Bertolt Brecht Is Perhaps the Most Important Figure in Twentieth-Century Theatre Other Than Stanislavski

Brecht’s Theatre: An Overview of Epic Theatre in The Threepenny Opera, The Good Woman of Setzuan, and Man Equals Man Joshua Lellis Lellis - 2 Bertolt Brecht is perhaps the most important figure in twentieth-century theatre other than Stanislavski. Brecht revolutionized a variety of theatrical aspects: text, design, acting, directing, dramaturgy and theory. The best way to examine Brecht’s influence on modern theatre is to study his plays and note how his views on theatre, and, more importantly, on the world as a whole, manifest themselves through his work. Brecht wanted a revolutionary theatre—a theatre that would appeal to an audience’s intellect rather than pander to an audience’s emotions. He wanted an audience to think about the human condition and situation rather than to have an emotional catharsis. Brecht was born in Augsburg, Germany, on February 10, 1898 (Willett, p. 17). Brecht’s early plays, such as Baal, were expressionistic experiments which were episodic in structure and dealt mostly with mood and texture rather than plot. He worked closely with Erwin Piscator, the original mastermind behind “epic theatre”, which is a term now firmly associated with Brecht. The epic theatre involved the use of projections, film segments, and placards which told the story of the play (Willett, 109). Throughout his life, Brecht fleshed out and expanded on these scenic ideas and acting techniques. Brecht approached realistic dramatic theatre forms as obsolete and considered the epic theatre to be the theatre of the future. Whereas the traditional dramatic theatre focuses on characters’ psyches, experiences, and conflicts with plots that build toward inevitable emotional climaxes, the epic theatre is narrative, has flexible characters whose actions vary depending on their circumstances, and promotes rational and intellectual thought over feeling. (Brecht on Theatre, p. 37). Brecht argued that the “’Gesamtkunstwerk’ (or ‘integrated work of art’)” (37) was a horrendous idea since it is “intended to produce Lellis - 3 hypnosis” (38). The creation of a Stanislavskian “slice of life” onstage would be the antithesis of Brecht’s goals. In 1939, Brecht fled Nazi Germany the night after the Reichstag fire and went into exile in Scandinavia. In 1941 Brecht trekked across Russia and settled in Los Angeles. He was questioned by the House Committee of Unamerican Activities in 1947, and returned to Berlin, where he set up the Berliner Ensemble, the group that would bring international fame to his theories. It is integral to the examination of Brecht’s development as a playwright to look at a cross-section of Brecht’s work: Man Equals Man (1926), which is more expressionistic than his later works, The Threepenny Opera (1928) which focuses on the corruptness of capitalist society and brought his initial fame, and The Good Woman of Setzuan (1940), which is an excellent example of his more complex, later work. Man Equals Man is one of Brecht’s early works. The play is set in India after the first World War, though Queen Victoria is mentioned during the play as being the monarch on the throne. (Brecht’s historical anachronisms are intentional and elemental to the epic theatre concept of alienation.) Four British soldiers rob an Indian temple. One of them, Jeraiah, is left behind during the escape. Afraid of getting caught, the three soldiers threaten an Irish porter, Galy Gay, and force him to pose as Jeraiah. They give Galy Jeraiah’s papers and Galy is gradually reconstituted into the perfect soldier: he loses his own identity, delivers his own eulogy, and turns away Jeraiah toward the end of the play with his own papers. The play climaxes with Galy’s solo destruction of a fortress, which indicates his attaining the status of the perfect soldier. He transforms from a simple man, or for Brecht’s purposes an Everyman, into the ideal soldier. Lellis - 4 The Threepenny Opera is the work that brought Brecht his initial fame. In circa 1900 London, a small-time crook, Mr. Peachum, who runs a business outfitting beggars, is outraged that his daughter has married the criminal Macheath, or Mack the Knife. Peachum, eager for revenge, attempts to get Macheath arrested, but Mack flees. Macheath is in cahoots with Tiger Brown, the police chief, who has destroyed Macheath’s criminal record. Mrs. Peachum, however, is determined to have Macheath arrested. Macheath flees to a brothel, where he is betrayed and arrested. He is then freed by an ex-lover, recaptured again, and about to be hung when the Queen pardons him. Macheath is forgiven of his assaults, murders, and robberies, given a noble