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The Theatre of Bertolt Brecht

Bertolt Brecht was born in Germany in
1898
Playwright
Director
He has had a great impact on theatre and plays during the past 50 years
He died in 1956

He believed theatre should be political
He believed that theatre should be used to force people to think
He opposed theatre as entertainment or escapism.
He sought to create the opposite

He wanted audiences to leave his plays having learnt something about themselves and the world
Brecht lived over a period in history which included both World Wars, Nazism, the
Great Depression, the bombing of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
It is not surprising that Brecht used theatre to get his political message across

The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima

Brecht despised the romantic, the sentimental and the realistic
Brecht’s was a political theatre
He wanted his audience to view his plays critically
He did not want the audience to accept the play as a form of real life
He wanted the concepts presented to be considered objectively

Brecht created a distinct style called
Epic Theatre
It is sometimes referred to as Theatre of Alienation
Brecht had been influenced by many other earlier theatrical practitioners and theatrical styles, even those from
Asia.

Alienation
Narration
Episodic
No stage illusions
Chorus
Signs
Song
Generalised characters

To alienate means to feel not part of something
Brecht did not want his audience to sympathise with the characters on stage
He wanted the audience to feel estranged, separate, detached
He wanted the audience to remain objective and learn from the message being portrayed

This alienation effect was not meant to literally alienate the audience, but meant to objectify the audience’s attitude

A character was often used to narrate during the play
This allowed the playwright to comment on the action in the play
This narration stopped the action of the play, reminding the audience it was not real, and adding more food for thought

Brecht’s plays consisted of short scenes/episodes broken up by narration, song and dance
They are not plot driven
The audience can consider each episode at its own pace rather than being caught up in wanting to find out how the story ends

Actors moved props around
No blackouts for scene changes – lights were left on
Props were minimal
Scenes were often augmented with slide projections

Actors spoke or sang in unison – like in Ancient Greek Theatre
The chorus broke up scenes of the play
They commented on the play directly to the audience

Big signs were used to designate:
- Obvious stage props
- Characters
- Places
- Or to comment on the action

Songs were used to break up the scenes
To alienate the audience
To comment on the action in the play

As Epic Theatre discouraged audiences from identifying with or becoming too attached to characters, general roles were written.
Some characters had names but often they were only known as
Mother, Worker, etc

Actors often stepped out of the action to talk directly to the audience

Meryl Streep as Mother Courage talking directly to audience

All events were set in the past
He didn’t want audiences to bring their own contemporary societal conditioning to viewing the play
This was so that audiences would be able to watch and consider critically

A bare stage
Minimal set
Minimal lighting
Minimal props
Everything was to indicate that this was theatre, not real life.
It was the completely opposite approach to
Naturalism.

The role of the actor is to primarily arouse the critical consciousness of the audience members
The actor should not generate any emotional empathy

Brecht’s turbulent life and the influence of world politics
Brecht was born in Bavaria
He studied medicine
He worked in Munich, Germany as an orderly during World War I
He was a socialist and anti-fascist
Hence he opposed Hitler and the
Nazis

He married the opera singer and actress
Marianne Zoff in 1922.
Their daughter, Hanne Hiob, born in 1923, is a well-known German actress.
In 1930 Brecht married Helene Weigel, who had already borne him a son, Stefan.
Their daughter Barbara was born soon after the wedding.
She also became an actress and currently holds the copyrights to all of Brecht's work.

Hanne Hiob, Brecht’s 1 st Daughter

nd

Brecht had to leave Germany in February
1933, when Hitler took power.
He went to Denmark when war seemed imminent in 1939, he moved Stockholm, Sweden. He stayed there for one year.
Then Hitler invaded Norway and Denmark, and Brecht felt the need to leave Sweden for Finland where he waited for his visa for the United States until May 3, 1941

Brecht was accused of being un-
American in 1947 and had to go to court.
He was difficult and uncooperative using his poor English as an excuse
He claimed he had never held communist party membership

He left USA
Arrived in Europe
Went to Switzerland
Was invited by the government to move to East Germany, which was a communist country during this part of the 20 th century
East Berlin became Brecht’s home

He was enticed by the offer of his own theatre (completed in 1954) and theatre company (the Berliner Ensemble).
Brecht died in 1956 of a heart attack
Brecht left the Berliner Ensemble to his wife, the actress Helene Weigel, which she ran until her death in 1971.
Perhaps the most famous German touring theatre of the post war era, it was primarily devoted to performing Brecht plays.

Brecht retained his Austrian nationality
He retained his overseas bank accounts from which he received valuable hard currency remittances.
The copyrights on his writings were held by a Swiss company.
He used to drive around East Berlin in a pre-war DKW car — a rare luxury in the austere divided capital.

Brecht was not always popular with the
East German government
He was often scruffy and unshaven
He did not live up to their expectations of a great poet and playwright because he was so scruffy
Security guards once excluded him from a reception that was being held in his honour because of the way he looked

Brecht wrote many plays.
The most famous are:
Good Person of Setzuan
Caucasian Chalk Circle
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
The Life of Galileo
Mother Courage and Her Children

A Set Design for Good Person of
Setzuan

A More Naturalistic Set Design for
“Arturo Ui”

Mother Courage and Her Children

Brecht’s Wife, Helene Weigel, as
Mother Courage

Modern theatre directors usually use a modified version of Brecht’s Epic
Theatre
They tend to use more naturalistic acting styles, but may use many of the other theatrical conventions of
Epic Theatre