Alienation: We Get Brecht
Session Two 3-day
Instructor: Caroline Koebel
Brecht, Bertolt. Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic (excerpts including “Alienation Effects in Chinese Acting” and “A Short Organum for the Theatre”). Ed. and Trans. John Willett. New York: Hill and Wang, 1986.
Theater for Pleasure or Theater for Instruction
Ways the development of modern theater has enabled the development of the A-effect. Differentiation between Epic and Dramatic Theater, with Epic Theater being the modern theater form conducive to A-effect. A key concept relative to many different aspects of Epic Theater is the building of reciprocal rather than one-way relationships. The spectator, unlike in Dramatic Theater, is actively engaged, empathy is discarded as is the ‘hypnotic experience’ replaced by the spectator's’ ability to “take a critical attitude” [3]. Through advancements in technology staging has become more experimental, incorporating other media in ways which are more direct in their approach as a tool in the process of the work as a form of learning as well as entertainment. For Brecht the two, learning and amusement, are equally important parts of Epic Theater which should not be separated from each other. Learning has different functions, dependent upon the class of those who are learning, but theater is meant as entertainment too. “Theater remains theater even when it is instructive theater, and in so far as it is good theater it will amuse.” [73] Along with the reciprocity of relationships within Epic Theater collective collaboration is a key ingredient; in staging with many non-theater artist working in various media adding to the mixture; in the dissolution of the fourth wall bringing the spectator ‘into the work’ with the actor who acknowledges the separation between character and actor; and with the stage’s function as the narrator of the work where once there was none...or where the mystical essence of the actor becoming the character as in Dramatic Theater made no room for such narration. Again, the basis of all of this development appears to be the influence of technological developments outside of theater which have been brought into it, mixed around to create a new-type stew instead of the same old potage.
Alienation Effects in Chinese Acting
The point of looking to the incorporation of the A-effect in the tradition of Chinese Theater was to gain further distance from the aristotelian traditions upon which European Theater was based while giving the support of a ‘tradition’ to the ideas Brecht was putting forth.
Key to the A-effect is the lack of the audiences’ simple identification with the character, but through the ‘strangeness’ of the character, his or her actions and responses, the spectator gains the ability to address the character in a complex, critical manner. Things are not as they are expected to be, all expectations are bunk.
The non-existence of the fourth wall in Chinese Theater is key to the relationship between actor and spectator where the actor remains ever aware of being observed and thus the actor acknowledges the presence of the spectators. Equal to acknowledging the observation of the spectator, and in return observing the spectator, the actor is also observing him or herself and without fear of breaking the illusion which is a key part of traditional (dramatic) European Theater, the actor separates ‘mime’ from ‘gesture’. [92] The strangeness of the gest evokes the amazement for the spectator. Symbolic gest replace in Chinese Theater the depiction of ‘passion’ as played in traditional European Theater, creating a controlled display of moments where control is lacking. Stanislavsky- ‘creative mood’ method allows for a fresh re-creation by the actor at each performance as it does not require a prolonged sustaining of the character’s traits which lead to the actor tiring and falling back on the superficialities of the character, the external illusion as opposed to an internal reality. Illusion as it is expected is unquestioned by spectators, but a strange, unexpected reality is. While the A-effect has ‘universals’ it is important to remember who it is directed to, the A-effect in Chinese Theater is directed at a group of Chinese spectators, and in European Theater at a group of European spectators; Brecht asserts that the only people who can study the technique of A-effect in Chinese Theater successfully are those who have a definitive need for the technique. [96]
“...and everything must be seen from a social point of view. Among other effects that a new theater will need for its social criticism and its historical reported of completed transformations is the A-effect.” [98-99]
The application of the A-effect supports the socio-political goals of the work.
