Through his breaking the fourth wall he becomes part of Brechtian technique and his continuing appearances remind the audience twice-over: both that the war is not actually happening before them (it’s being portrayed by the Pierrots) and that the Pierrot show isn’t happening either. The play-within-a-play concept is tackled because he is almost outside of both ‘performances’. As he is engaging with the audience and making remarks as to their reactions (in his first speech the actor has two options depending on whether the audience laugh or not, but both ways are directly referencing to whether or not they laugh, I think eye contact should be made with the audience to engage them further. If a member of the audience feels like they are being directly spoken to, it will make them feel closer to the ‘pretend’ audience, which the MC is talking to in the world of the Pierrots. This is antithetical to the Brechtian style of the reminder that it is not real but I think it is an effective one.
Seeing as though the MC is not representing a country, I think he should have the function of a neutral party, therefore his accent should not be put on. The actor should keep the local accent or possibly a ‘traditional’ English accent but it should not sound too contrived as this would be unnatural and his ‘neutrality’ may not be as clear.
Obviously as the comic character (in this first section of the play) he should observe the pauses written in the play as these are written for the comic effect, but appropriate interpretation of the joke should be taken up. For example, in the line “You see he couldn’t get the soap” I would put more pauses for comic effect and lower the pace and tone of my voice. Here I see the MC as exasperatedly attempting to explain the joke to the audience as it has clearly gone over their heads. My performance would follow more along the lines of “You see, he… couldn’t… get the… s-soap..??” with a grin on his face because he finds himself amusing but is disappointed that the audience don’t- his grinning is a way to try and get the audience to smile too. Then he should pause to see if the audience get the joke then, and when they don’t brush it off with a quick “Oh never mind”, moving on swiftly. I would accompany this with a gesture of his hand as if he were physically brushing the joke aside, and a roll of the eyes or head. This should get the desired effect of humour across to the audience.
In the ‘War Game’ the MC is almost acting like a babysitter or supervisor for the ‘countries’. This is exemplified in the line “They’re at it again. Stop it. If they’re not doing that they’re eating.” Here I would perform the line to different places. I would address the audience during “They’re at it again”, taking a step forward and gesturing towards them with a nod of my head. I would also possibly add slight emphasis to “again” to suggest to the audience that it’s not the first time. For “Stop it.” I would turn my head to them quickly and scold them like a parent with children. I would use my voice to create a sense of exasperation to reiterate this exasperation that they’re always flirting like this. I would also put in an “I don’t know” or “Honestly! [pause...]” before “If they’re not doing that…” to get a more colloquial feel. The audience would be reminded of an old person saying it in that style, like the style of “eeeh I tell you!” which is conventional in thought of an elder person. I think this would add more humour to the line. Furthermore, I would pause between “they’re” and “eating” as if the MC were thinking what else the French do/did.
Another example of this type of attitude that I think the MC adopts is a later on in the line “Hey, we haven’t started to play the game yet”. If I were to perform this line I would walk over to the actors representing France and the German Kaiser, and deliver the line again with a scolding tone as if telling bickering children off. This is essentially what he’s doing at this point- telling them off. This delivery would also act as a message to the audience that the silly bickering between the countries was unnecessary and no better than two children squabbling. I would choose to stride over like a parent and either separate the two ‘countries’ apart or shake my finger at the pair to help get this across. The audience would hopefully respond to this initially as if it was a joke, but throughout these styles of lines, the message will begin to ‘hammer home’.
I think the role of the MC is to remind the audience that they are in fact watching a play within a play- what they are witnessing is not a straight portrayal of the war, but a Pierrot show which is depicting the war. The audience themselves almost take on the role of another audience- both their physical selves who they are, but they’re also the representations of the audience in the world of the drama at the Pierrot show. I would make this reminder come through through the addressing of the audience by the MC. He is also there to play the function of driving or leading the story in an upbeat way, keeping it light hearted and separate from the darker undertones which begin to appear at this section and more so later on in the play.
by
jamesclyburn (student)
