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9780809005420

Brecht on Theatre The Development of an Aesthetic

by ; ; ; ;
  • ISBN13:

    9780809005420

  • ISBN10:

    0809005425

  • Edition: Revised
  • Format: Paperback
  • Copyright: 1964-01-01
  • Publisher: Hill and Wang

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Supplemental Materials

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Summary

This volume offers a major selection of Bertolt Brecht's groundbreaking critical writing. Here, arranged in chronological order, are essays from 1918 to 1956, in which Brecht explores his definition of the Epic Theatre and his theory of alienation-effects in directing, acting, and writing, and discusses, among other works, "The Threepenny Opera, Mahagonny, Mother Courage, Puntila, "and "Galileo," Also included is "A Short Organum for the Theatre," Brecht's most complete exposition of his revolutionary philosophy of drama. Translated and edited by John Willett, "Brecht on Theater" is essential to an understanding of one of the twentieth century's most influential dramatists.

Author Biography

Bertolt Bertolt (1898-1956) was the most influential German dramatist and theoretician of the theater in the 20th century. Also a poet of formidable gifts and considerable output, Brecht first attracted attention in the Berlin of the 1920s as the author of provocative plays that challenged the tenets of traditional theater. Forced to flee Germany in 1933 because of his leftist political beliefs and opposition to the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler, Brecht and his family spent 14 years in exile in Scandinavia and the United States. Although he tried hard to become established in the United States, Brecht failed to make a breakthrough either as a scriptwriter in Hollywood, California, or as a playwright on Broadway. Two years later he moved to East Berlin and remained there until his death. In the 1950s he became an internationally acclaimed playwright and director through productions of his plays by the Berliner Ensemble, a company based in East Berlin and headed by his wife, actor Helene Weigel.

John Willett (1917-2002) was a noted scholar, author and translator. From the outset he was the prime editor and translator (with Ralph Manheim and others) behind Brecht in English. He was involved in the planning and translation of the programme book for the Berliner Ensemble's celebrated first visit to London in 1956 (the year of Brecht's own death); in 1959 he published the first general study in any language, The Theatre of Bertolt Brecht; he translated, edited and introduced the enormously influential Brecht on Theatre (1964); and he was a founding member of the International Brecht Society and sometime editor of its Yearbook.

Table of Contents

Introduction xiii
PART ONE 1918-1932
Frank Wedekind
3(1)
A Reckoning
4(2)
Emphasis on Sport
6(4)
Three Cheers for Shaw
10(4)
Conversation with Bert Brecht
14(4)
A Radio Speech
18(2)
Shouldn't we Abolish Aesthetics?
20(2)
The Epic Theatre and its Difficulties
22(2)
Last Stage: Oedipus
24(2)
A Dialogue about Acting
26(3)
On Form and Subject-Matter
29(2)
An Example of Paedagogics
31(2)
The Modern Theatre is the Epic Theatre
33(10)
The Literarization of the Theatre
43(4)
The Film, the Novel and Epic Theatre
47(4)
The Radio as an Apparatus of Communication
51(2)
The Question of Criteria for Judging Acting
53(4)
Indirect Impact of the Epic Theatre
57(8)
PART TWO 1933-1947
Interview with an Exile
65(4)
Theatre for Pleasure or Theatre for Instruction
69(8)
The German Drama: pre-Hitler
77(4)
Criticism of the New York Production of Die Mutter
81(3)
On the Use of Music in an Epic Theatre
84(7)
Alienation Effects in Chinese Acting
91(9)
Notes to Die Rundkopfe und die Spitzkopfe
100(4)
On Gestic Music
104(3)
The Popular and the Realistic
107(8)
On Rhymeless Verse with Irregular Rhythms
115(6)
The Street Scene
121(9)
On Experimental Theatre
130(6)
New Technique of Acting
136(12)
Two Essays on Unprofessional Acting
148(5)
Notes on the Folk Play
153(4)
Alienation Effects in the Narrative Pictures of the Elder Brueghel
157(2)
A Little Private Tuition for my Friend Max Gorelik
159(4)
Building up a Part: Laughton's Galileo
163(6)
`Der Messingkauf': an editorial note
169(10)
PART THREE 1947-1948
A Short Organum for the Theatre
179(30)
PART FOUR 1948-1956
Masterful Treatment of a Model
209(6)
From the Mother Courage Model
215(7)
Does Use of the Model Restrict the Artist's Freedom's
222(4)
Formal Problems Arising from the Theatre's New Content
226(4)
Stage Design for the Epic Theatre
230(3)
From a Letter to an Actor
233(3)
Some of the Things that can be Learnt from Stanislavsky
236(3)
Theaterarbeit: an editorial note
239(8)
Notes on Erwin Strittmatter's Play Katzgraben
247(5)
Study of the First Scene of Shakespeare's Coriolanus
252(14)
Cultural Policy and Academy of Arts
266(4)
Conversation about being Forced into Empathy
270(2)
Classical Status as an Inhibiting Factor
272(2)
Can the Present-day World be Reproduced by Means of Theatre?
274(2)
Appendices to the `Short Organum'
276(5)
`Dialectics in the Theatre': an editorial note
281(2)
Our London Season
283(1)
Other English Translations 284(2)
Index 286

Supplemental Materials

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The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

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