Short Description of a New Technique of Acting which Produces an Alienation Effect
This is an attempt to describe artistic means. The phrasing suggests a full description of an artistic technique such as the A-effect might just be indescribable. No magic, no hypnotism involved...anywhere, stage, auditorium, acting...Gest of showing what is being done is a must, no fourth wall to get in the way of this; no empathy beyond that which is in the ‘normal’ range of daily life. Rehersals are for “getting into the skin” of the character from a psychological perspective...many rehearsals...reading rehearsals as opposed to ‘acting/living the part’. Actor should be aware of personal (first) responses to what he or she is reading of the character, remembering these responses at the moment of performance. Acting that reveals the alternatives to what is happening...doing this, but there are other possibilities such as doing that or that….On stage the actor remains the actor...the character is not the actor, the actor is not the character. Abandon the “idea of total transformation”. [138]
To help the transformation to alienation:
1.Transposition into the third person.
2. Transposition into the past.
3. Speaking the stage directions out loud.
[Saturday Night Live Season 12 Episode 1 October 11, 1986]
“The impression to be given is one of ease, which is at the same time one of difficulties overcome.” [139]
A “socially critical attitude”, applied to gest via the technical device of historicization; meaning “the actor must play the incidents as historical ones” with nothing “fixed” or “universally human”; with detachment; natural, not stylized.
A Short Organum for the Theatre
Social commitment; “theater fit for a scientific age”; “to emigrate from the realm of the merely enjoyable”...but it is still theater, and aesthetics not only remains, but it is need to explain the theory of A-effect. Art and science no longer separate, but support and explain each other...a reciprocal relationship.
“Let us therefore cause general dismay by revoking our decision to emigrate from the realm of the merely enjoyable, and even more general dismay by announcing our decision to take up lodging there. Let us treat the theater as a place of entertainment, as is proper in an aesthetic discussion,...”[180]
Key points I found of personal interest:
5. higher and lower degrees of pleasure...art unconcerned with high and low, but engages both for the end means: pleasure
9. incorrectness and improbability okay as long as consistency is maintained...this enables comprehension and can be entertaining…
14. science has changed our life immensely...and Brecht was referring only to the century or two preceding his writing this; how much it has effect our life since!
18. mutual relations of people more tangled up than ever...this has not changed, no matter how much technology has ‘simplified’ communication. “What might be progress for all then becomes advancement for a few,..”[184]
20. science: to maintain, art: to entertain… common goal: to make life easier. Brecht hopes that art will through the use of the technological gains of science make even greater gains in pleasure, perhaps the greatest yet. Has this happened yet?
26. Theater must wake up the spectators.
35. we need theater to free us, and is transformative within the field of historical human relationships
39. determining factors: class, social situation, period in time occupied, locality
40. spectators with ‘free and highly mobile intellect’ able to deal with the resulting ‘unnaturalness’ of the actors’ manipulation...the A-effect
45. alienation of the familiar--dialectical materialism...it’s about the process. Nothing exists except in disharmony with itself.
49. the double role of the actor---self and character...making the process visible, matter-of-fact,
53. empathy is one possible method, suitable for rehearsal but not performance
54. observation
55. the actor must bring his knowledge, opinions and objectives relative to his life into the work
57. not--but
58. it is a collaborative process, the actors working together, simultaneously learning
59. no stars
64. splitting into gest after gest to learn the story which will reveal the inconsistencies it contains
67. structures to alienate
70. “Not everything depends on the actor, even though nothing may be done without taking him into account.” [202] A part of the whole; and the whole is the result of a collaborative process (acting, music, choreography, set and costume design…).
74. all the ‘sister arts of drama’ through collaboration lead to mutual alienation
75. keep pleasure a part of it
76. the finished product is what has been most frequently repeated in rehearsal and hasn’t been thrown out...idea for editing, what survives various rounds of editing is finished?
Benjamin, Walter. Understanding Brecht (excerpts: “What is Epic Theatre? [Second version]” and “Studies for a Theory of Epic Theatre”). Introduced by Stanley Mitchell. Trans. Anna Bostock. London and New York: Verso, 1998.
What is Epic Theatre?
The Relaxed Audience
Epic Theater per Brecht should have the spectator following the narrative in a relaxed manner, similar to a person reading a novel. However Benjamin points out the spectator of a play is never a singular person, but a collective, and this collective determines collectively the response the spectators have in terms of this engagement. The staging/production should stimulate the spectators’ intellectual desire. Brecht’s intent is political.
