A complete, well written FULL MARK A* essay on my Woyzeck concept which is inspired by Brecht. Original concept that mirrors relevant social/ political context. Includes detailed OPC original performance conditions AND sophisticated key words
My production of Woyzeck is set in 1933 Nazi Germany during the Nazis rise in power, when
they forced Jews to carry out intense labour tasks and human testing to accommodate the
bourgeoisie. This lends itself perfectly to Woyzeck since Woyzeck is a poor man who
endures countless abuses because of his circumstance as a poor man. This use of
historification would be particularly effective for a contemporary audience since Brecht noted
how it allows the audience to remain analytical through learning about events which seem
'strange' to them but still apply today. Brecht was greatly influenced by Buchner who was
known for his political pamphlets in which he urged readers to adopt a more sympathetic
approach to poor people since he had experienced first hand marginalisation in the early
years of his medical career.
Buchner was a precursor of expressionism, since he wanted plays to focus on the distortion
of reality. German expressionism was first used during the first couple of decades of the 20th
century, when Woyzeck was first performed in the Residenz Theatre. Therefore, in my
concept I would take inspiration from Buchner's intended theatrical style and from the OPC
style. I would use fragmentary sets which are symbolic. This was something Brecht urged for
since he thought it enforces the verfremdungseffekt. Therefore, in the centre stage I would
have a 2m by 2m circle embedded which rotates, which would be split into thirds in a way
that it could turn 120 degrees and a new piece of set would face the audience. This is similar
to Alfred Roller's design of the original performance in 1913 since he used a revolve stage to
create 9 distinctive locations. However, I have chosen to use 3 to avoid the play ebing
naturalistic and use inspiration from Buchner. In scene 14, I would have a rotting wooden
bench, which is unbalanced facing the audience. This reflects the mistreatment of the
working class. On the line 'like a knife' I would have the character playing Woyzeck
aggressively rotate the stage by pulling a lever. The stage would rotate 120 degrees so for
scene 15, a hollow wooden door frame faces the audience. This would be a light wash
wooden colour and be sanded to be completely smooth. This would be used each time a
scene occurs in the taven and reflects the accommodated life that the bourgeoisie lived. The
fact that it is hollow forebodes Woyzeck''s hollow body which is an element of expressionism.
The final third of the rotated stage would have a thin tree made of wooden sticks which
would be used in each scene in the woods. It would have leaves which are falling off to
emphasise a change of season just like a change in society is needed. Brecht also
advocated for placards, therefore I would have a 1m by 1m set of black wooden stairs
placed downstage left which Woyzeck carries placards over to. For example, in scene 14 he
would carry a placard which said that hundreds of thousands of Jews died during world war
2 and in scene 7, he would carry a placard which said that 15,000 Jews were tested on
without consent. The fact that Woyzeck carries the placards reflects the order of hierarchy;
the upper classes relied on the exploitation of the lower classes to live. The use of statistics
is inherently Brechtian since he wished to create didactic theatre, but the use of statistics
relating to medicine reflects Buchner's intention of bringing awareness to the corruption
within the medical field since he was once a medical student and was shocked by how
wealthy doctors used poor people as guinea pigs. My final piece of set would be a skeleton
set of scaffolding upstage. This would stretch from stage left to stage right and would have 2
ladders (one incomplete and one complete) which lead to a platform 6m above the stage
level. In scene 15, I would have the Drum Major stand on top of this platform, whilst
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