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Bertolt Brecht PLAYWRIGHT DIRECTOR THEORIST PRACTITIONER © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 1 “Brecht’s work is the most significant and original in European Drama since Ibsen and Strindberg” Raymond Williams © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 2 Contents Background Epic Theatre V-effect Acting and Other stagecraft Historification Playwriting structure (form) Dramatic vs Epic (theory) Realism vs Non-Realism (practice) © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 3 Overview Born 10th February 1898, Germany. Wrote first play Baal in 1918, aged twenty. His ideas have revolutionised playwriting, production techniques and acting. Brecht is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in 20th century theatre. He is considered by many to be the most influential person in theatre since World War II. © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 4 The Influence of Expressionism Brecht collaborated with fellow German Erwin Piscator on his ideas for the theatre. Both men were influenced by Expressionism, a movement that was strong in Germany, but more successful in the visual than performing arts. Expressionism in the theatre asked for distortion of line, mass, colour, shape and balance with sets and props. Make-up and costume were more often used to reflect social roles than to depict everyday appearance. © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 5 Origins of 'Epic Theatre' Brecht probably didn’t coin ‘epic’, instead possibly borrowing it from the great epic poems of literature. Alternatively, Hans Egon Holthusen claims Brecht first heard the term ‘epic theatre’ being used in Berlin in 1924 where it was already being used in ‘certain revolutionary experiments on the stage’. Others claim Erwin Piscator (who collaborated with Brecht on various projects) first coined ‘epic theatre’. Brecht may have employed several of Piscator’s staging techniques, only later to develop them as his own ideas. © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 6 Brecht and Piscator finally parted ways because Brecht believed the only way to achieve social change through the theatre was to present no emotion in performances. Piscator disagreed and believed some degree of emotion was necessary. Critics argue the term ‘alienation effect’ is not the best translation of the German word ‘verfremdungseffekt. Holthusen notes Brecht borrowed the concept from the Russian Formalism movement and the term was really a translation of the Russian word ‘ostrannenie’, where on a trip to Moscow in 1935 ‘the word must have…struck him as a brilliant definition of his own favorite idea’ © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 7 Timeline 1921: arrived Berlin, writing several more plays over the next decade. 1926: embraced Marxism. 1933: Hitler came to power. Under Hilter’s rule, experimentation in the arts was stifled and dramatists either produced plays about an allpowerful Nazi world, suddenly became silent or left the country. Freedom of speech was severely disrupted. Brecht exiled himself to Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and Finland. © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 8 Timeline 1941: sails to USA and settles in Santa Monica, CA. 1947: questioned before the House Committee on Unamerican Activities. US Government suspicious of his alliance with communism in their country. 1948: returns to Germany on an Austrian passport. Establishes the Berliner Ensemble; soon to become one of the great theatre companies of Europe. Brecht was a perfectionist who painstakingly re-wrote scenes from some of his plays and then used his theatre company to perfect his theories. © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 9 Epic Theatre Events are telescoped over a long period of time, using several locations or settings for the action. His plays were sometimes told from the viewpoint of one character (a single storyteller). This technique left the spectator emotionally detached from the events on stage. Brecht himself also remained detached from the story. He called his drama a ‘theatre for the scientific age’. Brecht’s plays were didactic and his was a social activist theatre, asking the spectator to create social and political change in the outside world. © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 10 Epic Theatre The Good Woman of Setzuan has two alternate endings (neither of which is a resolution), then an epilogue asking the audience to create their own plot ending. Ideas were linked to his Marxist beliefs that man can be nothing but evil, greedy and corrupt in a capitalist world. Parables in his plays were used to distance the spectator marginally from the events on stage. Parables were often presented in the form of songs. Emotion on stage was limited, as Brecht believed this belonged to the theatre of realism (which he loathed). © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 11 The stage began to tell a story. The narrator was no longer missing…the stage began to be instructive. The theatre became an affair for philosophers, but only for such philosophers as wished not just to explain but also to change the world. Bertolt Brecht © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 12 V-effect German word verfremdungseffekt. Correct translation - ‘to make strange’ (to make actions strange, or to make the familiar strange). Misleading translation: ‘alienation-effect’. Realistic theatre: also known as ‘dramatic theatre’. Realism and naturalism dominated the great stages of the world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 13 V-effect Brecht called the realistic theatre ‘a branch of the narcotics business’. He believed realism was like a drug in that, largely through the use of emotion, it pacified the spectator, incapacitating his ability to achieve social change. So Brecht’s acting and staging techniques suitably distanced the spectator from the action. © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 14 “It was the actor’s task to put himself at a distance from the character he was portraying and the situation he was involved with, in order to arouse a thinking, enquiring response in the spectator” J. L Styan © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 15 Gestus The term gestus first appeared in a theatre review Brecht wrote in 1920. Initially meant body gesture, as opposed to the spoken word. Later, gestus came to mean the total process of all physical behaviour the actor displays. Gestus defined a social position; the character’s status and function in society. © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 16 Actor To show rather than imitate. Demonstrate at arm’s length (somewhat simplified and stereotypical). Gesture consciously indicates inner feeling. Actor visibly observing own movements. Actor allowed to directly address the audience (considered strong). Previous use of the aside (considered weak). Few Brechtian characters gain audience empathy. © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 17 Actor Brecht’s essay The Street Scene summarises his acting theories. A person who witnesses a traffic accident merely reenacts the events (a demonstration) in a nonemotional manner, in order to tell others. This person deliberately does not re-enact a perfect imitation of the event, for this would be ‘art’ and the demonstration encourages a logical detached view of the situation for the observer. In rehearsal, Brecht often encouraged his actors to precede their lines with ‘he said…’ in order to remain objective about their role. © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 