A brief description of a new acting technique that evokes so. Interaction with partners
The English director, artist, theater theorist Henry Edward Gordon Craig became the last theorist and critic, researcher of traditional conventionally realistic theater and the first theorist of philosophical-metaphorical theater (although, by the way, he never used these exact terms). Psychological theater did not arouse deep interest in him, he did not know it, did not feel its possibilities, and therefore did not predict its future blossoming. Craig's thought moved from the theater of the past straight to the theater of the future.
Following Craig, two or three decades later, B. Brecht came up with a detailed program of philosophical and metaphorical theater, who gave this art his own definition, calling it the art of alienation or epic theater. We will not dwell on terminological research, especially since all terms are always quite conventional. Let's try to agree that all these three names contain a certain identity, as they all essentially continue in many ways, clarifying, developing, concretizing the theory of G. Craig.
This fantastic character appeared relatively recently. Batman came to us from the TV screen and took a strong place in the hearts of boys and girls, leaving far behind the cute, funny Carlson with his naive miracles and flights to the roof from the window of a city apartment.
Bertolt Brecht became an outstanding theorist of epic theater, the largest and most consistent. Let us refer his theory specifically to the sections devoted to this art. Of great interest is the comparison of Craig's views with the concept of B. Brecht's theater - together they form a fairly coherent theoretical system of this new art.
Craig set the spark - many became interested in his super-puppet theory. An art that can rise above the limitations of the moment and operate with the categories of high generalizations has become a passionate dream of outstanding theatrical figures of the century. And in this sense – the theater’s solution to complex problems – there is no fundamental difference between Brecht’s theory of epic theater and Craig’s dream. Moreover, both of them in thinking about the future of the theater were guided by the same idea of \u200b\u200bthe search for objectivity, the desire to get away from the “hypnosis of getting used to”, as Bertolt Brecht called the ability to equally evoke compassion for the process, both progressive and regressive, to be a harbinger of humanism and a mouthpiece for obscurantism, a tool for the discovery of philosophical truth and the depiction of “vulgar pleasures.” The puppet theater was deeply and interested in both Craig's idea and Brecht's theory. Over the course of a century, a number of groups have been created that use these views, forming theaters that are amazing in their capabilities.
Bertolt Brecht was right when he said: “Only a new goal gives birth to new art.” This new art of the 20th century was born not without the participation of the hobby for dolls. Craig's idea was quite unexpectedly combined with another idea - the construction of a theater-tribune - which Brecht advocated.
“In stylistic terms, epic theater is not anything particularly new,” wrote B. Brecht. “The characteristic emphasis on acting and the fact that it is a theater of performance makes it similar to the ancient Asian theater. Tendencies towards teaching were characteristic of the medieval mysteries, as well as the classical Spanish theater and the Jesuit Theater.
Epic theater cannot be created everywhere. Most great nations these days are not inclined to solve their problems on stage. London, Paris, Tokyo and Rome maintain theaters for very different purposes. Until now, the conditions for the emergence of epic instructive theater existed only in a very few places and for a very short time. In Berlin, fascism decisively stopped the development of such a theater.
In addition to a certain technical level, epic theater requires a powerful movement in the area public life, the purpose of which is to arouse interest in a free discussion of life issues in order to resolve these issues in the future; movements that can protect this interest against all hostile tendencies.
Epic theater is the broadest and most far-reaching experience in creating a large modern theater, and this theater must overcome those enormous obstacles in the field of politics, philosophy, science, art that stand in the way of all living forces.”
The theory and practice of the great proletarian writer B. Brecht are inseparable. With his plays and work in the theater, he sought to establish the ideas of epic theater, capable of awakening a broad social movement.
Henry Craig did not have such a clear social and philosophical position as Bertolt Brecht had. It is all the more important to note that the logic of criticism of bourgeois theater led Craig to criticize bourgeois society; he became one of those who approached the satirical ridicule of the norms of bourgeois life and the government of England during a turning point in history - 1917-1918.
In the preface to the extensive collection “Puppet Theater of Foreign Countries,” published in the USSR in 1959, we read: “At the beginning of 1956, sensational news spread across the foreign theatrical press that an outstanding English director, artist and theater theorist, who had been living in Nice in recent years, 84-year-old Gordon Craig has completed a new book, Drama for Madmen, which includes three hundred and sixty-five plays for puppets that he wrote with sketches of costumes and scenery made by Craig himself.
This is not Craig’s first turn to the dramaturgy of puppet theater. In 1918, in Florence, where he at that time headed an experimental theater studio (Arena Goldoni), Craig launched the publication of the magazine Puppet Today, in which, under the pseudonym Tom Full (Tom Fool), he published five plays for puppets. The play “School, or Don’t Make Commitments,” which is part of this cycle, is interesting not only as a work widely famous figure foreign theater, which had a great influence on the development of modern theatrical art, but also as an example of a political satirical miniature, written taking into account the specific means of puppet theater and thereby reaffirming the grateful possibilities of puppet theater in this genre...
In a unique artistic form, “School” clearly ridicules the psychology and “code of conduct” of the bourgeois statesmen seeking to be responsible historical moment"to evade responsibility." But no matter how much these figures try to close their eyes to reality, when faced with it, they suffer the same embarrassment that the teacher suffers at the end of the play.”
In our country, the play “School, or Don’t Take Commitments” was published in translation from English by I. M. Barkhash, edited by K. I. Chukovsky. This is a sharp satirical miniature of a political nature.
The play is metaphorical. The teacher, the students and the school itself where the action takes place are a kind of fragment of English society. Students ask questions. Just as happens in the English Parliament, the teacher gives philistine, evasive answers. He teaches: “You come here to prepare for the difficult task of living in England. I have already said: shirking responsibilities - that’s what an Englishman’s duty, his life, his behavior in everyday life boils down to.” Speaking about the principles of life, the teacher explains: “The most reliable are the following: mumble and stammer, always hesitate, doubt, answer a question with a question... Needless to say, you should never give a direct answer. An unanswered answer is good in any case, and the more you use it, the fresher it becomes.”
Craig's civic courage and sharpness of position are manifested not only in the fact that the cowardly teacher trembles at the “Bolshevik danger”, at the need to solve the most difficult political problems(the play mentions both the “Panama Bread Commission of Inquiry” and the moral “code” of a member of the House of Commons), but above all - at the very end of the play. The matter ends with a bull bursting into the classroom and “like a hurricane, scattering the teacher and students” (compare with the finale of the best folk plays for the puppet theater, which ended with reprisal against injustice, a dream that metaphorically expressed the hope for justice).
Thus, the logic of the development of life convinced Craig, who at the dawn of the century stood on the position of pure art, that the struggle for the justice of ideological and aesthetic positions is, first of all, a struggle for the purity of social ideals, philosophical and political ideals.
The puppet theater of the 20th century, in its most vibrant, lofty and significant manifestations, made the same choice as Henry Craig. The best with professional, aesthetic point The vision of puppeteers is distinguished by maturity and precision political positions. The puppet theater of the 20th century managed to take its rightful place in the struggle of progressive humanity for justice and high moral ideals, and proved that even at the new stage it is inseparable from life, its development, from the struggle for progress.
14. Types of theater
Theatrical consciousness, both ordinary and scientific, including the consciousness of the authors of encyclopedias, habitually divides theater into several types (sometimes they are called genera - in this case, theater as such is considered a “form of art”). There are simple lists of these types. Among them, the main theaters are drama, opera, ballet (sometimes opera-ballet, that is, “musical”, sometimes opera-ballet-operetta), puppet theater and pantomime theater. Sometimes the shadow theater increases and sometimes decreases. It is omitted when one remembers that shadows are most often cast on the screen by puppets, which means that shadow theater in this case turns out to be a type of puppet theater. That all such theaters are available - hardly anyone can doubt. But, alas, there is much more doubt that these lists represent some kind of system: no intelligible sign or set of universally valid signs that would explain this “division of theater into genera and types” is found. In fact, it is enough to recall that a puppet theater may well be operatic (the closest example is some of the puppet performances of Rezo Gabriadze) - and for this reason alone the usual series turns out to be a meaningless set of what “is”. Another thing is that some of the named theaters constitute a “row” in one respect, and some, including those “occupied” in that first row, are included in a different row - according to other criteria. This is where the real difficulty lies. Therefore, clear criteria are required to understand the problem. Moreover, if we guessed that any performance can be included in several rows, there should also be several criteria. What are these criteria?
Perhaps it makes sense to look in the range of phenomena (and, accordingly, concepts) that we considered before. Let's start with the subject. It is possible almost immediately - taking into account what has been said about the theatrical subject - to exclude this sphere from among those where criteria for dividing theaters could be found. In fact, the theatrical object is a concept that, from the point of view that interests us, does not separate, but connects all theaters. As we formulated above, the subject can and should separate theater from non-theatre, from other arts, including drama. The same goes for structure. It may be different, but regardless of the type.
