''Gestus'' (, from

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

meaning "gesture, attitude, carriage") is an acting technique developed by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

theatre practitioner A theatre practitioner is someone who creates theatrical performances and/or produces a theoretical discourse that informs their practical work. A theatre practitioner may be a director, dramatist, actor, designer or a combination of these tradi ...

Bertold Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a ...

. It carries the sense of a combination of physical gestures and "gist" or attitude. It is a means by which "an attitude or single aspect of an attitude" is revealed, insofar as it is "expressible in words or actions."Willett (1964, 42). ''Gestus'', as the embodiment of an attitude, carries at least two distinct meanings in Brecht's theatre: first, the uncovering or revealing of the motivations and transactions that underpin a dramatic exchange between the characters; and second, the "

epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...

" narration of that character by the actor (whether explicitly or implicitly). In the first sense, that of anatomizing the character, a ''Gestus'' reveals a specific ''aspect'' of a character: rather than his

metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of h ...

subconscious In psychology, the subconscious is the part of the mind that is not currently of focal awareness. The term was already popularized in the early 20th century in areas ranging from psychology, religion and spirituality. The concept was heavily popu ...

or other psychological dimensions, a ''Gestus'' makes visible a character's

social relations A social relation is the fundamental unit of analysis within the social sciences, and describes any voluntary or involuntary interpersonal relationship between two or more conspecifics within and/or between groups. The group can be a language or k ...

and the causality of his

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, as interpreted from an

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perspective. "Every emotion" when treated under the rubric of ''Gestus'', Elizabeth Wright comments, "manifests itself as a set of social relations."Wright (1989, 27). "For it is what happens ''between'' people", Brecht says, "that provides them with all the material that they can discuss, criticize, alter."Brecht (1949, 200). In the second sense, the actor's attitude is embodied in acting as an act of epic narration (the 'showing' that is 'shown' in the 'showing', in Brecht's turn of phrase), Brecht refers to the "political" basis from which an actor interprets his role and its place within the storytelling scheme of the production as a whole. " e choice of viewpoint is also a major element of the actor's art, and it has to be decided outside the theatre" Brecht writes in his " A Short Organum."Brecht (1949, 196). In this sense of the clarification and embodiment of a particular interpretative perspective, ''Gestus'' is related to Brecht's other important practical tool, the ''

Fabel A ''Fabel'' is a critical analysis of the plot of a play. It is a dramaturgical technique that was pioneered by Bertolt Brecht, a 20th century German theatre practitioner. ''Fabel'' should not be confused with 'fable', which is a form of short ...

''. A ''Gestus'' is not a

cliché A cliché ( or ; ) is a saying, idea, or element of an artistic work that has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning, novelty, or literal and figurative language, figurative or artistic power, even to the point of now being b ...

or "rubber stamp"; the actor develops a character's ''Gestus'' through a process of exploration of concrete physical behaviour and according to a principle of selective realism. The post-Brechtian German theatre practitioner

Heiner Müller Heiner Müller (; 9 January 1929 – 30 December 1995) was a German (formerly East German) dramatist, poet, writer, essayist and theatre director. His "enigmatic, fragmentary pieces" are a significant contribution to postmodern drama and postd ...

(who ran Brecht's

Berliner Ensemble The Berliner Ensemble () is a German theatre company established by actress Helene Weigel and her husband, playwright Bertolt Brecht, in January 1949 in East Berlin. In the time after Brecht's exile, the company first worked at Wolfgang Langh ...

for a short while) argues that " flecting the actions through the figures, mentally as well as emotionally, also has the character of citation. The citation geste (''Gestus'') must not diminish the intensity and spontaneity of reactions.

Identification Identification or identify may refer to: *Identity document, any document used to verify a person's identity Arts, entertainment and media * ''Identify'' (album) by Got7, 2014 * "Identify" (song), by Natalie Imbruglia, 1999 * ''Identification ...

in the details with estrangement of the whole."Müller (1978, 177).

Citations

General and cited references

* Albright, Daniel. 2000. ''Untwisting the Serpent: Modernism in Music, Literature, and Other Arts''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. * Brecht, Bertold. 1949. " A Short Organum for the Theatre". In ''Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic''. Ed. and trans. John Willett. London: Methuen, 1964. . 179–205. * Isaac Dobson - Toe Barsby's funeral (2023) * Fowler, Kenneth. 1991. ''Received Truths: Bertolt Brecht and the Problem of Gestus and Musical Meaning''. New York: AMS Press. * Mueller, Roswitha. 2006. "Learning for a new society: the Lehrstück." In ''The Cambridge Companion to Brecht''. Ed. Peter Thomson and Glendyr Sacks, 2nd. ed., 101–117. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. * Müller, Heiner. 1978. "The Geste of Citation: Three Points (On ''Philictetes'')". In ''Germania''. Trans. Bernard Schütze and Caroline Schütze. Ed. Sylvère Lotringer. Semiotext(e) Foreign Agents Ser. New York: Semiotext(e), 1990. . 177. * Willett, John, ed. 1964. ''Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic''. By

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

. Trans. and notes John Willett. London: Methuen. . * Wright, Elizabeth. 1989. ''Postmodern Brecht: A Re-Presentation''. Critics of the Twentieth Century Ser. London and New York: Routledge. . {{Brecht theory Bertolt Brecht theories and techniques