Bertolt Brecht's Dramatic Theory

THE MESSINGKAUF PROJECT (1939–1956) ♦ 291
Thomas: [. . .] Darum ist die theatralische Darbietung, wie sie durch
den Faschismus gegeben wird, kein gutes Beispiel eines
Theaters, wenn man von ihm Darstellungen haben will, die
den Zuschauern den Schlüssel für die Bewältigung der
Probleme des gesellschaftlichen Zusammenlebens aus-
händigen.
Karl: Es ist schwierig, zu diesem Schluß ja zu sagen. Er verwirft
eine Praxis der Theater, die durch Jahrtausende geübt
wurde.
Thomas: Meinst du, die Praxis des Anstreichers ist neu?
(GBA, 22:569)
Hitler appropriates the identificatory techniques of a type of theater that
would never have been in a position to prevent him from winning hearts, if
not minds. In one fell swoop, the workings of a false “Theatralik” have been
exposed, Aristotelian drama has received a further broadside and the aims
and methods of Epic Theater have been further sanctioned within a dialogue
that might itself lay claim to being called “epic.”
“Einfühlung” and Its Consequences
“Über die Theatralik des Faschismus” draws a forceful analogy between the
demagogic abuse of audience identification and the manipulative effects of
Aristotelian theater. The essay’s removal from the Messingkauf project risked
leaving this ultimate theoretical work without a major statement of Brecht’s
current thinking on why emotional identification was politically so dangerous.
To compensate for this omission, an essay entitled “Einfühlung” was
added to the First Night 52 materials during the 1941–43 phase (GBA,
22:784–86). This replacement piece is Brecht’s most authoritative statement
on the subject since the unpublished “Thesen über die Aufgabe der Ein-
fühlung in den theatralischen Künsten” of circa 1935 (GBA, 22:175–76);
whereas the theses merely hint that the status of “Einfühlung (Identifika-
tion)” will have to be rethought in light of Epic Theater’s advances, the new
essay attempts to carry out that task. As yet it only refers to the methods and
goals of Epic Theater in an indirect manner. It will not be until the next
phase of the project that “Einfühlung” receives fuller critical treatment
within the context of Epic Theater: in B 161 (an unassigned piece). While
the faults of the Stanislavskian approach are often presented in magisterial essay
form, the circumscribed role “Einfühlung” plays within the preparatory
52 A plan from this time, entitled “Thema der Ersten Nacht” (GBA, 22:767), indicates
two items that might have served as a peg for the essay: “Illusion” and “Der
Naturalismus.”