But in the area of content, the search may already be fruitful. Let us first take the theater that is most familiar to the European consciousness - what is called dramatic. We will not find fault with the name, suspecting that this theater has usurped the dramatic character inherent in all theatrical content, and we will discard this factor. Dramatic Theatre of Drama, after all, is called because it plays drama. As in any other theater, the drama is played by a person with his own content, so here we will not find any differences yet. But where there is a role, the differences are quite visible. In the very general view The content of a role in a dramatic theater can be reduced to the fact that it is a person. In dramatic theater, a human actor plays the role of a person. And only human. He can be called (and even externally portrayed) the most in a weird way. He could be Love or Death or Sugar Loaf or Bird. But in reality it is always and in all cases a person. A critic may insist that E. Lebedev in Tovstonogov’s play “Simplicity is Enough for Every Wise Man” Krutitsky was a man-stump, and this definition can correctly capture some aspect of the image created by the actor. But still, Lebedev, no matter how skilled he was, in the dramatic theater could not play a “stump” - only and exclusively a person who did not forcibly resemble a criticism of a stump, that is, who could, with the same reason, resemble a non-stump. In dramatic theater you cannot play a concept, a feeling, a thing, and much more. Only a person - however, with very different properties, and even in the most inhuman form, and understood in different ways - for example, as a character or as a mask - at the currently accepted level of distinction, it is all the same.
It’s exactly the same in musical theater - opera and ballet: if we are talking about the content of the role, it is quite specific here. For here - again, let us remind you once again, in principle, and not in each individual case - the content of the role is extracted from the music. There - from the point of view of the content of the role and, accordingly, the entire content - there is a “theater of drama”, and today (not only today) of all verbal art, here there is a “theater of music”. And the content of the role is musical.
What is the content musical images? If you are not afraid of the “global nature” of this question and the deliberate crudeness of the answer, such an answer is both necessary and possible: feelings. Not people, as in a play or novel, but people's feelings. In opera and ballet, the human artist plays the role of feelings. Onegin in Tchaikovsky's opera is not a person, although he has a first and last name, but a feeling. More precisely, a very complex set of feelings. And since we are now still in the sphere of content, we must consistently say: the content of the role is “limited” by the content of music in opera and ballet in equal measure. Here, in this respect, there is no difference between them. Love can be sung or danced - in musical theater. And only in the pantomime theater can an artist depict a thing as such.
We argued that E.A. Lebedev could not play the “role of a stump” in the drama theater. It cannot be played in musical theater either. But in the pantomime theater this role is very possible to play. And it is precisely in this theater that such roles are most organic. Why?
Let’s compare all the full-length old, “musical” arts neighboring the theater. Music, literature, plastic arts. Let us now imagine that the theater, “in search of the content of the roles,” turns to them, to each of them. He turns and gets what he was looking for: in the content of every art there is material for theatrical roles. They become theatrical, and even just roles, only in the theater, only “in application” to the person playing them and the watching and listening public. But the actors sought them out for themselves and for us in each case in a strictly defined place.
If so, if we remembered all the original spatial and temporal arts and discovered that the theater was able to extract from each something for itself, which it made into roles, we can conclude that the content - or, if you like, the “origin” of the role - is one of the possible criteria for dividing theater into types. The material for the role was provided by literature, music, and plastic arts. The roles became: person, feeling, object (maybe, more precisely, thing). And theater is dramatic, musical and pantomimic.
Now let's look at the form. Does it provide any criteria for dividing theater into types? Undoubtedly, she gives too. In one case we have a person in front of us, in another a doll, in a third a shadow. This is the direct form in which we perceive the image. There is a temptation here, just as rigidly as in the case of content, to “attribute” the form To to one of the participants, to some element of the performance system. Specificity and rigor are always attractive, but the risk here is perhaps too great. We cannot say, for example, that this is an actor in the form of a doll. And we don’t even dare to say that a doll is a form of a role. Is an actor playing a doll, rather than playing, say, a person with a doll? In essence, it’s the same with the shadow and with the “actor in live action.” Therefore, it is more logical to relate the form to the whole of the stage part of the image and so, on the basis of the formal criterion, to build another, in contrast to the content, series: the “living actor” theater (a better name has not yet been invented), puppet theater, shadow theater.
It is clear that these two series intersect. We have already remembered that a puppet theater can be operatic, therefore musical, and it can also be dramatic. In the shadow theater, it is also clear that you can speak and sing. And so on. Noting for accuracy that it will not be possible to “multiply” one row by another mechanically (shadow pantomime, although theoretically possible, in reality still looks like too much of a speculative construction). Let's fix the main thing. At the two levels that we have considered, only “two-stage” definitions already have real meaning. For example, a dramatic puppet theater. And although in the everyday practice of naming species the transition To such definitions are hardly possible (and hardly necessary) - such definitions, which take into account both criteria, formal and substantive, are scientifically “an order of magnitude” more correct than those we use.
The third area of the performance we review is language. And from this area, it is now clear, our own criteria for dividing performances must also be extracted. And here, too, it is clear that we cannot achieve mechanical, total “correctness.” However, at least, at a minimum, for such a theater as musical - not only “ musical theater a living actor,” but also any musical theater - such a criterion is absolutely necessary. The content in both opera and ballet is musical, based on musical content roles extracted by the theater from music as art. But in one case the role is sung, in the other they are danced. At the level of language, musical theater is at least twofold. At the same time, as we remember, the languages of both main branches of musical theater are independent arts - singing and dancing. Isn’t this essentially how things stand in the dramatic theater? After all, let's say, not only the content of the role, but also an essential part of its language - words - was donated to the theater by literature. Paradoxically, at first glance, the “content” investment in literature is more mastered by the theater than the linguistic one. Of course, this is not entirely true, it is more of an appearance: it can hardly be argued that a character in a play is more strongly digested by a stage role than a phrase written by a writer - by the speech of a speaking actor. With all this, it is enough for us that literature has given the dramatic theater a whole layer of its linguistic means just as singing gave language to opera, and dance to ballet. And in the same way, the independent art of miming turned into the language of the pantomime theater.
So, in principle, in several special cases especially, the division of theater into types now forces us to define each of these types based simultaneously on three criteria - content, language and formal. Form, as we said, in all these cases refers to the entire integrity of the stage image created by the actor; the content characterizes the role. And language is an actor: not just a speaker, but certainly a speaker of words; singing; dancing; miming. Above the second “floor” that we found, we have to build a third one. So, it means that opera is an ill-defined concept. If you need to be specific, you will have to say, for example: theater - live - singing - musical role - actor. Unbearably cumbersome. But on the basis of clear criteria and, therefore, strictly.
Relationship between dancing ballerina and a dancing doll, of course. Just like the kinship between a “living” dancing ballet dancer and a “living” dramatic actor, just like the organic closeness between a dancer and a singer, if they dance and sing music. Three different relationships, all undeniable.
What does the characteristic of the species look like in this case? Known to be integral. But three groups of features - linguistic, formal and substantive - cannot simply be “multiplied”: the specific plot is much more insidious. In the pantomime theater you can only play the role of the proverbial tree stump, we said. But they said it, it seems, contrary to common sense. Why, in order to characterize the “theater of a thing,” should a substantive rather than a formal criterion be highlighted? Isn’t it in a puppet theater that a thing can sing or speak in the most natural way? Most likely, yes, in a puppet theater. Only in this case will we have a thing playing the role of a person, and in the pantomime theater a person playing the role of a thing.
There is another, strictly scientific reason for the proposed logic of dividing theater into types. It is at this level that a real opportunity arises to link together the two sides of the performance - two groups of its characteristics: systemic-structural-elemental and content-formal-linguistic, the performance as a work of theater and the performance as a work of art. Types of theater are determined in their specificity not only on the basis of the affiliation of their contents, forms and languages, but also by which parts of the performance system have a decisive influence on this affiliation in each case. In one case, it is the actor who is the language of “his”: it is not the role that sings, it is he who sings; in another case, the role is the content of “her”; in the third case, both two, but it is the stage, not the hall.
Perhaps there are also signs that differentiate species in relation to the viewer? It is possible, but from the artistic (and not sociological) point of view that interests us, this has not yet been studied or discovered by anyone.
As before, in this chapter we talked only about the simplest and most fundamental concepts. All infinitely important particular and infinitely significant transitional options were omitted. Meanwhile, there is a rich field here. What is a musical, for example? It is customary to call it a genre, but only insofar as musicals can be tragic and there can be comic - a musical is not a genre. View? Rather yes than no. It’s just difficult, and perhaps it doesn’t fit into the logical scheme we propose at all.
In the commonly used, theatrical and everyday sense, the musical is the most “synthetic theater” in existence. In this quality, it seems to respond to the syncretic ancient Greek performance. But in what respect is it “synthetic”? In terms of language, most likely: in a musical they speak, dance and sing (however, more often in turn than at the same time, so the “synthesis” of languages is a very problematic thing here). Regarding forms? In practice, this is a “theater of a living person,” but a musical can be performed in a puppet theater and in a shadow theater too. In terms of content? This is probably the most unresolved question.
