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'''''Gestus''''' ({{IPA|de|ˈɡɛstʊs|}}, from [[Latin]] meaning "gesture, attitude, carriage")<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6al_AgAAQBAJ&dq=gestus+carriage+gesture+brecht&pg=PA54|title=Bertolt Brecht|first=Meg|last=Mumford|date=November 21, 2008|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134188062 |via=Google Books}}</ref> is an acting technique developed by the [[Germans|German]] [[theatre practitioner]] [[Bertold Brecht]]. 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."<ref name="willett">Willett (1964, 42).</ref>

''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 theatre|epic]]" 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 [[Metaphysics|metaphysical]], [[subconscious]] or other psychological dimensions, a ''Gestus'' makes visible a character's [[Social interaction|social relations]] and the [[causality]] of his [[Behavior|behaviour]], as interpreted from an [[Historical materialism|historical materialist]] perspective. "Every emotion" when treated under the rubric of ''Gestus'', Elizabeth Wright comments, "manifests itself as a set of social relations."<ref name="wright27">Wright (1989, 27).</ref> "For it is what happens ''between'' people", Brecht says, "that provides them with all the material that they can discuss, criticize, alter."<ref name="organum200">Brecht (1949, 200).</ref>

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. "[T]he 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 for the Theatre|A Short Organum]]."<ref name="organum196">Brecht (1949, 196).</ref> 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 ''Gestus'' is not a [[cliché]] 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]] (who ran Brecht's [[Berliner Ensemble]] for a short while) argues that "[r]eflecting 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. [[Empathy|Identification]] in the details with [[Distancing effect|estrangement]] of the whole."<ref name="germania">Müller (1978, 177).</ref>

== Citations ==
{{Reflist}}

== General and cited references ==
* Albright, Daniel. 2000. ''Untwisting the Serpent: Modernism in Music, Literature, and Other Arts''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
* [[Bertold Brecht|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. {{ISBN|0-413-38800-X}}. 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.
* [[Heiner Müller|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. {{ISBN|0-936756-63-2}}. 177.
* [[John Willett|Willett, John]], ed. 1964. ''Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic''. By [[Bertolt Brecht]]. Trans. and notes John Willett. London: Methuen. {{ISBN|0-413-38800-X}}. 
* [[Elizabeth Wright (author)|Wright, Elizabeth]]. 1989. ''Postmodern Brecht: A Re-Presentation''. Critics of the Twentieth Century Ser. London and New York: Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-02330-0}}.

{{Brecht theory}}

[[Category:Bertolt Brecht theories and techniques]]