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.
The Berliner Ensemble was founded by Bertolt Brecht and his wife Helene Weigel in 1949. The company soon gained international prominence, and its productions and philosophy influenced the work of ...theatre-makers around the world. David Barnett's book is the first study of the company in any language. Based on extensive archival research, it uncovers Brecht's working methods and those of the company's most important directors after his death. The book considers the boon and burden of Brecht's legacy and provides new insights into battles waged behind the scenes for the preservation of the Brechtian tradition. The Berliner Ensemble was also the German Democratic Republic's most prestigious cultural export, attracting attention from the highest circles of government, and from the Stasi, before it privatised itself after German reunification in 1990. Barnett pieces together a complex history that sheds light on both the company's groundbreaking productions and their turbulent times.
This book contains unique information about Bertolt Brecht and East Asian theatre. It focuses in particular on China and offers first and detailed accounts of important Brecht productions from those ...directly involved. Hence it grants remarkable insight into the problems of modern Chinese theatre and its relationship to Western theatre and into possible future developments. The book also throws light on Brecht's work and suggests ways of 're-producing' Brecht in the West. It consists of papers presented at a Hong Kong conference by distinguished Western critics (John Willett, Klaus Volker) and prominent practitioners of the theatre in China - directors (Huang Zuolin, Chen Yong), stage designers, translators and scholars. There are also accounts of Brecht productions in Japan and India, which form a stimulating contrast with the Chinese experience. With a wealth of practical examples, the book enables us to appreciate how theatre develops within different social structures. Presenting examples of cultural affinity and cultural disjunction, it also makes a useful contribution to intercultural study.
Staging History analyzes the commitment to social change present in the theatrical and theoretical writings of Bertolt Brecht. Challenging previous notions, Astrid Oesmann argues that Brecht’s work ...was less dependent on Marxist ideology than is often assumed and that his work should be seen as a coherent whole. Brecht used the stage to release political ideas into experimental spaces in which actors and spectators could explore the relationships between abstract thought and concrete social life. Oesmann places Brecht within the context of the major leftist theorists of the twentieth century, particularly Adorno, Benjamin, and Lukàcs, focusing on their discussions of realism, aesthetics, natural history, and mimesis. Oesmann elaborates upon the vision of a “counter-public sphere” in a number of Brecht’s theoretical texts and plays—especially The Three Penny Trial and Fear and Misery of the Third Reich—that present the emergence of such a sphere in the face of fascism. By exploring Brecht’s theoretical writings, selected plays, and recently published theatrical fragments, Oesmann reveals unpredictable constructions of history and surprising distinctions among various political ideologies, while also proving that Brecht remains vitally relevant to a “post-communist” world.
Bertolt brecht in america Lyon, James K; Lyon, James K
2014., 20140701, 2014, 1980, 2014-07-14, Letnik:
657
eBook
This colorful account of Bertolt Brecht's move from Germany to America during the Hitler era explores his activities as a Hollywood writer, a playwright determined to conquer Broadway, a political ...commentator and activist, a social observer, and an exile in an alien land.
Originally published in 1983.
ThePrinceton Legacy Libraryuses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
Brecht hatte sich schon früh mit dem altchinesischen Denker Laotse beschäftigt und war begeistert. Sein bislang noch wenig behandelter Zeitungstext
erzählt die Legende von der Entstehung des
nach und ...ist das erste prosaische Zeichen der Bewunderung: Brecht plädierte implizit für ein Leben nach Laotses Lehre. Dreizehn Jahre später hatte Brecht die Legende von der Entstehung des
wieder aufgenommen, um sie in das Gedicht
umzugestalten. Das Exil veränderte Brechts Selbstbewusstsein. Brecht aktualisierte seine Beziehung zu Laotse, indem er sein Selbstbildnis in Laotses Schicksal auftauchen ließ. Auf diese Weise der Aktualisierung wird
politisch.
A comprehensive re-examination of Brechtian film theory
Making a compelling argument for the continuing relevance of Brechtian film theory and cinema, this book offers new research and analysis of ...Brecht the film and media theorist, placing his scattered writings on the subject within the lively film theory debates that took place in Europe between the 1920s–1960s. Furthermore, Angelos Koutsourakis identifies key points of convergence between Brecht's 'unfinished project' and contemporary film and media theory. With case studies of films ranging from Robert Roberto Rossellini's Paisà to Bernardo Bertolucci's 1900 and Joshua Oppenheimer's The Act of Killing amongst others, this study challenges many existing preconceptions about Brecht's theoretical position and invites readers to discover new ways of apprehending and making use of Brecht in film studies.
Die vorliegenden Bände versammeln jene Briefe, die Bertolt Brecht während der Zeit seines Exils (1933–1949) erhielt. Es handelt sich dabei um bisher zum größten Teil unveröffentlichte Briefe ...(Initial- ebenso wie Antwortbriefe), die komplementär zu Brechts eigenen Briefen, publiziert in der Großen Berliner und Frankfurter Ausgabe, erstmals einen umfassenden Einblick geben in seine Beziehungen zu Freunden, Geliebten, Mitarbeitern, Genossen und Geschäftspartnern. Auch über Brechts äußerst vielfältige Produktion im Exil gibt die Korrespondenz aus ganz unterschiedlichen Perspektiven Aufschluss. Von herausragender kulturgeschichtlicher Bedeutung, dokumentieren die hier versammelten Briefe das intellektuelle Leben der 1930er und 1940er Jahre in Europa und Amerika sowie die persönliche Situation vieler Intellektueller und Künstler. Unter Brechts Briefpartnern jener Jahre finden sich so bedeutende Namen wie Walter Benjamin, Arnold Zweig, Lion Feuchtwanger, Ernst Bloch, George Grosz, Erwin Piscator, Heinrich und Thomas Mann. Die Briefe werden durch eine Einleitung, Kommentare und Indizes erschlossen.
