Bertolt Brecht

1. Bertolt Brecht Dynamic Throwback By: Dillon “Felix” Medina

2. Quick Bio • Born in Augsburg Bavaria to middle class parents. • Bright quiet student in grade school • As a child, he visited folk festivals and saw extremely detailed dioramas of historical events. These simple, expressive images captured his imagination and had a strong influence on his artistic style later in life.

3. Quick Bio (cont.) • Went to Medical school where he was drafted into the German army near the end of the first World War. • He was stationed in a VD clinic, but was still affected by the images he was exposed to. • This experience would greatly influence his writing throughout his life and lead him to adopting a pacifistphilosophy.

4. Emerging Artist • Around this time he began to write plays, finishing his first full length piece, entitled Baal, in 1919. • Created in response to The Loner (Der Einsame) by Hans Johst. • The first of many works to be created in response to another work.

5. “Anyone can be creative. It’s rewriting other people that’s challenging.”

6. Berlin • In September 1924, Brecht was hired as a dramaturge at Max Reinhardt’s Deutsches Theater in Berlin, one of the top theaters in the world at the time. • Around this time he met Elisabeth Hauptmann who he remained romantically and professionally involved with for the rest of his life. • Also during this time, he married Helene Weigel, a successful actress with whom he remained with for the rest of his life, albeit not faithfully.

7. Berlin (cont.) • Around this time he began establishing the “Brecht Collective.” • First play produced by the “collective” was Mann ist Mann. • Marks the beginning of his “epic theatre. • Began studying Marxist theory, and from this point on remained an avid communist in life and art.

8. Exile • Because of Hitler’s rising power, Brecht left Germany in 1933 for Denmark, and then on to Sweden, and finally ending in America in 1941. • He worked on several screenplays for Hollywood and hated every second of it.

9. HUAC • Blacklisted and subpoenaed in 1947. • Laughed through the whole proceedings and contradicted everything he espoused, which was defendable according to his personal philosophy. • Flabbergasted the board. • Flew to Europe the day after the hearings were finished.

10. Return • Brecht returned to communist controlled East Germany in 1949 • Established the Berliner Ensemble in his very own theater in 1954. • No new plays came out of this period, but he continued to write poetry, and some of his better known pieces came out of this period.

11. Butting Heads • Brecht and East German officials continually bumped heads over the years. Artistic censorship frustrated Brecht, even as he was being held up to the Western world as a shining example of communist artistic achievement.

12. Death • Bertolt Brecht died of heart failure on August 14, 1956 at the age of 58. • In his will, he requested that a stiletto be placed in his heart, and that he be buried in a steel coffin to prevent the worms from eating his corpse.

13. Epic Theatre • Created in response to the Aristotelian theatrical tradition, the melodrama of the nineteenth century, and the Naturalistic style promoted by Stanislavsky. • Composed of ideas and conventions that existed for hundreds or even thousands of years before hand, from many different cultures around the world.

14. Circa 335 B.C. Aristotle 384 – 332 B.C.

15. Aristotelian Drama • Single event presented over a short period of time. • Clear sequence of beginning, middle and end. • Scenes interdependent on one another to convey plot. • Subject primarily Man’s relation to God.

16. Melodrama • Easily digestible schlock. • Protagonist is archetypical “good guy” and Antagonist is archetypical “dastardly villain.” • Endings all wrapped up and everyone goes home happy.

17. Naturalism • Stanislavsky attempted to overcome the shallow, static style of melodrama with an in-depth reflection of real life. • Subject is Man and his relation to Himself. • Great emphasis on characters “internal life.” • Aimed at pulling the audience into the world of the play by suspending their disbelief to the utmost extent. • “Subtle Gradient.”

18. Aims of Epic Theatre • Brecht felt that theatre should be used as a vehicle for social change, a forum for social issues to be examined and discussed. • Subject is Man and his relation to Society. • He felt that the audience should retain their critical thinking skills, and should therefore be pulled from the world of the play at all costs.

19. Conventions • Play construction is “epic” in that it spans large periods of time. • Scenes are not dependant one another and can be added, removed or reordered with little overall effect to the plot. • Sparse, non-realistic stage and lighting design. • Placards and projections.

20. Verfremdungseffekt • “Alienation effect” • Acting in the third person (traffic accident). • Presentational as opposed to Representational. • Actors and audience are encouraged to not, at any point, feel that they are the character they are portraying. • Characters are not representative of individuals, but of social groups or types. • Attempts to create a space between audience and actors.

21. Influence • Writers like Thornton Wilder, Tennessee Williams, and Jean Paul Sartre. • Theorists and Directors like David Mamet and Peter Brook. • Modern stage design. • Anti-illusory presentation.

22. Sources • Mews, Siegfried Critical Essays on Bertolt Brecht. Princeton University Press, 1989 • Esslin, Martin Brecht: The Man and His Work. Double Day and Company, 1960 • Bentley, Eric Seven Plays by Bertolt Brecht. Grove Press 1961 • http://german.lss.wisc.edu/brecht/