We didn't even install it. Our business was not “filling all the cells” empty in the four-dimensional theatrical periodic table, not playing theater types, and not finding a place for illegitimate American children. Our job was to navigate the main theatrical phenomena and concepts, if possible, collect them and compare them with each other. And for this, it seemed sufficient to find the criteria on the basis of which these concepts are “necessary and sufficient,” on the one hand, and, on the other hand, in terms of art historical capabilities, unambiguous and definitely meaningful.
The question of the types of theater that was just being considered, in this sense, is, of course, not only an example, because here is one of the concepts necessary for theater studies. But the example, moreover, is apparently quite indicative just from the point of view of the criteria used.
Let us repeat one important thing for us. The structure of the performance, no matter how we typologize it and, accordingly, differentiate it, no matter how it is crushed and crushed, in any case, by its very nature, says something “non-individual” about the performance. Each performance has its own elements included in a given whole, these elements are connected to each other by these and not other connections - everything is the same, but to the point of uniqueness of this performance the structure never “gets there”: it can tell about the type of actor, but it will never tell about this particular actor; it will clearly indicate the type of role, but not this particular role, etc. But the content, form and language of the performance, although they always have relatives in other performances, ultimately speak about the content of only this performance, about this , the only form, about such a unique combination of language means.
When we talk about a performance as a work of theatrical art and about the same performance as a work of theater certain type, in the second case we are dealing not only and not simply with a more “private”, more specific phenomenon - we are dealing with a fundamentally more meaningful phenomenon. This is, so to speak, the second step in depth. The third should be considered a specific performance, that is, the totality (if there is one) of nightly performances. Each such performance will be the “last stage” of differentiation, the greatest imaginable theatrical wealth. For already at the level of the “performance”, to the almost parodic “three-story” (not counting the structure) definition of this performance will be added precisely the individuality of this role, this actor, these relationships between them and between these actors in these roles among themselves, and between them and everyone other elements of the performance; here the entire stage part of the structure is “embodied.” But even here it is not final. For although throughout the life of the performance the actors will be (in principle) the same, the roles are “interpreted” in the same way, the relationships between them are also, in principle, generally given, and at the level of the performance there will be the same combination of language means, the same genre etc. - at this level, one of the decisive quantities - the public - will remain too abstract and generalized. She (and everyone else along with her and in terrible and beautiful dependence on her) will become real only at the last level of discrimination, in that “representation” that occurs today, here, now. And only in this case will the actor and the role enter into real relationship not only with the audience, but also with each other, and only here will it become clear what the genre of the performance is, and only here the sharpness of the actor’s head turn and the height of the stage grate will make sense. Here and only here the theatrical structure will become itself, the content will not just be “specific”, but this and only this, the form will acquire its uniqueness, and the language will speak. Here is the fundamental maximum of meanings that can be included in the concept of “work of theatrical art.” But they are not given theories.
From the book Problems of Comedy and Laughter author Propp VladimirChapter 2. Types of laughter and the identification of mocking laughter It was pointed out above that the classifications proposed in most aesthetics and poetics are unacceptable for us and that we should look for new and more reliable ways of systematization. We proceed from the fact that comedy and laughter are not
From the book Poetics of Myth author Meletinsky Eleazar Moiseevich From the book Theory of Literature author Khalizev Valentin Evgenievich1 Division of art into types. Fine and expressive arts The distinction between types of art is carried out on the basis of elementary, external, formal characteristics of works. Aristotle also noted that types of art differ in means of imitation
From the book Commentary on the novel "Eugene Onegin" author Nabokov Vladimir1. Types of prosody The considerations presented below regarding Russian and English iambic tetrameter will only outline their similarities and differences. Among the Russian poetic heritage, I chose as a sample the works of our greatest poet Pushkin.
From the book Volume 3. Soviet and pre-revolutionary theater author Lunacharsky Anatoly VasilievichAbout the future of the Maly Theatre* Many people are now faced with the question: is a theater needed at all in the near future? Why could this question not arise either in pre-revolutionary times or in non-revolutionary countries? This question is posed there from the point of view of the ruling classes and
From the book Calendar-2. Disputes about the indisputable author Bykov Dmitry LvovichTo mark the tenth anniversary of the Chamber Theatre* The Chamber Theater represents a very unique phenomenon against the background of current European and Russian theater and especially in the interesting fabric of the search for post-revolutionary theatre. The Chamber Theater itself arose as a result of higher
From the book Technologies and Methods of Teaching Literature author Philology Team of authors -- From the book Ostrich - Russian Bird [collection] author Moskvina Tatyana Vladimirovna3.4.3. Types of reading in the process of literary education USEFUL QUOTE “Reading is a window through which children see and learn about the world and themselves. It opens to the child only when, along with reading, simultaneously with it, and even before the book is first opened,
From the book All the best that money can’t buy [A world without politics, poverty and wars] by Fresco Jacques4.3.1. Types of independent activities of students in literature 1. Independent activity students in the lessons is organized for the purpose of: diagnosing and monitoring the degree of mastery of the material studied in the lessons in the form of:? written answers to questions;? essays;? test;?
From the book The Art of Talking about Books You Haven't Read by Bayard PierreTheater without theater Experience of lyrical and polemical theatrical proseThe mighty force of inertia of authority and unique ability our approach to the production of myths and legends dictated to our consciousness a completely romantic picture: it seemed that in the magnificent building of Russia there were wonderful traditions
From the author's book From the author's bookThe organism of the theater I Theater is the fusion of three separate elements - the element of the actor, the element of the poet and the element of the spectator - in a single moment. The actor, the poet, the spectator are tangible masks of those three basic elements that form each work of art. A moment of life
Page 27. Kaiser Georg (1878-1945) - German expressionist playwright, author of a number of pacifist and anti-imperialist plays; wrote more than 60 plays of a strongly experimental nature. "From Morning to Midnight" - drama 1916
Page 28. Lampel Peter-Martin (b. 1894) - German playwright. His play "Revolt in the Foundling House" (1928) caused a great discussion on issues of education.
SHOULD DRAMA HAVE A TREND?
Response to a questionnaire from the Essen magazine "Scheinwerfer", published in November 1928, along with responses from other cultural figures.
A PLAYWRIGHT'S REJECTION
Apparently, this article, which remains in the manuscript, dates back to 1932.
Page 33. Maugham Somerset (b. 1874) - English novelist and playwright, who gained fame for the comedies Lady Frederick (1907), A Man of Honor (1904), Caroline (1916), The Circle (1921), The Letter " (1927), etc. A collection of Maugham's plays in six volumes was published in 1931-1932.
Sulla Lucius Cornelius (138-78 BC) became in 82 BC. e. permanent dictator, and in 79 BC. e. resigned his powers.
Shakespeare... went into his personal life. - In 1613, in the prime of his life, forty-eight years old, Shakespeare, for reasons unknown to his biographers, left the theater. (See: A. Anikst, Shakespeare, M., “Young Guard”, ZhZL, 1964, p. 303 ff.).
ON THE WAY TO MODERN THEATER
TO THE Mister IN THE PARTERRE
Response to the questionnaire from the newspaper "Berliner Borsen-Courier"; the question read: “What do you think your audience expects from you?” Published on December 25, 1926, along with responses from many theater figures (L. Jessner, A. Bronnen, G. Kaiser, E. Toller, K. Zuckmayer, K. Sternheim, M. Fleiser and others).
Page 38. "In the thicket." - This refers to Brecht's play "In the Thicket of Cities" (1921-1924).
PICTURE EXPERIENCE
Written by Brecht after the performance of "The Tide" by A. Paquet on the stage of the Volksbühne on February 21, 1926.
Page 39. Shakespeare's Coriolanus was staged by director Erich Engel at the Lessing Theater in Berlin on February 27, 1925; Fritz Kortner played the main role.
"Baal" is Brecht's first play, written in 1918.
Burris Emil - playwright, colleague of Brecht, author of the plays "American Youth" (1925), "A Meager Meal" (1926). See Brecht’s two notes about him: “Fruitful Obstacles” and “Objective Theater” (B. Brecht, Schriften zum Theater, V. I, S. 169-172).
REFLECTIONS ON THE DIFFICULTIES OF EPIC THEATER
Published in the literary supplement of the newspaper "Frankfurter Zeitung" on November 27, 1927.
Page 41. ...Munich Shakespearean stage. - I mean Munich art theater(1907-1908), the auditorium of which was located like an amphitheater, and the 10-meter-long stage, devoid of depth, was limited on the sides by towers; The silhouettes of the actors stood out against the back wall. This theater successfully staged Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.
LAST STAGE - "ODIPUS"
Published in the newspaper "Berliner Borsen-Courier" on February 11, 1929. "Oedipus" was staged by Leopold Jessner at the Staatstheater in Berlin on January 4, 1929. A combination of "Oedipus Rex" and "Oedipus at Colonus" into one play (by Heinz Lipmann ). The main role was played by Fritz Kortner.
