Gestus

Gestus is another Brechtian technique; it is a distinctive movement or gesture that highlights a particular moment of significance or an attitude in relation to theme that is trying to be conveyed. It does this however without delving into emotion or showing a character's deep psychological reaction to something. This was another way to showcase an issue with putting the audience catharsis. Brecht didn't want the actors to play characters but rather show them as a type of person. You would see him name his characters archetypal things like "The Girl" or "The Soldier". If the audience began thinking about the emotional reasoning behind the actions then he would have failed; he wished them to make judgements on the societal situation rather than empathising with them. Gestus must have social  comment paired with it. For example, a soldier saluting as he marches across a stage is a normal gesture. However if he was saluting as he marched over a stage filled with dead bodies, it would be Gestus as a social comment about the type of person he represents. 

Exercise:In this exercise we were put into groups of three and told to show three freeze frames showing; 

• Soldiers confronting each other in battle 
• Soldiers finding a dead body 
• Soldiers attitude to the dead body 

We realised that the exercises was all about the third freeze frame, so we decided to depict the two different reactions, One soldier stepping over the body (not caring at all) and one soldier looking away like it didn't happen. We were making a comment on the way soldiers are willing to step over the enemy and have no remorse. We also have the other kind of soldier, who will look away from the harm done and the destruction of human life. This exercise was effective, because it helped us find ways to portray societal attitudes through strong gestures and communicate important themes without using words.