1,362,677 research outputs found
Brecht and China : a mutual response
No full textThis thesis deals with the cross-cultural relations between Brecht and China
through an analysis of how Brecht responded to the traditional Chinese theatre and
how his drama was received in turn by modern Chinese theatre. It attempts to
examine the respective socio-cultural or political contexts wherein such kind of crosscultural
contacts were needed, and the consequent aesthetic-theatrical as well as
socio-cultural or political changes brought about by these contacts that have produced
two distinctively independent yet related forms of theatre.
It is argued that Brecht's search for a theatre style of his own amidst the sociocultural
as well as political crises between the two world wars made him look to the
East for inspirations, and his direct encounter with Mei Lanfang enabled him to
interpret the latter's acting in such a way that he responded to it with his postulation of
the alienation effect and modification of a gestic performance style. His repudiation
of the well-made dramatic theatre brought his epic theatre closer to the traditional
Chinese theatre whose aesthetic principles he shared in constructing a non-
Aristotelian episodic form of drama. In his experimentations with new modes of
theatrical expressions, he did not simply borrow or copy the forms and content of
classical Chinese drama; he appropriated, transformed and renewed them, for
example, in The Caucasian Chalk Circle, for the particular purpose of instructing
audiences in a scientific age.
China! s reception of Brecht has had much to do with the country's changing
socio-cultural as well as political situations. Chinese theatre practitioners responded
to him because he was a politically, culturally and aesthetically suitable figure. His
epic drama provided an alternative style for the Chinese in their attempt to innovate
their realist spoken drama imported from the West, and was also introduced into local
forms of performing arts in hope that the traditional Chinese theatre could be
resurrected. Furthermore, he prompted Huang Zuolin to theoretically re-examine
Chinese operas, which the latter integrated with techniques of Brecht and
Stanislavsky into spoken drama to establish a new theatre style called Xieyi drama
Translating Brecht : versions of "Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder" for the British stage
No full textThis study analyses five British translations of Bertolt Brecht's 'Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder'. Two of these translations were written by speakers of German, and three by well-known British playwrights with no knowledge of the source text language. Four have been produced in mainstream British theatres in the past twenty-five years. The study applies translation studies methodology to a textual analysis which focuses on the translation of techniques of linguistic "Verfremdung", as well as linguistic expression of the comedy and of the political dimension in the work. It thus closes the gap in current Brecht research in examining the importance of his idiosyncratic use of language to the translation and reception of his work in the UK. The study assesses the ways in which the translator and director are influenced by Brecht's legacy in the UK and in turn, what image of Brecht they mediate through the production on stage. To this end, the study throws light on the formation of Brecht's problematic reputation in the UK, and it also highlights the social and political circumstances in early twentieth century Germany which prompted Brecht to develop his theory of an epic theatre.
The focus on a linguistic examination allows the translator's contribution to the production process to be isolated. Together with an investigation of the reception of each performance text, this in turn facilitates a more accurate assessment of the translator and director's respective influence in the process of transforming a foreign-language text onto a local stage. The analysis also sheds light on the different approaches taken by speakers of German, and playwrights creating an English version from a literal translation. It pinpoints losses in translation and adaptation, and suggests how future versions may avoid these
Berlim, Chicago, São Paulo: o teatro de Bertolt Brecht na selva das grandes cidades
No full textDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Comunicação e Expressão, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Literatura, Florianópolis, 2011Este trabalho tem como objetivo fazer uma reflexão sobre a relação dos indivíduos com o processo de formação das cidades no mundo moderno, a partir de temas como família, dinheiro, sexualidade, poder, sobrevivência, solidão e liberdade. O material escolhido para a análise é o texto teatral Na selva das cidades, de Bertolt Brecht. O que se quer com isso, é dialogar com os questionamentos que Brecht fazia a um mundo em constante transformação nos primeiros anos do século XX. Um mundo do qual fazia parte e que procurava entender pela ótica das cidades. O trabalho é composto de uma parte teórica e uma prática. A teórica se dedica às reflexões centrais a partir dos temas suscitados pela análise e está concentrada