ABOUT THEMES AND FORM
Published in the newspaper "Berliner Borsen-Courier" dated March 31, 1929, together with notes from a number of other theater figures under the general title "Tomorrow's Theater." The editors posed the following questions: “What new thematic areas can fertilize theater? Do these themes require a new dramatic form or new technology games?"
THE PATH TO A GREAT MODERN THEATER
These sketches, which remain unpublished, date back to 1930.
Page 47. Dayton Monkey Trial. - Dayton is a city in the USA, in the state of Ohio; here was the trial of a schoolteacher who promoted Darwin's teachings.
SOVIET THEATER AND PROLETARIAN THEATER
Written in connection with a tour of the Meyerhold Theater in 1930; In Berlin, the plays “The Inspector General” by Gogol and “Roar, China!” were performed. S. Tretyakov and Ostrovsky's "Forest".
Page 51. ...Attila - leader of the Huns (434-453), known for his ferocity.
DIALECTICAL DRAMATURGY
Selected sketches from 1929-1930, remaining unpublished and extracted from Brecht's archive.
Page 55. Kerr Alfred (1867-1948) - German theater critic, a constant ideological and artistic opponent of Brecht.
Page 60. ...works...Deblin, - Brecht is referring to the novel by Alfred Deblin (1878-1957) “The Three Leaps of Wang Lun” (1915), under the influence of which he wrote his early comedy “What is this soldier, what is that” (1924-1926).
Page 63. ...removing the covers from the images in Sais. - This refers to Schiller’s poem “The Shrouded Statue of Sais” (1796), which affirms the Kantian position about the unknowability of the “thing in itself”: an inquisitive young man tore off the cover that hid the Truth from the statue, and was forever speechless.
ABOUT NON-ARISTOTLEAN DRAMA
THEATER OF PLEASURE OR THEATER OF TEACHING?
The article was written in 1936, first published in 1957 in the collection. "Schriften zum Theater". Published in Russian in the book: B. Brecht, About the Theater, M., IL, 1960.
Page 65. Louis Jouvet (1887-1935) - French director, director of the Athenaeum theater. Jouvet was a theatrical innovator who sought new ways of directing.
Cochran is an English director and actor.
"Gabima" is a Jewish theater in which E. B. Vakhtangov staged the play "Gadibuk" ("Possessed") in 1921, which had a great resonance in Europe.
Page 66. ...according to Aristotle. - See: Aristotle, The Art of Poetry, M., Goslitizdat, 1967, p. S3.
Page 72. Psychoanalysis is a theory of psychology created by the Austrian scientist Z. Freud, according to which a person’s spiritual life is explained by the subconscious and mainly by sexual instinct.
Behaviorism is a direction in modern American psychology that considers human behavior as a set of reactions to external influences.
...According to Friedrich Schiller... - Brecht is referring to Schiller’s doctrine of theater as a school of morality, which he put forward in a number of aesthetic articles and treatises: “The Theater Considered as a Moral Institution”, “On Tragic Art”, “On Pathetic Art” , in "Letters on the aesthetic education of man."
Page 73. Nietzsche attacked Schiller, calling him Säckingen's moral trumpeter. - Nietzsche, who had dislike for Schiller, ironically called him that, using the title of the famous lyric-epic story in verse by Joseph Victor Scheffel “The Trumpeter of Säckingen” (1854).
GERMAN THEATER OF THE 20'S
This article was published in English in the Left Review, London, July 1936.
Page 75. “Business is business” - anti-bourgeois play French writer Octave Mirbeau (1903).
"Mistress Julia" is a naturalistic drama by the Swedish writer August Strindberg (1888).
"The Chalk Circle" is a sensational modernist play by the German writer Klabund (1924), an adaptation of an ancient oriental drama,
Page 76. “The Good Soldier Schweik” was staged by Piscator at the Berlin Theater on Nollendorfplatz (premiere January 23, 1928) based on Hasek’s novel, adapted for the stage by Brecht.
"The Merchant of Berlin" is a satirical play by Walter Mehring (b. 1896), staged by Piscator at the theater on Nollendorfplatz (premiere September 6, 1928).
Gross Georg (1893-1959) - German graphic artist who collaborated in 1928-1929. with Piscator, in whose theater he designed “The Adventures of the Good Soldier Schweik.” See about him in the book. E. Piscator "Political Theater", M., 1934.
Page 77. “The Flight of the Lindberghs” is an educational play by Brecht (1929), later renamed “Flight Over the Ocean.”
Hindemith Paul (b. 1895) - German composer, one of the leaders of musical modernism.
REALISTIC THEATER AND ILLUSION
Sketches that remained unpublished. In Brecht's manuscript, the title given refers only to the first passage.
ABOUT EXPERIMENTAL THEATER
Report read on May 4, 1939 to participants in the Student Theater in Stockholm. For the re-reading of the report before the ensemble of the Student Theater in Helsinki in November 1940, Brecht revised the text. First published in "Studien", E 12, supplement to the magazine "Theater der Zeit", l959, E 4.
Page 84. Antoine André (1858-1943) - French director, theorist and theater innovator.
Brahm Otto (1856-(1912) - German theater figure, founder of German stage naturalism, follower of Antoine.
Craig Gordon (b. 1872) is an English director, artist and theater theorist, a supporter of the director's autocracy in the theater, who saw in the actor only a “super-puppet.”
Reinhardt Max (1873-1943) - German director, a tireless experimenter who innovatively used all the components of a modern performance (music, light, dance, painting).
...natural sites. - Reinhardt staged the circus arenas etc. in the form of mass folk shows. "Dream in summer night"was staged in 1905 - this performance enjoyed particular success.
“Every Person” (or “Everyone”) - a drama by the Austrian playwright Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874-1924) “Every Person, a play about the death of a rich man” (1911); is a treatment of a medieval mystery play.
Page 85. Trendelenburg heart surgery. - Friedrich Trendelenburg (1844-1924) - surgeon, creator of new methods of operations on the lungs and heart.
Page 86. Grig Nordahl (1902-1943) - Norwegian playwright, author epic drama"Our Honor, Our Power" (1935), which attracted Brecht with its image the masses, and Defeats (1937), a drama that Brecht adapted into his play Days of the Commune.
Lagerkvist Per (b. 1891) - Swedish writer, a follower of the dramaturgy of A. Strindberg, who later created works of high philosophical and public importance.
Auden Wystan Hugh (b. 1907) - English writer and poet.
Abell Kjell (1901-1961) - Danish playwright. See note. to page 181 of the 1st half volume.
Page 93. ...institute of physicist Niels Bohr. - Niels Bohr (1885-1964) Danish physicist, who headed the Institute of Theoretical Physics from 1920. Under the impression of the message mentioned in the text, Brecht wrote the play “The Life of Galileo” (see about this, vol. 2 present, ed., p. 437).
Page 95. Mimesis. - In his Poetics, Aristotle, following Plato, calls all types of poetry imitative arts or imitation. The term "mimesis" (uiunoic) means "imitation".
Hegel, who created... the last great aesthetics. - This refers to the “Course of Lectures on Aesthetics” read by Hegel in 1817-1819. in Heidelberg and in 1820-1821. in Berlin. The thought given by Brecht in the “Introduction” (see: Hegel, Collected Works, M., 1938, vol. XII).
Page 101. Bruegel. - Dutch painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder, nicknamed Peasant (1525-1569).
NEW PRINCIPLES OF ACTING
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF A NEW ACTING TECHNIQUE THAT CAUSES SO
CALLED THE "ALIENATION EFFECT"
The article was written in 1940, published in "Versuche", E 11, Berlin, 1951. In Russian - in the book: B. Brecht, About the Theater, M., IL, 1960.
Page 108. “The Life of Edward II of England” (1923) - a play by B. Brecht and L. Feuchtwanger, an adaptation of the drama by Christopher Marlowe, English playwright Renaissance, predecessor of Shakespeare.
"The Pioneers of Ingolstadt" is a play by Marieluise Fleiser.
Page 110. I. Rapoport’s book “The Work of the Actor” made a great impression on Brecht and was discussed by him several times. See special note in "Schriften zum Theater", B. Ill, Suhrkamp Verlag, 1963, S. 212-213.
DIALECTICS AND ALIENATION
These notes were not published during Brecht's lifetime.
BUILDING AN IMAGE
It was not published during Brecht's lifetime. The sections “Historicization” and “Uniqueness of the Image” are included in this series of notes by the compiler of the German edition, W. Hecht.
Page 125. ...your little play... - that is, Brecht's one-act play "The Rifles of Teresa Carrar."
Page 125-126. ...the most outstanding actress is Elena Weigel.
IMAGE DEVELOPMENT
This and the following notes were written mainly in 1951-1953. Some of them were created before and after a conference organized by the German Academy of Arts in Berlin on the topic: “How can we understand Stanislavsky?” Others arose in the summer of 1953 in connection with reading a handwritten translation of N. Gorchakov’s book “Directing Lessons by K. S. Stanislavsky”, 2nd ed., M., “Iskusstvo”, 1951, written by a famous Soviet director based on rehearsals and conversations with Stanislavsky.
