Bertolt Brecht - Education Scotland

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6 THE TOP TEN ‘Interview with an Exile’ will also give a clue as to why Brecht had so much time for Charlie Chaplin and what he interpreted as the distancing effect of Chaplin’s acting style. The book contains a generous and helpful collection of illustrations: Caspar Neher design drawings; action photographs from various productions which reveal aspects of staging (pre- and post-Epic) – from Baal, through the Lehrstücke, to Galileo and beyond; extracts from model books, and influences on Brecht (a painting by Brueghel; a production by Piscator, etc.). As the title of the book suggests, Brecht’s theory and practice underwent a significant development between his productions of Baal and The Caucasian Chalk Circle. Here, that development is traced in his own (translated) words. Willett, John, The Theatre of Bertolt Brecht: A study from eight aspects, London: Methuen, rev. 1977 The second of the two most important books for students of Brecht. Willett’s seminal work contains just about everything you need to know about Brecht: his life, his influences, his art, his theories, his politics. There is also an ‘analysis’ (less an analysis and more a plot outline) of forty plays from Baal to Turandot, necessarily brief, but which contain production details such as first production dates, and names of collaborators, designers and musicians. This is a book to read at length. All other books on Brecht must use this as a yardstick. Eddershaw, Margaret, Performing Brecht: forty years of British performances, London: Routledge, 1996 An absolute gem of a book for drama and theatre students. If Epic Theatre is as much about attitude and commitment as it is about acting style, design and production technique, then this book marries the disparate areas that make up Brecht the man and Brecht the cultural institution. Eddershaw is careful to see Brecht as a theatre practitioner above all else. Her opening section deals with the differences and similarities between what both Stanislavski and Brecht achieved and desired. It is a subject to which she has returned in this book from an earlier essay, ‘Acting methods: Brecht and Stanislavski’, found in Bartram and Waine (see page 10). DRAMA
THE TOP TEN It is an important distinction, one that troubles many students (as well as actors and directors!). In many ways, what these two were after was not so very different; in others, they were poles apart. Eddershaw picks her way through this minefield adroitly and lucidly. From here, the book illustrates the work of Brecht and Brechtian work in Britain. Marvellous case studies from the very early, and often misjudged, years (Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop’s Mother Courage and The Royal Court’s The Good Woman of Setzuan, both from 1956) are followed by a mixture of more and less successful ones. The Scots actor Bill Paterson supplies a great deal of mileage for an investigation of acting in work by Brecht. This can be found in Eddershaw’s discussion of the National Theatre’s 1982 production of Schweyk in the Second World War (the fourth section of the book, ‘Performing ‘Classical’ Brecht: Making the Strange Familiar’). Three lengthy sections follow, looking at the Santa Monica version of The Good Person of Sichuan as directed by Deborah Warner at the National in 1989 (for this translation by M Hofmann, see page 16); Philip Prowse’s 1990 Mother Courage at The Citizens, and a Di Trevis production of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, at the National again, in 1991. Eddershaw is careful to use these three productions to balance the ‘hit-andmiss’ affair of performing Brecht today. She sees Warner’s Sichuan as sentimental and non-political; Prowse’s Courage as designer-led (no surprises there), and the Trevis Ui as a success. Throughout, the book concentrates on the realisation of Brechtian theory as practice, and as such, it gives vital clues and information to actors, designers and directors of Brecht. Willett, John, Brecht in Context: Comparative Approaches, London: Methuen, 1984 No apologies for more Willett. This is another important book. The chapter on the influence of Kipling (pp44–58) is very interesting. The mere fact that there is a connection between the two, given their political persuasions, is worth noting. Willett draws on Brecht’s humanism – not done often enough – and his approach to using language, being an ‘un-literary’ writer, and on his preference for actions rather than emotions. DRAMA 7
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Page 5: SECTION 1 THE TOP TEN Most departme
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Page 11 and 12: THE TOP TEN As one might expect, th
Page 13 and 14: THE TOP TEN Jackson’s usual hones
Page 15 and 16: SECTION 2 WORKS BY BERTOLT BRECHT M
Page 17 and 18: WORKS BY BERTOLT BRECHT The current
Page 19 and 20: SECTION 3 THE WORLD WIDE WEB One of
Page 21 and 22: Ensemble produced both Drums in the
Page 23 and 24: Recordings THE WORLD WIDE WEB Many
Page 25 and 26: SECTION 4 CRITICAL STUDIES Bate, J,
Page 27 and 28: CRITICAL STUDIES Calandra, D, Germa
Page 29 and 30: CRITICAL STUDIES the kind, of cours
Page 31 and 32: CRITICAL STUDIES conventions, etc.
Page 33 and 34: CRITICAL STUDIES discuss a 1979 pro
Page 35 and 36: CRITICAL STUDIES Sebald, W G (ed.),
Page 37 and 38: CRITICAL STUDIES There is also an e

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