Bertolt Brecht
A Brief Timeline- 1898: Bertolt Brecht is born in Augsburg, Germany on
February 10th
- 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 14th
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.
"Baal (play)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia
Foundation, 20 Nov. 2012. Web. 27 Nov. 2012.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baal_(play)>.
"Bertolt Brecht Timeline." Bertolt Brecht
Timeline. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2012.
<http://www.theatredatabase.com/20th_century/bertolt_brecht_timeline.html>.
Ellis, Jessica, and Bronwyn Harris. WiseGeek.
Conjecture, n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2012.
<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.
"Hanns Eisler: Life." Hanns Eisler: Life.
N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2012.
<http://eislermusic.com/life.htm>.