position, and allotted ten thousand pounds per annum by the government. In The Good Woman of Setzuan, three gods have descended to earth in order to justify their existence by finding one good person. They spend the night at a poor prostitute’s home, Shen Te, and give her money the next morning. With her new wealth, she buys a tobacco shop, and, almost instantly, discovers that people want money from her. She is constantly bombarded with requests for money and food, and since she is a good person she is unable to turn people away. She creates an alter-ego, her cousin, Shui Ta, in order to run the shop as a businessman. Shui Ta is a cruel individual and she finds that she has to be him more and more in order to survive. Shen Te is pregnant by Yang Sun, her lover, though she has accepted money from another man, Shu Fu, and has set up a tobacco factory. Yang Sun is appointed as manager of the factory, and Shui Ta appears more and more to aid Shen Te until she no longer appears. Yang Sun accuses Shui Ta of murdering Shen Te and Shui Ta is put on trial. The three gods, weary from trying to find Lellis - 5 other good people, return to act as judges. They cannot reconcile that Shen Te has to act cruelly in order to survive, and the play ends with Shen Te screaming out in vain for help. Brecht is very concerned in these three plays about the human condition. Brecht’s characters are painted with wide brushstrokes, intended to be recognizable to an audience instantaneously. At the same time, however, Brecht’s characters are distinct and are not necessarily stock characters. Brecht is interested in how individuals implement their beliefs. He loves to compare what they say with what they do. Emotions are not as important as ideology and action. Brecht does not care what drives Macheath to crime and womanizing. Brecht is fascinated with Macheath the character as the archetype capitalist and how Macheath is able to exploit people without fear of punishment for the injustice, or in the play’s terms, perform murder and theft without any conscience. Brecht’s interest lays in Macheath’s position as a hero and how society rewards what should be condemned. An infamous murderer about to be executed, he is pardoned by the arrival of a mounted messenger who states: BROWN: …On the occasion of her Coronation, our Gracious Queen commands that one Captain Macheath shall at once be released. (All cheer.) At the same time he is raised to the permanent ranks of the nobility. (Cheers.) The castle at Marmarel and a pension of ten thousand pounds a year are his as long as he shall live… MACHEATH: A rescue! A rescue! I was sure of it. Where the need is greatest, there will God’s help be nearest. (The Threepenny Opera, Act Three, Scene Three, p. 95) If this behavior is rewarded, or even glorified, Brecht seems to ask, what does this say about our society? It turns everything topsy-turvy if evil is rewarded. In Brecht’s characterization of Macheath as the ultimate capitalist, Mack considers his desire and will to be “good” instead of depraved. He is the pinnacle expression of selfishness that manifests itself through the capitalist system. Lellis - 6 Shen Te is in a similar situation: she is revered as a wonderful example for all to follow, but at the same time she must be ruthless in order to survive. People take advantage of her generosity—an entire family of eight moves into her shop almost immediately after she buys it. As the First God says, “no one can be good for long if goodness is not in demand.” (Good Woman of Setzuan, 1a, p.23). She needs an alter-ego of ruthlessness in order to survive. Brecht is interested in the duality of the character and of the dialectic that is created: “How can one be good when society forces one to be bad?” He writes in the play’s epilogue: Could one change people? Can the world be changed? Would new gods do the trick? Will atheism? Moral rearmament? Materialism? It is for you to find a way my friends, To help good men arrive at happy ends. You write the happy ending to the play! There must, there must, there’s got to be a way! (Good Woman of Setzuan, epilogue, p. 113) The question Brecht brings up throughout his work and the question which he wants the audience to ask themselves is: “How do you reconcile your ideology with the need for quotidian action?” Brecht encourages the audience to examine themselves and their society and to modify what they find wrong. If Macheath and Shen Te are well-fleshed out characters, then Galy Gay is the other extreme. Man Equals Man is ultimately about socialization and how society, represented by the soldiers, manipulates an individual to act how they want him or her to act.

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