IS IT TRUE
Written by Brecht in connection with the production of E. Strittmatter's play "Katzgraben" (1953) - see note. to page 479.
Page 141. “The Trial of Joan of Arc” is a play written by B. Brecht in collaboration with Benno Besson based on the radio play of the same name by Anna Seghers (1952).
Dufour is a character in this play.
pars pro toto (Latin) - part instead of the whole.
LIVING
Refers to notes written in connection with the production of Katzgraben.
Page 142. Danegger Matilda - actress of the Berlin Ensemble.
ARTIST AND COMPOSER IN THE EPIC THEATER
ON STAGE DESIGN IN THE NON-ARISTOTLEAN THEATER
An excerpt from a large work left unfinished.
Page 150. “Running Run” - a play by V. P. Stavsky (1931), staged by N. P. Okhlopkov in the Moscow Realistic theater.
Knutson Per is a Danish director who staged Brecht's play "Roundheads and Pointheads" at the Riedersalen Theater in Copenhagen (premiere: November 4, 1936). See present, ed., vol. II, p. 430.
Page 151. Gorelik Max (Mortdecai) (b. 1899) - American theater artist who designed the production of Brecht's play "The World" at the Union Theater in New York (premiere November 19, 1935). See present, ed., vol. I, p. 510.
Page 155. John Hartfield (b. 1891) - German poster and theater artist.
Page 161. Hannibal ante portes (Latin) - Hannibal at the gate. Cicero's words signifying great danger.
Page 163. Guild Theater - American dramatic theater established in 1919; here the existing “star” system in America was contrasted with a strong ensemble of actors. See "Theater Encyclopedia", vol. I, st. 1169-1170.
ON THE USE OF MUSIC IN EPIC THEATER
The article was written in 1935. First published in the book: "Schriften zurn Theater", 1957. In Russian translation - B. Brecht, About the Theater.
Page 164. “The Life of the Asocial Baal” - that is, Brecht’s play “Baal” (1918).
Page 167. “Take it off” (English) - take off, undress.
"Emperor Jones" is a play by American writer Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953).
"SMALL ORGANON" FOR THE THEATER
Main theoretical work Brecht, written in 1948. First published in 1949 in a special issue of the magazine “Sinn und Form” dedicated to Brecht, then in “Versuche”, E 12. In the annotation the author wrote: “Here is an analysis of the theater of the age of science.”
The word "organon" (meaning in Greek in the literal sense "tool", "instrument") among the followers of Aristotle means logic as a tool of scientific knowledge. The word "Organon" denotes a collection of treatises on Aristotle's logic. The English materialist philosopher Francis Bacon (1561-1626), wanting to contrast Aristotle’s logic with his inductive logic (that is, based on inferences from particular facts to general conclusions), polemically called his work “New Organon”. B. Brecht calls his main theoretical treatise “Small Organon”, continuing the struggle for a new, “non-Aristotelian” theater. Thus, the title itself already contains a polemic against traditional drama and theater.
Page 175. Robert Oppenheimer (b. 1904) - American physicist; During the war, from 1943, he led one of the main American nuclear laboratories. He was subsequently put on trial for anti-American activities.
Page 195. Lufton - see 1st half volume, p. 516.
Page 208. “Tai Yan Awakens” - a play by Friedrich Wolf, staged by Piscator at the Wallnertheater (premiere May 15, 19 (31),
ADDITIONS TO THE "SMALLER ORGANON"
The additions were written by Brecht in 1952-1954. using the experience of working in the Berlin Ensemble.
Page 211. Owl of Minerva. - According to the beliefs of the ancient Romans, the owl is a sacred bird accompanying the goddess of wisdom Minerva.
DIALECTICS IN THE THEATER
DIALECTICS IN THE THEATER
Scattered notes, united under this heading by the compiler of the German edition, W. Hecht.
Page 222. Study of the first scene of Shakespeare's tragedy "Coriolanus". This conversation between Brecht and his colleagues at the Berlin Ensemble Theater took place in 1953. Shakespeare's tragedy Coriolanus was translated and processed by Brecht in 1952-1953.
Page 232. Patria (Latin). - fatherland.
Page 239. Relative haste. - N. A. Ostrovsky’s play “The Kindergarten” was staged at the Berlin Ensemble, directed by Angelika Hurwitz (premiere December 12, 1955).
Page 240. Another case of using dialectics. - The play "The Rifles of Teresa Carrard" was staged at the Berlin Ensemble by Egon Monk under artistic direction Brecht (premiere November 16, 1962).
Page 241. Letter to the performer of the role of the younger Herder in “The Winter Battle”. - “Winter Battle,” a tragedy by I. R. Becher, was staged at the Berlin Ensemble by B. Brecht and Manfred Weckwerth (premiere January 12, 1955). The role of the younger Herder was played by Ekkehard Schall.
Page 243. Arndt Ernst Moritz (1769-1860) - German writer, publicist during the liberation wars against Napoleon.
Page 244. "Military Primer" - an album compiled by Brecht during the war, which consists of photographs with poetic captions composed by Brecht.
Page 245. Niobe - in the Greek legend, the wife of the king of Thebes Amphion, whose children were killed by the gods; out of grief, Niobe turned into a rock. Niobe is the personification of suffering.
Page 246. An example of how the discovery of an error led to a stage discovery. - The play by Chinese playwrights Luo Ding, Chan Fan and Chu Jin-nan “Millet for the Eighth Army”, adapted by Elisabeth Hauptmann and Manfred Weckwerth, was staged at the Berlin Ensemble by M. Weckwerth (premiere April 1, 1954).
Page 248. Gottsched Johann Christoph (1700-1766) - German writer of the early Enlightenment. His Essay on Critical Poetics for the Germans was published in 1730.
Page 249. Gender - Brecht is wrong: Paul was not a Roman actor, he was an Athenian of the era of Pericles.
SOME MISCONCEPTIONS IN UNDERSTANDING THE BERLIN ENSEMBLE PLAYING METHOD
This “conversation in the literary part of the theater” took place in 1955 after the premiere of “Winter Battle” by I. R. Becher. First published in "Sinn und Form", 1957, E 1-3. Russian translation (partial) in the book: B. Brecht, About the Theater.
Page 252. Rilla Paul (b. 1896) - German critic, theorist and literary historian, author of the book “Literature, Criticism and Polemics”, Berlin, 1950.
Page 254. Rosa Berndt - heroine tragedy of the same name G. Hauptmann (1903).
Page 259. Erpenbeck Fritz (b. 1897) - German writer and theater critic.
NOTES ON DIALECTICS IN THE THEATER
Page 268. Nouveaute (French) - letters, news. "Theatres des Nouveautes" - that's what many were called Parisian theaters, of which the most famous is the theater founded by Brasseur Sr. on the Italian Boulevard in 1878, where vaudevilles, operettas and buffet comedies were performed.
E. Etkind
THEATER OF PLEASURE OR THEATER OF TEACHING?
Page 65. Louis Jouvet (1887-1935) - French director, director of the Athenaeum theater. Jouvet was a theatrical innovator who sought new ways of directing.
Cochran is an English director and actor.
"Gabima" is a Jewish theater in which E. B. Vakhtangov staged the play "Gadibuk" ("Possessed") in 1921, which had a great resonance in Europe.
Page 66. ...according to Aristotle. - See: Aristotle, The Art of Poetry, M., Goslitizdat, 1967, p. S3.
Page 72. Psychoanalysis is a theory of psychology created by the Austrian scientist Z. Freud, according to which a person’s spiritual life is explained by the subconscious and mainly by sexual instinct.
Behaviorism is a direction in modern American psychology that considers human behavior as a set of reactions to external influences.
...According to Friedrich Schiller... - Brecht is referring to Schiller’s doctrine of theater as a school of morality, which he put forward in a number of aesthetic articles and treatises: “The Theater Considered as a Moral Institution”, “On Tragic Art”, “On Pathetic Art” , in "Letters on the aesthetic education of man."
Page 73. Nietzsche attacked Schiller, calling him Säckingen's moral trumpeter. - Nietzsche, who had dislike for Schiller, ironically called him that, using the title of the famous lyric-epic story in verse by Joseph Victor Scheffel “The Trumpeter of Säckingen” (1854).
GERMAN THEATER OF THE 20'S
Page 75. “Business is Deal” - an anti-bourgeois play by the French writer Octave Mirbeau (1903).
"Mistress Julia" is a naturalistic drama by the Swedish writer August Strindberg (1888).
"The Chalk Circle" is a sensational modernist play by the German writer Klabund (1924), an adaptation of an ancient oriental drama,
Page 76. “The Good Soldier Schweik” was staged by Piscator at the Berlin Theater on Nollendorfplatz (premiere January 23, 1928) based on Hasek’s novel, adapted for the stage by Brecht.
"The Merchant of Berlin" is a satirical play by Walter Mehring (b. 1896), staged by Piscator at the theater on Nollendorfplatz (premiere September 6, 1928).
