BERTOLT BRECHT'S GREAT PLAYS BERT OLT BRECHT'S GREAT PLAYS ALFRED D. WHITE © Alfred D. White 1978 Softcover reprint of the hardcover Ist edition 1978 978-0-333-21655-2 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission First published 1978 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD London and Basingstoke Associated companies in Delhi Dublin Hong Kong Johannesburg Lagos Melbourne New York Singapore Tokyo British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data White, Alfred D. Bertolt Brecht's great plays 1. Brecht, Bertolt - Criticisms and interpretation I. Title 832' .9'12 PTZ603.R397Z/ ISBN 978-1-349-03280-8 ISBN 978-1-349-03278-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-03278-5 This book is sold subject to the standard conditions of the Net Book Agreement To my wife Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgements X Preface xi 1 Life of Brecht 1 2 Brecht's Ways of Thought 15 3 Theory and Practice of Brechtian Theatre 24 4 The Life of Galileo 53 (i) The plot 53 (ii) Galileo, science and the bourgeois era 59 (iii) Galileo: split character 67 (iv) The social world of the play 71 (v) The structure and artistry of the play 75 (vi) Language 78 (vii) The play on the stage 82 5 Mother Courage and her Children 85 (i) The plot 85 (ii) The chronicle 91 (iii) War and Marxism 92 (iv) Goodness and virtue 98 (v) Language and dumbshow 101 {vi) The songs 105 (vii) The scenic interpretation of the play 107 6 The Good Person of Szechwan 113 (i} The plot 113 (ii) The parable play 120 (iii) A Chinese play? 122 viii Contents {iv) The gods and the good 123 {v) The split character 127 {vi) Epic-dramatic techniques 132 {vii) Microstructures 135 {viii) The music 138 7 The Caucasian Chalk Circle 140 {i) The plot 140 (ii) Forerunners 148 {iii) The demonstration play 149 {iv) Narration 152 {v) The social world of the play 153 {vi) Grusha's productivity 156 {vii) Azdak's productivity 159 {viii) The productivity of the communes 163 {ix) Presentation and language 165 {x) Setting and costume 168 8 Assessment 171 Notes 175 Indexes 189 List of Plates 1 Life of Galileo, scene 2: the Doge tries to attract Galileo's atten tion (Berliner Ensemble 1957) 2 Life of Galileo, scene 12: Laughton with projection of instruments of torture (New York 1947) 3 Mother Courage, scene 6: Courage counts stock and curses war (Berliner Ensemble 1951) 4 Mother Courage, scene 11: death of Kattrin (Wuppertal) 5 The Good Person of Szechwan, street set (Frankfurt 1952) 6a The Good Person of Szechwan, scene 7: Shen Teh addresses the public (Berliner Ensemble 1957) 6b The Good Person of Szechwan, scene 8: Shui Ta supervises the tobacco factory (Zurich 1943) 7a The Caucasian Chalk Circle, act 2: Grusha rescues Michael (Ber liner Ensemble 1954) 7b The Caucasian Chalk Circle, act 3: the bridge (Berliner Ensemble 1954) 8 The Caucasian Chalk Circle, act 6: Grusha argues with the Gov ernor's Wife (Berliner Ensemble 1954) Grateful thanks are due to Gerda Goedhart for permission to reproduce Plates 7a and 7b. The author and publishers have been unable to trace the copyright holders of the remaining Plates, but we will be pleased to make the necessary arrange ments at the first opportunity. Acknowledgements The author and publishers wish to thank the following who have kindly given permission for the use of copyright material: Eyre Methuen Limited, for extracts from 'Brecht on Theatre' by John Willet, and short quotations from the works of Bertolt Brecht: 'The Life of Galileo', translated by Desmond Vesey, translation copyright @1960 by Desmond Vesey; 'Mother Courage', translated by Eric Bentley, copyright © 1955, 1959, 1961, 1962 by Eric Bentley (original work published under the title of 'Mutter Courage Und Ihre Kinder', copyright© 1949 by Suhr kamp Verlag vormals S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main); 'The Caucasian Chalk Circle', translated by James and Tania Stern with W. H. Auden, copyright© (Act 5) 1946 and 1960 by]. and T. Stern and W. H. Auden {original work published under the title of 'Der Kaukasische Kreidekreis', copyright © 1954 by Suhrkamp Verlag, Berlin) Eyre Methuen Limited and Hope Leresche & Sayle, on behalf of John Willet, for an extract from 'The Good Person of Szechwan', translated by John Willet, copyright © 1962 by John Willet {original work published under the title of 'Der Gute Mensche von Sezuan', copyright 1955 by Suhrkamp Verlag, Berlin) Suhrkamp Verlag, for extracts from 'Arbeitsjournal', copyright © 1973 by Stefan S. Brecht. All rights reserved by Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main. Every effort has been made to trace all the copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangement at the first opportunity. Preface This short book is about a closely interconnected group of Brecht's plays in which the elements of his greatness appear in their most con centrated and complex form, and by which his stature can be measured. It is not concerned with his development before these plays were written nor with his verse, narrative, dialogue and theoretical work or with his other plays except in their relevance to the four plays in hand. This in volves no denial of the greatness of much of his other work. Despite limations of scope and length, I hope this book will however suggest what made the dramatist Brecht write as he did, how one may approach his texts and what is to be borne in mind when a production of them is envisaged. The plot of each play is summarised - not just to help those who have not yet read or seen the plays, but because absolute clarity of the story-line is a primary consideration for Brecht. Then an attempt is made to characterise each play and explore some of its salient features. My thanks are due particularly to Mr D. Richards for help and advice, to students of University College, Cardiff, with whom I have discussed many of the ideas in this book, and to my wife for acting as partner in many mealtime thinking-aloud sessions and for reading the typescript and preparing the index. A.D.W. July 1977