I. The Fable (Story)
Desensationalization of the story on the stage; ‘known’ or older stories conducive to this stretching..through the mixed media approaches geared toward removing the sensational. Epic Theater’s relationship to time is one which is not bound to the specific ‘end’ but spans various parts of a larger whole.
II.The Untragic Hero
The “thinking man” made by Brecht into a hero--”the perfect empty stage” [17]
III. The Interruptions
No empathy on part of the spectator; just making clear the conditions at hand which is the alienation.
IV. The Quotable Gesture
künstleriche Pause
V. The Didactic Play
The ability for role reversals between actor/spectator key to the learning play
VI. The Actor
Illusion destroying intervals. “The actor must show an event, and he must show himself.”--Brecht [21] and this is where the political and artistic intent merges.
VII. Theater on the Public Platform
“Filling-in of the orchestra pit”, distance between stage and spectator eliminated, fourth wall gone.
VIII. Studies for a Theory of Epic Theatre
Gestural.
“From where does Epic Theater obtain its gestures?” ...”reality of today” aligned with the historical, avoidance of imitation of historical gestures which today are incomprehensible.
“What do we understand by the utilization of gestures?”...it can only be made false to a point; its beginning and end are definable. [23]
Interruption of action leads to more gestures, therefore the more interruptions, the more gestures the spectator receives.
Dialectical relationships. What I meant by reciprocal relationships...not one sided.
Adorno, Theodor and Walter Benjamin, Ernst Bloch, Bertolt Brecht, and Georg Lukacs. Aesthetics and Politics (excerpts: “Conversations with Brecht” by Benjamin and “Commitment” by Adorno). London: Verso, 1980.
Conversations with Brecht Walter Benjamin
Theses conversations occurred between 1934-1938; although location is not given I am presuming mostly taking place in Denmark where Brecht lived in exile before making his way to California in 1943 via Sweden and Finland. Aside from shedding light on the friendship and intellectual exchange of Benjamin and Brecht the diary entries/recollections (for that is more of what they are than actual verbatim recordings of conversations and thusly biased towards what Benjamin found significant to that days exchange with Brecht rather than an unbiased report of Brecht’s utterances), what is enlightening is how the information and ideas expressed by Brecht in the other readings along with the summaries provided by Benjamin become more comprehensible in their ability to transcend the realm of theater into all aspects of art and life via the more colloquial, real life within which Brecht was addressing A-effect.
“I would have to admit that no, I’m not completely in earnest.” [87]
This quote is regarding a dream Brecht is telling Benjamin about in which he is brought before a tribunal, one assumes a Soviet or CP tribunal, where his politics are being questioned as to their purity and Brecht’s commitment. For Brecht the philosophical underpinnings of his work were Marxism, and despite his support, either viewed as active or passive of CP/Soviet/Stalin USSR actions and politics, he did not put the political before the artistic...both sharing equal importance to the development of Epic Theater and A-effect. What he sought was a didactic and not a pedantic approach. He seemed to not trust or take seriously any political system, using art to critically analyze all from a distance (ex. his testifying before HUAC).
“Truth is concrete. ...Even I must understand it.” [89]
“Even I must understand it” written on a sign hung around the head of a head-nodding ass. The truth as Brecht understood and expressed it through his art, that was his goal...to make it concrete, understandable even to those donkeys uncritically nodding away in agreement. Make the nodding not just an uncritical reflex, but a critical response to the truth revealed through the art.
While playing a game of chess:
“...we really ought to work out a new game...A game in which the moves don’t always stay the same;...As it is the game doesn’t develop, it stays the same for too long.” [86]
This chess reference made me think of Duchamp and his relationship to systems, structures, and rules. Whereas Brecht was in the words of Benjamin ‘aggressive (‘baiting’) in his approach to imposing change, Duchamp took an approach not of force but by subtle slipping in. Both having roots in Dada, similar middle class backgrounds, different politics, but a shared desire to change the role of art, how it is made, and how it is understood...but two very different approaches.
