ABSTRACT
Amidst many worldwide changes, at the turn of the century Western theatre underwent its own revolution. Western actor training is very particular to that time period, and it signifi cantly affected the ways in which directors reinvented the Western stage. Following the emergence of theatre directors by the late 1900s, actor training in the West came “to inform both the concept and construction of the actor’s role, and consequently the entire dramatic process” (Hodge 1). From the beginning, the genealogy of twentieth-century actor training points to the presence of elements and principles from Eastern performing arts. As access to international travel became easier, Western practitioners came into direct contact with various styles of Eastern dance-theatres and embraced such infl uences in their own theatre-making. For example, Brecht wrote “Alienation Effects in Chinese Acting” after viewing a performance by Chinese actor Mei Lan Fang in Moscow, in the spring of 1935. Interested in rejecting Western theatre’s longstanding reliance on an Aristotelian frame, in that essay the German director detailed Mei Lan Fang’s presentational acting techniques to argue that the Chinese actor’s nonidentifi cation with his character would better serve the needs of political theatre. As he applied some principles of Mei Lan Fang’s acting to his own theatrical vision, Brecht coined the term Verfremdungseffekte (alienation effect) and elaborated on the concept and techniques for character alienation. Ultimately, Brecht’s idea of Verfremdungseffekte is nothing but a hybrid product of Western and Eastern acting principles and styles.
