The theatre concept of the Bauhaus Item Type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Raison, William Terry, 1940- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 06/10/2021 07:28:08 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/554662 THE THEATHE CONCEPTS OF THE BAUHAUS "by William Teixy Baison r A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF DRAMA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 1 9 7 4 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This thesis has Been submitted in partial fulfillment of re­ quirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to "be made available to borrowers under rules’of the Library, Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his judg­ ment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholar­ ship, In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained fiom the author. APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR This thesis has been approved on the date shown below3 _____ ^ . L . V J J - / X ROSEM^Y P. GIPSONX f Date Assistant ^Professor of Drama ACKNOWIZDGMBHTS Gratitude is expressed to Rosemary Ps Gipson, Assistant Professor of Drama, for her guidance, advice, and infinite patience. Appreciation is extended to Professor Peter R, fecroney. Head of the Department of Drama, for his support and inspiration throughout my student career. Thanks are also given to Jean Pershing for typing the final manuscript. To Gerald D, Palsson appreciation is expressed for his assistance in French translation, I am grateful to my wife, Vicki, for her understanding, encouragement, and support in reaching this goal. And to my son, Eddie, I give my thanks for giving up so much of our playtime together so that I could study. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT 1, BACKGROUND OF THE BAUHAUS The Post World War I Political Situation in Germany 1 The Post World. War I State of the Arts in Germany , 4 Theatre in Germany Between the World Wars 6 State Theatres 7 Private Theatres o 7 Voiksouhne 8 Proletarian Theatre 8 The Formulation of the Bauhaus Idea , „ 0 10 The Founding of the Bauhaus 14 The Stormy History of the Bauhaus , a , . 16 Weimar 1919-1925 16 Dessau and Berlin 1925-1933 « . « . 22 THEATRE PRACTICES AT THE BAUHAUS . 25 Theatre Architecture , , , » 0 « » « » 26 Space Relationship . , . , e e « « 27 Audience Interrelationship „ 32 Functional Relationship 34 Use of the Stage 1 o 36 Scenery, Lighting, and Sound , , 0 « . 43 Costuming .......... «,o . 48 The Performer ............ 49 The Playscrlpt ............ 53 Total Theatre and Theatre of Totality 55 SPREAD OF BAUHAUS THEATRE CONCEPTS oooooo 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 59 Public Performances 00000 0 0000900000000 Faculty Collaboration with Professional Theatre 0 0 0 9 0 Bauhaus Publications 00000 0 0000000000000 65 Bauhaus Faculty and Students . 00000000000000 68 LIST OF REFERENCES 77 iv ABSTRACT The Bauhaus, a school of architecture and design in Germany "between 1919 and 1933» was founded upon the concepts that art is related to the crafts and that form follows function. The contri­ butions made by the Bauhaus to the fields of architecture, design, painting, and sculpture have been recognised by the art community of the world’ in numerous publications, theses, dissertations, and exhibits. However, the important innovations in theatre made by the Bauhaus have been neglected. Therefore, this thesis is an investi­ gation of the background of the Bauhaus; its practices in theatre architecture„ technical theatre, performance, and playscript development; and the way in which the concepts developed from these stage experiments were spread. v CHAPTER 1 BACKGROUND OF THE BAUHAUS Geimany, in the period "between the end of the First World War and Adolf Hitler ?s assumption of power in 1933j produced a new dem­ ocratic government which functioned for fourteen years9 despite strong opposition, created a body of art, literature, and theatre based on new concepts, and lost many of its accomplished artists and scientists who fled from Hasism, The 1920’s and 1930’s was also the era in which the Bauhans, a state-supported school of architecture and design, came into being and grew, leaving its indelible mark on education, architecture, design, theatre, and other art areas. The success of the Bauhaus and the character of Germany during this period are closely associated. The Post World War I Political Situation in Germany During the time of the Bauhaus, several political factions existed in Germany, The three most important of these factions were8 (l) the Social Democratic Party, which founded the Weimar Republic; (2) the German Communist Party, whose strong