18 Set Design Dispensed with illusion and symbolism. No suggestion of a ‘fourth wall’ and only a half curtain or none at all (if so, strung on a string across the stage), thus enabling the actor and spectator to share the same space. Sometimes a bare stage; often only props, resulting in an open space on which to tell a story. Sometimes the stage had sets that incorporated treadmills, machinery, projection and ramps. Brecht was influenced by Piscator (the first to use projection) and Meyerhold (constructivist set designs). Set changes in full view of the audience. © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 19 Playwright Brecht’s plays were structured episodically. Scenes were often preceded by a title and brief description; offering an account of the action of the upcoming scene. This could be read aloud on stage, thus spoiling the dramatic tension and suspense in the scene. Brecht preferred to call the scenes ‘episodes’ and the audience ‘spectators’. © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 20 Director Groupings of actors on stage were positioned specifically to clarify the human relationships in the play. This was functional rather than serving an aesthetic purpose. © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 21 Lighting Lighting equipment deliberately visible to the audience in order to remind the spectators they were in a theatre. Stage covered with plain (open) white light so the actor would seem to be in the same world as the audience. Coloured light would merely assist in the atmosphere of illusion and evoke emotions. Yet again, the division between the stage and audience areas were broken down. © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 22 Music Music and song were used to express the ideas of the play’s theme independently (unlike opera, where the music reinforces the text). Music and song were often at odds with what was happening on stage at the time. Music was used to neutralise emotion rather than intensify it. The purpose of songs in Brecht’s plays was to reinforce themes, shock the audience with an unexpected. technique and momentarily break the increasing dramatic tension. © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 23 ‘Brecht considerably oversimplifies characters, for he is principally concerned with social relationships. He is not interested in total personalities or the inner lives of his characters’ Oscar Brockett © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 24 Historification Brecht’s plays were sometimes set in the past in order to place the present in perspective. Aristotle believed the action of a play must occur in a single location over the course of a single day. Aristotle’s model of the ‘three unities’ of time, place and action was crushed by Brecht. The Life of Galileo spans 32 years and many settings. Mother Courage and her Children is set in the midst of the Thirty Years War (1618-48). © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 25 Historification The Good Woman of Setzuan detaches the spectator emotionally by being set in pre-Communist China. The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui is set in 1930’s Chicago in a greengrocer trade setting, but the main character represents Hitler and the play is really about the atrocities of 1930s Germany. The society is the play’s focus, not the characters. The spectator is asked to critically observe the society portrayed in the play and compare it with his/her own world > inspired to make change. © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 26 PLAYWRITING STRUCTURE (FORM) Brecht often began by writing his plays with no act or episode divisions; these were later added. Act divisions denoting interval at the theatre did not exist. Some plays included long and short scenes. Long episodes involved most of the stage action crucial to the plot. Short episodes commented upon the action around them, often reinforcing themes and including the songs. © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 27 ‘The audience should never be allowed to confuse what it sees on stage with reality. Rather, the play must always be thought of as a comment upon life - something to be watched and judged critically’ Oscar Brockett © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 28 DRAMATIC plot involves spectator in the stage situation wears down the spectator’s power of action communicates experiences vs. EPIC narrative turns the spectator into an observer arouses the spectator’s power of action communicates aspects of knowledge © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 29 DRAMATIC the human being is taken for granted he is unalterable one scene makes another vs. EPIC the human being is the object of enquiry he is alterable and able to alter each scene exists for itself (episodes) © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 30 DRAMATIC vs. EPIC linear plot development in curves focus is on the characters in the play plot conclusion is paramount focus is on the type of society portrayed the process is most important, not necessarily the end © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 31 REALISM vs. NON-REALISM illusion of reality on stage characters fully-rounded, life-like, believable lots of emotion between characters remind the audience they are watching a play most characters are onedimensional, stereotyped limited emotion © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 32 REALISM vs. NON-REALISM audience undergoes a largely emotional response to the play characters talk to each other actor fully accepts and becomes character audience undergoes a scientific, intellectual response to the issues of the play characters can directly address audience actor merely identifies with role © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 33 REALISM vs. NON-REALISM actor plays one role narrator doesn’t exist costumes complete, historically accurate sets/props detailed, complete, authentic actor can swap characters/dual roles narrator a key factor costumes incomplete (fragmentary), lack detail for identification sets/props fragmentary © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 34 REALISM vs. NON-REALISM masks unacceptable lights hidden to create the illusion of reality set changes and stagehands in darkness stage curtain is an essential tool to hide scene changes and denote interval/end occasional mask use stage lighting in full view of audience set changes and stage hands in full view little or no use of stage curtain © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 35 REALISM vs. NON-REALISM projection rarely used no signs or placards employing plot synopsis would ruin suspense and dramatic tension in the play projection is common placards and signs frequently used plot synopsis deliberately employed at the beginning of scenes to spoil the suspense © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 36 BIBLIOGRAPHY Bial/Martin (Ed.): Brecht Sourcebook Brecht, Bertolt: Mother Courage and her Children Brecht, Bertolt: The Good Woman of Setzuan Brecht, Bertolt: The Life of Galileo Brecht, Bertolt: The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui Brockett, Oscar: History of the Theatre Brockett, Oscar: The Essential Theatre Brockett, Oscar: The Theatre: An Introduction Burton, Bruce: Living Drama Demetz, Peter: Brecht: A Collection of Critical Essays Huxley/Witts: The Twentieth Century Performance Reader Sacks/Thompson: The Cambridge Companion to Brecht Styan, J.L.: Modern Drama in Theory and Practice 3: Expressionism and Epic Theatre Thoss, Michael: Brecht for Beginners Williams, Raymond: Drama from Ibsen to Brecht © Justin Cash theatrelinks.com 37
