Gestus
Brecht believed that our gestures are socially encoded. They are our cognitive and kinaesthetic movements which consciously and subconsciously demonstrate who we are socially and politically. All gestus activities must be explored, in rehearsals, in concrete terms so that the student's bodily exploration of the character indicates the social, cultural and political norms of the time. (NB Brecht was inspired by Charlie Chaplin's exaggerated gestures that indicated a character's social function). Brecht was not interested in plays that presented a protagonist and antagonist as givens, or plays that say our lives are the produce of gods or unknowable forces; his plays are about ourselves, this means that we are open to scrutiny because of the behaviours we have learnt. Gestus is therefore connected to our habits and customs (Bentley, 1999, Mumford, 2009).
For example, in Mother Courage and Her Children, how Mother Courage nods her head or takes the money for her wares, or how The Chaplin bows or puts his hands together to say prayers demonstrates their class and status in their society. In rehearsals Brecht would say to his actors 'show that you show' to help them demonstrate the gestus of a particular character.
Activity
In pairs, find a bodily gesture for The Cook (Scene 2) when he bargains for a chicken. Then add a facial gesture, and lastly explore the tone and pitch of The Cook's voice as he tells Mother Courage that she has to pluck the bird. You should contrast this to Mother Courage bartering to sell the bird to The Cook and her gestus as she eventually has to pluck the bird she sold.
Brecht said:
Courage's unflagging willingness to work is important. She is hardly ever seen not working. It is her energy and competence that makes her lack of success so shattering (Thomson, 1997, p.33).
In threes, ask the students to experiment with the gesticulating in the triangular moments between Mother Courage , Kattrin and Yvette (Scene 3).
Discuss
Why and how does Mother Courage continue on with her sewing when speaking with Yvette about her moral downfall?
Why and how is Kattrin removing the washing from the makeshift clothesline? Is she listening in?
Why and how is Yvette sipping brandy as she tells her woes to Mother Courage? Does her gestus give any clues to the other characters about the identity of her seducer?
When you are satisfied with your results you can add the dialogue.
In groups explore Scene 5 where Mother Courage is firmly telling the soldiers that unless they have money they cannot buy any brandy. Improvise becoming a collective Mother Courage, saying the dialogue in unison and using moneybags, with attitude, to create gestus by snapping them shut at pertinent moments (Hatton & Lovesy, 2009, p. 152).
Logbook reflection
Considering these types of gestus improvisations, test out each individual moment and answer the following questions in your logbook.
Does it work?
Why does it work?
What do I know about the past histories of these characters and in what historical time does this meeting take place?
Am I putting my own present day gestus attitudes to these scenes, if so how can I rectify this?
How did the different gestures (body, face and voice) express the social/class behaviour of my character(s)?
What does this say to spectators about the habits and customs of these two characters at that place in time?
These types of gestus rehearsal activities can be explored in any of the other scenes. For example, in Scene 7 the students could explore the gestus of Mother Courage, who is now wearing a necklace of silver talers, a visible sign of her prosperity, while she sings a song declaring her preference for war (Thomson, 1997, p. 4 7).