Bertolt brecht techniques
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Brecht: A Brief Overview
Much has been written on Brecht, his life and his ideas. This page simply sketches some of the most important aspects that relate Brecht to his times and the ideas he developed for the theatre.
Born in Augsburg, Germany, in 1898, Brecht lived through a great deal of upheaval in his life. The First World War (1914-18) coincided with Brecht’s late teens, and he started writing full-length plays in response to the chaos it produced.
After WWI, Germany changed government systems: the one-time monarchy became a republic, run by elected politicians. The Weimar Republic (1918-33) endured economic and political instability, as well as fostering a proliferation of art forms in the theatre and elsewhere. In the mid-1920s, Brecht encountered Marxism and began to think about how its ideas might affect the way he made theatre.
The Nazis under Hitler became the largest party in the German parliament in 1932 and entrenched their power in 1933. Brecht, a prominent critic of the Nazis, went into exile at this time, and spent the years from 1933-41 in various European
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Bertolt Brecht
German poet, playwright, and theatre director (1898–1956)
"Brecht" redirects here. For other uses, see Brecht (disambiguation).
Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht[a] (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a playwright in Munich and moved to Berlin in 1924, where he wrote The Threepenny Opera with Elisabeth Hauptmann and Kurt Weill and began a life-long collaboration with the composer Hanns Eisler. Immersed in Marxist thought during this period, Brecht wrote didactic Lehrstücke and became a leading theoretician of epic theatre (which he later preferred to call "dialectical theatre") and the Verfremdungseffekt.
When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, Brecht fled his home country, initially to Scandinavia. During World War II he moved to Southern California where he established himself as a screenwriter, and meanwhile was being surveilled by the FBI. In 1947, he was par
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“Not at all pertinent”
Investigation
Bertolt Brecht’s concept of Verfremdung (“defamiliarization”) originated in his Weimar-era plays. Not at all, Pertinent uses 21st century examples from politics and culture alongside Brecht’s testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947 to activate Verfremdung and demonstrate that how we say something is just as important as what we say. Part verbatim performance, part museum-style exhibition, part lecture with a sprinkle of participation, audience members will explore when the present becomes history and when history becomes present.
Not at all Pertinent was performed in partnership with Carnegie Hall for their “Fall of the Weimar Republic: Dancing on the Precipice” series.
Production Credits:
Acting Ensemble:
Ashley Renee Thaxton-Stevenson
Daryl Embry
Nayib Felix
Scott Michael Morales
Stephanie Anderson
Suzy Jane Hunt
Tammie L. Swopes
Created by:
Joe Salvatore & Keith R. Huff
Costume Coordinator:
Márion Talán de la Rosa
Design Coordinator:
Drew Francis
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