The Creation of the Title Role in Brecht's Baal
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University of New Orleans ScholarWorks@UNO University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations Dissertations and Theses 5-20-2005 Fed to the Teeth: The Creation of the Title Role in Brecht's Baal Michael Aaron Santos University of New Orleans Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td Recommended Citation Santos, Michael Aaron, "Fed to the Teeth: The Creation of the Title Role in Brecht's Baal" (2005). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 230. https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/230 This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by ScholarWorks@UNO with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights- holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. This Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UNO. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FED TO THE TEETH: THE CREATION OF THE TITLE ROLE IN BRECHT’S BAAL A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of New Orleans in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Drama and Communications by Michael Santos B.A. Texas A&M University, 2002 May 2005 Copyright 2005, Michael Santos ii “Invent nothing, deny nothing, speak up, stand up, stay out of school.” - David Mamet, True and False iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: I would like to thank my fellow cast members who, from first read-through to strike, helped create a truly ensemble piece of theater. In addition I would like to extend a deep debt of gratitude to Jesse Tyson, for the guitar lessons and the incredible job stage- managing a very difficult show. The entire cast and crew was so talented and professional and it was an honor to work with all of them. I am beholden to Phillip Karnell who, in his enduring wisdom, taught me what not to do, as clearly as he helped teach me what to do. My skill and knowledge as an actor would not be the same without his efforts. I am also indebted to David Hoover who, with his expertise and intelligence, has aided so much in my professional aspirations. I would literally not be here without him. Thank you to all the DRCM faculty, staff and fellow graduate students for making my tenure here so memorable. I would of course like to thank Ashley, Mark, and Deri, who have loved and encouraged my dreams with unbridled support. Finally, I want to thank my parents, Allan and Rebecca, whose contributions to my life and career remain immeasurable. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS: ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................... vi INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................1 RESEARCH ...........................................................................................................2 Brecht..........................................................................................................2 Alienation Effect.........................................................................................5 Gestus ..........................................................................................................8 Seeds of Epic Theater in Baal .................................................................12 CHARACTER ANALYSIS.................................................................................17 REHEARSAL LOG.............................................................................................33 PROJECT EVALUATION.................................................................................71 WORKS CITED/CONSULTED.........................................................................83 APPENDIX SCORED SCRIPT VITA....................................................................................................................153 v ABSTRACT: This thesis is an endeavor to accurately document and define my creative process as an actor through the title role in Bertolt Brecht’s Baal. My aim is to meet and overcome the challenges that are inherent in creating any role, let alone one with the magnitude and complexity that Baal provides an actor. The following chapters contain a record of the development of my acting process in this production, including research, character analysis, a rehearsal log that provides a daily track of my progress, and an evaluation of my performance and the project. vi INTRODUCTION: This project began in April of 2004 when it was decided that the title role in Baal would serve as my M.F.A. thesis project. Over the course of the next few months I had the opportunity to read the script thoroughly, each time finding deeper meaning and insight into the work. During the course of my undergraduate studies, I was fortunate enough to build a strong academic foundation into Brecht and his theater, so I quickly formed a distinct fondness for the play. Furthermore, since the first rehearsal would not begin until the end of September 2004, I had ample amount of time to intimately study the text. This research and development stage proved vital to any success achieved in this project, as I would not have had the time to adequately perform this role had I only the normal (at least by most collegiate standards) five-week allotted rehearsal period. I knew Baal, just as any of Brecht’s work, would present numerous challenges, both for the actor and the audience. Those challenges would manifest most clearly for me in the enormity and obscurity of the role coupled with the peculiar and abstract nature of the work. It was like nothing I had ever done. Soon other challenges arose, such as deciding on the music, learning to play the guitar, and (perhaps most difficult) attempting to adhere to a Brechtian philosophy of theater, while still employing the skills and tools I have learned in studying Sanford Meisner and Constantine Stanislavsky. The focus of this project is to define and document in detail my process in creating this role, and then evaluate that process upon the conclusion of the performances. Never before had I been asked to undertake such an immense endeavor. All of the knowledge and skills I had accumulated during the course of my graduate studies, and all my prior acting experience for that matter, would be put to the test. RESEARCH: On occasion, perhaps foremost within the realm of contemporary drama, an actor can create his or her role with little or no previous knowledge regarding the author of the work. The same however, cannot hold true for this project. In fact, the argument could be made that it would be impossible to effectively perform a ‘Brechtian’ character without possessing, at the very least, a minimal understanding of the man and his body of work. As such, I felt it was paramount that this thesis should include a short background of the man himself, his impact on the theater, and the development of Baal. Brecht: Born in Augsburg, Bavaria, Brecht began his career at a young age. By age sixteen he was working for a local newspaper in Augsburg and had written a short play, The Bible, accompanied with a few poems. Two years later, he was almost expelled from school for disagreeing on whether it was necessary to defend his country in time of war. Two years later, During World War I, he was released from his duties as an orderly in an emergency hospital due to his open expression of his lack of conviction for the war. (Hayman vi-vii) The spirit of the rebel, it seemed, was apparent even in the early stages of his life. In March of 1918, a twenty-year old Brecht saw Hanns Johst’s, The Lonely One, a dramatization of the life of romantic playwright Christian Dietrich Grabbe, which idolized the poet as a misunderstood genius. “In the end Johst has him die – in verse – with his hands folded in childlike humanity, well rid of a world in which there is no room for souls like his.” (Speirs 18) This event was profoundly significant, for it was then that 2 Brecht vowed to write the antithesis to Johst’s work. Having squandered most of his own youth singing, drinking and making love, Brecht refuted the idea that poets were soulful and self-sacrificial. “Baal is the anti-type to Johst’s Grabbe, dedicated to satisfying his physical appetites, where Grabbe agonizes, orates, strikes spiritual poses.” (Hayman 2) And fueled with purpose and conviction, long before the days of Marxism and social obligation, in 1920 Brecht completed his first major play, Baal. For the next decade, he began making a name for himself with plays like, Drums in the Night, In the Cities’ Jungle, Edward II, and Man is Man. He had huge success with Three Penny Opera, which he wrote in collaboration with Kurt Weill in 1928; a revival of John Gay’s The Beggars Opera written nearly two hundred years earlier. By this time Brecht had been introduced to Marxism, and it was in that creed that Brecht found hope in the possibility of improving socioeconomic conditions and changing human nature. This led to more overtly political plays: The Exception and the Rule, The Measures Taken, St. Joan of the Stockyards, and Fear and Misery in the Third Reich. But Brecht would not enjoy his achievements in Germany for long. When Hitler came to power in 1933, Brecht took his family and escaped,