Bertolt Brecht in Context

Bertolt Brecht in Context
Author: Stephen Brockmann
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 676
Release: 2021-06-10
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 1108634141

Bertolt Brecht in Context examines Brecht's significance and contributions as a writer and the most influential playwright of the twentieth century. It explores the specific context from which he emerged in imperial Germany during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as well as Brecht's response to the turbulent German history of the twentieth century: World Wars One and Two, the Weimar Republic, the Nazi dictatorship, the experience of exile, and ultimately the division of Germany into two competing political blocs divided by the postwar Iron Curtain. Throughout this turbulence, and in spite of it, Brecht managed to remain extraordinarily productive, revolutionizing the theater of the twentieth century and developing a new approach to language and performance. Because of his unparalleled radicalism and influence, Brecht remains controversial to this day. This book – with a Foreword by Mark Ravenhill – lays out in clear and accessible language the shape of Brecht's contribution and the reasons for his ongoing influence.

Brecht and Political Theatre

Brecht and Political Theatre
Author: Laura Bradley
Publisher: Clarendon Press
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2006-06-29
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0191536776

This production history of The Mother provides substantial new insights into Bertolt Brecht's theatre and drama, his impact on political theatre, and the relationship between text, performance, and politico-cultural context. As the only play which Brecht staged in the Weimar Republic, during his exile, and in the GDR, The Mother offers a unique opportunity to compare his theatrical practice in contrasting settings and at different points in his career. Through detailed analysis of original archival evidence, Bradley shows how Brecht became far more sensitive to his spectators' political views and cultural expectations, even making major tactical concessions in his 1951 production at the Berliner Ensemble. These compromises indicate that his 'mature' staging should not be regarded as definitive, for it was tailored to a unique and delicate situation. The Mother has appealed strongly to politically committed theatre practitioners both in and beyond Germany. By exploiting the text's generic hybridity and the interplay between Brecht's 'epic' and 'dramatic' elements, directors have interpreted it in radically different ways. So although Brecht's 1951 production stagnated into an affirmative GDR heritage piece, post-Brechtian directors have used The Mother to promote their own political and theatrical concerns, from anti-authoritarian theatre to reflections on the legacies of state Socialism. Their ideological and theatrical subversion have helped Brecht's text to outlive the political system that it came to uphold.

Essays on Brecht

Essays on Brecht
Author: Siegfried Mews
Publisher: University of North Carolina S
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2020
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9781469657950

These essays represent the push to provide interdisciplinary Brecht research to English-speaking audiences following his death in 1956 and offer novel readings of his works indicative of the major literary questions of the time. The essays explore both Brecht's theoretical approach and political thought, with many also taking a comparative approach to analysis of individual plays. The contributors are Reinhold Grimm, Karl-Heinz Schoeps, Herbert Knust, Hans Meyer, Siegfried Mews, Raymond English, James Lyon, Darko Suvin, Gisela Bahr, Grace Allen, Ralph Ley, John Fuegi, Andrzej Wirth and David Bathrick.

Brecht on Theatre

Brecht on Theatre
Author: Bertolt Brecht
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 346
Release: 1964
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 0809005425

Essays of Brecht translated and edited to explain his theories and discussion of his dramatic works.

Bertolt Brecht

Bertolt Brecht
Author: International Brecht Society
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Total Pages: 234
Release: 1980
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9780719008061

Postdramatic Theatre and the Political

Postdramatic Theatre and the Political
Author: Karen Jürs-Munby
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2013-12-19
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1408185881

Is postdramatic theatre political and if so how? How does it relate to Brecht's ideas of political theatre, for example? How can we account for the relationship between aesthetics and politics in new forms of theatre, playwriting, and performance? The chapters in this book discuss crucial aspects of the issues raised by the postdramatic turn in theatre in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century: the status of the audience and modes of spectatorship in postdramatic theatre; the political claims of postdramatic theatre; postdramatic theatre's ongoing relationship with the dramatic tradition; its dialectical qualities, or its eschewing of the dialectic; questions of representation and the real in theatre; the role of bodies, perception, appearance and theatricality in postdramatic theatre; as well as subjectivity and agency in postdramatic theatre, dance and performance. Offering analyses of a wide range of international performance examples, scholars in this volume engage with Hans-Thies Lehmann's theoretical positions both affirmatively and critically, relating them to other approaches by thinkers ranging from early theorists such as Brecht, Adorno and Benjamin, to contemporary thinkers such as Fischer-Lichte, Rancière and others

