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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.

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.

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

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Brecht on Theatre The Development of an Aesthetic

Brecht on Theatre The Development of an Aesthetic

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