Dear all, I am delighted as ever to pass on the
details of a new book by a Wigs member!
Best,
Debbie
Laura Bradley:
Brecht and Political Theatre. The Mother on Stage
Clarendon Press, 2006
280 pages, 11 b/w in-text, 216x138 mm
Series: Oxford Modern Languages and Literature
Monographs
ISBN-10: 0-19-928658-2
ISBN-13: 978-0-19-928658-4
Price: £50.00 (Hardback)
Includes English translations of all foreign-language
material.
http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780199286584
Description
This production history of The Mother provides
substantial new insights
into Bertolt Brecht's theatre and drama, his impact on
political
theatre, and the relationship between text,
performance, and
politico-cultural context. As the only play which
Brecht staged in the
Weimar Republic, during his exile, and in the GDR, The
Mother offers a
unique opportunity to compare his theatrical practice
in contrasting
settings and at different points in his career.
Through detailed
analysis of original archival evidence, Bradley shows
how Brecht became
far more sensitive to his spectators' political views
and cultural
expectations, even making major tactical concessions
in his 1951
production at the Berliner Ensemble. These compromises
indicate that
his 'mature' staging should not be regarded as
definitive, for it was
tailored to a unique and delicate situation.
The Mother has appealed strongly to politically
committed theatre
practitioners both in and beyond Germany. By
exploiting the text's
generic hybridity and the interplay between Brecht's
'epic' and
'dramatic' elements, directors have interpreted it in
radically
different ways. So although Brecht's 1951 production
stagnated into an
affirmative GDR heritage piece, post-Brechtian
directors have used The
Mother to promote their own political and theatrical
concerns, from
anti-authoritarian theatre to reflections on the
legacies of state
Socialism. Their ideological and theatrical subversion
have helped
Brecht's text to outlive the political system that it
came to uphold.
___________________________________________________________
Telefonate ohne weitere Kosten vom PC zum PC: http://messenger.yahoo.de
|