Bertolt Brecht Handout

Bertolt Brecht

A Brief Timeline

• 1898: Bertolt Brecht is born in Augsburg, Germany on February 10^th
• 1914: World War I breaks out
• 1916: Newspapers begin publishing his work under the title ‘Bert Brecht’
• 1917: At his father’s recommendation, enrolled in a medical course at Munich University
• Inspired by Arthur Kustcher to study drama and theatre
• 1918: ‘Baal’, first theatrical piece
• 1918: World War I ends
• 1919: ‘Drums in the Night’, second theatrical piece
• 1918: World War II ends
• 1919: Brecht and Paula Banholzer have a son
• 1922: Brecht is awarded the prestigious Kleist Prize for his first three plays
• “[Brecht's] language is vivid without being deliberately poetic, symbolical without being over literary. Brecht is a dramatist because his language is felt physically and in the round”
• 1922: Married Viennese opera singer Marianne Zoff
• 1923: Brecth and his wife had a daughter, Hanne Hiob who became a successful actress
• 1930: First performance of one of his most famous works, ‘The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahoganny’
• 1930: Remarried with Helene Weigel, who would be the future Mother Courage
• 1939: World War II breaks out
• 1939: ‘Mother Courage and Her Children’
• 1943: ‘Hangmen Also Die!’ first screenplay, first Hollywood film
• Collaboration with Hanns Eisler
• Nominated for Academy Award for Musical Score
• 1945: World War II ends
• 1956: Bertolt Brecht passes away on August 14^th

History and Influences on the Practitioner

• Family – his family had a large influence on Brecht not only as a person but also as a theatre practitioner
• Born to a devout Protestant mother and a Catholic father, religion played a large role in Brecht’s life.
• His mother was the center of his religious teachings; she eventually became the model for the ‘self-denying woman’ who features in many of his works
• His father was the one to get him into a medical course in university, which was the direct lead into his career in theatre

• Street Theatre – looking at everyday life, the typical nine-to-five work day, and the absurdity of how people live their lives; this routine and all these rehearsed actions are ones actors must be aware of.
• The contrast of Mother Courage’s disparity and misfortune to our everyday problems yesterday and tomorrow

• Changes in the World – looking at the changes in the world; promote non-bias into problematic events that could or have happened in people’s lives
• World War I
• World War II
• Spread of Marxism

• Influence of Marxism – “order from chaos”; only in utter chaos can the world find order
• “When I read Marx’s Capital, I understood my plays”
  
  

Key Philosophies

• Due to Marxist influence, Brecht strongly believed in devising new ideas and methods out of chaos – the same went for the ideas of his plays. Order is found in chaos. Answers are found in the randomness.

• He wanted a theatre where the audience could view the situation on the stage with no personal or emotional connections – so that they could take a moment to see and analyze the happenings – don’t get absorbed in them, but look at them objectively.
• a theatre where the audience thinks critically of the happening events
• the audience must know that they are watching a play and that the characters are played by actors

• ‘Verfremdungseffekt’
• Poorly translated by most into ‘alienation’, the actual concept refers to the use of the stage, lighting, and methodology of a performance to distance the audience emotionally

Manifestation of the Philosophy Theatrically

• Gestus – tableaus or motions that are symbolic of the character using it
• Mother Courage’s Silent Scream

• Masks – remove the emotional connection from the audience by removing facial expressions and connections

• Lighting – have the audience aware that the actors are merely performing by having unnatural lighting; lights are on, even in the audience

• Set and Stage – all signs of the production are visible to the audience
• scaffold, equipment, and stage crew are all visible
• the audience sees the backstage-work and knows it is a stage production
• often there is no set and only a projection on a screen
• props are purely optional in Brechtian theatre; pantomime is common

• Placards
• highlight situations
• emphasize key words to the audience
• characters either hold placards or the captions are projected on a screen

• Music
• Bursting into song to, again, prevent the audience from getting too immersed in the play

Collaborators

Lion Feuchtwanger

• German novelist and playwright
• First collaborative attempt
• Together, they adapted Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II into a play in 1924
• “the germ of the conception of epic theatre”

Hanns Eisler

• Austrian composer
• Wrote music for several of Brecht’s plays
• Shared their interest and influence by Marxism
• They were life-long collaborators

Kurt Weill

• German composer
• ‘Threepenny Opera’ (1928)
• ‘Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny’ (1930)
• One of Brecht’s most famous and controversial works
• A political-satire

Casper Neher

• Former classmate and life-long friend
• Austrian-German scenographer and librettist
• Examples of Works Collaborated on:
• 1923. In the Jungle at the Residenztheater in Munich
• 1924. The Life of Edward II of England at the Munich Kammerspiele; dir. Brecht
• 1926. Baal at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin
• 1927. The Little Mahagonny at the Deutsche Kammermusik Festival at Baden-Baden; dir. Brecht
• 1928. The Threepenny Opera at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin
• 1928. Carmen by Georges Bizet at the Kroll Opera House in Berlin
• 1929. Pioneers in Ingolstadt by Marieluise Fleißer at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin; dir. Brecht and Jacob Geis
• 1949. Mr Puntila and his Man Matti at the Berliner Ensemble in East Berlin.

Edwin Piscator

• Friend and co-creator of epic theatre
• Reviser of existing philosophies
• Developer of the set ideas; projected setting, visible scaffolding, etc.

Works Cited

Brecht, Bertolt, and Eric Bentley. Mother Courage and Her Children. New York: Samuel French,

1987. Print.

Brecht, Bertolt, and John Willett. Brecht on Theatre. New York: Hill and Wang, 1992. Print.

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<http://www.wisegeek.com/who-was-bertolt-brecht.htm>.

"Epic Theatre." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Nov. 2012. Web. 27 Nov. 2012.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_theatre>.

Five Truths. Dir. Katie Mitchell. Perf. Michelle Terry. National Theatre Organization, 2011. DVD.

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<http://eislermusic.com/life.htm>.