A Guide To The Plays Of Bertolt Brecht

A Guide To The Plays Of Bertolt Brecht
Author: Stephen Unwin
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2015-01-30
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 140815031X

Stephen Unwin's A Guide to the Plays of Bertolt Brecht is an indispensable, comprehensive and highly readable companion to the dramatic work of this challenging and rewarding writer. Besides providing detailed accounts of nineteen key plays, it explores their context and Brecht's dramatic theory to equip readers with a rich understanding of how Brecht's work was shaped by his times and by his evolving thinking about the function of theatre. Bertolt Brecht's work as a director, his critical and theoretical writing, and above all the remarkable plays that emerged from one of the most turbulent periods in history have had a profound and lasting influence on theatre. Central to theatre studies courses and whose plays are frequently revived on stage, Brecht is nevertheless perceived as a difficult writer. This companion is divided into two sections: the first seven chapters outline the tumultuous historical, cultural and theatrical context of Brecht's work. They explore his theatrical theory and provide an account of his approach to staging his plays which informs an understanding of how they work in practice. The second section provides an analysis of nineteen plays in six chronological groupings, each prefaced by a brief sketch of Brecht's life and theatrical development in that period. For each play, Stephen Unwin offers a synopsis, a critical commentary and an account of the work in performance. The book concludes with an examination of Brecht's legacy and a chronicle of his life and times. Written by experienced theatre director Stephen Unwin, this is the perfect companion to Brecht's plays and life for student and theatre practitioner alike.

Brecht in India

Brecht in India
Author: Prateek
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2022-05
Genre: Postcolonialism and theater
ISBN: 9780367619107

Brecht in India analyses the dramaturgy and theatrical practices of the German playwright Bertolt Brecht in post-independence India. The book explores how post-independence Indian drama is an instance of a cultural palimpsest, a site celebrating a dialogue between Western and Indian theatrical traditions, rather than a homogenous and isolated canon. Analysing the dissemination of a selection of Brecht's plays in the Hindi belt between the 1960s and the 1990s, this study demonstrates that Brecht's work provided aesthetic and ideological paradigms to modern Hindi playwrights, helping them develop and stage a national identity. The book also traces how the reception of Brecht was mediated in India, how it helped post-independence Indian playwrights formulate a political theatre, and how the dissemination of Brechtian aesthetics in India addressed the anxiety related to the stasis in Brechtian theatre in Europe. Tracking the dialogue between Brechtian aesthetics in India and Europe and a history of deliberate cultural resistance, Brecht in India is an invaluable resource for academics and students of theatre studies and theatre historiography, as well as scholars of post-colonial history and literature.

Brecht in Practice

Brecht in Practice
Author: David Barnett
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2014-11-20
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1408186020

David Barnett invites readers, students and theatre-makers to discover new ways of apprehending and making use of Brecht in this clear and accessible study of Brecht's theories and practices. The book analyses how Brecht's ideas can come alive in rehearsal and performance, and reveals just how carefully Brecht realized his vision of a politicized, interventionist theatre. What emerges is a nuanced understanding of Brecht's concepts, his work with actors and his approaches to directing. The reader is encouraged to engage with his method which sought to 'make theatre politically', in order to appreciate the innovations he introduced into his stagecraft. Barnett provides many examples of how Brecht's ideas can be staged, and the final chapter takes a closer look at two very different plays: one written by Brecht and one by a playwright with no acknowledged connection to Brecht. Through an interrogation of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui and Patrick Marber's Closer, Barnett asks how a Brechtian approach can enliven and illuminate production.