THE USE OF SOUND IN ‘THE CHERRY ORCHARD’ BY ANTON CHEKHOV AND ‘MOTHER COURAGE’ BY BERTOLD BRECHT
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One must of course take into consideration the fact that Brecht's central concern throughout the work is alienation: the playwright does not want the audience to identify with the characters onstage. The totally artificial nature of the songs assist him in this task of detaching the audience, allowing them to view the events portrayed in a more objective manner than would have been possible otherwise.
On several occasions off-stage events, such as various advancing armies and the execution of Mother Courage's son, are announced with sound effects, generally loud bangs. Again, this "practical" use of sound effectively conveys the message to the audience. The execution of Mother Courage's son, as she bargains and grovels, is particularly poignant. The suddenness of a gunshot ringing out across any theatre is unusual to say the least (except, of course, for Theatres of War...); it is an attention magnet. The moment she hears that sound, Mother Courage -and the whole audience- knows what has happened, and that she has overstepped the mark.
A third "form" of sound is also employed by Brecht in his play: sound actuall ...
