Relationships between Performer and Audience

Brechtian Techniques

• Brecht employed a number of performance techniques specific to his 'Epic Theatre' style. He believed that the audience should maintain a critical detachment from the action.
• "Verfremdungseffekt", known as the distancing or alienation effect, involves the performer breaking the fourth wall, addressing the audience directly, and reminding them they're watching a play.
• Through direct address, play's characters can narrate parts of the story, comment on the action, or share their thoughts directly with the audience. For example, the Singer serves almost as a narrator and commentator throughout the play.

Use of Song and Chorus

• In The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Brecht uses songs at various points. These are performed by characters and serve as thematic and narrative bridges. They can create a bond between the performers and the audience.
• Brecht cleverly employed chorus figures that serve as intermediaries between performers and audience. They guide the audience's understanding of the play.

Manipulation of Spectator Emotion

• Unlike traditional theatre, Brecht intended to evoke rational thought over emotional engagement. He used techniques like 'Verfremdungseffekt' to highlight the artificial nature of the theatrical event and promote critical audience engagement.
• Brecht's theatre was didactic; it sought to instruct and provoke thought rather than to entertain. However, inherent humour and satire in characters like Azdak provide moments of levity, enhancing audience engagement and understanding.

Character Portrayal

• Brecht wanted performers to present their characters as historically changeable and socially conditioned phenomena, rather than individuals driven by psychological motivations. He intended audience to see characters like Katherine and Grusha as products of their social and political circumstances.
• Multiple role-playing also adds a distinctive layer to the actor-audient relationship. It discourages emotional identification and reminds the spectators that they are watching a fabrication, thus maintaining a spectatorial distance.

The 'Epic' Theatre

• Unlike conventional theatre, the relationship between performer and audience in Brechtian theatre is based on cognition rather than empathy. The audience should analyze the sociopolitical aspects of the play and not identify with the characters.

Each of these components plays a crucial role in shaping the relationships between performer and audience in The Caucasian Chalk Circle.