BERTOLT BRECHT 1898 – 1956 Playwright Director And Actor

Born 1898 – Augsburg, south Germany Becomes a medical student serves as medic in WW1 and the sees horrors of the wounded and many of his school friends are killed. 1917 – decides to study drama instead and sickened by the excesses of the war he turns to theatre to change the world He had been reading Karl Marx and felt Marx’s political and philosophical ideas were close to his own He wrote many plays and had a love of collaborating with designers, musicians and artists

He becomes a renowned Writer and Director His work has had a profound impact and influence on developments in theatre throughout the 20th and 21st centuries

Brecht’s Plays Bael (1918). Drums in the Night, Jungle of the Cities (1923) A Man's a Man (1926). Mahagonny. In 1927 The Threepenny Opera. (1928) The Lehrstuck (1929-30) teaching plays The Measure Taken (1930). The Mother (1932) The Severn Deadly Sins The Roundheads and the Peakheads Fear and Misery of the Third Reich. Galileo (1939), Mother Courage (1939), The Good Man of Szechuan (1941), The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (1941) Caucausian Chalk Circle (1943). Hangman Also Die (1943 The Days of the Commune (1949), 

Influences on his work

Admired Elizabethan theatre An almost bare stage with the audience standing round it Political and personal events unfolding in swiftly changing scenes Gripping stories of Kings and their lives presented for a semi illiterate audience Performance that would have taken place in daylight ( makes audience aware they are watching a play )

The performances of Travelling Fairs Tales of heroic deeds A singer/ narrator Stories with a moral purpose and added pictorial illustrations Accompanying music on a barrel organ

Significant changes in performance from his ideas

He believed in people’s ability to change. Theatre was about exploring the landscape of society not individual characters He rejected the traditional theatre for it focused on the individual, their psychology their personal crisis

Theatre should be about exploring the political ‘His desire for a theatre that through it’s expression of particular opinions and attitudes could effect change in the material world. The change he sought was based on his belief that the oppressed working class had to be empowered to alter their miserable lives through structured political action.’ ’ Mackey, Sally Cooper,Simon (2000). Drama and Theatre Studies . cheltenham: Stanley Thornes. 316.

Theatre is there to instruct through Theatre should be an event- lights in the theatre remain on audience sit at tables be able to drink etc (like in a club or sporting event) Theatre is there to instruct through entertainment and inspire people to ask why and what can be done to change the world

Develops Epic Theatre He searched for a form of theatre that would project the crisis in society and the individuals place within it. He wanted a questioning attitude from both his actors and audience He described his epic theatre as “narrative drama about the state of society”

Epic theatre –is not realism events and people are depicted within their social and political environment Characters are often representative of their social group/class – they do not have personal names but are called e.g. the peasant – the soldier -

Epic He defined epic theatre as challenging the dream world of dramatic illusion He wanted a spectator who was awake and alert He wanted to pose problems that would lead the spectator to action with a task to achieve in the real world

How does it challenge the work of Stanislavski and realism

Key points Brecht emphasises The message must be clear The audience must remain critically aware and not become emotionally lost in the tragedy of an individual character Stanislavski emphasises the inner feelings the inner soul of individual character

Similarities Stanislavski Search for truth Integrity and a response to the modern world Ensemble playing Hard work and dedication Close reading of the text Brecht Search for truth Integrity and a response to the changing modern world Ensemble playing Hard work and dedication Close reading of the text

Different Emphasis Stanislavski Emphasises the inner feelings the inner soul What are the characters’ motives He wants to know why something is so on a personal level How can we understand this character from his personal emotional experience Brecht Emphasis outward signs such as in social structures of society He wants to know what are this characters' social motivations What are the social conditions making them behave this way What conditions are prevalent in society and can we change them

What would you see Simple staging – clear white stage lights – few but well made props Back projection of slides –with titles for each scene – that tells you what is going to happen or where and when the action takes place Each scene is self contained Characters are sometimes named but often archetypal – e.g. the peasant – the farmer of class or social grouping There is a usually a narrator or chorus that tells part of the story as it progresses or comments on the action

What would you see Actors playing multiple roles Actors often speaking directly to the audience The action is interrupted by a song that comments on the ideas in the play or moves the action on Sometimes characters are in half masks The blocking( movement and position of the actors on stage ) is very specific and emphasises the social and class relationships

The Subject Matter (Epic) Narratives are displaced in time and place Political parables Epic story telling The Political Purpose/Message and Dramatic Intention Heavily influenced by political ideals of Karl Marx To arouse in the audience a need for change To keep an audience thinking.

