The Visit: performance conventions

Performance Conventions

Brechtian Techniques

The Visit employs several Brechtian techniques which aim to create a sense of alienation or Verfremdungseffekt, discouraging the audience from emotional involvement and encouraging critical reflection on the themes.
Key examples include direct audience address, moments of exposition, and an episodic structure, which all highlight the constructed nature of the drama.
The use of songs and chants performed by the chorus or individuals contributes to the Brechtian distancing effect, commenting on the action and preventing the audience from becoming too emotionally absorbed.

Style and Mood

The Visit combines elements of morality play, Greek tragedy, and dark comedy. The performance therefore should balance heightened, almost surreal scenarios with earthier human interactions.
Throughout the play, there is a growing sense of foreboding and dread. This mood needs to be skilfully managed so that it builds steadily and doesn’t peak too soon.

Acting Style

The characters should be performed with a degree of stylisation rather than naturalism. Claire should be both eccentric and terrifying, while Ill should transform from a confident man into a pathetic figure.
The townspeople should be portrayed as a faceless mass, each actor contributing to the shift from initial suspicion, through greed, to eventual complicity in Ill’s murder.

Use of Movement and Stage Space

Movement and space are used symbolically to communicate relationships and power dynamics. Claire, as the dominant force, should physically command the stage, while Ill’s movements become more restricted as the play progresses.
Non-naturalistic staging can be used to highlight the play’s themes. This can include overlapping action, tableau, and physical theatre.

Role of the Chorus

The chorus serves to echo and amplify the townspeople’s attitudes, duplicity, and moral decay. Their group unity in action, voice, and response underscores the collective nature of the townspeople’s guilt.

Importance of Props and Costumes

Props and costumes in The Visit are symbolic and serve as visual motifs throughout. Claire’s artificial limbs and Ill’s yellow shoes communicate character and foreshadow the play’s tragic end.
Costumes should reflect the shift in the town’s prosperity as the play progresses, with the townspeople transitioning from their initial poverty to affluence after Claire’s arrival. This visual transformation underlines their moral decay.