To the middle class or ‘upper bourgeoisie’ background of Brecht. Despite his identification of Marxism, his ‘proletarianization’ Brecht acknowledge he was not working class. He would be highly criticized today for this approach and application of these political views in his art; however taking that step back, gaining the critical distance necessary to really look at this, one can see when the art is placed before the politics, even if they are on ‘equal footing’ , then issues that are beyond the personal realm of the artist/author should be addressable through the art they produce equally as through the art produced by an artist/author to whom those issues might be contained within their personal realm. Today we often read and hear critique of artists about ‘how can he or she address that issue in his or her art? It is not a part of his or her experience!’...in theater [or rather, for actors] this is rarely an issue, it is an accepted part of their art form...but for writers and visual artists it does come up a lot. Perhaps through some of the ideas expressed by Brecht re: A-effect a new game, with new moves in these other art forms can be worked out.
Commitment Theodor Adorno
Art can neither be autonomous (l’art pour l’art) nor committed (only concerned with social relations). Too simplistic, art is more complex than either/or. It is beneficial to both viewers only interested in the committed art or only interested in the ‘magical’ art to be presented both for critical engagement. Committed art need not be reduced to propaganda, and autonomous art need not be free of provocation or social critique (ex. Guernica).
“Committed art in the proper sense is not intended to generate ameliorative measures, legislative acts or practical institutions...but to work at the level of fundamental attitudes.” [180]
This is what Brecht was thinking of with Epic Theater. When Adorno was writing this in the 1960s the opinions expressed on both sides of the debate were not allowing dissent...instead an ‘either/or’ (Kierkegaard) approach was taken by both.
“But however sublime, thoughts can never be much more than one of the materials for art.” [182]
Aesthetics matter...for Brecht this was in theater the ‘entertainment’, the pleasure which is inherent to the art. The thoughts, ideas were critical in forming the aesthetics to develop the critical distance needed for the spectator to gain from the work that which was being presented. Brecht used abstraction as a “formal principal” [182] in his art to alter the traditions of dramatic theater. He identified abstraction as a naturally occurring part of life and applied it as such and not as a means to individuation of the work. Abstraction coming from and supporting the collective body as opposed to abstraction as an expression of the uniques of the individual….Brecht used aesthetics as a vehicle for his ideas in a way that his contemporaries did not, he did not separate the commitment to the idea from the autonomy of the art work.
“The substance of Brecht’s artistic work was the didactic play as an artistic principal.” [185]
But this is difficult to do given current (time Adorno was writing) thoughts on the separation of the formal from the political. If one looks at Brecht's work only through the lens of the political, it fails because the formal gets in the way. (And vice versa?) I believe we have since progressed beyond this either/or approach to this debate, and can look at Brecht’s work and the work of others who followed in a way that enables the co-existence of both. It is still open to debate as to the ability to incorporate a voice which the author/artist does not personally identify with in the work...but this may change too as ideologies in this regard change.
Kafka, Franz. The Complete Stories. Ed. Nahum N. Glatzer. “The Next Village.” Trans. Willa and Edwin Muir. New York: Schocken Books, 2011.
The Next Village
When we step outside of ourselves, gaining distance, even the simplest of moments begin to look strange, making us question how they can even be.
Brecht on The Next Village [91, Benjamin ‘Conversations with Brecht’]---a counterpart to story of Achilles and the Tortoise; breaking the whole into continually smaller parts one never reaches the end in the way one left the start, the one who began the journey is changed along it thus never reaching the end in the same state as he or she began, the “unity of life is destroyed...and so is its shortness”.
Von Eckardt, Wolf and Sander L. Gilman, Bertolt Brecht’s Berlin: A Scrapbook of the Twenties (excerpts: “Introduction: ‘Thank You, Hitler’ – by Wolf Von Eckardt). Garden City and New York: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1975.
Introduction: ‘Thank You, Hitler’ Wolf Von Eckardt
Kids in their early teens like to ask the question: if you could go back in time and do x so that y never happens, would you?
Stephen Fry answered this with Making History. “Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times found the comic tone of the book 'shockingly tasteless' and 'deeply offensive' given the subject matter.[2]” I liked the book because it does get across the point...can’t and shouldn’t try to change the past...just work for a better tomorrow.
Without the atrocities of Nazi Germany the world would be different. Should we thank Hitler for ‘enabling’ the immigration of so many people in so many different fields who made the US a force it might not have been if everyone had remained in Europe. No. But then again, we should be grateful those who made it did.