Notes on Brecht from Mother Courage BBC Documentaries

-          Brecht has a split mind between the academic and more theatrical side of writing, directing and devising.

-          He believed in telling a story being the most important part of a piece of theatre; conveying a message. Often his pieces were a story within a story, a technique often used by other playwrights for example, Shakespeare (i.e. The Taming of the Shrew).

-          He wanted the audience to be fully aware they were watching a play. Playing on belief and disbelief.

-          One of Brecht’s most famous passions is for simplicity. Often in Brechtian theatre the stage is bear and fully visible, the stage crew in their normal clothes maybe even openly watching the action.

-          The ‘alienation’ effects that Brecht used are now a part of traditional theatre.

-          His work is more like un-theatre.

-          It is a message, not entertainment.

-          These are not techniques or systems – they are merely ideas.

-          He aimed for his plays to challenge thought and inspire change. Dialectical theatre.

-          Unlike much professional productions now, actors spent a long time still on their script before learning their lines.

-          A critical distance is left between the audience and the stage.

-          Much like Augusto Boal’s forum theatre, Brecht liked his work to be watched, judged and changed by the audience. They were actively involved.

-          Brecht believed in the “Art of being a spectator”.

-          He did not regard his scripts as being finished. The play was to be watched not read and the observed production was the finished product and only that. For example, the narrator parts in The Caucasian Chalk Circle are often turned in to song and are therefore not complete until the opening night.

-          Brecht was extremely open to changes with his script, characters and staging.

-          He began rather apathetic in his youth but grew to have a passion for inspiring change.

-          Hitler parody – large gestures showed how Brecht liked a story to ride on the action not the words, and with the purpose of making a comment.

-          DIALECTIC – the art or practice of arriving at the truth by the exchange of logical argument.