The Staging Style Adopted The proscenium arch Epic as opposed to dramatic( Aristotelian) Swiftly changing scenes Design Elements Realistic selective detail Very well made props Costumes made to look well worn Technical Elements Hard white light that can be seen by the audience The half curtain The revolve

Role Of Actors And Performance Style Getsus The actor is in role not a character The actor as demonstrator The actor as the main source of distancing The use of gestus The Actor Audience Relationship The role of the narrator/chorus. Direct address The isolating of songs as a form of comment The abolition of illusion The audience encouraged to smoke and drink Audience Response They be alerted to the need for change To observe rather than empathise

Epic theatre –is not realism events and people are depicted within their social and political environment Gestus Montage Verfremdungseffekt (look at things /actions with new understanding) Design Music

Directorial Interpretation/ Production Style ( Gestus ) (Montage) (Verfremdungseffekt) The director as part of the team The use of music to comment on the action Very refined and specific detail The blocking -clear and carefully constructed stage pictures that help explain the ideas and characters’ social relationships

THE PLAYWRIGHT Structured episodically People shown within their social and political environment Many scenes that tell a part of the story in a self contained way Awareness of past events Tell audience what's happening through scenes titles or labels Use of parables

The Actor Epic theatre is not realism so the Stanislavsky naturalistic acting style is not appropriate. The actor must stand outside the character The actor moves away from the inner life of characters towards the way in which society has taught them to behave towards each other.

Gestus is about putting over a clear message It uses a range of outward signs developed by the actor to show social relationships. These include: stance – and voice physical body and facial expressions use of gesture

Gestus- what is it? A style of acting in which the main focus is: The outward signs of social relationships These include Voice physical and facial expression. The effect is to shift the focus of characters towards the way they behave towards each other Brecht wrote his plays so they would force the actor to adopt the correct stance The movements are worked out in rehearsal and remembered by the actors for their performance

DIRECTOR

DIRECTOR Blocking very important must clarify the structure and the character relationships in the play Use all the stage and support the audience to develop a critical attitude Bring out the social, political and economic ideas in the plays

DESIGN No illusions No fourth Wall Minimal props Set changes in view of audience Use of half curtain

Simple stage design with the half curtain and everything seen by the audience no illusions

Mother Courage

Music Working with Composer Hans Eisler

COMPOSER Brecht intentionally breaks interrupts the action at key moments with songs and messages Music and songs should express ideas and themes of the play and give a separate comment on the action and ideas Music should help distance the audience by providing contrast The word and the tune clash which will draw more attention to the words

Early productions influenced by expressionist art Note how the walls, doors and windows leans at odd angles to demonstrate the distortion in the social structure. ‘Drums in The Night’

Mother Courage And Her Children Use of a few well made props

The Life of Galileo

Why Epic is not realistic or naturalistic. The action is constantly broken up in to episodes A narrator interrupts to address the audience Songs interrupt to comment on the action All these are constantly breaking the dramatic tension

How By analysing the play you determine the basic story line. Break down the story into smaller elements until each scene becomes the expression of one simple basic action which you can put into a simple sentence E.g ‘Evil Step Mother Plots the death of Snow white’

Montage Short scenes of an image or an idea Draws attention to the content Emphasis on the visual- Each scene carefully arranged so all moments could be read and understood even by a deaf person The designer drawings of the stage ( like a film storyboard does today) Cut from one scene to another image subject/idea And a new meaning or understanding is created by both the different scenes and their ideas images having been placed next to each other

Verfremdungseffekt Make things seem strange or different”. Use the word distancing not strange With the use of devices to make things appear in a new light, so we consider them with intellectual objectivity, robbed of their conventional outward appearance. challenge habitual perceptions

Verfremdungseffekt Brecht gives the example of a child whose widowed mother remarries, seeing her, for the first time, as a wife. In the plays a V-effekt may be produced by the comment of the Singer or narrator In ordinary dialogue (as in Galileo's “now I must eat”: suddenly he is seen not as the great scientific innovator but an ordinary, hungry man

Production of Mother Courage in Germany at the Berlin Ensemble Theatre

Traditional Barrel Organ That would have been at the fairground entertainments

You tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tw5w6Jdwtc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-828KqtTkA An introduction to Brechtian theatre by the National Theatre http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpkCazstUhM Robbie Williams sings Mack the Knife http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3ih36zijZg&feature=related Commentary on epic theatre Meryl streep as m Courage Tv show http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=mWApVvqM-W0 Extract Meryl Streep singing ( push comes to shove) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUSFRF1Pppo&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AJQlRmJvLA&feature=related The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui at Nottingham http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQWsp7C5OfU The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui at abbey theatre http://www.thereallybig.com/marks.htm#ccc Recent version of Caucasian chalk circle with new compositions http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tw5w6Jdwtc Short intro Caucasian