emphasising the distance between Gregor and his family. On stage right was a tiered set of steps. This way Gregor was always at a low and lonely point. The family could change levels to suit the atmosphere. At the beginning of the scene Greta starts at the bottom level, then on the second the mother and the top is the father. This represents the hierarchy and authority present within the family. When Gregor came out of his cage the family back up to the top level where the father protects his family from this insect. This staging made the authority and out casting strong and clear.


In Metamorphosis Gregor ends the metamorphosis theme himself speaking to his family this contrasts to Caucasian Chalk Circle where the singer is the one who concludes the metamorphosis. Berkoff did this to portray more feeling and to gain the audiences sympathy.


Some staging aspects were similar though including the lack of props used on stage. Also Caucasian Chalk Circle placed their performers within the audience when they were not on stage, this reminded the audience about the importance of audience participation and the decision the audience made in general. For our production of Metamorphosis we wanted to immerse the audience in to our play making them part of it. To do this we surrounded the audience so they were sitting on the floor in the clearing in the centre of all the acting.


The main difference between the two is the lighting used. Caucasian Chalk Circle used traditional Berliner ensemble where a constant cool white light is used on all parts of the staging. In Metamorphosis we see light differentiating Gregor from his family and sometimes blackouts, for example when Gregor dies the light comes on to his family showing that they are now the focus. As a group we decided that we would have equal light on both the family and Gregor but we used a red filter for Gregor to indicate death. As Gregor died his light faded and the families light got brighter and stronger this also reflects on the thoughts they have on a bright and sunny future without Gregor.


The light fading represents the future, strong bright and lasting. The darkness Gregor is left in is the past, dark and lonely.


Our next link was to Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’ written in 160. After looking at the metamorphosis in the other two plays we continued to look at the metamorphosis of Malvolio, a key character. Malvolio’s transformation went from a puritanical killjoy to a flamboyant romantic and finally to an embittered prisoner vowing revenge. We also noticed that Shakespeare probably had political messages involved with creating this character e.g. He was reflecting a very real anti Puritanical mood in 17th century England. This script was the first to introduce comedy as an overriding mood whereas Caucasian Chalk Circle made numerous comical points between various characters. Shakespeare’s main objective was to make the audience laugh.


Our first evidence of this was the discovery of Illyria, a country of merry occasions, high morale’s, mischief and illusion. All creating the comedy atmosphere. This piece relied on completely different things in order for it to connect with the audience. In Caucasian Chalk Circle the audience’s interaction was over learning and decision making. In Metamorphosis the audience interacts and is completely involved in the imaginative surrealism of Gregor’s mind. Here in Twelfth Night we see the audience participate in the mischief making. This becomes evident in Act Scene 5 when Malvolio falls for the letter plot. In this scene the staging needed to enable the audience to see over Malvolio into the garden, so that the audience had full view of the reactions of Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Feste. At this point the full comic irony of the situation became apparent


As a group, the first thing that we wanted to achieve was full viewing of the background as well as the background. To do this the actors in the background, Natasha Adam, and myself disguised ourselves as structures in the garden. For example, Sir Toby acted as a statue. We also had to portray our actor’s personalities, so that the audience could relate to us. At one point Sir Andrew, an unintelligent, flamboyant man, attempted to disguise himself as a twig. This emphasised the dramatic irony present, with the audience knowing what the actors were up to behind Malvolio but Malvolio not noticing them.


When performing Metamorphosis, we discovered that the role of the other actors was often used to demonstrate Gregor’s discrimination and rejection from his family.


“Gregor…Cash!”


Here our reaction involved the family depending on Gregor. Another reaction we used was very physical.


“Get back! Get back! Get back!”


This reaction added to the horror of Gregor’s situation.


In contrast to this Twelfth Night’s supporting actors were there to add to the comedy using gestures and reactions. Gregor’s engagement of the sympathy from the audience earned the audiences love giving a bad name to the family. In Twelfth Night the audience relish and delight alongside of the supporting actors.





