#talkbertytome

[its-a-brecht-life]

Talk Berty to me: Epic theatre

Ok, so, Epic theatre. To be honest, I didn't really invent it, but I did make it a famous drama style, so it counts. Basically, it's a form of drama presenting a series of somehow connected scenes, which often interrupt the story line to directly address the audience with various arguments, analysis, and perhaps even just documentation. 

My intention was to appeal to my audiences intellect, by presenting moral problems and reflecting on social realities on the stage. I aimed to block their emotional responses, and try to hinder their ability to empathize with the audience. I attempted to do this by using 'alienating' and 'distancing' effects, which made the audience really reflect on the argument, understand it, and draw conclusions. 

Many have commented saying that my style was a direct contrast to Stanislavsky's. He tended to make the performance as natural as possible, to make the audience believe that what was happening was real. Apparently his work was good too, but I'll stick by my own work, thanks.

[its-a-brecht-life]

Sweet! They made a mini film about my theatre style. Sure is nice to be famous B)

[its-a-brecht-life]

Talk Berty to me: You better work Brecht

I continued to work really hard on my plays and poems. Notably, I developed my 'Man Equals Man' project, which then became the first product of the 'Brecht collective' (a group of friends of mine who I depended on). My collaborative approach to producing artistic pieces, along with aspects of my writing style of theatre productions, made my work notably a part of the Neue Sachlichkeit movement, if I do say so myself.

Again, I worked and worked, meeting Charlie Chapman in the process (great guy, by the way). After the production of 'Man Equals Man' in 1926, I started studying Marxism and socialism a bit more.

A year later, I became part of the 'dramaturgical collective' (ostentatious name right?), which showed plays that linked to 'epic, political, confrontational, documentary theatre'.  

[its-a-brecht-life]

Talk Bert to me: My achy-Brechty heart :(

So...things with Paula ended. Don't really want to go into detail. But I met this beautiful opera-singer, Marianne Zoff, and we hit it off right away. We got married, and had a talented daughter, Hanne Hiob, who became a great German actress. 

Hmmm, what else... oh, right! I wrote a scenario for a short slapstick film (which starred Valentin!!), and my play 'In the Jungle' premiered in Munich. That was a scandalous opening night actually, since some Nazis stormed in, blew whistles, and threw stink bombs at my actors. I repeat, stink bombs. (#brechtnotamused)

A year later, I worked with Lion Feuchtwanger on an adaptation of Christopher Marlowe's 'Edward II'. That was certianly a hit, and I often say that this was, I suppose, the germ of the concept of 'epic theatre'.

I was having some trouble with the Mrs, and I must admit that I became involved with two lovely ladies, Elisabeth Hauptmann, and Helene Weigel. Helene and I had a bouncing baby boy, Stefan.

[its-a-brecht-life]

Talk Berty to me: Oh the drama!

By 1916, the articles I wrote about my theatre criticisms had began appearing in newspapers (I wrote them under the name Bert Brecht). 

In 1918 though, I was drafted into the military service, only to be posted back to Augsburg as a medical orderly in a military VD clinic. The war ended shortly.

In 1919, my schnuckel Paula Banholzer and I had my first child Frank (did I mention we had been together since 1917? no? oops).

A  year later I scored a small part in a political cabaret by Karl Valentin. I have to admit, I had a bit of a man-crush on Valentin, so I 'kinda-sorta' stalked him a bit....Well no, not stalked, but I did go to see him perform a few times in the following years (if by few you mean a ridiculous amount). I learnt the most form him, by watching his amazing short sketches.

Then, when I was arguing in one of Kutscher's drama seminars, I developed the idea of 'Baal', my first full-length play. A year later, in 1919, I completed another major play, titled 'Drums in the Night'. 

Herbert Ihering, an Influential critic, came to my attention in 1922. Luckily, he gave me overwhelmingly positive reviews. 

 "At 24 the writer Bert Brecht has changed Germany's literary complexion overnight."

I must say, I did blush a little at the flattery.

Then, in November, I was awarded the Kleist Prize! I tell you, that night was craaaazy. So cool. And again they went on about how my "language is vivid without being deliberately poetic, and symbolical without being over literary".

[its-a-brecht-life]

Talk Berty to me: Childhood

I was born as Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht on the 10th of February 1898, in Augsburg, Bavaria, in the German Empire (about 80 km from Munich). My mother was a dedicated Protestant, though my father was a Catholic...so how they got around to getting married is still a bit of a mystery to me....

Anyway, I had a fairly good childhood, living in a comfortable middle-class home. School was fine, mostly because my good friend Caspar Neher. 

[My friend Caspar Neher]

Then, when I was 16, WWI broke out. I have to admit, I was initially quite enthusiastic and excited by the idea, but I soon changed my mind when so many of my school friends had to join the army. My father told me to try to find a loophole I could use to get out of fighting in the war, so I registered for an additional medical course at Munich University. I enrolled in 1917. 

While at University, I studied drama with Arthur Kutscher, who greatly inspired me to admire Frank Wedekind, the dramatist and cabaret-star.

[Arthur Kutscher]

[Frank Wedekind]

[its-a-brecht-life]

Hallo Freunde!

Guten Tag to you all, it's Bertolt Brecht here (though you can call me Berty). I decided that a great way to start my blog would be to tell you a little about myself, so the following few posts will, essentially, depict my eventful life.