Space And Time In Epic Theater: Brechtian Legacy, The

Description: 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: technological warfare, 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 analysis 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; Buchner'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.

Review: Presents 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

Contents: Introduction - spatio-temporality as sign in epic theatre; theatre for the age of mechanical warfare - Piscator directs "The Good Soldier Schwejk"; into the whirlwind - Brecht directs "Mother Courage"; gestic writing and the true-real body - Brecht adapts "The Tutor"; "Peer Gynt" as epic theatre - Peter Stein in Berlin and Rustom Bharucha in India; JoAnne Akalaitis's postmodern epic staging of Leon and Lena (& Lenz); gender, empire and body politic - Ariane Mnouchkine's "Les Atrides"; afterword - epic theatre and the imagination of history.