nos três primeiros capítulos. A parte prática marca o encontro da experiência artística com a acadêmica e se traduz na criação de um texto teatral exposto no quarto capítulo. Desbravar a selva de pedra de Brecht e tentar conhecê-la em suas nuances pouco exploradas é um grande desafio e uma experiência altamente inspiradora. É uma viagem ao início da primeira fase da obra brechtiana que pode nos levar a novas descobertas sobre o papel das grandes metrópoles na vida dos indivíduos e ao encontro de caminhos que nos tragam de volta à nossa própria selva de pedra.This dissertation aims to think over the relationship between individuals and the process of formation of cities in the modern world, from themes such as family, money, sexuality, power, survival, loneliness and freedom. The material chosen for the analysis is the theatrical text In the Jungle of Cities, Bertolt Brecht. The proposal is to dialogue with the questions that Brecht asked for a changing world in the early years of the twentieth century. A world to which he belonged and which sought to understand through the perspective of cities. The work consists of theoretical and practical parts. The theory is devoted to central reflections from the issues raised by the analysis and is concentrated in the first three chapters. The practical part marks the connection of the artistic and the academic experiences and it is translated through the creation of a theatrical text displayed in the fourth chapter. Breaking the concrete jungle of Brecht and try to know it in its unexplored nuances is a great challenge and a highly inspiring experience. It is a journey to the beginning of Brecht´s first work phase, that can lead us to new discoveries about the role of large cities in the lives of individuals and to different paths that bring us back to our own concrete jungle
Homenaje a bertolt brecht
No full textComprende los textos: Diario 1948, de Max Frisch (traducción de Elviera Bobach); Brecht y la actualidad del realismo, de Elviera Bobach; Textos inéditos en español -- 'Pequeña contribución al problema del realismo' (traducción de Elviera Bobach), 'Sobre la verdad' y Anexos a la teoría de 'La compra del latón' (traducción de Freddy Téllez)
Brecht as a Stranger in a Postdramatic Era : <em>Fatzer </em>at Deutsches Theater 2016
No full textAccording to Hans-Thies Lehmann it is impossible to think of postdramatic theater without the necessary steps that Brecht took. Given his strong emphasis on the narrative, Brecht is not postdramatic, but his theories about Verfremdung, Gestus and audience are groundbreaking steps towards postdramatic theater. Several theorists have already analyzed the relation between Brecht and postmodern/postdramatic theater (Badiou, Barnett, Fuchs, Jameson, Varney, Wirth, Wright). Barnett argues that it is impossible to combine Brecht with the postdramatic after analyzing a couple of productions that have tried this. The reason for their failure is seen in the problem of representation. In contradiction to this assumption I will argue that a postdramatic production could indeed reactivate Brecht’s theories and strengthen their possible effect. Brecht remains a stranger in the encounter with postdramatic theater (another stranger in a theater culture that is still dominated by dramatic plays and psychological realism), but the meeting between these two strangers can be fruitful. In this contribution I analyze the production of Fatzer at Deutsches Theater, Berlin directed by Tom Kühnel and Jürgen Kuttner in Berlin in 2016.</p
Performing Sexual Difference: a feminist appropriation of Brecht
No full textReproduced with the kind permission of the International Brecht Societ
Heiner Müller as the End of Brechtian Dramaturgy: Müller on Brecht in Two Lesser-Known Fragments
No full textTwo lesser-known fragments written by Heiner Müller in 1979 and 1990 openly refer to Brecht and offer perspectives on the problematic relationship between the two playwrights. Form and content in Brechtian dialectical theatre are treated ironically in both fragments. Müller reveals an ambivalence that accepts the tenets of Brechtian dramaturgy in order to surpass them. Müller criticizes perceived limitations in Brecht's poetics yet redirects the dialectic for the postmodern times in which he lived. The degree to which Müller radicalizes Brecht's principles and practice represents an endpoint of (but not an all-out break with) Brechtian dramaturgy. An important corollary of this conclusion is that Müller is still associated with the Enlightenment project. This latter assertion is at odds with many readings of the later plays as documentations of ‘the end of history’, a category Müller roundly criticized in his life and resisted in his own dialectical drama
Brecht on Performance
No full textBrecht on Performance: Messingkauf and Modelbooks presents a selection of Brecht's principal writings for directors and theatre practitioners, and is suitable for acting schools, directors, actors, students and teachers of Theatre Studies. Through these texts Brecht provides a general practical approach to acting and to realising texts for the stage that crystallises and makes concrete many of the more theoretical aspects of his other writing.