competition weakened the political strength of the Social Democratic Party; and (3) the Nazi Party, which ended the Weimar Republic in 1933a On November 9» 1918, in Weimar, Phillipp Scheidemann, a Social Democrat, proclaimed the Weimar Republic, Also in Weimar only a few months later, on April 1, 1919, the first proclamation of the Bauhaus 1 was issued. It was significant that the Weimar Republic and the Bauhaus came into being in such close proximity of time and place. In 1918, the German people were tired of war and ready for something new, Peter Gay, a German historian, expressed German feeling of the time in the following statements Weimar , , . came to symbolize a prediction, or at least a hope, for a new start$ it was tacit acknowledgment of the charge, widely made in allied countries during the war and indignantly denied in Germany, that there were really two Germaniess the Germany of military swagger, abject submission to authority, aggressive foreign adventure, and. obsessive preoccupation with form, and the Germany of lyrical poetry. Humanist philosophy, pacific cosmopolitanism, Germany had tried the way of Bismark and Schlieffen? now it was ready to try the way of Goethe and Humbolt (196811). Germany was ready for pacifism, humanitarianism, Socialism, and pro­ gressive reform, an atmosphere in which artists, such as those of the Bauhaus, could experiment. The Weimar Republic was an era of "creativity in the midst of suffering, hard work in the midst of re­ peated disappointments, and hope in the face of pitiless and powerful adversaries” (Stolper 1968:2), However, the Weimar Republic was not successful because it was not supported by the people; "the trauma of its birth was so severe that it could never enlist the wholehearted loyality of all, or even many of its beneficiaries" (Gay 1968:8), Under the government of the Social.Democrats, the Germans found con­ fusion, inflation, and economic depression. According to Joachim Remak, a German historian, in the five years between 192? and 1932 unemployment in Germany rose from 1,8 million to 6,0 million and bankruptcies increased from 10,595 in 1928 to 14,138 in 1932 (1969:24) 3 Another reason for the Weimar Republic’s decline was the German Communist Rarty$ an offshoot of the Social Democratic Party, Left-wing socialist Evelyn Anderson says in her book Hammer or Anvili Each of the two parties /Communist and Social Democratic/ saw the weakness of the other through a magnifying glass without finding a way to remove the causes of its own failure, Erom the point of view of both parties, the mutual denunciations seemed justified, , , , The justice of many of the mutual accusations made it impossible for either party to attract the numbers and the followers of the other. For the ordinary German worker it became increasingly difficult to decide which of the two parties deserved more support, . , If anything, this was clearly a case of choosing "the lesser evil" (l$&5* 142), Political bickering and reciprocal destruction went on between Germany’s two strongest parties, the Social Democrats and the Communist, weakening both factions and making the way clear for the Hasi I&rfcy to grow stronger and eventually come to power in 1933 = Popular trends, both negative and affirmative, came together to create the philosophy of the Nazi Party, There was an abundance of negative ideas, such as anti-Liberalism, anti-rationalism, anti- Marxism, anti-parliamentarianism, anti-clericalism, and anti-Semitism, in the Nazi political theory. All of the affirmative concepts of Nazism, an intense nationalism, a cult of the Nordic, a longing for a simpler and more heroic age, and a pseudobiological explanation of the universe derived from Social Darwinsim, enjoyed popular support in . Germany during the 1920’s, The popular elements of the Nazi philosophy, coupled with the extraordinary political talent of Adolf Hitler," an Austrian immigrant who had been denied admission to Vienna’s School of Architecture and was unable to decide on a career until he discovered that he had talent in public speaking? contributed to the ITazi Party’s rise to power and the downfall of the Social Democratic Party, The Post World War I State of the Arts in Germany Hitler had some very pronounced ideas on art. He liked scenes of peasant life and realistic nudes painted by Nordic artists. What he did not like was the new art movement, or as he called it in Mein Eampf, "the sickly excrescences of lunatics or of degenerate people which since the turn of the century we have learned to know under the collective conception of cubism or dadaism” (1939^353)• Before the rise of Hitler, German Royalty set a precedence for tasteless and showy art.