Bertolt Brecht - Education Scotland

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CRITICAL STUDIES
Delgado, M M, and Heritage, P (eds.), In Contact with the Gods?: Directors
talk Theatre, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1996
A series of interesting essays from around the world. From Brecht admirers
like Augusto Boal to others less enamoured like Jorge Lavelli. Lavelli is a Parisbased
Argentinian who does not so much dislike the work or ideas of Brecht
as the rigid icon he became; he also disapproves of what he perceives to be
the shackling of artistic freedom endemic in the Brecht heritage. The Italian
director Giorgio Strehler also writes a great deal of sense about Brecht’s
political persuasion.
Demetz, P (ed.), Brecht: A collection of critical essays, Englewood Cliffs,
USA: Prentice-Hall, 1962
A difficult book to purchase today, but so old that it is usually available in
libraries.
A selection of essays on theory, several plays (e.g. Caucasian Chalk Circle, The
Life of Galileo, Mother Courage and Her Children, Saint Joan of the
Stockyards), music and language.
However, the highlight of the book has to be an abridged, hilarious transcript
of ‘The Testimony of Berthold Brecht: Hearings of the House Committee on
Un-American Activities’ given on 30 October 1947, in which Brecht runs rings
round his interrogators from what has become known as the ‘McCarthy Witchhunt’.
DiCenzo, M, The Politics of Alternative Theatre in Britain, 1968–1990: the
case of 7:84 (Scotland), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996
There is a considerable section on McGrath’s The Cheviot, The Stag and The
Black, Black Oil, in the chapter ‘From theory to practice: the plays’ (pp151–
219). This also contains a lucid explanation of the debt McGrath owes to
Brecht and Epic theatre.
A super book which might also be considered a good buy for the purposes of
the Higher Unit 3: Contemporary Scottish Theatre.
Docherty, Brian (ed.), European Drama, London: Macmillan, 1994
The chapter by Ronald Spiers, ‘Brecht’s Theory and Practice’ (pp26–41), is
interesting on Brecht’s use of masks and the role of emotion and empathy in
Brecht’s theatre.
Esslin, M, Brecht: A Choice of Evils, London: Heinemann, 1959
Some people swear by this book, others at it. Like many critics who have
problems with Brecht’s politics (Brustein, Spiers, Hayman, etc.), there is a
patronising air about this study, implying that Brecht was a great artist
somewhat by accident; that his art ‘transcended’ his politics. It did nothing of
DRAMA