Gross Georg (1893-1959) - German graphic artist who collaborated in 1928-1929. with Piscator, in whose theater he designed “The Adventures of the Good Soldier Schweik.” See about him in the book. E. Piscator "Political Theater", M., 1934.
Page 77. “The Flight of the Lindberghs” is an educational play by Brecht (1929), later renamed “Flight Over the Ocean.”
Hindemith Paul (b. 1895) - German composer, one of the leaders of musical modernism.
REALISTIC THEATER AND ILLUSION
ABOUT EXPERIMENTAL THEATER
Report read on May 4, 1939 to participants in the Student Theater in Stockholm. For the re-reading of the report before the ensemble of the Student Theater in Helsinki in November 1940, Brecht revised the text. First published in "Studien", E 12, supplement to the magazine "Theater der Zeit", l959, E 4.
Page 84. Antoine André (1858-1943) - French director, theorist and theater innovator.
Brahm Otto (1856-(1912) - German theater figure, founder of German stage naturalism, follower of Antoine.
Craig Gordon (b. 1872) is an English director, artist and theater theorist, a supporter of the director's autocracy in the theater, who saw in the actor only a “super-puppet.”
Reinhardt Max (1873-1943) - German director, a tireless experimenter who innovatively used all the components of a modern performance (music, light, dance, painting).
...natural sites. - Reinhardt carried out productions in circus arenas, etc. in the form of mass folk shows. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was staged in 1905 - this performance enjoyed particular success.
“Every Person” (or “Everyone”) - a drama by the Austrian playwright Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874-1924) “Every Person, a play about the death of a rich man” (1911); is a treatment of a medieval mystery play.
Page 85. Trendelenburg heart surgery. - Friedrich Trendelenburg (1844-1924) - surgeon, creator of new methods of operations on the lungs and heart.
Page 86. Grig Nordahl (1902-1943) - Norwegian playwright, author of the epic drama "Our Honor, Our Might" (1935), which attracted Brecht with its depiction of the masses, and "Defeat" (1937), a drama that Brecht remade into his play " Days of the Commune.
Lagerkvist Per (b. 1891) is a Swedish writer, a follower of the dramaturgy of A. Strindberg, who later created works of high philosophical and social significance.
Auden Wystan Hugh (b. 1907) - English writer and poet.
Abell Kjell (1901-1961) - Danish playwright. See note. to page 181 of the 1st half volume.
Page 93. ...institute of physicist Niels Bohr. - Niels Bohr (1885-1964) - Danish physicist, who headed the Institute of Theoretical Physics from 1920. Under the impression of the message mentioned in the text, Brecht wrote the play “The Life of Galileo” (see about this, vol. 2 present, ed., p. 437).
Page 95. Mimesis. - In his Poetics, Aristotle, following Plato, calls all types of poetry imitative arts or imitation. The term "mimesis" (μιμησις) means "imitation".
Hegel, who created... the last great aesthetics. - This refers to the “Course of Lectures on Aesthetics” read by Hegel in 1817-1819. in Heidelberg and in 1820-1821. in Berlin. The thought given by Brecht in the “Introduction” (see: Hegel, Collected Works, M., 1938, vol. XII).
Page 101. Bruegel. - Dutch painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder, nicknamed Peasant (1525-1569).
NEW PRINCIPLES OF ACTING
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF A NEW ACTING TECHNIQUE THAT CAUSES SO
CALLED THE "ALIENATION EFFECT"
Page 108. “The Life of Edward II of England” (1923) - a play by B. Brecht and L. Feuchtwanger, an adaptation of the drama by Christopher Marlowe, an English playwright of the Renaissance, predecessor of Shakespeare.
"The Pioneers of Ingolstadt" is a play by Marieluise Fleiser.
Page 110. I. Rapoport’s book “The Work of the Actor” made a great impression on Brecht and was discussed by him several times. See special note in "Schriften zum Theater", B. Ill, Suhrkamp Verlag, 1963, S. 212-213.
DIALECTICS AND ALIENATION
These notes were not published during Brecht's lifetime.
BUILDING AN IMAGE
It was not published during Brecht's lifetime. The sections “Historicization” and “Uniqueness of the Image” are included in this series of notes by the compiler of the German edition, W. Hecht.
Page 125. ...your little play... - that is, Brecht's one-act play "The Rifles of Teresa Carrar."
Page 125-126. ...the most outstanding actress is Elena Weigel.
IMAGE DEVELOPMENT
This and the following notes were written mainly in 1951-1953. Some of them were created before and after a conference organized by the German Academy of Arts in Berlin on the topic: “How can we understand Stanislavsky?” Others arose in the summer of 1953 in connection with reading a handwritten translation of N. Gorchakov’s book “Directing Lessons by K. S. Stanislavsky”, 2nd ed., M., “Iskusstvo”, 1951, written by a famous Soviet director based on rehearsals and conversations with Stanislavsky.
IS IT TRUE
Written by Brecht in connection with the production of E. Strittmatter's play "Katzgraben" (1953) - see note. to page 479.
Page 141. “The Trial of Joan of Arc” is a play written by B. Brecht in collaboration with Benno Besson based on the radio play of the same name by Anna Seghers (1952).
Dufour is a character in this play.
pars pro toto (Latin) - part instead of the whole.
LIVING
Refers to notes written in connection with the production of Katzgraben.
Page 142. Danegger Matilda - actress of the Berlin Ensemble.
ARTIST AND COMPOSER IN THE EPIC THEATER
ON STAGE DESIGN IN THE NON-ARISTOTLEAN THEATER
An excerpt from a large work left unfinished.
Page 150. “Running Run” - a play by V. P. Stavsky (1931), staged by N. P. Okhlopkov at the Moscow Realistic Theater.
Knutson Per is a Danish director who staged Brecht's play "Roundheads and Pointheads" at the Riedersalen Theater in Copenhagen (premiere: November 4, 1936). See present, ed., vol. II, p. 430.
Page 151. Gorelik Max (Mortdecai) (b. 1899) - American theater artist who designed the production of Brecht's play "The World" at the Union Theater in New York (premiere November 19, 1935). See present, ed., vol. I, p. 510.
Page 155. John Hartfield (b. 1891) - German poster and theater artist.
Page 161. Hannibal ante portes (Latin) - Hannibal at the gate. Cicero's words signifying great danger.
Page 163. Guild Theater - American dramatic theater established in 1919; here the existing “star” system in America was contrasted with a strong ensemble of actors. See "Theater Encyclopedia", vol. I, st. 1169-1170.
ON THE USE OF MUSIC IN EPIC THEATER
Page 164. “The Life of the Asocial Baal” - that is, Brecht’s play “Baal” (1918).
Page 167. “Take it off” (English) - take off, undress.
"Emperor Jones" is a play by American writer Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953).
"SMALL ORGANON" FOR THE THEATER
Brecht's main theoretical work, written in 1948. First published in 1949 in a special issue of the magazine "Sinn und Form" dedicated to Brecht, then in "Versuche", E 12. In the annotation the author wrote: "Here is an analysis of the theater of the age of science" .
The word "organon" (meaning in Greek in the literal sense "tool", "instrument") among the followers of Aristotle means logic as a tool of scientific knowledge. The word "Organon" denotes a collection of treatises on Aristotle's logic. The English materialist philosopher Francis Bacon (1561-1626), wanting to contrast Aristotle’s logic with his inductive logic (that is, based on inferences from particular facts to general conclusions), polemically called his work “New Organon”. B. Brecht calls his main theoretical treatise “Small Organon”, continuing the struggle for a new, “non-Aristotelian” theater. Thus, the title itself already contains a polemic against traditional drama and theater.
Page 175. Robert Oppenheimer (b. 1904) - American physicist; During the war, from 1943, he led one of the main American nuclear laboratories. He was subsequently put on trial for anti-American activities.
Page 195. Lufton - see 1st half volume, p. 516.
Page 208. “Tai Yan Awakens” - a play by Friedrich Wolf, staged by Piscator at the Wallnertheater (premiere May 15, 19 (31),
ADDITIONS TO THE "SMALLER ORGANON"
The additions were written by Brecht in 1952-1954. using the experience of working in the Berlin Ensemble.
Page 211. Owl of Minerva. - According to the beliefs of the ancient Romans, the owl is a sacred bird accompanying the goddess of wisdom Minerva.
DIALECTICS IN THE THEATER
DIALECTICS IN THE THEATER
Scattered notes, united under this heading by the compiler of the German edition, W. Hecht.
Page 222. Study of the first scene of Shakespeare's tragedy "Coriolanus". This conversation between Brecht and his colleagues at the Berlin Ensemble Theater took place in 1953. Shakespeare's tragedy Coriolanus was translated and processed by Brecht in 1952-1953.
Page 232. Patria (Latin). - fatherland.
Page 239. Relative haste. - N. A. Ostrovsky’s play “The Kindergarten” was staged at the Berlin Ensemble, directed by Angelika Hurwitz (premiere December 12, 1955).
