Like space/time, protagonist/plot, the Rational Thought and the Allegory are in an intertwined relationship.  Together they dictate the play's mise-en-scene (what the play looks/sounds like).

In narrative content, the plot comes first, the message/theme is second.  

In non-narrative content, the message/theme - or Rational Thought - comes first, the plot is second.

• The RATIONAL THOUGHT is your TRUTH, your PERSPECTIVE.  When our Truth is in opposition with our World, we create art designed to offend, to enlighten, to embarrass,  to teach, to shame.  We use allegory as example (s) to make the spectator aware of our Rational Thought.

• If you give a solution/correction within your play, it becomes Theatrical Propaganda (or AgitProp). This is a Soviet-created form (pre-Brecht) that was used to proliferate bias and non-truth.  Instead, think of the Rational Thought as a telescope: the artist is inviting its spectators to observe a truth/perspective.   

THE ALLEGORY is an anecdotal (specific) example of your Rational Thought.  Its ideal is efficiency of communication.

• There's many forms; our theatrical form is the "sketch" or "skit"

• Allegories are linked together in your play by Rational Thought, but, depending on the type of allegory, can be linked by character, action/plot, design/location

• Meta-Plays can have NO allegory to NUMEROUS allegory

"Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it." 

 Some common examples of Rational Thought/Allegory mise-en-scene- Episodic Structures- include:

• Direct address (allegories described by NGH)

• Embedded Narrative (a story line) that gets interrupted by the meta-play 

• Sketch Comedy

• Interview/talk show

• Procedural (step-by-step, how-to content)

• Stand-up comedy

• Music- more efficient with lyrics- or Dance

• Miscellany (either ordered or not, like a collage).  At times layered/repeated, interdiscipinary

Episodic structure, unlike narrative structure, doesn't have a protagonist; therefore, there's no change, flaw, nor discovery of truth. 

Episodes have conflict, but the conflict doesn't need resolution. Rather, an episode presents a main character, creates conflict between the main character and its environment (everything else) and either the environment changes (sitcom) or it doesn't (sketch comedy). 

We should acknowledge the play and the play-within-a-play:

• "The Play"- or the Meta-Play- is now the audience's acknowledgement that there are human beings called actors performing

• "The plays-within-a-play", episodes, are the allegories that the audience is completely aware are being performed by actors, acknowledged in the Meta-Play

  • There's no pretense about the characters the actors are playing are "real" or exist somewhere outside the play, even in a non-realistic world. The audience is aware that the actors are aware of the audience. Ha!  

Sasha Baron Cohen is a British comedian/actor who uses the allegory structure of the interview to exemplify his rational thought. He creates a naive character- OMG Whizzboy OMG above and Ali G below, typically foreign from the cutlure of the interviewee- that, in the course of the interview, needs to be schooled by the interviewer about Cohen's rational thought. The effect is always shocking: the interviewee- if they take the bait- "dumbs down" the concepts and, in essence, reveals a truthful perpspective.

Below: Between Two Ferns- created by Zach Galafanakis- is another example of the interview/talkshow format of an allegory. 

STRUCTURAL RULES

Reggie Watts uses the form of miscellany to keep his audience tied to meaning. 

There's two different parts in this type of media: The NARRATOR/GUIDE/HOST (NGH) and the PERFORMERS within the ALLEGORY.  

CHARACTERISTICS OF NARRATOR/GUIDE/HOST

The Narrator/Guide/Host gives voice to your Rational Thought.  Its superpowers include the ability to directly interact with the spectator and control and the PERFORMERS within the ALLEGORY.  It may participate in the allegory, it may not: it can be seen/involved in varying degrees to help guide spectators through the allegory to keep aware of the rational thought. 

• It's a Teacher or Explainer VS. Character/Role

• NOT protagonist, but may be a central/main figure the audience sees in all allegorical examples.  Audience may or may not witness the transition but must remain aware that NGH is "in-character".

• Remains rational (non-emotional) while in the meta-play.  The actor's exaggeration of self: the "on", the "public-self".  If NGH uses fervor/emotion while on message, it becomes AgitProp (utilizes pathos to create a false sense of agreement).

• Presentational skills: Eloquence, phrasing, diction, speaking rhythm/tempo.  Gestures (hands, head, blocking/movement).  Ability to read an audience, adjusting performance to maintain efficiency in communication.  

• Establishes the rules of performance, either blatantly or subtlety

CHARACTERISTICS OF PERFORMERS IN ALLEGORY

Caretakers of the Allegory: entertaining, ironic, offensive, excellent at ALL types of performance,  controlled by NGH.

• • Conflict and Drama created by comparing non-changing symbol to non-changing symbol 

  • Audience is aware performers are aware they are performing: "we're all in on it". 

    • Actors and the characters/roles they play are distinctly separated: no empathy, rather objectification.  Brecht says, “[performing with] utmost passion without getting heated.”

    • Characters/Roles are symbols, played/built as archetypes

    • Audience must recognize and objectify symbols and figures to understand message 

    • "Intelligent actor".  Knowledge of societal norms, pressing contemporary issues, generalities

    • Knowledge of performance theory

  • Make the familiar strange, and the strange familiar.  This convention opposes symbol against symbol presenting an instance of irony.  The audience rethinks, re-examines, re-assigns.  

    • A strict father who, while giving a stern lecture, applies fake eyelashes; a police officer handcuffed to a light pole; a cow who gives a lecture on physics

    • GESTUS.   “individual gestures and whole body postures denoted one’s social attitude and human relationships with others”.  Influenced by Chinese theatre/Peking Opera.  

"Character is the sum of the gestures and acts of the figure... the visible, the viewable gesture, the observable act..." 

A long time ago, Discovery channel had a series of commercials with very memorable characters. The rational thought? Watch Discovery channel. 

Alongside Bertolt Brecht's Epic Theatre in Berlin, Russian theatre has continued to evolve toward the symbolic too: Constructivism acknowledged the process by which art is created, and audiences became interested in how things worked and how things were made.  

• Process vs. Product

• Functionality vs. Form 

• Theatricality and Spectacle

Start with the bare stage.  

SYMBOLS, CONTRAST, COMPOSITION, UNIFIED THEME.  As with acting, designers benefit from their sophistication.  Knowledge of the community, knowledge of historical/aesthetic periods, and knowledge of art and experience in aesthetic composition creates detailed, efficient work. 

Distancing Effect in Theatrical Design

Remember: Brecht is about the production as well as the content.  Designers not only focus on the look and sound of the allegory -  supporting the actions portrayed by the actors - but they also have to support the meta-play with distancing effect.  Examples include: 

• Projections, inserts, subtitles for signs, words, headlines, quotes, instructions, titles

• Lights/set support explanation, clarity, efficiency

• Historical verisimilitude

• Production & construction equipment like cameras, boom mics, lighting instruments visible and often blantant

• Deliberately fake or "rehearsal grade" props and costumes, as well as staged or deliberate mistakes

• Design that incorporates/produces irony (frequently a joke or gag)

• Utility "props" needed by the performer such as water bottles, lecterns, script prompters, note cards

• Highly-allegorical design choices for  deliberate obscurity or blatant understanding