Brecht on Performance

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) is acknowledged as one of the great dramatists whose plays, work with the Berliner Ensemble and writing have had a considerable influence on the theatre. His landmark plays include The Threepenny Opera and, while exiled from Germany and living in the USA, such masterpieces as The Life of Galileo, Mother Courage and The Caucasian Chalk Circle.Editors: Tom Kuhn is Professor of 20th century German Literature at St Hugh's College, University of Oxford, UK, and General Editor of Methuen Drama's Brecht publications. Steve Giles is Emeritus Professor of German Studies and Critical Theory at the University of Nottingham, UK. Marc Silberman is Professor of German at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, USA.

Brecht on Performance is a vital aid to English speakers in understanding Brecht as a theatre practitioner as well as what constitutes Brechtian performance. For the first time, a full edition of the unfinished Messingkauf — translated as Buying Brass — is available in English. [This book] will allow Anglophone scholars and performance practitioners to revisit Brecht’s influence as a writer, theoretician, and theatre maker specifically, but also — more generally — the relationship between political thought and aesthetics, and between the theory and the practice of making art.

• General Introduction and AcknowledgementsPart One – The Messingkauf, or Buying BrassIntroduction to Buying BrassPreambleFirst Night(i) Setting the Scene(ii) Naturalism, Realism, Empathy(iii) Tragedy; Learning, Science, MarxismSecond Night(i) Intoxication, Empathy, V-effect(ii) Acting, Performance(iii) Science, Social Class, Learning(iv) Elizabethan Theatre, Shakespeare(v) The Augsburger, PiscatorThird Night(i) The Fourth Wall, Emotion; V-effect, Acting(ii) The Augsburger, Piscator, Weigel(iii) Social Science and Art(iv) ‘Extreme Situations’Fourth Night(i) The Nature of Art(ii) Emotion, Critique, Representation (iii) The Augsburger (iv) Shakespeare(v) FinaleMiscellaneous Texts(i) Illusionism, Realism, Naturalism; Social Function of Theatre; Empathy(ii) Acting(iii) Thaëter, Piscator, NeherPlans and Appendices(i) Plans(ii) AppendicesPractice Pieces for Actors(i) Parallel ScenesThe Murder in the Porter’s Lodge(Parallel Scene to Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 2)The Battle of the Fishwives(Parallel to Schiller’s Maria Stuart, Act 3)(ii) Intercalary ScenesFerry Scene(To be played between Scenes 3 and 4, Act 4 of Shakespeare’s Hamlet)The Servants(To be played between Scenes 1 and 2, Act 2 of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet)(iii) Circular PoemsPart Two – ModelbooksIntroduction to the ModelbooksOn Life of Galileo (1947/48) from Constructing a Role: Laughton’s GalileoForewordA Sequence from Scene One: Rotation of the Earth and Rotation of the BrainBackground to the Performance On The Antigone of Sophocles (1947/48) from Antigone Model 1948ForewordRuth Berlau’s Prefatory NotePrelude and Bridge to Scene OneNeher’s Second Design for the Antigone StageOn Mother Courage and Her Children (1949/50/51) from Courage Model 1949Opening RemarksNotes and Scene-Photos for the Prologue, Scenes One and TwoDetails from Scene ThreeVariations in Berlin and MunichConcluding Texts from the Model: Scene Twelve From Theatre Work (1952)Some Remarks on My DisciplineBertolt Brecht’s Stage DirectionPhases of a Stage DirectionFive Notes on ActingThe Berliner Ensemble ModelsTheatre PhotographyDoes Use of the Model Restrict Artistic FreedomHow Erich Engel Uses the ModelHow the Director Brecht Uses His Own ModelFrom the Correspondence of the Berliner Ensemble about the ModelCreative Evaluation of ModelsFrom Katzgraben Notes 1953Epic TheatreRehearsal MethodsSceneryCrises and ConflictsPolitics in the TheatreIII,2 Constructing a HeroIs Katzgraben a Proselytizing Play?The Verse FormVerfremdungII, 3 [Revelation and Justification]EmpathyThe New Farmer, the Medium Farmer, the Big FarmerWhat Are Our Actors Actually Doing?The Positive HeroSecond Dress RehearsalCriticism of Elli and Criticism of Elli 2New Content – New FormDi Trevis: “Acting is Not Theoretical”Select BibliographyIndex of Names and Key Terms