Brechtian Productions and Techniques

Brecht’s plays in order of production.

·         Drums in the Night (1922)

·         Baal (1923)

·         In the Jungle of the Cities (1923)

·         Edward II (1924)

·         The Elephant Calf (1925)

·         Man Equals Man (1926)

·         The Threepenny Opera (1928)

·         Happy End (1929)

·         Lindbergh's Flight (1929)

·         He Who Says Yes (1929)

·         Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (1930)

·         He Who Says No (1930)

·         The Measures Taken (1930)

·         The Mother (1932)

·         The Seven Deadly Sins (1933)

·         The Roundheads and the Peakheads (1936)

·         The Exception and the Rule (1936)

·         Fear and Misery of the Third Reich (1938)

·         Señora Carrara's Rifles (1937)

·         The Trial of Lucullus (1939)

·         Mother Courage and Her Children (1941)

·         Mr Puntila and His Man Matti (1941)

·         Life of Galileo (1943)

·         The Good Person of Sezuan (1943)

·         Schweik in the Second World War (1944)

·         The Visions of Simone Machard (1944)

·         The Caucasian Chalk Circle (1945)

·         The Days of the Commune (1949)

·         The Tutor (1950)

·         The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (1958)

·         Saint Joan of the Stockyards (1959)

KEY BRECHTIAN TECHNIQUES:

Signs and banners: Often Brecht would use these to convey messages to audiences. These messages could be names of characters, emotions or commands. A popular one was “STOP BEING SO EMOTIONAL” as he was a strong believer in objective audiences, not passive emotional ones.

Songs and narration: In many scripts written by Brecht there are narrators and/or singers. These play similar roles. Often the songs in Brechtian theatre are not self indulgent and emotional. They all have a purpose and will often narrate the action going on onstage. I was in a production of The Caucasian Chalk Circle and I was one of 9 singers. The songs were still beautiful but they had a purpose, in this case explaining Grusha’s journey – “When Grusha Vashnadze left the city/On the Grucinian highway/On the way to the Northern mountains/She sang a song, she bought some milk”.

Naming: Brecht’s characters were representations of parts of society and often their names echoed this. For example, the archetype of an old woman might be portrayed by a character named “Old Woman” – and this might be explained through a placard or sign. Even when characters did have names, such as Kattrin in Mother Courage and her Children, their journeys were put in place to make a point, explore an issue and to make the audience think. They were not put in as emotional plot devices so the audience can be passive and taken over by emotion. Brecht wished to cause change.

Detaching the audience: Brecht used lighting effects and sound effects to detach his audience from emotional content onstage. He did this so they would think subjectively about the issues being explored and would feel less engrossed in the action; aware that they were watching a play with purpose.