The reaction we used for a moment in the garden scene, where Malvolio is reading the letter was portrayed at the start. After they have double-checked there plan together Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Feste rush to get in to their places before Malvolio comes. They all have difficulty to disguise themselves here especially Sir Toby who I overweight and does not succeed to hide behind a thin tree, and Sir Andrew who is very unintelligent and disguises himself as a step. When Malvolio enters the timing must be immaculate. As Malvolio steps down the first step Sir Andrew at the same time lies down in order for Malvolio not to see him. The second step Malvolio makes is when Feste gains his statue pose. The third step is Sir Toby dropping down in to a bench position; this is the only place he can go without Malvolio seeing him. A look to the audience shows this. The last step is on Sir Andrew (the fourth step) where he lets out a huge cry in relief when the weight of Malvolio is off his back. Feste and Sir Toby both raise their heads, ‘shh’ Sir Andrew and both drop their heads in synchronicity. By this time Malvolio has turned his head only to see a bench, a statue and a set of steps.


This reaction really worked well not only to create comedy but to add to the suspense too.


One of the other main contrasts was the prop use and the demands the comic reaction placed on the props in each play. Caucasian Chalk Circle and Metamorphosis both used minimal props but in Twelfth Night we came to a conclusion that without any props the audiences attention would be taken from the comedy issues and reactions to imagination of what the non-existence props could be. To create this garden scene we wanted to portray a very bust garden so that when the supporting actors were hiding and camouflaging in it became more realistic and convincing. This way visual comedy came naturally without imagination of props. One idea we, as a group came up with was linked during the last moments in the hiding stages. Sir Andrew, Sir Toby and Feste were all lined up legs in urns and head covered by a plant pot. After each sentence we moved a step forward in order to hear Malvolio. The props made us look more like part of the garden, camouflaging ourselves. Also with the props the audience can start believing that we are part of the garden. Comedy was created with Malvolio turning straight after the synchronised jump form the three behind him. As Malvolio turned around the movement had stopped completely.


With the horror of Gregor revolving around the physical changes in Metamorphosis and the comedy revolving around the physical changes of Malvolio in Twelfth Night we remind ourselves of the main link. In Metamorphosis Gregor’s mental state is very important and here in Twelfth Night Malvolio’s mental state also deteriorates as he changes to suit what he thinks is Olivia wants; yellow stockings and smiling a great deal.


The only reason this metamorphosis works so effectively is because of the character Malvolio started off as; physically repressed and serious. Because the audience gets to know this vie of Malvolio when he enters after reading the letter the change is very dramatic creating comedy. In our group Lucy played Malvolio, we experimented with many different portrayals of Malvolio. In the end we decided on a very exclusive look. A stern slow walk was comprised with a raised head and turned up nose. These characteristics really made Malvolio stand out giving him height and authority. Lucy’s voice we decided next and this was similar to they way he walked; slow, stern but serious. This way Malvolio really contrasted with the other characters mischievous, loud, shrieking voices and their flamboyant ways.


Gregor’s character demanded many physical abilities stretching to the extremes of physical drama whereas Malvolio’s demands were mainly in the amount of text. In many parts of the play we see huge speeches to be made. These all must not only be made with his pompous attitude and characteristics but with thoughts and actions in between some phrases and sentences. We used this idea for the sentence


“Calling my officers about me, in my branched velvet gown, having come from a day bed where I have left Olivia.”


For this we had Malvolio strolling the stage area, surrounding Olivia. Each legs spread on each step showing the yellow stockings. On the line ‘branched velvet gown’ we had Malvolio twirling like a ballerina and then stopping in a proposal position in front of Olivia. At this point he slowly makes his way up from the floor, his eyes following up her body until they meet her eyes. Where he stares, still smiling then continues with his speech.


It is the physical build-ups like these that prepare us for Act Scene 4. In these moments costume became very important and necessary. Unlike in Caucasian Chalk Circle and Metamorphosis where the costumes were simplistic and continuous costumes in Twelfth Night portrayed the Metamorphosis. In our group Lucy wore the yellow knee high socks with black crossed ribbon all the way up. Her trousers were black drawing attention to the socks and only started at the knee. She wore a fancy white shirt and over that a white robe that gave the audience a clue of what was to come- the white looked clinical which links to the locking up of Malvolio later. this was such a contrast to what Malvolio wore at the beginning that the audience immediately found it funny in conjunction to his new smile that appeared very fixed and fake and his strange mannerisms.





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