Description
Book SynopsisThe development of epic theater before, during, and after Brecht's time, and analysis of epic productions, showing the form's continued relevance. Bertolt Brecht and the director Erwin Piscator developed epic theater in the 1920s because they found Western realism limited to the single perspective of an individual, and thus unable to confront the new realities: technologicalwarfare, revolution, the metropolis, and the mass media, among others. The epic stage juxtaposed the old media of actors and scenery with new media, including film, photography, and electronic sound. Bryant-Bertail provides analyses of theatrical productions in the epic tradition from before, during, and after Brecht's lifetime: Hasek's The Good Soldier Schwejk directed by Piscator; Mother Courage written and directed by Brecht; Lenz's The Tutor directed by Brecht; Ibsen's Peer Gynt in productions directed by Peter Stein and Rustom Bharucha; Büchner's Leon and Lena (& Lenz) directed by JoAnne Akalaitis; and Les Atrides (The House of Atreus) from Aeschylus and Euripides, directed by Ariane Mnouchkine. Bryant-Bertail shows that epic theater's relevance for politically engaged artists lies in its discovery that history, fate, and human nature are spatio-temporal constructs that may be reconstructed on stage. Sarah Bryant-Bertail is associate professor in the School of Drama at the University of Washington.
Trade ReviewPresents semiotics with a human face.... The discussions of individual productions are good and useful. * CHOICE *
The author blends production details, historical contexts, acting method, and postmodern theory to produce an excellent, detailed portrayal of epic theater in practice.... Bryant-Bertail'sinterpretations of performances are wonderful, fascinating explorations... * MONATSHEFTE *
... offers an informative account of the origins and practice of epic theatre and its developments since Brecht's work at the Berliner Ensemble. * ARBITRIUM *
The intricate relationships between text and performance are especially well articulated and insightful... * COLLOQUIA GERMANICA *
Table of ContentsOntroduction: Spatio-temporality as Sign in Epic Theater Theater for the Age of Machanical Warfare: Piscator Directs The Good Soldier Schwejk Into the Whirlwind: Bretch Directs Mother Courage Gestic Writing and the True-Real Body: Brecht Adapts The Tutor Peer Gynt as Epic Theater: Peter Stein in Berlin and Rustom Bharucha in India JoAnne Akalaitis's Postmodern Epic Staging of Leon and Lena (& lenz) Gender, Empire and the Body Politic: Ariane Mnouchkine's Les Atrides Afterword: Epic Theater and the Imagination of History
