Engaging with Brecht: Making Theatre in the 21st Century

ISBN-13: 9781350043299 / Angielski / Twarda / 2022 / 256 str.

Bill Gelber

Opis

This book provides readers with a practical examination of the work of theorist, playwright, director, and poet, Bertolt Brecht. It offers fresh approaches to theatre professionals seeking new tools for analysis, staging methods, means of collaborating with production teams and ways of politically engaging with society. Engaging with Brecht: Making Theatre in the 21st Century is an essential volume for instructors, scholars and theatre artists, containing lucid explanations and modern examples of Brecht’s concepts. Featuring a wide variety of hands-on exercises, it illuminates Brecht’s methods for the classroom and the rehearsal hall, equipping readers with tried and tested approaches to theatrical creation. Brecht’s wide-ranging interests are reflected in the model for an interdisciplinary course of study that encompasses theatre history, playwriting, dramaturgy, design, acting, and directing. Rather than serving as a prescriptive manual, Engaging with Brecht allows the teacher, student, and theatre practitioner to experiment with the various methods provided in order to realize their own aims in instruction and production, revealing the continued importance and relevance of Brecht’s work in today’s world. The book offers new examples of and uses for such important Brechtian concepts as Verfremdung, Haltung, Arrangement, Gestus, Historicization, and Figure and applies them to work in the classroom and on stage in order to rethink our analysis and presentation of both classic and new plays.

Spis treści

Preface - Collaboration Is Key A Collective Forms/Enter the Brecht Circle To Engage with Brecht Brecht Scholarship Exploration and Practice Acknowledgements Synopsis of Mother Courage Theatre Poetry Chapter 1 - Where Are We? Verfremdung Open Our Eyes Blame the Ever-Thuses Verfremdung: A New Pair of Glasses Avoiding Presentism with Historicization Refunctioning the Classics Training the Twenty-First-Century Artist in Verfremdung Subverting Art for Change Collective Creativity Versuche Mother Courage Studies Theatre Poetry Chapter 2 - Meta-Narratives: Adding Footnotes and Highlighting Contradictions Gestus: Revealing Social Relations Pointing Out the Contradictions Dividing the Drama into Episodes Revealing Contradictions Through the "Not...But" Adding Literarization Versuche Mother Courage Studies Theatre Poetry Chapter 3 - The Fabel Is the Map In Search of the Fabel Creating the Fabel Alternate Fabel Analysis: The Short Story Exercise Versuche Mother Courage Studies Theatre Poetry Chapter 4 - Arrange the Pieces Enter Caspar Neher Choreographing Gestus Testing the Fabel in Rehearsal Adding Scenic Elements Considerations for Stellproben Making Adjustments with Actors Bringing It All Together Versuche Mother Courage Studies Theatre Poetry Chapter 5 - Social Attitudes on Display: Haltung and Status How Actors Reveal Gestus Contradictions Within the Figure Enter Keith Johnstone Teaching Status/Haltung Haltung in Action Haltung as Illumination Haltung for Tableaux Haltung on the Page Versuche Mother Courage Studies Theatre Poetry Chapter 6 - Brecht and Stanislavsky The System as Model The Method of Physical Actions Where to Begin Objectives, Obstacles, and Actions Raising the Stakes Beat/Haltung Changes Sociological Constraints Stanislavsky Versus Brecht Versuche Mother Courage Studies Theatre Poetry Chapter 7 - "Not Stanislavsky...But Brecht" Theatre as Manipulation The Dangers of Empathy The Need for Critical Distance Third-Person/Past Tense The Reporting Exercise The Street Scene Exercise The Triangle: Actor, Figure, Spectator Playing the Double Act The Construction of Identity Exploring the Role of the Actor A Step-by-Step Sequence Versuche Mother Courage Studies Theatre Poetry Chapter 8 - Document, Document, Document British Model Books Establishing the How and Why Ruth Berlau and Documentation Dramaturgical Practices Taking Notate Creating the Model Book Model Books Meet the Twenty-First Century A Springboard for New Interpretations Versuche Mother Courage Studies Theatre Poetry Afterword - Twenty-First-Century Engagement: Where Do We Go from Here Brecht in the Twenty-First Century As Long as the World Needs Changing Appendix 1 - A Production Process Appendix 2 - Approach to a Scene Using Brecht and Stanislavsky Appendix 3 - Suggested Brecht Scenes for Exercises Index References Bibliography Resources About the Author