Theatre Practitioners & Styles

1. Theatre Practitioners & Styles

2. What is a Theatre Practitioner? • A Director, a Dramatist or an Actor but often and mainly their occupation consists of a combination of these traditionally-separated roles • Creates Theatrical Performances AND • Produces Theoretical Discourses • Theories / Debates / Some form of communication that inform & introduce specifically their own practical works /Aka “theatre practices” to not only the audience of their productions but to a broader artistic spectrum that often influences / was influenced by societies and cultures

3. Bertolt Brecht “Epic Theatre”

4. Brecht’s Biography 10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956 [Late 19th to the early 20th Century] Born in Augsburg, Germany German poet, playwright and director Studied philosophy & medicine at the University of Munich, later becoming a medical attendant in a German military hospital during the First World War

5. Beginning Influence • World War One experiences • Reinforced his hatred of war and influenced his support for the failed Socialist revolution in 1919 in Germany • After the war, Brecht returned to university but he took on literature instead of medicine as he’s developed a increasing interest towards literature • One of his first plays was deeply influenced by the work of Ernst Toller, including “Drums in the Night”, a play about a soldier returning from war

6. Stanislavski's System’s Influence on Brechtian Theatre • A drastic part of human behavioral study, which was later on clearly applied and practiced in Brecht’s theatrical productions • Believable emotions and physical actions of actors through “Emotional Memory” portraying character’s behavior onstage

7. Marxist Influence Marxism – Politically, Culturally, Socially & Economically equal society 1927 - Collaborated with the composer Kurt Weill Produced “The Threepenny Opera” Although based on The Beggar's Opera of 1728, Brecht added his own lyrics that illustrated his growing belief in Marxism

8. Hitler’s Influence on Brecht’s Career • Reflected a Marxist interpretation of society, when Adolf Hitler gained power in 1933 he was forced to flee from Nazi Germany • While living in exile he wrote anti-Nazi plays such as “The Roundheads”, “Peakheads” and “Fear and Misery of the Third Reich” • Followed by • Life of Galileo (1939), • Mother Courage and Her Children (1939), • The Good Man of Szechuan (1941), • The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (1941) • Caucasian Chalk Circle (1943).

9. Exile Lived in Denmark, Sweden, the Soviet Union and the United States (Hollywood) Wrote the film “Hangman also dies” [1943]

10. The Return to Germany Investigation by the House of un-American Activities Committee leading to a interrogation at the HUAC on the entertainment industry, Brecht left for East Germany after the fall of Hitler due to his accusation and criticism of being a left wing socialist /communist member & for betrayal 1949 –Founded the Berliner Ensemble and over the next few years it became the country's most famous theatre company. However, Brecht wrote only one play in East Germany, “The Days of the Commune” [1949]

11. Brecht Plays • Mother Courage and her Children • 1939 • Fascism and Nazism • Filmed after his death, performed by his widowed wife, famous actress, Helene Wiegel • Considered by many to be the greatest play of the 20th Century and the greatest anti-war play of all time

12. Brecht’s Ideology Attempted to develop a new Theatrical approach A Brechtian Expert’s definition ~ “He tried to persuade his audiences to see the stage as a stage, actors as actors and not the traditional make-believe of the theatre, requiring detachment, not passion, from the observing audience. The purpose of the play was to awaken the spectators' minds so that he could communicate his version of the truth”. Known as Epic Theatre. My understanding ~ The concept of constant remembrance of the Theatre’s atmosphere & existence often provoking the reaction of the audiences’ realization that the content & context of the production is a daily part of the their societal, cultural and political influence

13. Epic theatre • Devised multiple episodic theatrical techniques such as… • Breaking the Fourth Wall • Narration • Acting Styles • Gestus • Alienation technique • Didacticism • Placards

14. Differences between Epic and Naturalistic/Realistic Theatre

15. Brecht Quotes “The world of knowledge takes a crazy turn when teachers themselves are taught to learn.” Let nothing be called natural, In an age of bloody confusion, Ordered disorder, planned caprice, And dehumanized humanity, lest all things Be held unalterable! ~ The Exception and the Rule (1937), Prologue