The volume is in two parts. The first features an entirely new commentated edition of Brecht's dialogues and essays about the practice of theatre, known as the Messingkauf, or Buying Brass, including the 'Practice Pieces' for actors (rehearsal scenes for classics by Shakespeare and Schiller). The second contains rehearsal and production records from Brecht's work on productions of Life of Galileo, Antigone, Mother Courage and others.</JATS1:p
Focus on the body: towards a feminist reading of Brecht in performance
No full textDeposited with permission of the International Brecht Society.In 1993 I directed Brecht’s The Good Person of Sichuan at the Open Stage Theatre at the University of Melbourne. Like most directors, I found the text’s tightly woven and theoretically inscribed composition resistance to meddling. Brecht’s dramaturgy, structured on a Marxist-derived aesthetic and embodied in the techniques of Verfremdung and Gestus, weighs heavily on the creative development of the play in performance. I am in full sympathy with Leander Haussman’s claim that Brecht’s plays are constructed linguistically and dramaturgically like a house of cards and therefore can only be reproduced by slaves to the text. Not wanting to be a slave but also, unlike Haussman, unwilling not to do Brecht, I prowled for gaps into which our production could insert a differently-motivated, feminist mise-en-scene
Bertolt Brecht und Anna Achmatova: an existence in dark times
No full textreservedL’obiettivo di questa tesi comparativa è quello di analizzare due personalità di spicco della letteratura mondiale del XX secolo: da un lato Bertolt Brecht nel panorama letterario tedesco e dall’altro la poetessa Anna Achmatova in quello russo, a partire dagli anni ‘30 del Novecento. L’epoca storica analizzata riflette da un lato le circostanze politiche e sociali di dittatura vissute da entrambi gli autori (nazionalsocialismo e stalinismo), seppure in contesti geografici diversi, rilevando dei punti di contatto, convergenza. Dall’altro lato, invece, vengono sottolineate le divergenze tra questi scrittori, esplorando come Brecht e Achmatova reagirono al totalitarismo di cui furono vittime.
In che modo affrontarono l’oppressione? Quale fu la loro posizione rispetto all’esilio? L’elaborato si propone di mettere in luce la direzione che presero le vite di questi due autori sotto a regimi totalitari simili: l’emigrazione, esilio forzato nel caso di Brecht e al contrario il totale rifiuto di emigrare nel caso di Anna Achhmatova.
Per rispondere alla domanda di ricerca, il lavoro prende in esame alcune opere di Brecht e Achmatova che risultano particolarmente significative in quanto testimonianza del terribile dramma del Novecento e critica contro il regime totalitario.
Il Leitmotiv è rappresentato dalla riflessione sulla stretta interazione tra intellettuale e contesto storico, culturale vissuto- un rapporto inevitabilmente difficile alla luce dell’epoca travagliata trattata. Proprio da tale considerazione deriva il titolo della tesi: “Bertolt Brecht e Anna Achmatova: un’esistenza in tempi bui”.
La tesi si compone di due parti. La prima parte è dedicata alla figura di Brecht, che in seguito all’ascesa del nazionalsocialismo in Germania fu costretto all’esilio, un esilio che lo portò ad un costante e lungo peregrinare attraverso vari paesi. Ciononostante, tale periodo fu particolarmente fertile da un punto di vista letterario, portandolo alla stesura non solo di notevoli opere teatrali, ma anche poesie di impegno politico, contribuendo al filone della cosiddetta letteratura dell’esilio.
La seconda parte, invece, ruota attorno alla vita drammatica di Anna Achmatova, che durante l’era di Stalin si rifiutò di lasciare la patria Russia. Tale scelta la portò inevitabilmente a confrontarsi con conseguenze che ebbero forti ripercussioni sulla sua vita. La sua straordinaria forza morale e il suo impatto la resero senza dubbio voce della sofferenza russa causata dall'oppressione e la portarono per questo a esser definita “Anna di tutte le Russie”.
Il metodo adottato consiste in un’analisi comparativa, che si fonda sul binomio di esilio e rifiuto dell’esilio. La tesi sottolinea gli effetti simili dei regimi del nazismo e dello stalinismo sulla produzione di Bertolt Brecht e Anna Achmatova, la questione dell’impegno e della responsabilità dell’intellettuale nella lotta contro la dittatura. Ad un’attenta analisi è possibile rintracciare un filo conduttore che lega i destini dei due scrittori: come nel caso di Brecht, anche per la poetessa Achmatova la sua vita e i suoi scritti furono prodotto e riflesso della storia del suo paese in un arco temporale ben preciso, dimostrando come anche un contesto di repressione possa portare ad una produzione, rendendo la letteratura un’arma, uno strumento potente.
In conclusione, alla luce dei parallelismi e confronti tracciati tra questi due grandi autori e del loro pensiero, appare interessante esaltare il notevole valore e l’impatto che la letteratura può esercitare, riuscendo malgrado la dittatura a opporre resistenza e a smuovere le coscienze, diventando essa stessa una forma di resistenza e denuncia
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