Page 240. Another case of using dialectics. - The play “The Rifles of Teresa Carrard” was staged at the Berlin Ensemble by Egon Monk under the artistic direction of Brecht (premiere November 16, 1962).
Page 241. Letter to the performer of the role of the younger Herder in “The Winter Battle”. - “Winter Battle,” a tragedy by I. R. Becher, was staged at the Berlin Ensemble by B. Brecht and Manfred Weckwerth (premiere January 12, 1955). The role of the younger Herder was played by Ekkehard Schall.
Page 243. Arndt Ernst Moritz (1769-1860) - German writer, publicist during the liberation wars against Napoleon.
Page 244. "Military Primer" - an album compiled by Brecht during the war, which consists of photographs with poetic captions composed by Brecht.
Page 245. Niobe - in the Greek legend, the wife of the king of Thebes Amphion, whose children were killed by the gods; out of grief, Niobe turned into a rock. Niobe is the personification of suffering.
Page 246. An example of how the discovery of an error led to a stage discovery. - The play by Chinese playwrights Luo Ding, Chan Fan and Chu Jin-nan “Millet for the Eighth Army”, adapted by Elisabeth Hauptmann and Manfred Weckwerth, was staged at the Berlin Ensemble by M. Weckwerth (premiere April 1, 1954).
Page 248. Gottsched Johann Christoph (1700-1766) - German writer of the early Enlightenment. His Essay on Critical Poetics for the Germans was published in 1730.
Page 249. Gender - Brecht is wrong: Paul was not a Roman actor, he was an Athenian of the era of Pericles.
SOME MISCONCEPTIONS IN UNDERSTANDING THE BERLIN ENSEMBLE PLAYING METHOD
This “conversation in the literary part of the theater” took place in 1955 after the premiere of “Winter Battle” by I. R. Becher. First published in "Sinn und Form", 1957, E 1-3. Russian translation (partial) in the book: B. Brecht, About the Theater.
Page 252. Rilla Paul (b. 1896) - German critic, theorist and literary historian, author of the book “Literature, Criticism and Polemics”, Berlin, 1950.
Page 254. Rosa Berndt - the heroine of the tragedy of the same name by G. Hauptmann (1903).
Page 259. Erpenbeck Fritz (b. 1897) - German writer and theater critic.
NOTES ON DIALECTICS IN THE THEATER
Page 268. Nouveaute (French) - letters, news. "Theatres des Nouveautes" was the name of many Parisian theaters, of which the most famous was the theater founded by Brasseur Sr. on the Italian boulevard in 1878, where vaudevilles, operettas and buffet comedies were performed.
Features of modern theater
According to Boyadzhiev, the avant-garde experimentally developed many new forms, techniques, and solutions artistic creativity. However, it was the avant-garde that, by destroying traditional aesthetic norms, opened the way to the transition of artistic culture to a new quality - postmodernism or trans-avant-garde. Postmodernism is a peculiar reaction of a passing culture to the avant-garde; it is an aestheticized, ironic surge of traditional culture that has already survived the avant-garde, accepted its innovations and come to terms with both it and its decline. With this, the avant-garde fulfilled its function in European culture and ended its existence as a phenomenon in the 1960s and 1970s. For representatives of theatrical postmodernism, R. Wilson and Carmelo Bene (see Boyadzhiev 1988), the dramatic text and the actor are nothing more than a reason for creating mesmerizing original performances-installations (Boyadzhiev 1988: 12).
According to Shevchenko E.N. (2008: 13 ff.), the theater responded to the events and cultural shifts that occurred in the 20th century in a truly theatrical way: it itself embarked on the path of the most complex metamorphoses and, violating the usual rules and canons, not only does not contribute to the restoration of stability, but even more confusing and increases feelings of anxiety and confusion. According to Erika Fischer-Lichte (see Shevchenko E.N. 2008), one of the largest modern theater scholars in Germany, who compared the theater of the 90s - early 2000s with the ever-changing Proteus, taking on more and more new guise, and puts forward a transformation into a number of basic aesthetic categories of our time. Along with the transformations that make up the essence of theater as such, today we are talking about transformations of a different kind. On the one hand, theater is being transformed into other forms of art, mass media, and artistic events. On the other hand, other types of art, mass media and artistic events are transformed into theater. There is a theatricalization of public life. Theatrical performances compete with performances in politics, sports, mass media, and advertising. The blurring of boundaries is becoming a conceptual feature of contemporary art. Where does the theater end and the promotion begin? At what point does a talk show turn into theater? When does an election campaign become theater, and when does theater become an election campaign? For each type of performance there are certain rules, a certain “framework” that defines its functions and meaning, and also guarantees a certain behavior of the viewer. But since the 90s, there has been a constant shift, a violation of framework conditions and their various interactions. As a result, the expectations of the audience/participants are not met, they do not know how to behave, and as a result - their confusion, disorientation, and sometimes aggression and anger.
And Shevchenko E.N. in his book he gives the example of the German director K. Schlingensief. This young German director, actor and showman has earned himself a reputation as the greatest master of overstepping any boundaries, confusing, arousing hatred and admiration and raising ocean waves in the quietest swamp. Shevchenko gives such colorful definitions of K. Schliegensief as “First-class provocateur”, “German theater provocateur”, “theater clown”, “political clown”. And, according to Shevchenko, these are not all of the titles that the press and criticism have awarded and continue to generously reward Schlingensief. Born in 1960 in Obergausen, he began his career as a film director. Since 1993, Schlingensief has been director of the famous Berlin Volksbühne theater. In addition, he travels around the world as a director of numerous performances, events, projects, and talk shows. One of Schlingensief's most sensational projects, "Foreigners Out. Please Love Austria," is also known as the "Container Show." Such theatrical events do not rely on pre-written text. Thus, drama in this area gives way to a certain approximate scenario, implying various options for stage implementation and a high degree of improvisation, since, in particular, the behavior of spectators/participants is unpredictable.
We dwelled in more detail on the Schlingensief Theater, since in many respects, according to Shevchenko, it is the most striking and characteristic embodiment of modern trends in theatrical life in Germany within the framework of the "Wiener Festwochen" festival. Christoph Schlingensief was invited to Vienna for staging a “political happening against xenophobia.” The artist’s radicalism exceeded the wildest expectations of the loyal organizers. In front of the building Vienna Opera a container was installed with the inscription “Foreigners out!”, into which a group of either foreigners who asked for political asylum or actors playing their roles was settled. On a special website on the Internet, one could get acquainted with the biographies of the participants and follow their life in the container. Every evening one of them was chosen by the public and thrown out of the country. Thus, through a simple phone call or over the Internet, anyone had the right to decide the fate of people. On the first evening, 70,000 hits were registered on the site! The title of the festival - "The First European Cooperation Week" - was decisively renamed by Schlingensief into the "First Concentration Week". The Viennese public was seething with indignation, Japanese tourists clicked their cameras, taking what was happening at face value, and Schlingensief spoke into the microphone: “Dear tourists, take photos! Send them around the world! Show people abroad the true Austria!” Respectable Austrians spat in his direction, cursing the “fascist project,” forgetting how the Nazi Jörg Haider had been successfully elected shortly before, and not least for his radical program against foreigners. In a report on the progress of the project, Schlingensief wrote that its goal was to create an extreme optical picture the danger that comes to Europe from today's Austria. Those present and everyone whose attention was focused on the “container project” more than once asked the question: “What is this? Theater? Reality? Absurd? Provocation?” Apparently, both, and third, and fourth. And all together - this is the result of the metamorphoses that modern theater undergoes.
According to Shevchenko, another project of Schlingensief is indicative in this regard - the creation of his own party "Chance 2000". The party, as expected, was registered and ran for the Reichstag. At the same time, the election campaign was both a theatrical performance and circus show, and talk shows, smoothly flowing into one another. The participant, who is also a spectator, could not unambiguously decide what he, in fact, was drawn into. In Schlingensief’s actions, all participants are artists, disabled people, the unemployed, his personal fans, etc. - are in a state of “between” - between firm guidelines, rules, guidelines. This radical form of "betwixt and between" opens up new play spaces and scope for innovation. The theater becomes a kind of creative laboratory in which a crisis situation is artificially created, similar to the one that arises in modern society. The Schlingensief Theater is a political theater. But it is different from the political theater of Brecht, Weiss or Müller. He does not teach, does not enlighten, does not inform, he dramatizes politics and exaggerates what is happening, he misleads, pulls the rug out from under his feet and combs modern reality with a frequent, harsh comb. Is this a provocation? Undoubtedly, but a provocation that is not an end in itself (like, say, Fluxus and performance art of the 60s), but is strictly inscribed in the political context. At the same time, the boundaries between theater and reality are completely blurred.
Such theatrical events do not rely on pre-written text. Thus, drama in this area gives way to a certain approximate scenario, implying various options for stage implementation and a high degree of improvisation, since, in particular, the behavior of spectators/participants is unpredictable.
