Being a composer and an actor, I love both music and acting and often the two are interlinked. Here’s a blog-post discussion about Bertolt Brecht’s MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN, and also some of Brecht’s techniques. I actually discussed Brecht and some of his techniques in my PhD on avant garde music. This is how strongly Acting and Music are interlinked. It’s all art! (Don’t quote me on that).

Brecht in Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre

I went to see Brecht’s MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN in the Royal Exchange theatre in Manchester. It’s a beautiful building: as soon as you walk in, you’re greeted by high impressive ceilings and pillars and archways (and that’s just the lobby area!) The main stage is circular, and the audience are seated around it in tiers. The stage’s floor rotates. This allows every audience member to see various parts of the show without the actors having their backs towards the audience throughout a whole play. It’s always interesting seeing how the performers and directors and stage design team and so on navigate it. As a side note, I went to see Beckett’s HAPPY DAYS in this theatre. If you’ve seen it, you’ll be aware that the main actor must be buried in a mound of earth throughout the whole play. When this was performed in the Royal Exchange theatre, they had the mound of earth rotating slowly and continuously throughout the whole performance.

Continue reading →