So, contrary to public expectations, modern theater has not shown itself to be a moral institution that offers ready-made solutions to problems and pushes the viewer to implement them. On the contrary, he himself goes through the path of the most complex metamorphoses, leading the viewer to a certain borderline state: he must free himself from habitual stereotypes, hitherto unshakable rules and guidelines, and open himself to new opportunities and new experiences. The transformations that modern theater is undergoing further enhance the feeling of crisis caused by changes in public life. But unlike the latter, theater offers the viewer the opportunity, in the form of a game, to solve pressing problems and learn to live in conditions of instability. This is where he sees a chance to continue playing important role in a new, dynamic, changing world (Shevchenko 2008: 13 - 17).
So far we have been talking about non-theatrical forms of mass action. But changes, as D.A. Chugunov writes, occur in the theatrical dramaturgy. The most important processes, affecting this area, pass under the sign of “postdramatic theater”. On the one hand, this term is associated with the fact that drama itself has ceased to be the exclusive basis of any theatrical action. An example is the Schlingensief theater events mentioned above. In addition, in the repertoire of a private German theater approximately 30% are so-called “projects”, that is, performances based on a certain literary text - prose or lyrical, but not dramatic! At the same time, performances are solved not primarily by dramatic techniques themselves, but mainly by attracting audio and video means. In general, multimedia is a characteristic feature of modern theater (Chugunov 2006: 113).
On the other hand, as Boldyrev N. writes (2002: 4 ff.), the drama itself is subject to serious changes. Heiner Müller is recognized as one of the pioneers of German post-dramatic theater. His play-text "Hamlet the Machine", written back in 1977, meant a rejection of the traditional dramatic form and "high language". The classical elements of drama - action, conflict, characters, dialogues - are replaced by concentrated imagery (see Boldyrev 2002): “I was Hamlet. I stood on the shore and chatted with the surf: blah blah. Behind my back are the ruins of Europe.”
The most prominent representative of post-dramatic theater, according to N. Boldyrev, today is the writer and playwright Elfriede Jelinek. In 1998, her “Sports Play” was created and staged, which went down in the history of the theater. The point is that large group The actors perform certain sports exercises on stage and chant the text. The play has a special status characters, nameless native speakers. Actors are not themselves, but also not those whom they play. Language is used as material and is separated from the anonymous carrier. Gigantic monologues are put into the mouths of characters devoid of individuality. The text is mechanically divided between them. Wherein big role the rhythm of speech plays, its peculiar music creates a feeling of a kind of trance into which actors and spectators fall. The text of the play is not intended for reading, but exclusively for dramatization. It is a kind of backdrop for a multimedia theatrical performance. The destruction of language, the deprivation of its usual functions, is a characteristic technique used by Jelinek in drama. The function of stage movement changes accordingly. The body (movement, gestures) is at the center of what is happening. As a result, the stage represents a special intermediate space - it is neither theater nor life, and at the same time both. However, the “Sports Play” is not just a bright, shocking, meaningless form, as it might seem at first glance. It contains a deep thought about the kinship of sport and war, about the danger of fanatical idealization of sport, expressed by Elfriede Jelinek with her inherent radicalism and originality. At the same time, in “Sports Play,” according to Boldyrev, the most characteristic features of post-dramatic theater, which has become the main road for the development of modern theatrical art, are reflected - the blurring of the boundaries between theater and life, the destruction of the illusion of “here and now” on which traditional theater is based, rejection of traditional drama (criticism and destruction of language, new function of the text, rejection of traditional dramatic action, conflict, character and dialogue, new function of the body).
As Boldyrev N. writes, initially the term “postdramatic” arose from the opposition of Attic tragedy as an example of “predramatic” theater, that is, theater “before drama,” and modern “postdramatic” theater, that is, theater, the basis of which, as noted, is no longer constitutes the actual dramatic text. IN Lately this term is increasingly used in Germany to denote new trends in modern theatrical practice in general. Around him there are heated debate. Some understand it exclusively as a happening, others - projects in the implementation of which, in addition to actors, artists, poets, dancers participate, others equate text theater with post-dramatic theater, etc. But all these are just partial manifestations of it. Postdramatic theater - broad concept, which includes a wide variety of changes in dramatic form. At the same time, the term “postdramatic” has many similarities with the term “postmodernist”. The latter, however, is more global in nature, essentially denoting an entire era in art, while “postdramatic” is associated with specific issues of theatrical aesthetics. The largest modern theater theorist G. - T. Lehmann, in the book “Postdramatic Theater” (see Boldyrev 2002), published in 1999, conducted an in-depth study of theatrical practice of the last 30 years of the twentieth century in order to identify the aesthetic logic of the new theater. He emphasizes that the term “postdramatic” does not at all mean an abstract negation, a fundamental departure from the dramatic tradition. “Post,” that is, “after,” in his opinion, means that drama continues to exist, but as “a weakened, outdated structure of “normal” theater” within the framework of a new theatrical concept. Müller (see Boldyrev 2002), for example, characterized his postdramatic text as “an explosion of memory in a dead dramatic structure.” Lehmann metaphorically describes this situation as follows: the members and organs of the dramatic organism, although they represent dead material, are still present and form the space of memory in the double sense of the word - both the memory of what is happening and the memory of the traditional dramatic form.
Not all theatrical forms last decades, according to Boldyrev, correspond to the postdramatic paradigm. But we are talking about the logic of development of the very idea of theater. The concept of "new theatre" has been applied to various theatrical concepts throughout history. The formula of any new theater, in principle, comes down to replacing outdated forms with new ones. Studies of modern theater confirm that it is the term “postdramatic” that corresponds to the nature of the innovations that distinguish modern theater, from the point of view of the development of theatrical aesthetics.
Thus, according to Boldyrev, modern theater is a dynamic, multifaceted, complex organism on the path of unpredictable, dizzying transformations. Theater theorists are making the first attempts to comprehend new experience (Boldyrev 2002: 4 - 7).
But, above all, modern theater is a living connection of times. Such plays as "Hamlet" by W. Shakespeare and "Faust" by Goethe still remain popular in modern theater. Again and again Hamlet is tormented by his unbearable burden, looking beyond the line of life and death: “To be or not to be? That is the question?” and again Faust signs a terrible agreement in order to be able to penetrate the secrets of the universe and use them for the benefit of people.
One of the trends in modern Western European theater is the modernization of classics. How should we feel about this? This feature in modern theater can not be called either negative or positive. On the one hand, art must keep up with the times and somehow survive in the conditions popular culture- after all, someone has to buy tickets to the theater for it to continue to exist. But on the other hand, with such a “dressing up” of theatrical classics, its historical originality is lost, the unique feeling of the past, which is also necessary for the viewer, disappears.
Another very important feature of modern Western European theater, as Sorochkin puts it, is close attention to the inner world, complex mental conflicts, and the psychology of modern man. Where, if not in the theater, we can look at ourselves and understand how complex the world around us is. In addition, modern theater is always an intense search for something new. After all, a new view of the world, new rhythms of life must correspond to new directing techniques, new ways of solving the stage space.
Thus, modern drama and theater continue to develop the traditions laid down by the classics and at the same time greatly revise and rework many individual aspects. In addition, new types of plays and productions that were previously unknown are appearing, such as radio plays (Sorochkin 1989: 15).
But art also finds itself forced to serve the needs of the masses. Today's society seems to require only one thing from an artist: to be original and new, spectacularly interesting at all costs.
To be original and new, to be interesting - this is what postmodern culture requires from an artist, as Boyadzhiev puts it. Nothing more (Boyadzhiev: 4 - 5).
Young people demand action, action, a quick change of events. As soon as modern directors manage to show something “of their own” that is not part of already established theatrical norms, a small rebellion begins. As soon as the director undresses the main character a little, the discontent of the old generation and the emotions of the youth are revealed. Staging classic dramas in a modern way - criticism, misunderstanding and accusation of trampling on values. The eternal struggle of two generations.
As Andreev L.G. notes, modern theater is exactly like this. Classics with amazing favorite actors, and new, risky productions by young directors.
However, directors who turn to modern play, often suffer failures that can convince anyone that the main drawback of modern drama is “poor knowledge of the theater,” “ignorance of the audience.” But in fact, according to Andreev, it is rarely staged, so its shortcomings are not identified - after all, they can only be visible during the production process and in the reaction of the audience. This means that there is no “look” check.
The main thing is that the theater does not indulge the desires of the audience and does not become an object of consumption. The main task of theatre, especially modern theater in such difficult spiritual times, is to educate the viewer, develop his inner world, teach him to see what is hidden from our sight. And no matter what the modern theater is, it copes with this task (Andreev 2004: 76).
Modern theater is democratic and has a strong social orientation at its core. Today's theater has ceased to be an art for the elite - it speaks the language of the masses and embodies complex modern problems. The current theater has firmly won its audience, it is necessary for many people, and the creators of modern performances decide not only purely aesthetic, but also social objectives. Of course there's something in theater arts of the new millennium is dictated by opportunistic considerations, but a little time will pass and everything superficial will go away to allow the development of the real, truthful, organic that is in modern drama.
